smell ya later, 2011
I have clear memories of doing this meme for many years and I even went through my LiveJournal archives looking for previous volumes. I can’t find them at all. Did I dream that I was doing them? Could I not dream more interesting things? Like, interesting but not as disturbing as the dream that I had last night in which I made kitten soup? (I blame the Percocet for that one.)
1. Where did you begin 2011?
At my mother-in-law’s. I was not pleased. The sister-in-law and her boyfriend were driving up from DC and the husband had to go DJ, so I was there with my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law, which is fine. However. The MIL and her mom insisted upon watching Wild Hogs which is really, really terrible. Then the husband texted to tell me that he was just going to stay out, which made me incredibly angry. The sister-in-law and boyfriend-in-law showed up a few minutes before 12 and brought those little canned Blanc de Blancs from Sofia Coppola. They were surprisingly not bad but I was very upset that I didn’t get to kiss the husband at midnight.
2. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Ran two 5ks. The Race for the Cure I don’t really count since I was forced to walk so much of it, but the Great Race was awesome. I really got why people like running races so much.
3. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Last year I said that I wanted to jog more and figure out a way to work it into almost every day. I didn’t quite accomplish this, though I was pretty good about going to the gym at work every day. The last few months of this year I got knocked off of my schedule and am definitely feeling crappy because of it. I’ve obtained a treadmill and want to get it set up in my house, which requires a room that’s been in progress for a long time to get finished so that I don’t always have to stress about fitting a workout into my workday if I can’t do so. I also have a lofty goal of running the Pittsburgh Marathon half marathon in May, but because of my recent injury I don’t know if I can swing that. I haven’t jogged in a few weeks because of it and I imagine it could be at least a month before I’m able to do so again.
4. Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Nope! I still have no desire to do any extracurricular learning.
5. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No, but some friends of ours are expecting baby #2 in 2012.
6. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thankfully.
7. What places did you visit?
Washington, D.C., Detroit, MI.
8. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Good health. I mean, I’m not riddled with disease but I’m potentially facing surgery and that’s scary. So no more of these things, thankyouverymuch.
9. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 25, 2011: I ran the Great Race 5k. December 6, 2011: my kid turned 10.
10. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
The Great Race 5k, taking really good care of my mental health, overcoming a really difficult professional situation.
11. What was your biggest failure?
I felt like I had less patience than ever with my kid. His tweenness is at odds with my inability to deal with snotty behavior. I’m trying, but it’s really hard.
12. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yep. I ran over my toe with the dishwasher. That toenail finally fell off and is slowly being replaced with this tiny, total failure of a nail. I’m far too embarrassed to get a pedicure now, which sucks. I hope it gets better. I also herniated a disc in my neck somehow because I’m talented like that.
13. What was the best thing you bought?
Workout clothes. Spare tshirts and whatnot are fine but dedicated workout clothes are a treat.
I bought WWE tickets for the baby twice, which is not at all my cup of tea but he had a blast.
Our kitten!
iPhone 4S!
Sade tickets!
My kid’s 10th birthday party at Games N’At!
And I’m going to say that laptop that I impulsively purchased because I eventually made the responsible decision to return it and not accrue that large chunk of credit card debt.
14. Whose behavior merited celebration?
I’m always proud of my kid. He is, indeed, being a very trying individual but he has moments of being aware of how uncool that is.
15. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I can’t really talk about it.
16. Where did most of your money go?
Repeated answer from last year (SIGH): All of my money went to paying the bills that I can pay right now. None of it went to savings or toward paying the bills that I can’t pay right now (student loans). And that’s all I want to say about that because it’s so embarrassing and depressing that I don’t want to get into it.
17. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I’ve had a kind of cheesy year where I have moments of being aware of how much good I have in my life and how much I love the people in it. I’ve always been such a sourpuss and to be able to be present and grateful has been very exciting.
18. What song will always remind you of 2010?
“By Your Side” by Sade
19. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? I think I’m about the same. I would have been thinner but the one-two punch of my neck putting me firmly on my ass for the time being, getting a little depressed and therefore overeating because of that, and the massive food fest of the holidays has me on the pudgier side of things for sure.
c) richer or poorer? Richer. In many ways.
20. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Same as last year: Reading books, taking pictures, writing, and being with people. I’ll also add that I wanted to jog more, do more yoga, and roller skate more. In 2012, after my neck is fixed, I’m going to go nuts.
21. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Whatever it was that caused my disc to herniate.
22. How did you spend Christmas?
Same as always: Christmas Eve was at my mother-in-law’s. Christmas morning was at our house, then we went to my mom’s house, then we went to the husband’s family’s house. There was a, um, high-spirited game of Cranium that nearly ended in fisticuffs.
23. Did you fall in love in 2011?
Yep. The baby is the love of my life. The husband and I have been together for 11 years and married for 5. And on more than one occasion, I looked at him and thought, “God DAMN!” That’s a good thing, right?
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men, The Walking Dead, True Blood, Bored to Death, Whitney, 2 Broke Girls, Beavis and Butthead, and I just recently started devouring American Horror Story.
25. What did you do for your birthday in 2011?
We had a small party at my mom’s house and went trick-or-treating. I also co-opted the Louis CK show that happened like a week later as part of my birthday celebration. The husband and I went to Morton’s beforehand which was CRAZY DELICIOUS. Drinks with JiveTurkey happened after the Louis CK show, which is always fun.
26. What was the best book you read?
The Great Gatsby and Slaughterhouse Five (I’ve been trying to read a lot of books that I should have read by now.)
27. What did you want and get?
New Christmas stockings (I’m blaming the pain medication, but I went on Pottery Barn Kids a week before Christmas and got us all fancy stockings with our names embroidered on them. Including the cats.)
A new iPhone. Mine was still functioning but really slow and old.
28. What did you want and not get?
I wanted to qualify for the public service loan forgiveness program but I am just TOO RICH (lulz). So, I’m back to the drawing board figuring out how to pay my loans. WHATEVER.
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
I have such a hard time remembering what movies I’ve seen. Wikipedia to the rescue! The Muppets was rad, I liked The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I imagine I would have liked Drive if I hadn’t been drunk when I went to see it. The Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean installments that came out were good. Rango was rad. Limitless was meh. I did not love Bridesmaids as much as everyone told me I should. Super 8 was cool. Bad Teacher had its moments. The Rum Diary was great. Immortals was decent.
30. Did you make some new friends this year?
Yeah. I think I sort of opened up to people I already knew more.
31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
The Steelers winning the Super Bowl. Duh.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
My stock answer is “dressed.” But I did make an effort to look a little bit nicer this year.
33. What kept you sane?
My therapist and some related pharmaceuticals. Taking frequent breaks from life. Jogging. Yoga.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Louis CK
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
I really shut down my emotions with regard to politics this year. I just can’t do it anymore. And, yes, I realize that I’m able to do this because I’m extremely privileged.
36. Who did you miss?
Frank. Bolt. Anybody who I don’t get to see once a week.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
To quote the husband, “Just chill out, man.”
Apparently I skipped 2009
December 31st, 2011 at 4:06 pm
miss yunz too. 🙁