End of year meme

[cosmolinguist]

1. What did you do in 2014 that you'd never done before?:
Bought a house.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutons, and will you make more for next year?:
I don't do new year's resolutions. I know they aren't going to happen.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?:
Lucy did!

4. Did anyone close to you die?:
No.

5. What countries did you visit?:
Minnesota. Didn't go anywhere else this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014?:
Stability. Financial, mental, emotional, any kind really.

7. What date from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?:
March 20th we officially got the house. It was the 28th we moved in.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?:
Looking after the house, looking after Andrew.

9. What was your biggest failure?:
Doing such a terrible job of looking after myself. Letting things that I know need doing slide just because they are hard for me to do.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?:
Only mentally!

11. What was the best thing you bought?:
The house? Train tickets to Brighouse and lots of beer in The Ship.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?:
greyeyedeve, haggis, diffrentcolours. Em J. Andrew. magister

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?:
U.S. police officers, who seem to think killing young black men on a grand scale means their system is working as it should

14. Where did most of your money go?:
The house.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?:
My "official birthday" trip to Bletchley Park in the summer, and Dave's to the National Space Centre. magister's sister's wedding in the summer. Going to Headingley with miss_s_b for a brilliant day of test cricket. Rosetta. Alex and Richard's wedding. Getting shelves built so I could unpack all the boxes of books.

16. What song will always remind you of 2014?:
It hasn't been a very musical year for me, actually. I'm not sure.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you
i. happier or sadder? Sadder.
ii. thinner or fatter? About the same, I think?
iii. richer or poorer? So much poorer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?:
Job hunting.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?:
Procrastinating.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?:
Same as always: with my family in Minnesota.

21. Did you fall in love in 2014?:
Not with anyone new.

22. How many one night stands?:
Oh gods my life is just so not set up for one night stands to ever happen.

23. What was your favourite TV programme?:
Doctor Who. And I re-watched the first season of House of Cards before the new one was released in February; the second season was if anything even better.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?:
I try not to keep track of things like this.

25. What was the best book you read?:
I didn't read a lot this year, unfortunately. No attention span for books. I did really like Strange Days Indeed by Francis Wheen, which taught me a lot about Britain (and America, and other places) in the seventies, a subject about which I knew pretty much nothing, and it was really fascinating.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?:
In a way, it was how soothing I find western art music. I didn't discover anything new, but I discovered a use for old things.

27. What did you want and get?:
My mom to get better.

28. What did you want and not get?
Some career stability.

29. What was your favourite film this year?:
I saw a new-to-me, hideously of-its-time but very pretty, Cinerama movie.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?:
I'll be 33 -- I keep thinking I'll be 32, but I've already done that! greyeyedeve and I had a joint party yesterday, which was lots of fun. I probably won't do anything at all on my actual birthday, except pack.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?:
A stable job.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2014?:
I've started wearing trousers again, after shunning them for years.

33. What kept you sane?:
It might well be argued that nothing did! This year I tried beta blockers and went back on SSRIs, which I'm still not sure if they're helping because my life has been so full of variables I haven't been able to control for, but everyone seems to think I'm doing better than I was when I started them three or four months ago.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?:
Peter Capaldi, again.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?:
Anything with the word "immigration" in it. On a more personal level, it was a challenging year for the political activism I do, being secretary to a chair who thought I was "uncooperative." I thought he was infuriating and running the organization into the ground while taking credit for other people's work, so I guess we're even. One of the political issues that stirred me the most was backing another candidate for next year's chair, and I was absolutely delighted that it worked out. And I'm not secretary any more. Phew.

I think I will, perversely, be taking a step back from politics in 2015. I no longer hold either of the officer positions that I did this year, and I'm really not excited about campaigning for the Lib Dems or hearing about the upcoming election. I wish I could just hibernate until about June, which I hope will be enough time for it to have all settled down.

36. Who did you miss?:
My brother. My grandpa. My parents; I felt bad for being so far from my mom.

37. Who was the best new person you met?:
I've really enjoyed getting to meet some of James's family.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014:
Sometimes, if you want to go to the ball, you've got to be your own fairy godmother.

39. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?:
My parents and James, I imagine.

40. Quote a song that sums up your year:
Ring the bells that still can ring.

41. What was your favorite moment of the year?:
It's so difficult to choose a favorite of a whole year.

42. What was your least favorite moment of the year?:
When I really thought my mom was going to die.

43. Where were you when 2014 started?:
In Jen's front room, I think?

44. Who were you with?:
Friends.

45. Where will you be when 2014 ends?:
Having port and cheese with what Andrew has started calling "the Brighouses." I like to imagine this is their collective surname.

46. Who will you be with when 2014 ends?:
The Brighouses, and possibly Andrew if he isn't dead from jet lag (we'll have just gotten back that morning) or peopled out.

47. What was your favourite month of 2014?
June, maybe? The horrors of finding, buying and moving to a new house were mostly over. My parents' visit had been and gone, and I still had a job.

48. Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2014?:
I probably did, actually. I got given a lot of whisky, too!

49. Did you do a lot of drugs in 2014?:
Only caffeine and sugar and the aforementioned booze.

50. What are your plans for 2015?
Get a fucking job. Sort out the house a bit more. Get myself registered blind.

Comments

[sfred]

I like how we keep remaking surnames in ways that make sense with their origins.

[sfred]

Also, I love reading these posts: I have mostly finished writing mine but there are a few bits between now and the end of the year that I want to include.

[cosmolinguist]

I like these too, so much that I started doing this thinking it wouldn't be much fun -- I really haven't enjoyed 2014 very much at all! -- but surprisingly that didn't really come out as much as I thought in the questions this asks, and it was nice to focus on something besides my usual thought patterns of what the year has been like.

[sfred]

I'm glad it was nicer than you expected.

[cosmolinguist]

Yeah, I particularly like it because, since it's Andrew, there's no desire to make it appealing, it's just what seems most useful and functional to him. And it is really useful for us to have a simple way to refer to the lot of them. :)

[calissa]

2014 seems like it has been a tough year for many people. I hope 2015 brings you more joy.

[cosmolinguist]

Thank you. I hope it's good to you, too! 2014 does seem to have been a particularly rough year for so many people I know. A lot of people seem to be eager to get rid of it!

[calissa]

2014 was a bit more gentle on me than 2013 was, but I shall still be glad to greet a new year.

[softfruit.livejournal.com]

Oh my, end of year summaries. I knew there was something else to procrastinate with over the hols.

*swipes*
*changes q32 so it refers to the right year*

[barakta]

If I can help with any of your 2015 plans, do let me know, even if it's just moral support and pompom encouragement waving.

[cosmolinguist]

Thanks. I am making another concerted push to see what help/support exists that would be useful to me, navigating the "partially sighted" spectrum cos I'm feeling a lot less sighted than usual lately, for reasons I'm still not sure about. (This will be a big blog post of its own soon I think, as soon as I stop being so tired that I can't think properly or string a sentence together!) I would definitely benefit from your expertise/willingness to nerd about such things. :)