2017 in review.
2017 in review. Compare and contrast with 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2009, 2008, 2007 or 2006, if you really want to.
2017...
From facebook: "It's been an exhausting year.
One which, to me, feels best typified by the state of Twitter in 2017 -- going from 140 characters to 280 being a pointless destruction of a good selling point, a loss of brevity, with just so much more everything to wade through than is useful, demonstrating that longer doesn't mean better, filled with hate and harassment for little-to-no-reason, with signal-to-noise ratio facing a losing battle, over-commercialised, with seeming fleeting hope for the future, alternately filled with glimmers of hope and waves of despair, seeming increasingly unsustainable, but ultimately, something relentless and exhausting for which there's no alternative."
I mean, in large part, fuck snap elections.
What did you do in 2017 that you'd never done before?
Campaign in an unsuccesful election campaign. Read 108 new books. Aced an exam without medication. (Hell, sat an exam without medication.)
Did you keep new year's resolutions and will you make more next year?
I made twenty here.
I kept some.
Of course I'll make more. Self-improvement's ongoing, and arbitrary blocks of time are useful motivators.
Did anyone close to you give birth?
My sister. Maybe others, but definitely that one.
Did anyone close to you die?
Still no. I am lucky that way.
What countries did you visit?
England, Scotland, Italy.
What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?
As I said last year: A job that challenges me and I'm engaged in. Solid relationship.
What dates from 2017 will remain etched in your memory and why?
18th April. Theresa May calls an election.
1 May. Had a PhD graduation
6 June. The election. Fuck, fuck, fuck
13 Sep. I did an exam which I'd spent three weeks preparing for, way too little notice.
16th December. I had an interview for a university course.
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I hit a high number of read books? I scored in the 99th percentile of an exam I had not prepared for anywhere near long enough
What were your biggest failures this year?
Staying friends. Getting out.
Did you suffer illness or injury?
Aside from minor penis surgery, not really.
What was the best thing you bought?
An iPod Shuffle.
Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Kirsty. Voters of NE Fife. Felix.
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Theresa May. Voters.
What did you spend most of your spare cash on?
Books.
What did you get really, really excited about?
Steps. WicDiv. Massages.
What song will always remind you of 2016?
Choked Out, by the Mountain Goats
1:41 of acoustic guitars, ending with: Everybody's got their limits/ Nobody's found mine
Maybe Los Campesinos!'s "Hung Empty". (Not right to call this old age/ But it certainly ain't youth no more/ This certainly ain't youth) or Renato Dell'Ara (2008)
Their gig this year was ... an interesting experience, and the most I've been in my head in a long time.
Arguably Spearmint's Sweeping the Nation, but that's not this year.
Eh, it's Renato Dell'Ara
Compared to this time last year are you happier or sadder?
Sadder. More worn, with maybe a little more hope. But a lot more scarred.
Thinner or fatter?
Fatter. It bothers me a lot. Oh, also, I have bulimia now.
Richer or poorer?
Poorer.
What do you wish you'd done more of?
Talking to friends. Talking to people.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Eating
What was your favorite TV programme?
Crazy ex-Girlfriend, though I marathon'd Bojack Horseman in the last 8-9 days and it's amazing. But it's no CXG.
Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Maybe May or Davidson.
What was the last book you read?
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
Hmm. Maybe Kendrick?
What did you want and get?
To ace an exam
What did you want and not get?
Love. A job. A campaign with a plan. To not lose people
What was your favourite film this year?
Baby Driver. Oh so Baby Driver. (Though watchings of T2 Trainspotting bookended the year.)
What did you do on your birthday and how old are you?
I'm 31. I got a bus to Aberdeen and back. I spent a lot more of the year at home.
What one thing would've made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
No general election.
(Last year, half of what I said was "a future". I might have got that this year -- but I won't find out whether or not I succeeded in a long shot for another 2.5 months. It's killing me.)
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?
Work: suit, black shirt, tartan tie.
Outside of work: leggings, tank top, maybe leather jacket.
Prescription shades.
What kept you sane?
My answer last year of "No." is a) perfect and b) tempting for this year.
But: The emotional labour of my female friends and climbing.
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I mean, Rachel Bloom's boobs have been amazing the last few months. But no-one really.
What political issue has stirred you the most?
Fuck it all.
Who did you miss?
Someone from 2013 I still shouldn’t. Dave M. John. Someone from 2009 I really shouldn't. Those we lost and who left us.
Who was the best new person you met this year?
I mean, I guess Molly and Ruby are technically the only anwswers. But got closer to Felix.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017.
I am really fucking smart and I need to believe it sometime.
Is "You are apparently bulimic" a life lesson?
Backs are important.
Walking helps you sleep. Travelling tires you.
"There are bad people out there who’ll defeat you a lot. We lose, a lot. The rise of fascism is scary." is something I claim to have learned each of the last years. It's even more true this time.
Last year I said "Pessimistic predictions are easy to make, often true and provide a good way to distance yourself emotionally from a result which should be painful, but distancing yourself from pain you should feel is bad." This year I found how bad things can be when a bad result really blindsides you. I travelled to party HQ on election night through 13 constituencies we had won at the last election, in shades. 12 hours later I travelled back, and we'd lost six of them, having got 3 points less than any poll had shown us at.
Leave it.
What I need to do in 2018: Find something. Maybe try to work more on "find something" than "find Someone." Also: find Someone.
2017...
From facebook: "It's been an exhausting year.
One which, to me, feels best typified by the state of Twitter in 2017 -- going from 140 characters to 280 being a pointless destruction of a good selling point, a loss of brevity, with just so much more everything to wade through than is useful, demonstrating that longer doesn't mean better, filled with hate and harassment for little-to-no-reason, with signal-to-noise ratio facing a losing battle, over-commercialised, with seeming fleeting hope for the future, alternately filled with glimmers of hope and waves of despair, seeming increasingly unsustainable, but ultimately, something relentless and exhausting for which there's no alternative."
I mean, in large part, fuck snap elections.
What did you do in 2017 that you'd never done before?
Campaign in an unsuccesful election campaign. Read 108 new books. Aced an exam without medication. (Hell, sat an exam without medication.)
Did you keep new year's resolutions and will you make more next year?
I made twenty here.
I kept some.
Of course I'll make more. Self-improvement's ongoing, and arbitrary blocks of time are useful motivators.
Did anyone close to you give birth?
My sister. Maybe others, but definitely that one.
Did anyone close to you die?
Still no. I am lucky that way.
What countries did you visit?
England, Scotland, Italy.
What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?
As I said last year: A job that challenges me and I'm engaged in. Solid relationship.
What dates from 2017 will remain etched in your memory and why?
18th April. Theresa May calls an election.
1 May. Had a PhD graduation
6 June. The election. Fuck, fuck, fuck
13 Sep. I did an exam which I'd spent three weeks preparing for, way too little notice.
16th December. I had an interview for a university course.
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I hit a high number of read books? I scored in the 99th percentile of an exam I had not prepared for anywhere near long enough
What were your biggest failures this year?
Staying friends. Getting out.
Did you suffer illness or injury?
Aside from minor penis surgery, not really.
What was the best thing you bought?
An iPod Shuffle.
Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Kirsty. Voters of NE Fife. Felix.
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Theresa May. Voters.
What did you spend most of your spare cash on?
Books.
What did you get really, really excited about?
Steps. WicDiv. Massages.
What song will always remind you of 2016?
Choked Out, by the Mountain Goats
1:41 of acoustic guitars, ending with: Everybody's got their limits/ Nobody's found mine
Maybe Los Campesinos!'s "Hung Empty". (Not right to call this old age/ But it certainly ain't youth no more/ This certainly ain't youth) or Renato Dell'Ara (2008)
Their gig this year was ... an interesting experience, and the most I've been in my head in a long time.
Arguably Spearmint's Sweeping the Nation, but that's not this year.
Eh, it's Renato Dell'Ara
Compared to this time last year are you happier or sadder?
Sadder. More worn, with maybe a little more hope. But a lot more scarred.
Thinner or fatter?
Fatter. It bothers me a lot. Oh, also, I have bulimia now.
Richer or poorer?
Poorer.
What do you wish you'd done more of?
Talking to friends. Talking to people.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Eating
What was your favorite TV programme?
Crazy ex-Girlfriend, though I marathon'd Bojack Horseman in the last 8-9 days and it's amazing. But it's no CXG.
Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Maybe May or Davidson.
What was the last book you read?
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
Hmm. Maybe Kendrick?
What did you want and get?
To ace an exam
What did you want and not get?
Love. A job. A campaign with a plan. To not lose people
What was your favourite film this year?
Baby Driver. Oh so Baby Driver. (Though watchings of T2 Trainspotting bookended the year.)
What did you do on your birthday and how old are you?
I'm 31. I got a bus to Aberdeen and back. I spent a lot more of the year at home.
What one thing would've made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
No general election.
(Last year, half of what I said was "a future". I might have got that this year -- but I won't find out whether or not I succeeded in a long shot for another 2.5 months. It's killing me.)
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?
Work: suit, black shirt, tartan tie.
Outside of work: leggings, tank top, maybe leather jacket.
Prescription shades.
What kept you sane?
My answer last year of "No." is a) perfect and b) tempting for this year.
But: The emotional labour of my female friends and climbing.
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I mean, Rachel Bloom's boobs have been amazing the last few months. But no-one really.
What political issue has stirred you the most?
Fuck it all.
Who did you miss?
Someone from 2013 I still shouldn’t. Dave M. John. Someone from 2009 I really shouldn't. Those we lost and who left us.
Who was the best new person you met this year?
I mean, I guess Molly and Ruby are technically the only anwswers. But got closer to Felix.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017.
I am really fucking smart and I need to believe it sometime.
Is "You are apparently bulimic" a life lesson?
Backs are important.
Walking helps you sleep. Travelling tires you.
"There are bad people out there who’ll defeat you a lot. We lose, a lot. The rise of fascism is scary." is something I claim to have learned each of the last years. It's even more true this time.
Last year I said "Pessimistic predictions are easy to make, often true and provide a good way to distance yourself emotionally from a result which should be painful, but distancing yourself from pain you should feel is bad." This year I found how bad things can be when a bad result really blindsides you. I travelled to party HQ on election night through 13 constituencies we had won at the last election, in shades. 12 hours later I travelled back, and we'd lost six of them, having got 3 points less than any poll had shown us at.
Leave it.
What I need to do in 2018: Find something. Maybe try to work more on "find something" than "find Someone." Also: find Someone.