2011 In Review
Jan. 1st, 2012 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_camera
End of the year review (copped from
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a1icey):1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
I don’t think I did do anything new this year. It was more of the same from the year before – which is to say survival in a very primal mode. I was more-or-less completely alone in a place where I didn’t want to be.
I did it for Robin who ended up here, buffeted about by parents who couldn’t keep it together, and who – for whatever reason – wanted me to be here too. I’m not sure my presence offered him anything more than my presence, meaning I didn’t do anything for him particularly. I tried to be a sounding board for him. I tried to keep him honest – something of a problem for Robin. But who knows if I succeeded?
However, rightly or wrongly I have a very good feeling about 2012. I think it will be a wonderful year for me.
2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t think I made any New Years’ resolutions in 2011.
I’m not going to make any in 2012.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes. My friend Mark. It wasn’t unexpected and I hadn’t seen him for years. The MS that began the erosion process 20 years before had pretty much taken him out by the time his body finally gave out. Meaning: He wasn’t Mark anymore. Hadn’t been in quite some time. Still, it was hard. Very hard. And I grieve him.
5. What countries did you visit?
None.
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Financial security. A smile I’m not ashamed of.
7. What date(s) from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
None, really. It was an entirely forgettable, throw-away year.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I was waitlisted for an extremely prestigious literary fellowship that I’ve been applying for every year for a decade.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Being so broke and so dependent upon the kindness of strangers.
10. Did you suffer any illness or injury?
No. I am amazingly healthy for my age.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
I bought a new – well. New used – computer in March, and a good thing I did because three days later, the motherboard on my old computer died.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Cassandra. Honey Badger. Sabine. Rena. Alex. Jeanna. Max
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
No one, really. 2011 was a difficult year, but a year entirely without rancor.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, gas, NYSEG, phone, food, Internet.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Nothing. Not even the light at the end of the tunnel, which is getting stronger all the time. Diminished expectations are the secret to happiness, doncha know.
16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Most of the music I listened to this year was classical instrumental or Portugese (bossanova) so nothing really.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) Happier or sadder? Happier
b) Thinner or fatter? About the same – 5’10”, 140 lbs.
c) Richer or poorer? About the same but with solvency prospects I didn’t have this time last year.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Making money. Making friends. Nobody would believe it given the total isolation of these past two and a half years – Reading Gaol, I suppose – but I’m really sociable. I like interacting with people.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Being solitary.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
I spent it with Robin. We watched bad movies and caccooned.
21. How did you spend New Years?
I drank some wine and fell asleep much earlier than I had intended to.
22. Did you fall in love in 2011?
No. Is that even possible for me?
23. How many one-night stands?
None.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
The Hour (BBC). I loved Freddie and Bell's relationship. I ended up liking Game of Thrones very much too though.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.
26. What was the best book you read?
At the end of the year, I went on an Oliver Sacks reading spree. Throughout December, I read Uncle Tungsten, An Anthropologist on Mars, The Mind’s Eye, Musicophilia, Seeing Voices and The Island of the Colorblind. I more-or-less consider them one book, subdivided into long chapters. They made an extremely dry subject – neurology – fascinating.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Pandora. They’ve improved the algorithm. Now, it actually plays music I enjoy listening to.
28. What did you want and get?
Oh, wow. Nothing.
29. What did you want and not get?
Oh, wow. Everything.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I saw a number of really good films this year actually. None really stands out though.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I can’t remember. I probably spent it alone. I turned 59.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Money.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
I’ve actually dressed pretty well this last year, at least for me. I’ve never had much of a personal fashion sense though I’ve always appreciated fashion on other people. Part of that comes from being tall and big-boned, I suppose. Women are supposed to be into shoes, right? But I have size 11 feet so finding good-looking shoes that fit me is actually something of a challenge. This year I dressed in layers mostly, and it’s worked. The cop tells me I am very attractive (emphasis his.)
34. What kept you sane?
Will power. Really.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Oh, gosh. I’m sure there was someone. But I don’t remember.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The economy. The upcoming elections.
37. Who did you miss?
Max. Susan. Marybeth.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Lobsang.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011
You can’t let yourself give in to despair. You have to keep it together. You may not be able to perceive the grace in that, but there is grace in that.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-01-01 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-03 03:49 pm (UTC)It's not something I want for myself particularly right now actually.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-03 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-03 06:35 pm (UTC)It's just something I think is unlikely to happen and I'm not pining for it.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-01 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-03 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-03 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-03 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-03 07:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-02 03:29 pm (UTC)You can’t let yourself give in to despair. You have to keep it together. You may not be able to perceive the grace in that, but there is grace in that.
Amen, sister.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-03 03:50 pm (UTC)I have very good feelings about 2012 for the whole karass, of which you're certainly a part.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-03 07:01 pm (UTC)Oh absolutely. A big sense of lack of closure there. I actually hung around her office building in Vancouver when I was up there last August, hoping to see her and say hello, but she never came out. I figured she was off that day, turned out she was dead. Liver cancer, hep C related.
She only used once. wanna guess who stuck the needle in her arm?
I have very good feelings about 2012 for the whole karass, of which you're certainly a part.
Really? Care to elaborate?
no subject
Date: 2012-01-03 07:42 pm (UTC)Damn.
Care to elaborate?
Nothing to elaborate really. At the beginning of 2011, I felt hopeless and trapped. I don't feel that way with 2012.