End of year classics

[oloriel]

I forgot to do this last year (early this year... whatever), but that's no excuse for slacking again. Besides, it's fun to look back at these things after a few years. So this is a sort of investment into the future. ;)



1.) What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
Registered for the Magister exams; wrote a 60-page thesis; took the exams.
Started keeping bees.
Geocaching.
Got pregnant ^^

2.) Did you keep your New Year's resolutions?
Can't even recall if I took any. Oh right, to finally take those exams! Seems to have worked out...

3.) Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yup, rahja!

4.) Did anyone close to you die?
My grandfather's older sister and, a mere two weeks after, his girlfriend - I was not exactly close to them, but they were family.

5.) Which countries did you visit?
Unless the ex-GDR and the Dragonlands count - none. I have been a very bad European this year.

6.) What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
A university degree, some sort of job, and offspring. A thicker skin, maybe.

7.) What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
Since I keep forgetting the corresponding dates, I can't exactly say there are any dates "remaining etched". There are events I assume I won't forget easily, though - predominantly the exam period! Why? BECAUSE IT WAS TRAUMATISING. The Drachenfest and Norderney vacations, because they still feel like the only good weeks I had before December came around.

8.) What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Finishing my thesis and actually taking the written exams. :p Also, I tidied up my complete mess of a study!

9.) What was your biggest failure of the year?
Can't remember one big failure. Various small failures, no doubt.

10.) Did you suffer illness or injury?
Been having a head cold this past week, and had a few lousy cases of massive headache. Can't recall anything else. Oh right, for the first time in my life I had actual PMS. Every fucking month. Until November...

11.) What was the best thing you bought?
Like I have money to spend on "best things". I bought a ticket for the Drachenfest :p

12.) Where did most of your money go?
Fuel, food, building materials. Same as always. New: bee hives!

13.) Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Stupid question. Various friends, some family members.

14.) Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Another stupid question. Other friends, random strangers, certain politicians, some family members.
I think the prize for most appalling behaviour goes to a certain Ms McCracken, though...

15.) What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My birthday and my thesis, both of which were bad ideas. Less depressingly: pregnancy.

16.) What song will always remind you of 2010?
For better or worse, "Satellite", "Waka waka" and "Helele" sort of stand out.

17.) Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
Stupid question. For the year as a whole: sadder. Right now? Probably the same.

ii. thinner or fatter?
Stupid question. "Fatter", if you think a rise from BMI 20,3 to 20,7 (I CALCULATED THIS FOR YOU) is "getting fatter", which personally I kind of don't.

iii. richer or poorer?
Richer in debts. :p

18.) What do you wish you'd done more of?
Relaxed. Been creative.

19.) What do you wish you'd done less of?
Invested heartblood and hope into my thesis. Not worth it.
Worried or felt hurt.

20.) How did you spend Christmas?
Christmas Eve was celebrated at home with Jörg, his mum, my parents, brother and grandmother; Christmas Day at Jörg's mum's with his brother; Feast of Stephen (HAH!) at my Uncle Jochen's with my father's side of the family.

21.) Did you fall in love in 2010?
Already there!

22.) How many one-night stands?
Whenever I come to this question, I wonder whether there are people doing this meme who have one-night stands habitually. For me, the count remains zero.

23.) Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Hate? No. Like less than before? Certainly. Was disappointed by? Gods yes.

24.) What was your favourite TV program?
Only TV programs I watched regularly were Castle and Switch Reloaded, so that kind of limits the field. Pillars of the Earth was crap.

25.) What was the best book you read?
Trying to recall any new (as in: I haven't read it before) book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Somehow I only remember exam literature. For lack of alternatives, therefore: Dinge geregelt kriegen. Not that there was anything truly new in it, but it puts things into perspective quite nicely, and besides I now understand the (potential) underlying reasons for stuff I do - which is a good feeling even if it doesn't change anything.
I read a few fantastic fanfics though.

26.) What was your favourite film of this year?
Assuming this means "films that hit cinemas this year and that I actually saw": Inception. I only caught three movies in theatres this year, so that was easy...

27.) What was your greatest musical discovery?
Uuuuuum... none?

28.) What did you want and get?
Aside from the fertilised egg bit... huh. A week of vacations at the Drachenfest, a week of vacations on Norderney, and a beautiful painting of Eärendil by eliathanis. A loom for tablet weaving! And a really mean flashlight I hadn't been expecting for Christmas!

29.) What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I turned 27. I invited a couple of friends over, four of whom actually came, for a bit of creative stuff and barbecueing. As only five people (including those four) aside from immediate family appeared to remember my birthday at all, I was depressed and angry for a month afterwards. Fun times.

30.) What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If a certain person hadn't given me the impression that she suddenly no longer wanted anything to do with me without even giving a reason, that would sort of have been nice.

31.) What kept you sane?
What makes you think I'm sane? :p Fandom, procrastination, the view from underneath our walnut tree.

32.) How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
"I cannot afford new things so it's a good thing I don't care much about fashion", I believe.

33.) Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I'm too old to fancy public figures. :p I quite enjoyed the performance of the German football team at this year's World Cup, though.

34.) What political issue stirred you the most?
I was anti-stirred by Stuttgart 21 and the traditional Castor Transport protests because I'm cynical and desillusioned. :p

35.) Who was the best new person you met?
Online, that would be a couple of awesome writers at the SWG. Offline, I can't actually recall having met any cool new people...

36.) Who did you miss?
A couple of online friends I hardly saw this year. A couple of offline friends I hardly saw this year.

37.) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
I am one of 7.000.000.000 human beings. Not everything I do has to be relevant.

38.) Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Huh.
Considering that it feels like I hated most of the year, I think I'll close this one with the same lyrics that I used to exorcise the ghost of 2006 (which was a hell of a year):
There will be feasting/and dancing/ in Jerusalem next year/ and I am gonna make it through this year/ if it kills me...
~The Mountain Goats, "This year"
2007 was an awesome year, so I'm hoping the best for 2011. (You better.)

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Well! You all have yourselves a nice party tonight! See you next year.