End of 2008 Questionnaire

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Tutored AP BC Calculus. Holy moly.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t make them, because then I can’t break them. I try to resolve to do things on a random Tuesday because I find I’m more likely to keep to it than if I attach resolutions to a particular day or event.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
RaRa did. 🙂

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Jerry’s dad. 🙁

5. What countries did you visit?
Texas.

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

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 24 – Lasik surgery.
October 11-18 – Trip to Disney World.
November 24 – FIL died.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I finished more quilts than I started.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Gaining so much weight after knee surgery.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Again with the knee.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Photoshop CS3 and a MacBook. Two things.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Helen performed in a dance recital and didn’t freak out about it. I was gleeful that my shy little child doesn’t appear to have stage fright.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Mine. I lost my patience with my children more times that I would have liked. I’m trying very hard to be better, and it’s improving. But I was very, very unhappy with myself for most of the year.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Lasik, Disney, and the IRS for the stupid estimated taxes based on LAST year’s income, even though I made less than half as much tutoring this year. OUCH.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Digital Scrapbooking and Disney World!

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
“Umbrella” by Rihanna. Because I was a devotee of “Step it Up and Dance” on Bravo! and they did a performance to this song in one of the challenges and it was AMAZING.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? sadder, mostly because of the recent death of FIL.
b) thinner or fatter? fatter, dammit.
c) richer or poorer? poorer, because of Disney, Lasik, and taxes.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Exercising, even though I don’t really enjoy it. But I couldn’t have done it anyway.

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

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With my family. 🙂

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Always.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
CSI, I guess.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Sarah Palin. Hate’s a strong word, though. I just don’t like her.

24. What was the best book you read?
“The Time Traveler’s Wife”

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
…. this is going to sound weird, but music is a very private experience to me. So I don’t tend to talk about it much. But I have new music that I really like, and that’s all that’s important here, right?

26. What did you want and get?
Lasik, a MacBook and Photoshop CS3. 🙂

27. What did you want and not get?
Electrolysis.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Considering I really only get to see children’s movies, I’m going to have to say “Enchanted.” If that wasn’t this year, then I’ll say, “Bedtime Stories.” I can’t remember the last grown-up movie I saw in the theatre.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
We told the girls that we were going to be going to Disney World with 60% of their grandparents, three cousins, and their aunt and uncle. I was 35. GREAT birthday. 🙂

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Besides the obvious answer of keeping FIL alive and well, I’d have to say not having hurt my knee. Definitely. Because we’d have more money that wasn’t spent on Physical Therapy or medications, I wouldn’t have gained this much weight, and I wouldn’t have gotten depressed by the pain, money, weight, or lack of exercise.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Fat. Clothes.

32. What kept you sane?
Quilting and digital scrapbooking.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Pretty interested to see what Barack Obama does in office.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Uhhhh…. Not a particular single thing, but I was just very horrified by the actions of extreme supporters on both sides of this election. People were appalling.

35. Who did you miss?
Kee.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Sioux! I finally got to meet her!! 🙂

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Life is short, and we do not have much time. So make haste to love and be quick to be kind to those on the journey with us. …. This is something that our Associate Interim Rector says at the end of our church services on Sunday. I think it’s lovely. I may not have it exactly, but I’m trying to memorize it before his tenure with us is done.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
“Here it goes, here it goes, Here it goes again.”