My Year, in Review
Yanked from gorillapotter
01. what did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before? A whole host of things, mostly related to graduate school and nursing. For instance: living in a city. For instance: inserting a urinary catheter. For instance: busking on the streets of Burlington.
02. did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I did not. Last year's resolution was to watch all of the James Bond movies (come on, it was year '007!), and I managed to watch not. a single. one. This year perhaps my resolutions will involve cleaning my room more often.
03. did anyone close to you give birth? No.
04. did anyone close to you die? Yes, my paternal grandmother.
05. what countries did you visit? I barely left the state (excepting one visit to Boston, several to my family in NY, and a glorious weekend harum-scarum visit to the anti-war protests in DC).
06. what would you like to have in 2008 that you didn't have in 2007? My RN.
07. what date(s) from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Actually, there is no date in particular etched into my mind from the past year. Halloween was memorable, but if the events contained therein had occurred on a more pedestrian sort of day, I'd not remember October 31st.
08. what was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting into grad school.
09. what was your biggest failure? I handled living in my cabin far less gracefully than I had hoped.
10. did you suffer any illness or injury? No.
11. what was the best thing you bought? My pickup truck, and the four steel rings threaded through the cartilage of my left ear.
12. whose behavior merited celebration? The gentleman I saw on the streets of Burlington a few weeks ago, who stopped and helped a stranger whose wheelchair was stuck in the slush.
13. whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? No comment.
14. where did most of your money go? Rent, food, tuition.
15. what did you get really, really, really excited about? Nursing school, busking, and Rob.
16. what song will always remind you of 2007? The fiddle tune Frank's Reel, I expect. Gillian Welch's song "Winter's Come and Gone." The Dixie Chicks "Not Ready to Make Nice." And, of course, everything by The Gay Pimp.
17. compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Much happier.
ii. thinner or fatter? Exactly the same.
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer. Going from 'working more than full time' to 'unpaid grad student' will do that to you.
18. what do you wish you'd done more of? Housework.
19. what do you wish you'd done less of? Whining.
20. how will you be spending Christmas? I spent a whirlwind few days in southern Vermont seeing loved ones, then spent the actual holidays with my family in NY.
21. who did you spend the most time on the phone with? If we're counting cumulatively, from January to January . . . I actually bet it was John.
22. did you fall in love in 2007? Mm.
23. how many one-night stands? HAH.
24. what was your favorite tv program? . . . I watched a lot of House, until I had no time for anything but nursing school.
25. do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? No.
26. what was the best book you read? How about authors? Ooh. Individual titles that stood out were The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, The Kite Runner by Hosseini, Emma by Austen, A Stranger in the Kingdom by Howard Frank Mosher, and Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. I actually read a great deal more than that, but those were the cream of the crop. As far as authors go, I've been on a Neil Gaiman kick recently. I read a substantial portion of the Sandman graphic novels, as well as a collection of short stories (Fragile Things) and I'm in the middle of Neverwhere. On an entirely different note, I've fallen in love with Gerard Manley Hopkins and have been reading and re-reading his poetry.
27. what was your greatest musical discovery/top albums? I discovered a great deal of music, but it has all been in a flood over the past two or three months, so I haven't sorted out the bits I love best, yet. I suppose Old Crow Medicine Show tops the list; although I started listening to them almost three years ago, I didn't realize how fabulous they were until recently. I've also rediscovered Johnny Cash. The albums I've listened to most incessantly over the year have probably been Alasdair Fraser's Fire and Grace and Return to Kintail, as well as Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer's Tanglewood Tree.
28. what did you want and get? Rob. Mwahahahaha.
29. what did you want and not get? Actually, most of those things I've been learning not to want.
30. what were your favorite films of this year? Ummmm . . . I saw about three things in theaters the entire year long. I only remember what two of them were, and one I didn't like. I did rediscover how much I like Fargo. Does that count? Also, I saw the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice for the first time this year. Swoon.
31. what did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 23. I went to work at the Spinnery, and didn't mention to anyone that it was my birthday until the next day. Then I went to Allison's and Maria and I made a lovely dark chocolate cake with a sweet basil topping. For some reason I can't at all recall what we had for dinner.
32. what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Mm, not much. It was a pretty satisfying year, all in all.
33. how would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Umm . . . vintage hip?
34. what kept you sane? My fiddle, my journal, Allison's house, and Rob.
35. which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? None in particular.
36. what political issue stirred you the most? Health care. Hands down.
What the hell happened to question number 37?
38. who was the best new person you met? . . . ask a silly question . . .
39. tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007: I shall quote the final lines from The Shipping News, one of the aforementioned best books I read this year.
"For if Jack Buggit could escape from the pickle jar, if a bird with a broken neck could fly away, what else might be possible? Water may be older than light, diamonds crack in hot goat's blood, mountaintops give off cold fire, forests appear in mid-ocean, it may happen that a crab is caught with the shadow of a hand on its back, and that the wind be imprisoned in a bit of knotted string. And it may be that love sometimes occurs without pain or misery."
40. quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Oh little red bird
Come to my window sill
Been so lonesome
Shaking that morning chill
Oh little red bird
Open your mouth and say
Been so lonesome
Just about flown away
So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so
Oh little blue bird
Pearly feather breast
Five cold nickels all I got left
Oh little blue bird
What am I gonna do
Five cold nickels
Ain't gonna see me through
So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so
Oh little black bird
On my wire line
Dark as trouble
In this heart of mine
Poor little black bird
Sings a worried song
Dark as trouble
'Til winter's come and gone
So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so
So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so
01. what did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before? A whole host of things, mostly related to graduate school and nursing. For instance: living in a city. For instance: inserting a urinary catheter. For instance: busking on the streets of Burlington.
02. did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I did not. Last year's resolution was to watch all of the James Bond movies (come on, it was year '007!), and I managed to watch not. a single. one. This year perhaps my resolutions will involve cleaning my room more often.
03. did anyone close to you give birth? No.
04. did anyone close to you die? Yes, my paternal grandmother.
05. what countries did you visit? I barely left the state (excepting one visit to Boston, several to my family in NY, and a glorious weekend harum-scarum visit to the anti-war protests in DC).
06. what would you like to have in 2008 that you didn't have in 2007? My RN.
07. what date(s) from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Actually, there is no date in particular etched into my mind from the past year. Halloween was memorable, but if the events contained therein had occurred on a more pedestrian sort of day, I'd not remember October 31st.
08. what was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting into grad school.
09. what was your biggest failure? I handled living in my cabin far less gracefully than I had hoped.
10. did you suffer any illness or injury? No.
11. what was the best thing you bought? My pickup truck, and the four steel rings threaded through the cartilage of my left ear.
12. whose behavior merited celebration? The gentleman I saw on the streets of Burlington a few weeks ago, who stopped and helped a stranger whose wheelchair was stuck in the slush.
13. whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? No comment.
14. where did most of your money go? Rent, food, tuition.
15. what did you get really, really, really excited about? Nursing school, busking, and Rob.
16. what song will always remind you of 2007? The fiddle tune Frank's Reel, I expect. Gillian Welch's song "Winter's Come and Gone." The Dixie Chicks "Not Ready to Make Nice." And, of course, everything by The Gay Pimp.
17. compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Much happier.
ii. thinner or fatter? Exactly the same.
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer. Going from 'working more than full time' to 'unpaid grad student' will do that to you.
18. what do you wish you'd done more of? Housework.
19. what do you wish you'd done less of? Whining.
20. how will you be spending Christmas? I spent a whirlwind few days in southern Vermont seeing loved ones, then spent the actual holidays with my family in NY.
21. who did you spend the most time on the phone with? If we're counting cumulatively, from January to January . . . I actually bet it was John.
22. did you fall in love in 2007? Mm.
23. how many one-night stands? HAH.
24. what was your favorite tv program? . . . I watched a lot of House, until I had no time for anything but nursing school.
25. do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? No.
26. what was the best book you read? How about authors? Ooh. Individual titles that stood out were The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, The Kite Runner by Hosseini, Emma by Austen, A Stranger in the Kingdom by Howard Frank Mosher, and Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. I actually read a great deal more than that, but those were the cream of the crop. As far as authors go, I've been on a Neil Gaiman kick recently. I read a substantial portion of the Sandman graphic novels, as well as a collection of short stories (Fragile Things) and I'm in the middle of Neverwhere. On an entirely different note, I've fallen in love with Gerard Manley Hopkins and have been reading and re-reading his poetry.
27. what was your greatest musical discovery/top albums? I discovered a great deal of music, but it has all been in a flood over the past two or three months, so I haven't sorted out the bits I love best, yet. I suppose Old Crow Medicine Show tops the list; although I started listening to them almost three years ago, I didn't realize how fabulous they were until recently. I've also rediscovered Johnny Cash. The albums I've listened to most incessantly over the year have probably been Alasdair Fraser's Fire and Grace and Return to Kintail, as well as Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer's Tanglewood Tree.
28. what did you want and get? Rob. Mwahahahaha.
29. what did you want and not get? Actually, most of those things I've been learning not to want.
30. what were your favorite films of this year? Ummmm . . . I saw about three things in theaters the entire year long. I only remember what two of them were, and one I didn't like. I did rediscover how much I like Fargo. Does that count? Also, I saw the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice for the first time this year. Swoon.
31. what did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 23. I went to work at the Spinnery, and didn't mention to anyone that it was my birthday until the next day. Then I went to Allison's and Maria and I made a lovely dark chocolate cake with a sweet basil topping. For some reason I can't at all recall what we had for dinner.
32. what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Mm, not much. It was a pretty satisfying year, all in all.
33. how would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Umm . . . vintage hip?
34. what kept you sane? My fiddle, my journal, Allison's house, and Rob.
35. which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? None in particular.
36. what political issue stirred you the most? Health care. Hands down.
What the hell happened to question number 37?
38. who was the best new person you met? . . . ask a silly question . . .
39. tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007: I shall quote the final lines from The Shipping News, one of the aforementioned best books I read this year.
"For if Jack Buggit could escape from the pickle jar, if a bird with a broken neck could fly away, what else might be possible? Water may be older than light, diamonds crack in hot goat's blood, mountaintops give off cold fire, forests appear in mid-ocean, it may happen that a crab is caught with the shadow of a hand on its back, and that the wind be imprisoned in a bit of knotted string. And it may be that love sometimes occurs without pain or misery."
40. quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Oh little red bird
Come to my window sill
Been so lonesome
Shaking that morning chill
Oh little red bird
Open your mouth and say
Been so lonesome
Just about flown away
So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so
Oh little blue bird
Pearly feather breast
Five cold nickels all I got left
Oh little blue bird
What am I gonna do
Five cold nickels
Ain't gonna see me through
So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so
Oh little black bird
On my wire line
Dark as trouble
In this heart of mine
Poor little black bird
Sings a worried song
Dark as trouble
'Til winter's come and gone
So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so
So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so