I Can't Believe It's Already Time for This Thing
1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?:
Received a degree, wrote an independent study, took the GRE, paid a student loan bill, was a bridesmaid, was depressed for a long period of time.
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
These were my New Year's resolutions last year:
1. Graduate with honors. (Half achieved-- I did graduate, but no honors.)
2. Give a senior recital in as many languages as possible, preferably (though not necessarily) a pirate-themed one. (Done and done, and it was even pirate-themed.)
3. Keep off the fifteen pounds I lost in France. (Done, mostly. I gained it back and then lost it again.)
4. Keep a list of all the books I read this year. Not for any particular purpose, just because I'm curious how many there are. (Failed, although I started it.)
5. Work toward financial independence-- i.e. move out of my parents' house and start paying off student loans. (Half done-- I've started repaying my student loans.)
6. Watch more Star Trek. (Not done as thoroughly as I would like.)
So here are this year's:
1. Make it to the gym at least once a week.
2. Take some classes at MCC.
3. MOVE OUT OF MY PARENTS' HOUSE BY AUGUST.
4. Save more money, more actively.
5. Waste less time on the internet.
6. Keep up the Armchair Philologist regularly.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?:
Jess.
4. Did anyone close to you die?:
Does Madeline L'Engle count? Also, Ernie-cat.
5. What countries did you visit?:
This one.
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?:
More money, more freedom, less dependence on my family. My own place. A mutually independent, mutually supportive, drama-free relationship. A kitty.
7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?:
New Year's Day. April 11, Amanda's wedding. My recital, June 7. My graduation, June 11. A three-hour phone conversation with Sascha on September 18. A camping trip the first weekend of November. My first CMS solo, December 14-16. The evening of December 21st.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?:
Performing a kickass recital, receiving a degree from a prestigious school, singing with an accomplished group and being singled out for solo performance.
9. What was your biggest failure?:
Settling for spending a year doing something that I don't like because it was convenient.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?:
Just the general creeping yuck that I get every winter wherein I lose my voice for three weeks.
11. What was the best thing you bought?:
A big sparkly recital dress and, for the first time in about my whole life, a bikini that fits me really well.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?:
Mine, sometimes, and that of the friends who supported me while I went mad this year.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?:
Mine, often enough, and my family's.
14. Where did most of your money go?:
Necessities-- books, clothes, food, gas, student loan payments.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?:
Amanda's wedding, my recital, my graduation, the Beowulf movie, visiting Urbana after Christmas, spending a week in Michigan, seeing Zach and everybody in Madison this summer, this whole life thing which is slowly unfolding in front of me, having time to try until I get things right.
16. What song will always remind you of 2007?:
Not individual songs so much as albums. Pretty much everything off of The Dresden Dolls and Yes, Virginia, particularly "Good Day" and "Coin-Operated Boy," the Easy Star All-Star cover of OK Computer, Sufjan Stephens' Illinoise, Tori Amos's Scarlet Walk. "What's Left of the Flag" by Flogging Molly (more specifically, it reminds me of thrashing with Jacob and Adam at Yuai dances.) The Faure Requiem. The Tain by the Decemberists.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Much sadder up until very recently, but things are finally looking up.
ii. thinner or fatter? About the same.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer, I think?
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?:
Studying, applying myself to the grad school process, dancing, traveling.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?:
Moping, arguing, feeling guilty, apologizing for things I wasn't sorry for, wasting time.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?:
I'm sleeping in and opening presents with my family, making a huge dinner which features duck, and then heading south with Andy.
22. Did you fall in love in 2007?:
I don't know that it was exactly "falling," and the jury's still out on the terminology, but something appears to be happening, anyway.
23. How many one-night stands?:
None.
24. What was your favorite TV program?:
Barbarians Week on the History Channel.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?:
I can't remember ever having hated anyone.
26. What was the best book you read?:
Dune by Frank Herbert, the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, Orson Scott Card's Xenocide, Et Cetera, Et Cetera: Notes of a Word-Watcher by Lewis Thomas, American Gods and Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, a long list of books on the history of the English Language.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?:
The Faure Requiem (a rediscovery,) The Dresden Dolls, Easy Star All-Star, Tori Amos, Lemon Demon, Sufjan Stephens, the Radiohead model of album distribution, and iTunes.
28. What did you want and get?:
A degree, a job, a place in CMS, all the vacation time I needed, free access to a car, a chance to satisfy my inner 11-year-old girl.
29. What did you want and not get?:
Self-sufficiency, a kidney donor, and letters of recommendation.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?:
Beowulf on principle.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?:
I didn't do much. I turned 22, played pool at the Viking Room, had a ten-minute Polish dance party, and then went on with my life.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?:
Having my own place.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?:
Eccentric, eclectic, and with piratey overtones.
34. What kept you sane?:
I stayed sane?
34a. Okay, what kept you less crazy?
Sticking to my convictions, the constant support of my friends and family, Sascha's helping me out while I was going through graduation madness, Katie, Jessa, Adam, and Jacob's helping me out while I was going through Sascha madness, Andy in general, having a car to borrow, fleeing to Chicago.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?:
James Spader.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?:
The beginnings of Election 2008 fever.
37. Who did you miss?:
My Lawrence friends while I was at home, and my home friends while I was at Lawrence, and Nantes people all the time.
38. Who was the best new person you met?:
Galen, Cait, Thyo, Michael, Mark, Scotti, all the other Yuai bebehs, Noel, Sarah, Ryan Murphy, Miranda.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:
Make your decisions and don't apologize for them. It is not your responsibility to preserve everybody's happiness, and it is not your duty to feel guilty for taking care of yourself.
40. Quote a song lyric that describes the past year:
There are several.
"no second thoughts the knife is nearing
you'll never hear the little pitter patter pitter patter
of this little feat of engineering
of course i love you and of course it's what's inside that matters
but i think the whole charade is ending
it seems to me to be the only way to keep from getting
caught up in a long life of regretting
the doctors said that once you get a taste for it you'll keep on cutting..."
(The Dresden Dolls)
"i love you like a brother
and i love you like a child
and i love you like a lover
and i love you dumb and colorblind
and i love you like a mother
even after all you've done
and i love you like no other
but i know
youre not the one..."
(Also the Dresden Dolls)
"I think I'm done gunnin to get closer
To some imagined bliss
I gotta knuckle down
And just be ok with this
I'm gonna knuckle down
Just be ok with this
'Course that star struck girl is already someone I miss..."
(Ani Difranco-- this is mostly because I kept reminding myself I didn't want it to happen to me.)
"and as soon as you have rearranged
the mess in your head
he will show up looking sane
perfectly sane
if i know crazy"
(Tori Amos)
"sights and sounds
pull me back down
another year
i was here
i was here
whipping past
the reflecting pool
me and you
skipping school
and we make it up
as we go along
we make it up
as we go along...
how did it go so fast
you'll say as we are looking back
and then we'll understand
we held gold dust in our hands..."
(Tori Amos)
"twenty-five years old and a bachelors degree
your parents helped out with graduation fees
the loans were never enough
the credit cards are calling your bluff, fold your hand, cut them up, move away
or you'll be payin' them off till your kids grow old
and do the same..."
(Rilo Kiley. Except I have no credit cards.)
And, as always, "It's enough to be on my way, it's enough just to cover ground, it's enough to be moving on."