2012 Year In Review
For the 8th consecutive year, I present to you:
1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before?
Graduated with a Master’s degree, worked as a contractor, got my first “real” job, worked in government, wrote a thesis, willingly visit my family just to visit, travel to Kentucky (rather than through it), go to Harper’s Ferry, visited a vineyard, started regularly shopping at a Farmer’s Market, took the train as a regular part of my commute, wrote a chapter of regulation, actually finished Proust’s “Swann’s Way,” traveled to Alaska, celebrated my 25th birthday with 25 days of events, ate a Georgetown Cupcake (vanilla birthday cake), discovered the joys of Peruvian chicken, went camping in Delware and read a Barbara Kingsolver novel at Rehoboth Beach,
2. Did you keep your New Year’s Resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I’m sure that my NYR were something like “be less lazy,” “find and take advantage of more opportunities,” “stop watching online tv,” “don’t procrastinate,” etc. And no, no I didn’t keep them because life is hard and change is harder.
I don’t know if I quite believe in New Year’s Resolutions so much as I believe in trying to reflect on one’s life and improving when necessary. There’s no reason why January 1st should be the one time each year when an individual seeks to improve themselves. I have a lot of work to do in general, really. I suppose that my NYR (or, more generally, my personal resolutions) are:
-Stop watching online TV. Period. It’s too easy a cop-out and there are too many things to read and do to excuse such brain laziness.
-Read more books that challenge me.
-Write more. Whether I write the RVF book, some policy article, or the All American Novel, I should determine that there will be one completed piece on its way to publication by the end of the year.
-Get a better job.
-Generally spend time more wisely. I’m young and pretty healthy, don’t have much to tie me down, and have lots of opportunities and energy to learn languages, take dance or yoga lessons, learn more math, etc. I think that ditching the lazy tv habit (a carryover from the days of 2008 illness and grad school procrastination) will help with this quite a bit.
-Spend more time on self-reflection. It’s something that I tend to spend less time on whenever I’m in a relationship and there’s no good excuse for it. Sure, Joe takes up more time than my journaling can bear, but I should spend more time reflecting on me so that I have more opportunities to self-correct mid-stream rather than after I’ve spent a year practicing poor self-discipline.
There are other areas to improve or habits to form - like making a solid financial plan and advanced directive, regularly exercising or taking care of my skin for the future - but these things are less esoteric than the others. They’ve already made it to the “to do list.”
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
According to Facebook, most people I know got engaged, married, pregnant, or became parents in 2012. Rachelle L and Emma B, my two friends from second grade, both became mothers this year, cousin Crystal had her third boy, and a variety of other HS friends became parents.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Gratefully, no. In February, Joe’s college girlfriend, Allison, was killed in a horrible car accident. She lost her life at the age of 23. That in itself was tragic enough. Though I never met her, the thought of that loss is enough to make me cry.
5. What countries did you visit?
No countries. I stayed stateside and my traveling consisted of the following:
June: Delaware camping and Rehoboth Beach in honor of my 25th birthday.
June: 3-day visit to Raymore, MO to meet the family
August: Alaska! Anchorage, Seward, Denali, Talkeetna, Wasilla!
September: northern Virginia, to visit the Molon Lave vineyard with Caitlyn and Mike
October: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia with Joe to celebrate our one year anniversary
November: Cincinnati, Ohio and Lexington, Kentucky to visit Thanksgiving with Joe’s family
December: Raymore, to celebrate Christmas with the family and get teeth pulled.
6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
A better job, more travel, and more self-discipline. The latter has been steadily improving as I ate, so the prospects for at least one of the three are good.
7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched in your memory forever?
May 20th: Graduation from the University of Maryland with my Master’s in Public Policy
July 9th: My first day of work with the State
October 12th: One year Anniversary with Joe
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Graduating, getting a real job within a month of graduation.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Completely failing the interview with my dream consulting firm in March
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I came down with more colds and flu episodes toward the end of the year than is normal or preferable, but I attribute it to not sleeping very much due to my awful commute. I also had a minor flare during the last three days of 2012, but it seems to have righted itself. Considering the potential for illness or injury, I came out of 2012 unscathed.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
I bought an entire new wardrobe at two Ohio thriftstores with Caitlyn’s mom over Thanksgiving for practically nothing, so that was a great (series of) purchase(s). I am also a fan of the various computer things I purchased - a printer, monitor, and tower (all used and functioning)
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Joe is wonderful and is always a delight. I celebrate the wonderful way he treats me everyday. My mother no longer being a kook is also worth celebrating, as is the fact that Prof B. let me slide by.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Olivier is just a terrible person and made living as a roommate difficult. Otherwise, I was only disappointed in myself at various intervals.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Mostly tuition and rent, though I spent a good deal on a professional wardrobe, Alaska, and food.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My interview with the consulting firm, graduating, my 25 Day Birthday celebration, visiting Joe’s family in November, getting braces, getting a job.
16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
“Little Lion Man” by Mumford & Sons (I listened to it on repeat as I furiously wrote papers during my last semester of graduate school.)
“We are young” by Fun (It was all over the radio and seems appropriate, given the speeding rate of my fading youth.)
“Somebody that I Used To Know” by Gotye (Also all over the radio and also played on repeat as I furiously wrote papers, especially my thesis.)
17. Compared to this time last year are you:
a) happier or sadder?
Happier!
b) thinner or fatter?
Thinner!
c) richer or poorer?
I make more money but am further in debt so…. draw?
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Travel. Slightly more going out on weekends (I’m in my mid-20s - aren’t I supposed to want to stay out late on Fridays instead of go to sleep at 8pm?), because youth is fleeting and exhaustion be damned.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
I procrastinated on a grad school project that made my life uncomfortable. I wish I had done less of that.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas was spent with the Missouri family. I woke up at 7am, made homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee while Mom putzed around the house. When everyone was awake, we sat in a kinda-circle and passed gifts around, unwrapping them one by one (this is in contrast to the present frenzy of my childhood). We then cleaned up and I helped Mom cook Christmas dinner for Grandpa. We made roast beef (per Grandpa’s request), mashed potatoes, baked whipped sweet potatoes, butterscotch pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and green beans. I was responsible for the sweet potatoes, gravy, and butterscotch pie. (According to Mom, the butterscotch pie tasted just like Grandma used to make.) Joe and I spent about 2 hours amusing Grandpa with cards, recording him singing with me, and looking through photo albums before returning him to the nursing home. We also spent about an hour at Cathy and George’s, where Joe met Uncle Pat and the crazy Greek side of the family, and spent about a half hour at Dusty’s Grandma’s house (the party was either too old or too young for us - a bunch of Dusty’s friends or his Grandma and Mom and such). By that time, Joe and I were tired and went to bed in preparation for our super early flight on the 26th.
21. Did you fall in love in 2012?
I didn’t think that this stuff was possible anymore, but I did. There’s a great John Greene quotation, “I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly at first, then all at once.” That applies to Joe
22. How many one-night stands?
Zero.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Sigh. I am philosophically opposed to TV, but it’s just so easy to fall into the TV trap that I watched more shows this year than I have since I was 13. My favorite TV show is probably Modern Family, though I also watched a lot of Mad Men and Archer.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Hate? I don’t know if I hate anyone. I’m super pissed off at the gun lobby and Tea Partiers in general, but hate is too strong a word to describe my feelings for those jerks.
25. What was the best book you read?
Proust is pretty good, but the book that really stands out is Haycox’s Alaska: An American Colony. Few things beat a really well-written history book and Haycox nailed it. Alaska is a beautiful wilderness with a bloody and politically charged history whose culture isn’t replicated anywhere else in North America. It was the perfect preparation for my trip and I loved the book.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Joe. His indie folk music is pretty great and letting him introduce me to a whole host of artists has been the experience of a lifetime. I don’t know if there is any single artist that qualifies as the “greatest” musical discovery for 2012 - nothing quite comes to mind.
27. What did you want and get?
My degree, a job, to stay with Joe, a better wardrobe, to travel AWAY ANYWHERE DEAR GOD GET ME OUT OF BALTIMORE, braces.
28. What did you want and not get?
A good job. A Fulbright. A way to GET OUT OF BALTIMORE.
29. What was your favorite film of the year?
I didn’t see very many movies this year. In theatres, Joe and I saw Titanic (it was our 6 month anniversary and the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the ship, so we went to see Titanic in order to be ironic), Moonrise Kingdom, and Lincoln. At home, we watched a lot of Ingmar Bergman films. I think that Lincoln was my favorite, but the options are few.
30. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
When I was 18, Valerie hosted “The 40 Days of Gary” to celebrate Gary’s 40th birthday. Since 25 was kind of a big deal (you’re not a kid anymore), I decided to copy her idea and host a 25 Day Birthday Challenge for myself - 25 days of fun activities, preferably things I’ve never done before, with my birthday party in the middle. For 12 days before June 2nd, I went out for Indian food and walked through Georgetown, threw a party on the actual birthday day, and went camping and built box forts for the 12 days after June 2nd. The full list of activities can be found on a Google Calendar here (go to May 2012 and June 2012): 25 Day Birthday Challenge
31. What would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Getting the job at the consulting firm.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Young Professional On A Budget.
33. What kept you sane?
Music, journaling, going on the occasional walk, and watching online tv to forget about the immense amounts of work that I had to do. Hearing compliments and receiving support about my accomplishments from professors I admire also helped to keep the ego humming when my GA advisor had reduced me to a shell of a human being.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Hillary Clinton is wonderful, and Bill’s speech at the DNC was just fabulous.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Healthcare, obviously, women’s issues, and guns. These are unoriginal preferences given the national dialogue, but I was definitely “stirred.”
36. Who did you miss?
I miss Steve O, who has dropped all contact with anyone consorting with his former girlfriend, and it sucks. I also generally miss hanging out with everyone in grad school.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
Susan H and Susan T at work are pretty phenomenal people - competent, brilliant, knowledgeable, fun, supportive, and organized. I really like both of them. Jon M, my roommate, is just generally a wonderful person
38. What was a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012?
Always be twice as prepared for something as you think you ought to be. Elbow to the face or no, there is no reason why I shouldn’t have been able to nail that consulting job interview.
39. Did you fall in love in 2012?
Just the once. It took a long while to happen and then - that was it.
40. Quote a song lyric to sum up your year:
This is long, but it’s completely applicable. Way to go, Alanis.
I'm broke but I'm happy
I'm poor but I'm kind
I'm short but I'm healthy, yeah
I'm high but I'm grounded
I'm sane but I'm overwhelmed
I'm lost but I'm hopeful baby
What it all comes down to
Is that everything's gonna be fine fine fine
'cause I've got one hand in my pocket
And the other one is giving a high five
I feel drunk but I'm sober
I'm young and I'm underpaid
I'm tired but I'm working, yeah
I care but I'm restless
I'm here but I'm really gone
I'm wrong and I'm sorry baby…
I'm free but I'm focused
I'm green but I'm wise
I'm hard but I'm friendly baby
I'm sad but I'm laughing
I'm brave but I'm chickenshit
I'm sick but I'm pretty baby
And what it all boils down to
Is that no one's really got it figured out just yet…