Sunday, January 02, 2011

Annual Year-In-Review Survey

As I'm sure you'll remember from last year, I've done one of these every year since 2003 or 2004. And here we go!




1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?: So much. Went to couples therapy. Discovered roller derby. Interviewed for an actual salaried position. Stayed in a hotel by myself. Kept a cooking blog. Larped. Had a play I wrote performed. Acted in a lead role. Joined a rock band. Directed a show.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
These were my resolutions for last year:
1. Keep up aikido regularly at least until I move. (Failed. Turned out neither of us liked it all that much.)
2. Make it back to swing dancing at least twice a month. (Succeeded, for as long as I was living in Champaign-Urbana.)
3. Apply for graduate school by December 15th. (Succeeded!)
4. Find a job and activities in Chicagoland that will take my mind off of living in the suburbs again. (Became irrelevant.)

My resolutions for next year are as follows:
1. Be more athletic, specifically keeping up with roller derby and dance, but also getting out to exercise outside of these activities.
2. Put more effort into the relationships that matter to me, and particularly being more attentive and maintaining a better balance with Andy.
3. Have more direction to my life. Hopefully I’ll get accepted to grad school and make this easier, but I’d like to have something more concrete to aim for by this time next year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?:
Not that I recall.

4. Did anyone close to you die?:

My grandfather.

5. What countries did you visit?:
Wisconsin?

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?:
Further improved communication, to be more direct, an academic program to follow.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?:
Most of it—it’s been a memorable year. Specific dates include the end of February (for various shit hitting the fan), July 15th (moving day), October 8th and 9th (the weekend of Theatre Noir), October 22nd (Whately larp), Thanksgiving and Christmas (last ones in my childhood home).

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?:

Partnering with Chris Snapp to pull off the Anarch City show—working as a playwright, director, assistant director, actor, production manager, costume mistress, and logo designer. It was more work than I thought I was capable of doing well, but one thing I keep finding out is that I haven’t yet hit the limit of the work I’m capable of doing well. Although there are lots of things we can do next time to make it less insanity-producing for both of us.

Also, getting in my grad school application. I think I’ve done things better this time around, and I’m excited to see how it turns out.

9. What was your biggest failure?:
Failures of communication, compassion, and integrity. I spent the first half of this year being much more thoughtless and self-absorbed than I realized, and it hurt some people about whom I care very deeply.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?:
Lots of stress-related stomach problems—I lost a borderline-unhealthy amount of weight that my cooking is now quickly packing back on. Other than that, a few colds.

11. What was the best thing you bought?: 

Show props, derby gear, Saint-Germain, a pair of really cute boots.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?:
My family and friends, for pulling me through the rough patches when I could very easily have self-destructed. Andy, for tackling a host of new and thorny issues and for remaining constant.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?:

My own, in many instances. Also, that of the majority of Wisconsin voters. Seriously. SCOTT WALKER?! 

14. Where did most of your money go?:
Rent, gas, food, bills, moving, the show.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?:
Moving, derby, seeing friends, Sprklfck (the band), my Epic interview, anniversushi.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?:
Yoko Kanno “Be Human,” Billie Holliday “One For My Baby,” Tub Ring “Invalid,” JoCo “Still Alive,” Leonard Cohen “Famous Blue Raincoat,” Ludo “Skeletons On Parade,” Tim Minchin "Drowned" (and everything else he's written), all of the Sprklfck music

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
Happier.
ii. thinner or fatter? 
Slightly thinner.
iii. richer or poorer?
Poorer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?:
Working out, honest communication, self-examination.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?:
Procrastinating and wasting time on the internet.

20. How will you spend Christmas?:

I spent Christmas morning making cinnamon rolls with Andy at our apartment, then went to work for four hours. Then Andy and I drove down to Cary, where we split the evening between his family and mine.

22. Did you fall in love in 2010?:
I continued to be in love.

23. How many one-night stands?:
None.

24. What was your favorite TV program?:
Sherlock, Community, QI, Doctor Who (perennially), lots of Food Network stuff.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?:
No.

26. What was the best book you read?:
I can’t possibly judge. I read so many good books this year. Among the best were The Blank Slate, Mansfield Park, Lying Awake, the Coldfire trilogy, The Secret Life of Words, jPod (a reread), and a few my therapist assigned me.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?:
The Flashbulb, Tub Ring, Yoko Kanno, rediscovering Cake, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, the Eigenharp, that I can scream like a rockstar.

28. What did you want and get?:
To move to Madison, the show to go off successfully, my mother’s oak kitchen table, to find a way to save my grandmother’s piano, lots of kitchen equipment, blue hair, a second chance.

29. What did you want and not get?:
Lots of things, but most of which it turns out it’s better I didn’t get.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?:
The only one of this year’s films I saw was Inception, but I liked it pretty well.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?:
I turned 25. I went up to Madison with Ryan, went to a roller derby bout, drove back to Cary, had delicious birthday breakfast with Andy, stopped for an appointment, and drove back down to Urbana.


32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?:

Foresight that’s as clear as hindsight.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?:
Blue hair and Chuck Taylors. Finally free of educator casual, I’m now going with eclectic weirdo.

34. What kept you sane?:
I stayed sane?

34a. Okay, what kept you less crazy?
Therapy, my family, my friends, and breakfast in bed.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?:
Kaylee from Firefly.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?:
The Wisconsin elections. FOR REAL, GUYS? TEA PARTY WACKJOBS?

37. Who did you miss?:
My father. Every day.

38. Who was the best new person you met?:

In alphabetical order, and I’m counting people with whom I was acquainted but who I really didn’t get to know until this year as new meetings: Ali, Brandon, the Brotherhood, Doug, Elise, Fauna, Gretchen, Jian, Ron, Ryan, the Sin family.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
Don’t ever rest on your laurels. Thinking you’ve got everything figured out can lead you to become dangerously unobservant.

40. Quote a song lyric that describes the past year:
First half:
“Staying inside, lying in bed, noticing something that’s not there
Follow my heart, follow my head—I’ll follow anything that might get me somewhere…”
-Jonathan Coulton, “Big Bad World One”

Second half:
“The life I used to know when I was busy, always on the go
Left me with nothing to show
Now I feel that I can honestly say
 I’m living a suitable life
I’m glad I finally got it right…”
-Of Montreal, “The Gay Parade”

Posted by Silent Five @ 12:49 PM

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so, so glad that you came through this year. can we schedule a time to phonetawk soon, please? *bats eyelashes phone-appealingly*

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous @ 10:57 PM #
 
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Word of the Week

gymnosophy [jim-NAH-so-fee]

n. Philosophical, amusing, or nonsensical insights realized when naked, as in the shower or in bed. (recent coinage: att. S. Galasso, 2010)

Victoria and Albert enjoyed a spot of postprandial concupiscence culminating in a night of gymnosophy and coffee and crumpets at dawn.

The Silent Top Five: Bacon-Flavored Desserts

1) Bacon cheesecake.
2) Bacon gumballs.
3) Bacon ice cream.
4) Bacon-orange bars.
5) Bacon apple pie.

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