2008: The Year in Words
Jan. 31st, 2009 02:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenepelWell I'm in Norfolk at my parents and of course am the only one still awake, so I have some time to kill. Thus I finally got around to filling these out - more for my record keeping then anything else. Two end-of-year memes:
In this first one I deleted the questions I couldn't be bothered to answer, so that's why there are numbers missing.
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Got a kitten of my own - just me, not my family I mean.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't think I made any - I kind of don't bother. I mean there's stuff I want to do and I know it in my head, but it's not exactly "resolutions". Anyway, I have one big one this year - or well a thing I need/want to deal with/figure out once and for all. And I've started on it already. But it's not LJ ready yet. Sorry people. :)
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not a one. This year will be the baby year though - I think I know of five pregnancies right now!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No one super close. One of my old middle school teachers died about a month ago.
5. What countries did you visit?
Germany, Greece, Turkey, Serbia, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, USA
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A love life :)
7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Well Nov 4th of course. Also Sept 28 which was the day we moved into Awesome Manor.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
It's pretty sad that I can't think of anything big enough to list. Changing jobs? Getting out of the Allen Road house lease-sage alive and with most of my money? Moving into Awesome Manor? Winning Nano depite being on holiday for two weeks of it? Being the witness for my (uni) best friend Kristen's wedding? See, there's nothing spectacular there. It was a good year, but not exactly a banner one.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting the WP gig for samurai.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
colds here and there, not much else
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Nimbus, if you count giving a "donation" to the Cat Protection League as buying.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Um, I'll be boring and say America's I guess. You know, getting Obama in and all.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The flip side of the coin - America's for not ELECTING HILLARY INSTEAD!
14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The election. I think I spent more time with Americans in London than I ever have before because of it. Also, I stood and yelled to canvas people to register to vote. That's so out of character it's crazy.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
No clue. Sorry!
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? fatter
iii. richer or poorer? richer
(Hahahaha I'm a rich fat cat. Although not really.)
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
reading, writing (not arithmetic - I get plenty of that!)
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
being lazy
20. How will you be spending New Years?
We spent it at AM with my bro and some friends. And we played croquet at 3AM and the Herseys were triumphant!
21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Nope
22. How many one-night stands?
Hahahahaha! Yeah right.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Of things actually currently on air, I would have to say Gossip Girl. I grow more and more addicted every week. Blair FTW.
25. What was the best book you read?
I'm slightly annoyed with my reading this year, since I actually bothered to type up what I read. And I didn't start until May, but I really didn't expect to be so far below (61) the 100 book thing. I actually didn't think 100 would be a problem - I guess I watched too much TV now that we have a big screen and people who will watch series DVDs with me! So anyway, we'll see this next year how that goes. But actually the main thing was that I hardly read any non-fiction (5). And I do know this about myself (I'm a total fiction-whore), but it seems a reasonable thing to work on. So I'm gonna try at least one NF book a month. I already have about four in my room lent from both Rach and my bro that I'm interested in, plus I read my January one, so that seems like a good start.
Ok, right, best book? Twilight. No, Breaking Dawn - love me some pillow biting and vampire babies! Ok, kidding. Yuck. Hmm, so I actually have a tie. Midnight's Children (S Rushdie) was pretty incredible (recommended by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spectralbovine) - it was a great mix of the mundane and the magical, and the characters in it were so fascinating. Also The Night Watch (S Waters) with its backwards storyline. I absolutely loved that because it changed the whole way you read the book, with your expectation being kind of squashed - I felt like I was left floundering, although in a good way. Honorable mention to The Sun Also Rises (can't believe I never read that before) with its decadent expats, and Lady Audley's Secret and The Moonstone for their old fashioned views and unreliable narrators which made things so much more complicated and thus often made me want to bang my head against the wall. For non-fiction I've got to give it to the Extra Virgin series, which made me look at Italy in a whole new way.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
She & Him
27. What did you want and get?
A kitten!
28. What did you want and not get?
an Ipod shuffle
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Twilight. JK! (That's probably not funny the second time huh? Or the first.) I guess probably The Dark Knight. Easy answer, but seriously we hardly ever go to the cinema. It kind of sucks. Can that be a resolution? To see more movies?
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 28. It was a pretty fabulous night out actually. We went to this great Japanese restaurant in Camden, and then we went Scottish dancing, which everyone ended up loving despite half the group saying they weren't gonna do it. Then we went to a pub and drank the night away. And when they closed, four of us (Rach, Seb, Phil & I) went to Jazz bar. LOVE JAZZ BAR! We ended up wandering home (to my place) at about 530 in the morning, and stopping for bagels on the way. Oh and also Rach got locked in my hallway. Or was that another night? Well, either way, it was epic.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Getting the WP thing.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Milo V (as per the usual), Leighton Meester.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Um gee I can't think of one. ;)
36. Who did you miss?
My brother. Stupid boy who lives on the other side of the world.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
We met a bunch of great people actually - Amy, Clairelazyclaire & Kaite ladyvivien come immediately to mind as people who I can't believe I didn't know a year ago.
Aw, this is my first full year of LJ! So I had to do the same meme that I did last year and snag the first few lines from each month's first entry...
January: So I got nudged, I actually got NUDGED byadinarj and now I just feel like a bum for not writing in forever.
Febuary: Hairspray was totally awesome, our seats were fabulous. Oh I LOVE this musical!!
March: Thanks toadinarj who helped me fix this entry in HTML so that I knew how to do some cool new things using coding.
April: I am not happy. Last night, our internet didn't work. I should have called Virgin Media and complained, but quite frankly that never seems to work.
May: I figured I should post the end of the saga. Today, historically, A NEW LEASE WAS SIGNED!! I feel as if I had accomplished some fantastic thing, instead of just managing to get people to do something simple that they should have done a month ago.
June: It's Tuesday, so I'm back at work, back to normal. I guess. The weekend was great, although my dad's retirement party was a bit of a letdown. He's been there 35 years, so I just kind of feel like it should have been something bigger than it was.
July: My best friend from university just called to tell me that she is engaged. I mean, it's been a long time coming, it's a four year relationship, so I'm not exactly surprised. And yet it still knocked me for six.
August: So I’m at work, trying not to worry about all the things I should be doing other than being at work, unable to do them.
September: I woke up this morning with "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" (Crystal Gayle ) in my head. Which is strange, because I don't think I've heard that song in years.
October: The first episode of the virtual season airs tonight! This is the culmination of a whole lot of work - brainstorming and story-mapping over the summer by the entire team, as well as some super organisation from our head writersjewelsverne and robinpoppins.
November: Look whatiamseb made! It's OBAMA BINGO! for election night. Go there and it will create cards for you to print and mark when various states turn blue.
December: Yeah I don't really know why I'm up at 8AM on a Sunday. It unusual for me, at least.
Huh, quite a bit of name-checking in those. I wonder if I unconsciously put people's names up front to draw their attention or something?
Man that was a lot of typing! I wonder who actually made it through that. Medals all round.
In this first one I deleted the questions I couldn't be bothered to answer, so that's why there are numbers missing.
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Got a kitten of my own - just me, not my family I mean.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't think I made any - I kind of don't bother. I mean there's stuff I want to do and I know it in my head, but it's not exactly "resolutions". Anyway, I have one big one this year - or well a thing I need/want to deal with/figure out once and for all. And I've started on it already. But it's not LJ ready yet. Sorry people. :)
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not a one. This year will be the baby year though - I think I know of five pregnancies right now!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No one super close. One of my old middle school teachers died about a month ago.
5. What countries did you visit?
Germany, Greece, Turkey, Serbia, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, USA
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A love life :)
7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Well Nov 4th of course. Also Sept 28 which was the day we moved into Awesome Manor.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
It's pretty sad that I can't think of anything big enough to list. Changing jobs? Getting out of the Allen Road house lease-sage alive and with most of my money? Moving into Awesome Manor? Winning Nano depite being on holiday for two weeks of it? Being the witness for my (uni) best friend Kristen's wedding? See, there's nothing spectacular there. It was a good year, but not exactly a banner one.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting the WP gig for samurai.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
colds here and there, not much else
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Nimbus, if you count giving a "donation" to the Cat Protection League as buying.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Um, I'll be boring and say America's I guess. You know, getting Obama in and all.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The flip side of the coin - America's for not ELECTING HILLARY INSTEAD!
14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The election. I think I spent more time with Americans in London than I ever have before because of it. Also, I stood and yelled to canvas people to register to vote. That's so out of character it's crazy.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
No clue. Sorry!
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? fatter
iii. richer or poorer? richer
(Hahahaha I'm a rich fat cat. Although not really.)
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
reading, writing (not arithmetic - I get plenty of that!)
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
being lazy
20. How will you be spending New Years?
We spent it at AM with my bro and some friends. And we played croquet at 3AM and the Herseys were triumphant!
21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Nope
22. How many one-night stands?
Hahahahaha! Yeah right.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Of things actually currently on air, I would have to say Gossip Girl. I grow more and more addicted every week. Blair FTW.
25. What was the best book you read?
I'm slightly annoyed with my reading this year, since I actually bothered to type up what I read. And I didn't start until May, but I really didn't expect to be so far below (61) the 100 book thing. I actually didn't think 100 would be a problem - I guess I watched too much TV now that we have a big screen and people who will watch series DVDs with me! So anyway, we'll see this next year how that goes. But actually the main thing was that I hardly read any non-fiction (5). And I do know this about myself (I'm a total fiction-whore), but it seems a reasonable thing to work on. So I'm gonna try at least one NF book a month. I already have about four in my room lent from both Rach and my bro that I'm interested in, plus I read my January one, so that seems like a good start.
Ok, right, best book? Twilight. No, Breaking Dawn - love me some pillow biting and vampire babies! Ok, kidding. Yuck. Hmm, so I actually have a tie. Midnight's Children (S Rushdie) was pretty incredible (recommended by
spectralbovine) - it was a great mix of the mundane and the magical, and the characters in it were so fascinating. Also The Night Watch (S Waters) with its backwards storyline. I absolutely loved that because it changed the whole way you read the book, with your expectation being kind of squashed - I felt like I was left floundering, although in a good way. Honorable mention to The Sun Also Rises (can't believe I never read that before) with its decadent expats, and Lady Audley's Secret and The Moonstone for their old fashioned views and unreliable narrators which made things so much more complicated and thus often made me want to bang my head against the wall. For non-fiction I've got to give it to the Extra Virgin series, which made me look at Italy in a whole new way.26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
She & Him
27. What did you want and get?
A kitten!
28. What did you want and not get?
an Ipod shuffle
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Twilight. JK! (That's probably not funny the second time huh? Or the first.) I guess probably The Dark Knight. Easy answer, but seriously we hardly ever go to the cinema. It kind of sucks. Can that be a resolution? To see more movies?
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 28. It was a pretty fabulous night out actually. We went to this great Japanese restaurant in Camden, and then we went Scottish dancing, which everyone ended up loving despite half the group saying they weren't gonna do it. Then we went to a pub and drank the night away. And when they closed, four of us (Rach, Seb, Phil & I) went to Jazz bar. LOVE JAZZ BAR! We ended up wandering home (to my place) at about 530 in the morning, and stopping for bagels on the way. Oh and also Rach got locked in my hallway. Or was that another night? Well, either way, it was epic.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Getting the WP thing.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Milo V (as per the usual), Leighton Meester.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Um gee I can't think of one. ;)
36. Who did you miss?
My brother. Stupid boy who lives on the other side of the world.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
We met a bunch of great people actually - Amy, Claire
lazyclaire & Kaite ladyvivien come immediately to mind as people who I can't believe I didn't know a year ago.Aw, this is my first full year of LJ! So I had to do the same meme that I did last year and snag the first few lines from each month's first entry...
January: So I got nudged, I actually got NUDGED by
adinarj and now I just feel like a bum for not writing in forever. Febuary: Hairspray was totally awesome, our seats were fabulous. Oh I LOVE this musical!!
March: Thanks to
adinarj who helped me fix this entry in HTML so that I knew how to do some cool new things using coding. April: I am not happy. Last night, our internet didn't work. I should have called Virgin Media and complained, but quite frankly that never seems to work.
May: I figured I should post the end of the saga. Today, historically, A NEW LEASE WAS SIGNED!! I feel as if I had accomplished some fantastic thing, instead of just managing to get people to do something simple that they should have done a month ago.
June: It's Tuesday, so I'm back at work, back to normal. I guess. The weekend was great, although my dad's retirement party was a bit of a letdown. He's been there 35 years, so I just kind of feel like it should have been something bigger than it was.
July: My best friend from university just called to tell me that she is engaged. I mean, it's been a long time coming, it's a four year relationship, so I'm not exactly surprised. And yet it still knocked me for six.
August: So I’m at work, trying not to worry about all the things I should be doing other than being at work, unable to do them.
September: I woke up this morning with "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" (Crystal Gayle ) in my head. Which is strange, because I don't think I've heard that song in years.
October: The first episode of the virtual season airs tonight! This is the culmination of a whole lot of work - brainstorming and story-mapping over the summer by the entire team, as well as some super organisation from our head writers
jewelsverne and robinpoppins.November: Look what
iamseb made! It's OBAMA BINGO! for election night. Go there and it will create cards for you to print and mark when various states turn blue. December: Yeah I don't really know why I'm up at 8AM on a Sunday. It unusual for me, at least.
Huh, quite a bit of name-checking in those. I wonder if I unconsciously put people's names up front to draw their attention or something?
Man that was a lot of typing! I wonder who actually made it through that. Medals all round.
