(no subject)
1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Wrote about a million college applications, explored New York City all by myself, went to (traffic) court and almost lost my license... but figured out how to sweet talk myself out of it, got into Columbia University, took a graduate-level course, testified before an Ohio Senate committee, got an A in a math course, planned a anti-violence youth summit
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't really make them. I wanted to keep up my mental health and such and I've done fairly well. I'm actually really proud of how I've dealt with some really tough shit.
3. Did someone close to you give birth?
My aunt had a baby in February.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What countries did you visit?
None, as usual. I don't have enough money to answer affirmatively to this question.
6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
I would like to not have to live five-hundred miles away from my boyfriend nine months out of the year. This will be happening.
7. What dates from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
November 15- I saw "congratulations!" at the top of Columbia University Office of Admissions letterhead and months of the hardest work I've ever done finally paid off. August 25- Mark moved to New York and everything just sort of unraveled. August 2-12- Mark and I went to New York City together and it was wonderful in infinite ways. I visited Barnard/Columbia for the first time and I started to really know what I wanted in the near future. December 9-14- Visited Mark at school in New York. Watched the sun rise over the Brooklyn Bridge. Explored the city by myself all day.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting into Columbia. Also: surviving mad amounts of stressful shit, fairly unscathed.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not keeping in good contact with anyone from Graham. The fact that I even talked about dropping out of OSU.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Outside of the normal bouts of high blood sugar and sinus infections, I got so ill from the flu I passed out on campus and woke up in the emergency room and had no idea where I was. That wasn't good.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
I just made a $400 deposit to reserve my place at Columbia. I don't know if this counts as something I bought, but it felt better than any $400 I've ever spent before.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Mark's, as usual. My mom and grandparents.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My brother. 95% of the Graham School student body (no one who reads this journal, though!).
14. Where did most of your money go?
Feeding Sven's (my car) insatiable appetite for gas. And college applications. And fucking summer school.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The possibility-turned-reality of attending Columbia University (are you sensing a pattern yet?), the New York trips, most of my OSU classes
16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
Mike Jones- Back Then hahahahahhaha we seriously played it ALL summer.
Bob Dylan- almost the entire Blonde on Blonde album. I played it constantly in January/February/March.
David Bowie- a lot of songs, especially Queen Bitch and Rock N' Roll Suicide
The Decemberists- most of the Picaresque album but especially The Mariner's Revenge Song
Simon and Garfunkel- The Only Living Boy in New York (I wrote my entire Columbia application to this song. I don't know why.)
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or hardened?
In a way, both, as usual. This year has been incredibly up and down. It started off rough, got even rougher, and ended quite spectacularly.
ii. thinner or fatter?
About the same.
iii. richer or poorer?
Poorer, as I don't have a job right now.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing creatively, painting, hanging out with Graham kids
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Freaking out about getting into college. It worked out better than I ever imagined.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas is over but HANUKKAH is still on... I've mostly just ate really great food and watched movies with my family.
22. Did you fall in love in 2005?
It's funny, because the obvious answer is "no, I stayed in love"... but, just when I think I couldn't possibly fall any more in love than I already am, I do.
23. Any one-night stands?
Oh yeah. Okay no. Totally not my thing.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and DVDs of old Simpsons episodes
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. I hate very, very few people and those that I do, I started hating a long time ago.
26. What was the best book you read?
This could potentially be really long because I read some brilliant stuff this year but for fiction, I'm going to totally narrow it down by saying, for fiction "The Namesake" and "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri and for nonfiction, "Where is Your Body?" by Mari Matsuda and "Are Prisons Obsolete?" by Angela Y. Davis.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Rufus Wainwright, Of Montreal
28. What did you want and get?
Admission to Columbia, wonderful trips to New York, good grades
29. What did you want and not get?
The passage of Reform Ohio Now (amendments to the Ohio Constitution that would have really cleaned up how we do elections), more time
30. Favorite film of this year?
I saw almost no movies this year. I saw Good Night and Good Luck a few weeks ago and really liked it. Also, The Life Aquatic.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned eighteen and had a regular day that was made pretty wonderful by a boyfriend and family that continues to surprise and amaze me with their creativity and awesomeness. I also went to this really trashy carryout near my house and bought cigarettes (for a friend) and lottery tickets, because I could. They didn't card me though, and I was kind of pissed.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Mark not moving. In retrospect, I think it was a good thing that he did, but it hurt like hell at the time.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?
Dangly earrings and lots of eye makeup everyday. The cardigan sweaters and Seven jeans of usual. Also, purses.
34. What kept you sane?
Mark, driving above the speed limit (until I got two tickets in the same month), positive feedback from professors, books and music
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I won't answer this question because it would all be like... sociologists. I would be mercifully teased. And I would deserve it.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The motherfucking Supreme Court. I literally cried when O'Connor retired. I was glued to CSPAN for Roberts' confirmation hearings. I read Stephen Breyer's book and got really worked up about Constitutional interpretation.
37. Who do you miss?
Obviously Mark. But also Graham kids.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
I really loved most everyone I worked with at the library.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005:
Not to take myself so seriously. That I don't necessarily need to meet the utmost standards of perfection at all times, in everything, to be a good person. That I can and will fuck up and that's okay.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"I know New York
I need New York
I know I need unique New York"
- Song for Myla Goldberg, The Decemberists