(no subject)
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?:
Many things. This isn't the place for details, but two main themes were rejection and misadventure. Somehow, both made 2008 productive.
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?:
Last year, I resolved to institute a more regular day-to-day schedule for myself. Neither academic research nor near-unemployment are conducive to a controlled schedule, but I tried. I'll try again in 2009.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?:
No.
4. Did anyone close to you die?:
No, though my maternal grandmother is nearly there :-(
5. What countries did you visit?:
England, the US, Ireland, France, and Greece.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?:
A meaningful job. My feet on the ground.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory?:
The trip to Ely in January, sad news a few days later, March 28, visits and travel in April, my birthday, the Courtauld ball/Temple Church conference, my crazy journey to the English Andover, Exeter with JB on 29 June, the barbecue on 3 July, the wedding in August, November 4-5, Courtauld lectures throughout the autumn, and good-byes in December.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?:
What I wrote last year still applies: 'Developing a thicker skin. Also, studying in London has improved the quality of my scholarship and enriched my interest in Gothic art.'
9. What was your biggest failure?:
Pride.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?:
Nothing noteworthy.
11. What was the best thing you bought?:
My Courtauld education! (Through student loans.) Also, my brown brogues from the Portobello market.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?:
Friends' and family members'.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?:
..
14. Where did most of your money go?:
Travel and daily living expenses.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?:
My dissertation; trips to Bristol, Ireland, Dover, Exeter, Athens, Paris, St Albans, and York; visiting home in the summer, living in Bloomsbury, and the presidential election.
16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2008?:
These are arranged chronologically:
Landslide - Fleetwood Mac
Desperado - Eagles
Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
Wonderwall - Oasis
Turn! Turn! Turn! - The Byrds
Grace Kelly - MIKA
Valerie - Amy Winehouse
At Last the Secret Is Out - Carla Bruni
Viva la Vida - Coldplay
The Book of Love - The Magnetic Fields
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Sorry, Blame Me - Akon
Common People - Pulp
Dracula's Lament - Jason Segel
I Did It My Way - Sid Vicious
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
I. happier or sadder?: I don't know. Perhaps I should be sadder, but I just feel more weathered.
II. thinner or fatter?: Same.
III. richer or poorer?: Definitely poorer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?:
Correspondence, cultural activities beyond art and architecture, reading novels.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?:
Job applications, things which defied common sense.
20. How did you spend Christmas?:
Giving and receiving gifts, singing, talking on the phone.
21. How will you spend New Years?:
Watching the ball drop with Mom and Mr. M.
22. Did you fall in love in 2008?:
Well..I kept falling for love already in existence.
23. How many one-night stands?:
I wonder why the survey includes this question?
24. What was your favourite TV program?:
I don't watch TV.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?:
I don't hate anyone.
26. What was the best book you read?:
Hegel's Aesthetics. Descartes' Meditations. Eco's Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages. Follet's Pillars of the Earth.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?:
Pink Floyd's 'Wish You were Here', Mika's 'Grace Kelly'
30. What was your favourite film of this year?:
Juno!
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?:
I woke up, made coffee, opened cards, went to the Courtauld to work on my dissertation, went for drinks with Zach/Steph/Sarah, talked to my family, went for drinks with James, then rode the #23 bus home (waited a while in the rain to catch it). I was 23.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?:
Had there been a lesser gap between my efforts and their outcomes.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?:
Sweaters, trousers, brogues.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?:
Initially, the Democratic primaries; subsequently, the White House race. Even more subsequently, the US/UK governments' role in the economic recession. I also became interested in the British local elections (when the Tories and Lib Dems outdid Labour), Britain's stance on international issues such as the Georgian war, and issues/debates concerning the British underclass.
37. Whom do you miss?:
A panoply of friends.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
I'm learning the importance of regarding one's self and world with an eye as objective as possible. Also, how difficult times let me appreciate beauty more deeply and immediately.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
'Now, if it's time for recompense for what's done,
Come, come sit down on the fence in the sun...'
--Nick Drake
This year was turbulent globally and personally. More so than any I have lived, germane destruction and transcendence marked 2008. Obama's election etched this year in the history books; living in London fueled the hope he will be a truly international leader. Everyone has been up in arms about the recession and, while we are hard hit here, the political shakeups and debates are fascinating. I felt buffeted by misfortune but grateful for the lessons in humility. However, I have gotten the point, and am eager to close this book and get on with 2009.