calm
paka. 40 questions about my last 12 months.*1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
I got a tattoo. I dealt with chronic illness. I successfully restored my website from backup. I joined a local Go club. I cashed in savings bonds. I posted to an adult filter in my journal. And once
kadyg left for cooking school, I lived (at least for 5 days a week) in a place I wasn't sharing with any other housemates. 2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
2K7 wasn't a big resolution year for me; with my big hike behind me and a year of bearing down on work ahead, I didn't bother. I don't see any pressing need for resolutions in 2008 either.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Our downstairs neighbors (the ones who run the pagan bookstore). Pending for 2008: My older brother's wife; and Tychem.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not personally close, no, but
malytwotails' husband Bear (who I never met) passed on in October.5. What countries did you visit?
Boston. (Seriously, guys, take your state and secede already. I want to have someplace to flee to once the US goes down the toilet.)
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
More income than expenses. Also, a reasonably complete TTU wiki.
7. What date(s) from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Ummm .... umm ... er ... I turned 30 on July 20?
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Ummm .... umm ... er ... I turned 30 on July 20?
9. What was your biggest failure?
Ummm .... umm ... er ... I turned 30 on July 20?
(Seriously. On the heels of 2006's Pacific Crest Trail hike, this year has been exceptionally bland by comparison. Plus I've been dealing with work, illness, and solitary housekeeping. I'm in a lull between periods of exceptionality.)
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
After I got a nasty cat bite in January, I spent most of the next nine months fighting off some sort of chronic intestinal-tract issue that left me with apparently random diarrhea, as well as some occasional severe relapses. Thank the gods that my intestinal flora seem to have restabilized; I look forward to a diarrhea-free year in '08.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
My Mac Mini, back in about May. It's the first time that I've procured a new computer for myself. I'm using it right now to type this up. :)
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
kadyg, who went back to cooking school and has been acing all her classes -- on top of part-time jobs to cover her school expenses. Yay lovely wife!13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Pretty much every politician at the national level; the GOP for blatantly trashing the country and the Democrats for (largely) letting them get away with it despite majorities in both Congressional houses. The mass media, for being fully complicit in it. The American public; for not caring. I'm stopping now.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Over half of it to rent -- with
kadyg in San Francisco most of the time, I'm treading water here.15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Getting a parking ticket dismissed, to quote the letter, "in the interest of justice." ]B=8D
16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
"Still Alive."
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a. Happier or sadder?
About the same.
b. Thinner or fatter?
About the same. Definitely fatter than a year and a half ago; I was down to probably 170 (which is skin and bones on my 6'4" frame) during the hike.
c. Richer or poorer?
In terms of actual net worth, richer. But that's only because my parents just gave me some savings bonds to cash in for an investment account -- in actual liquid funds, I've been slowly falling behind all year.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Magic work. Hiking. Writing.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Being sick.
20. How
kadyg and I visited my parents, and found out my younger sister just got engaged.21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Not with anyone new.
22. How many one-night stands?
... Er? New Year's Meme, what kind of meme are you? You don't know me very well.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
We still don't have any television service, and I'm more glad by the year that that's the case. I'd have to say "Babylon 5," since
kadyg and I Netflix'd the whole run and watched it end to end.24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
People who think questions like this are good things to air out publically. Actually, no, I'm pretty sure I hated them last year too.
25. What was the best book you read?
What leaps to mind first is The Prestige. I'm a big reader, but I tackle very few actual books these days.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
That Amoeba Records (in San Francisco and Berkeley) has INCREDIBLY COOL 99-cent bins.
27. What did you want and get?
The biggest win was my tattoo. (And my drunken second one. Have I mentioned that yet?)
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Stardust.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Turned 30. I closed out my 20s by working a 16-hour day, and welcomed my 30s with a 10-hour day. Meh. At least I got a good LJ post out of it.
30. What is at least one thing that would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Ummm ... advertising for a threesome on Craigslist? </in-joke> Universal health care? Seeing Bush impeached? Having a wealthy patron decide to throw lots of money at me so I could write full-time? Hiking the PCT again? Not having to save a rug from cat vomit?
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
To quote Yogi's PCT Handbook: "If I met you in the Sierra, and it had been nine days since I last ate restaurant food, and you had a piping hot pepperoni pizza with extra sauce and extra cheese, and you wanted to trade your pizza for my Marmot DriClime Windshirt ... well, I guess I'd drool while watching you eat that pizza. You ain't gettin' my Windshirt." Seriously, this jacket's become four-season gear for me; it and a thin Polartec fleece cap have singlehandedly kept me from freezing all year.
32. What kept you sane?
Magic work, hiking, and writing. Though in approximately the opposite order.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
O_o
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
As much as I'd like to say something like "the national GOP's wholesale embrace of torture as a legitimate tactic," I'm very close to developing an obsession with health care reform. This country needs to join the rest of the industrialized world and remove the profit motive from health insurance.
35. Who did you miss the most this year?
kadyg, who's been at school.36. Who was the best new person you met?
You.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
"If your behavior overtakes The Onion's satire, YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING WRONG."[*]
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?
If something I wrote myself counts:
"One [wolf] hunted at the factory, /
'Cause it wasn't all that far /
One hunted at the factory, /
Stopped to hang out at the bar /
Say last month he made supervisor, /
Got a wife and kids and car."
-- "Three Wolves," Dark Eyed Cats. It's been a pretty domestic year.
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* Meaningless footnote added due to complaint from wife about post footnotelessness.