New Year's Meme

As seen around, most recently at Dawn's. Happy New Year, everyone!:

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Drove more than 1000 miles without another adult in the car (and did all the driving myself--usually I navigate).

2. Did you keep your New Years’ Resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't think I made any New Year's resolutions last year. Some years, I write down my hopes/fears/expectations for the year, but I didn't do that last year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes! Historian Friend had a delightful baby on my half-birthday in February, and Neighbor Friends had a delightful baby in the summer, shortly before we moved.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Quiet Friend. I miss him. This time last year, I was blogging about his medical problems.

5. What countries did you visit?

My only travel was in the US (unless you count Disneyl@and as a world unto itself).

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

A legal marriage to Politica.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Election Night. The night we got to Germany. The night Quiet Friend died. I may not always remember the precise dates, but those are all nights I recall with intense clarity, because on each of them, my world changed.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Moving, and getting settled into certain kinds of new routines here in Germany.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Hmmm....not sure here. December's spate of bread failures comes to mind, but surely there was something bigger? Had some family-of-origin boundary/holiday issues.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A Stokke chair for Curious Girl (on craigslist!) and panniers for my bike, so I can ride to work now.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Curious Girl: an exemplary traveler.

Lesbian Dad: an exemplary blogger and activist, who wrote a lot of beautiful words about marriage this year.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
The K of C, the LDS, and everyone else who supported Proposition 8.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Into houses: our current one, and the one we are still trying to sell in Old State.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Marriage fantasies. For the first time in my life, I'm having wedding fantasies, though they are followed by periods of dejection on marriage, too.

The election.

Germany.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
"Best Days of our Lives": the soundtrack to my drive from Old State to Germany (see the link above on question 12).

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier, I think. I'm missing good friends prodigiously right now, but I'm glad we've moved.
ii. thinner or fatter? About the same.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer in terms of income; more cash-strapped in terms of the unsold house. .

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Writing. Sleeping.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Mindless websurfing (usually too late at night, and addictively unsatisfying). Fretting about personnel matters at home (when it doesn't add anything to my ability to help matters)

20. How did you spend Christmas?
At home, with Politica and Curious Girl.

21. What LJ users did you meet?
Like Dawn, I'll amend this to how many online friends did I meet for the first time in 07: Artsweet, Shannon, Dawn, and Jenna. And Rev. Dr. Mom, and That Silly Mommy.

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?

As Dawn said in her answer to this question, I think I fall a little more in love with Politica all the time.

23. How many one-night stands?

I'll quote Dawn here: "This is for the younger blogging set, isn’t it?"

24. What was your favourite TV program?
The Daily Show, Dr. Who, and Xena.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No. I don't really hate anyone.

26. What was the best book you read?
New mystery authors I'm enjoying: Archer Mayer and Sarah Stewart Taylor. One of the most compelling books I've read was Jennifer Boylan's She's Not There, a memoir that Joyce recommended to me (there are uncanny parallels between Joyce and Jenny Boylan, although R!chard Russ0 is not Joyce's best friend, and Joyce (and before her, George) is a friend who grows more likeable over time. The narrator in She's Not There (which is one presentation of the real Jenny Boylan; I'm sure there are tons of things she left out of her transgender narration) got less likeable to me over the course of the book. Some of the major contours of their lives might be the same, but their personalities are quite different).

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
That ocarinas are great fun in the car.

28. What did you want and get?
A house in the neighborhood I wanted to live in.

29. What did you want and not get?
An architecturally interesting house in said neighborhood. An office with a real window.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
I'm not even sure I saw a film in 2008. No, wait, I did: the post-apocalyptic film with Will Smith in it whose name I forget. I re-saw Charlie Brown movies in 2008 and enjoyed them.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
46 last August, and I was in Charming College Town, celebrating with Historian Friend, her lovely boys, and Curious Girl. Politica was already in Germany, dealing with the house. We had wedding cake for my birthday and Messy Boy's birthday, and I missed Politica. Last week, on a day when I was missing Historian Friend, we designated another day The Official Birthday, and we went out for breakfast at one of my favorite breakfast restaurants.

32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If my best friends and CG's old school had been magically transported here. I miss them, big time.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
If I could describe it, I'd probably have more of one. I have been wearing more earth tones. And I'm happy to have moved to Germany, where my clothes seem to fit in better than they did in Old State. I'm not much for fashion.

34. What kept you sane?

Twitter (which surprised me--when I first read about it, it seemed pretty useless). Politica. The lake. Bike rides. Snuggles. Friends in the computer. Pseudonymousless Friend, Historian Friend, Mississippi Friend.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Not sure. Which blogger riveted me, though: Lesbian Dad. Not sure that counts as fancying (in fact, does one fancy butches? why not? It's an amusing juxtaposition, the fancy and the butch). But her words this fall: quite captivating.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The presidential election, generally, and marriage equality.

37. Who did you miss?
Quiet Friend. The world is a poorer place without him.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Joyce, my new/old friend. Runner up: all the great connections here in Germany and we're so grateful for them!

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Location, location, location. It's good to live in a place you feel connected to.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

If I wait to answer this question, this post may go up sometime in May. But if I hit post now, I'll probably think of a great answer during dinner. So I'll come back to this later.