Ooh! A New Year's Meme!

I saw this over at Clashing Hats, and she got it from Maggie May. It is fantastic.

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before?

• I went to Budapest, Hungary.
• I won a "professor of the year" award.
• I ate sweetbreads. (Delicious)
• I ate raw kibbi. (Not so delicious)

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I kept my new year's resolutions to the best of my ability - three and a half or so of the five. I think I did great. I've made another five for the coming year, in light of what I think was a resounding success of the past year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My cousin's girlfriend (not sure how old she is - but I think maybe 21?) had a baby. My cousin is 20. I can't BELIEVE how young they are (including the baby, who's now 6 weeks).

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Not in 2006.

5. What countries did you visit?

Hungary, and I had a lay-over in Italy.

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?

I need to be in love again. Sometime. But one can't really predict whether that will happen in a given year. So I think what I'd like to have in 2007 which is more in my control is to actually get a contract for my book.

7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Hmmm.... Well, my birthday, because I'm a narcissist. I should probably say that my parents' anniversary is the date, but I don't actually remember the date that they got married :) It was in October.... Right around Sweetest Day....

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Ok, well, there are three: 1) having my article come out in Fancy Journal, 2) Finishing my book proposal, and 3) actually motivating myself to go on the market.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Hmmm.... I'm not really sure. Maybe something related to the online dating attempt? (I have a hard time with acknowledging actual failure - I generally decide that even the failures were positive in some way, blah blah blah.)

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Other than some student-induced head-colds, nope.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

For me: the coat that I bought half-price right before MLA.

For the Man-Kitty: the self-brushing thing I bought him for his birthday/our anniversary.

For my mom: a dickie. No, I'm not kidding. It will take too long to explain, so I won't tell the whole story, but let's just say my mom both thought it was hilarious and she loved it.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

The Man-Kitty's! Though, not really, as he really can be a little shit sometimes. No, probably the more true answer is that my students in my upper-level class this fall most deserve to be celebrated. They really kicked ass.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

This is probably too lame even to note, but I think although I'm not generally political on this blog I'd have to say it's the behavior of our current administration, in regard to all things in the middle east.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Student loans, credit card payments, rent, etc. And then to other items that I probably should have resisted buying so as to be a more fiscally responsible person.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

My article coming out. (I feel as if that's a lame answer, but this hasn't been a year in which I've been really, really, really excited about much. Oh, I guess I was excited about the Budapest trip....)

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?

"Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado. Also, "Sexyback." For I always connect years to songs on the radio. That said, a song that's been really important to me this year has been "Extraordinary Machine" by Fiona Apple.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

a) happier b) thinner c) poorer

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

Let's just say it's been a bit of a dry spell in the '06 and I wish that weren't the case.

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

Sold my soul to the administrative devil.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

I spent Christmas in my hometown with my parents HUGE extended family. I'd say the highlight was teaching my stepdad's (love that he's truly my stepdad this year!) neice (who is 4) my favorite joke from when I was 4. Here's the joke:

Wanna hear a dirty joke?
The pig fell in the mud.
Wanna hear a clean joke?
The pig took a shower.

(I should note that I told this joke, when I was four, in the following manner: "The pig fell in the mud. He took a shower." And then I laughed my head off.)

21. Did you fall in love in 2006?

Tragically, no.

22. How many one-night stands?

One.

23. What was your favorite TV program?

My favorite remains America's Next Top Model. I think in part because it allows me to find ever new reasons to hate Tyra Banks. Oh, but I also LOVE the Ghost Whisperer. And, in spite of myself, I have become quite addicted to Gray's Anatomy (blame my mother, and that I love the mindless nature of the show at the end of a week of teaching).

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

I don't think so. But I don't think I actually hate anybody (other than Tyra Banks, that is).

25. What was the best book you read?

This is a terrible question for an English professor. I will say though that I really loved What Was She Thinking: Notes on a Scandal, which will now be a movie that I'm dying to see in the coming weeks. It's totally worth reading.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Regina Spektor. Sufjan Stevens. The Be Good Tanyas. Snow Patrol.

27. What did you want and get?

I think I covered the material acquisitions part of this in my Christmas presents post. Other than that, I got my book proposal finished, I lost some weight and actually became a person who exercises regularly, and I interviewed at MLA.

28. What did you want and not get?

You know, not much that makes much of a difference.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?

I've got to say Borat. I loved loved loved Borat. I also enjoyed Thank You for Smoking, and I really think that The Lake House is much better than one might think it would be.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 32, I went to a faculty meeting (or "retreat" as it were), and I went to dinner with BFF. It was a LAME birthday year. (Not to diss BFF, but really. What kind of birthday can it be if one has a faculty meeting? That lasts for 6 hours?)

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

See #18.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?

Same as always. Me dressing to the curves rather than to the trends, though I have had a bit of an animal print thing happening lately that defies any reason.

33. What kept you sane?

Do I even need to say it? The Man-Kitty! (Also wine and cigarettes and long-distance phone calls with people.)

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Hmmm..... Well, I did have a dream in which I had sex with John Kerry. He is a very bad kisser (per my dream) in the Andrew-McCarthy-in-Pretty-in-Pink style. This year hasn't been a big one for me for celebrity crushes, I've got to say.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

Lebanon this summer.

36. Who did you miss?

The person I always miss most is my little grandma who died a few years ago. I've also missed many more other people, but she's who I most often notice missing.

37. Who was the best new person you met?

Oh my god! I've met so many people! How can one even answer this question????? Especially when one's just met a bunch of people who read one's blog??? I think I'm going to decline to comment on this one.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.

This one is really hard. Wow. Well, I think I've learned that it's always worth it to try to move forward - whether it turns into a forward move ultimately or not. It's in the trying to move forward that one learns what one wants and that one realizes what one has already.

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

I don't want a home, I'd ruin that
Home is where my habits have a habitat
Why give it a turn

Oh, after all the folderol
And hauling over coals stops
What did I learn

I am likely to miss the main event
If I stop to cry or complain again
So I will keep a deliberate pace
Let the damned breeze dry my face

Oh, mister, wait until you see
What I'm gonna be

I've got a plan, a demand and it just began
And if you're right, you'll agree

Here's coming a better version of me



Fiona Apple - Better Version of Me (2005)