2012 in review
1. What did you do that you'd never done before?
2007 : Drove by myself legally, passed all my units
2008 : Kept a job more than a few weeks, cooked a potato :D
2009 : Went to Sydney and Melbourne, took up violin
2010 : Went to North America and Canada, knit a jumper
2011 : Completed my final year of undergraduate studies, drove on the right hand side of the road
2012 : Went snowboarding, had a full time job
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
2007 : It was to pass all my units, so yes :P The other one was ye olde "I will lose weight this year" which I failed at. I'd like to lose weight next year. Honest.
2008 : I tried. I really did try. I think rather than a weight resolution next year I think I'll try to save money a bit.
2009 : I did save money this year! I opened a savings account, paid for my trip to Melbourne with it and it still isn't empty! I think that in 2010 I'd like to buy a car.
2010 : Well, still no car, but at the moment I have 12 days of free car hire, so I'm getting closer!
2011 : Didn't buy a car this year because of the whole moving-to-America thing.
2012 : Bought a car, ran a 5k
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
2007 : No
2008 : No
2009 : No
2010 : No, but people are certainly getting engaged and married left, right and centre
2011 : No
2012 : No one close
4. Did anyone close to you die?
2007 : Obaachan
2008 : No
2009 : I went to my first funeral this year. I don't think I'd like to go to many more :(
2010 : No
2011 : No
2012 : Sort of. I guess this sort of thing will start happening more often
5. What countries did you visit?
2007 : What, physically or mentally?
2008 : Stayed in Australia. But people pay heaps of money to come visit here, right?
2009 : I've always thought of "over east" as another country.
2010 : North America, Canada
2011 : USA, Canada
2012 : None, technically
6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked this year?
2007 : Money / consistant income. Maybe a car?
2008 : Hmmm, still that car.
2009 : A better sense of security and certainty.
2010 : A degree
2011 : I have very little idea of what the next 12 months will hold. Staying open minded.
2012 : Actually I'm pretty content with everything at the moment
7. What dates from the year will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
2007 : Nothing is overly memorable. It seems the year just flew past.
2008 : Good Friday would be the most memorable day I think, and I got the memorable part out of the way before the sun had done its warm up stretches.
2009 : Nothing in particular.
2010 : 25th November, it was literally the longest day of my life so far.
2011 : Whistler in February was amazing.
2012 : Saying goodbye to my parents/boyfriend
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
2007 : I don't know I had anything I'm overly proud of.
2008 : Finally I got an HD in something rather than always just missing.
2009 : Anita Borg Scholarship
2010 : Microsoft Internship
2011 : Completing Undergrad.
2012 : Buying a car, obviously
9. What was your biggest failure?
2007 : Trying to juggle doing too many things at once, definitely.
2008 : Losing some friends I would like to have kept.
2009 : Electronic Engineering. Ugh.
2010 : Nothing comes to mind, everything went pretty well all up.
2011 : Again, things went pretty well in general.
2012 : I miss Seb
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
2007 : Other than the usual? I had conjunctivitis.
2008 : I was surprisingly healthy for most of the year, really.
2009 : Found out I'd been misdiagnosed for 6 years.
2010 : Nothing serious
2011 : Maybe a few more colds than normal.
2012 : The beginning of the year was a little rough
11. What was the best thing you bought?
2007 : Define best. The thing that probably changed my lifestyle the most would be my DS and CycloDS.
2008 : My mattress and camera compete for that honour
2009 : My EeeMac
2010 : Dunno. My Macbook Pro and Canon 7D are both pretty awesome.
2011 : I didn't really buy anything I couldn't live without, just did a lot of upgrading.
2021 : Car, sofa
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
2007 : No one's I can think of offhand ;P Everyone had their ups and downs.
2008 : Dunno
2009 : My niece, who had to take care of her father and brother while my sister was doing fly-in-fly-out work, while doing TEE and still managing to be the star of the school's year 12 art exhibition.
2010 : Seb did good in his Prof Comp :)
2011 : Seb for coping with my moody demeanor in semester two.
2012 : Noone comes to mind
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
2007 : Various politicians, though no more than usual.
2008 : Those Californians who voted yes to proposition 8.
2009 : -pending-
2010 : My Aunt's, who is not very well-off financially, and is therefore lying to my Grandmother to try to convince her to disinherit my side of the family.
2011 : No one in particular
2012 : Again, no one in particular
14. Where did most of your money go?
2007 : Fabric/sewing supplies
2008 : Photographic equipment, furniture & homewares
2009 : Rent, food and bills
2010 : Living it up in the US :P
2011 : Rent, food and bills
2012 : Rent, food and bills
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
2007 : Nothing. I guess I may have been most excited about waicon, since I didn't have many things to be excited about this year.
2008 : Moving out of college and being able to cook for myself
2009 : Sydney and Melbourne!
2010 : Coming to the US
2011 : Getting a great job offer
2012 : Excited might not be the right word, but every time I step outside I think that I made the right choice to move to Redmond, I love it here.
16. What song will always remind you of this year?
2007 : I don't think any song will remind me of this year. I don't generally associate songs with years.
2008 : Ditto
2009 : No change here
2010 : Next year I'm changing this question
2011 : This year I'll bite and say The Tain by the Decemberists.
2012 : Another Decemberists song, the Hazards of Love
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
2007 : A little happier, but christmas usually depresses me.
2008 : Happier. I love my life at the moment.
2009 : Little more depressed at the moment
2010 : Happier
2011 : Happier
2012 : Generally happier
ii. thinner or fatter?
2007 : About the same
2008 : *sob*
2009 : Same
2010 : Same
2011 : I certainly gained thesis weight.
2012 : Thinner
iii. richer or poorer?
2007 : About the same, i.e. I currently have roughly $5 to my name.
2008 : Richer, but I did only have 17c in the bank until I got paid yesterday so I can't really talk.
2009 : Richer. I have savings for the first time in my life :D
2010 : Richer. Hooray for high paying internship!
2011 : Richer, just got a large lump sum payment from the company sponsoring my thesis.
2012 : Richer. Considerably so.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
2007 : Ask for help if I need it
2008 : Watched what I was eating, sewed
2009 : Understand Electrical/Electronic Engineering
2010 : Home Cooking, Sleep
2011 : Pay attention to non-thesis units
2012 : I'm still not great at asking for help
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
2007 : Chocolate
2008 : Spend money on random stuff
2009 : Stress
2010 : Procrastinate?
2011 : Eat convenience food
2012 : Procrastinate!
20. How will did you be spending Christmas?
2007 : With Nic's family
2008 : In Manjimup, trying to have the whole day pass unnoticed
2009 : Knitting & dinner with Seb's family
2010 : Skiing at Whistler
2011 : Dinner with Seb's family
2012 : Dinner with friends
21. What LJ users did you meet for the first time?
2007 : Too many to list! Mostly unisfans.
2008 : Did I meet anyone for the first time? Hmmm, I don't really recall
2009 : Various Melbourne Lolitas
2010 : No-one
2011 : No one I can think of
2012 : Lol, LJ
22. Did you fall in love in 2007?
2007 : ;P
2008 : *choirs of angels sing in the background* uh...
2009 : I manage to fall in love again everytime Seb shaves ♥
2010 : ♥
2011 : ♥♥ (I still love Seb more than the Guinea Pigs, no matter what he says)
2012 : no comment
23. How many one-night stands?
2007 : I can count the number on no hands.
2008 : My legs get sore after a few hours standing, don't think I could handle a whole night
2009 :
2010 : no.
2011 : none
2012 : still no.
24. What was your favourite TV program?
2007 : Worst jobs in history / Chaser's war on everything
2008 : Project Runway / Vampire Knight
2009 : True Blood
2010 : Scrapheap Challenge? I watched very little TV
2011 : Sherlock. Again, our TV doesn't even have an aerial.
2012 : I don't even own a TV. But Sherlock.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
2007 : Some people have certainly gone down in my point of view.
2008 : Hate is a strong word...
2009 : No
2010 : No
2011 : No
2012 : No
26. What was the best book you read?
2007 : *checks bookshelf* I didn't really read anything great this year.
2008 : *sigh* Nope, nothing worth mentioning this year either. I just haven't had much time to read.
2009 : I'm doing a lot of audiobooks and books in the public domain this year, but none of them have been that great. The Sherlock Holmes books would probably be the best.
2010 : I re-read most of the Harry Potter books, that was good! I have a Kindle now, so I'm able to do a lot more reading, but I'm mostly re-reading the books that I read many years ago and have been hoping to read again.
2011 : I enjoyed Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind.
2012 : I enjoyed A Canticle for Leibowitz.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
2007 : Eh. Nothing.
2008 : Within Temptation I guess.
2009 : Armolithae
2010 : The Decemberists
2011 : Nothing.
2012 : Nothing.
28. What did you want and get?
2007 : To pass all units, cake
2008 : To move out of college
2009 : To visit Sydney & Melbourne
2010 : To move in with Seb
2011 : To finish uni
2012 : Not to get fired?
29. What did you want and not get?
2007 : A car, to study Japanese at uni
2008 : Still want a car, kind of
2009 : So... that car, hey?
2010 :
2011 : Seb can't come to America with me...
2012 : See above
30. What was your favourite film of this year?
2007 : Stardust
2008 : I didn't really think any films of this year I'd consider a 'favourite'
2009 : Nothing that memorable
2010 : I didn't see that many, none that I'd be hyped about seeing again
2011 : Honestly? Probably Tangled.
2012 : The Hobbit
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
2007 : 19, studied for the exam I had the next day
2008 : 20, studied for the exam I had the next day
2009 : 21, and I don't even remember.
2010 : 22, studied
2011 : 23, studied
2012 : 24, worked
32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
2007 : A consistant source of income
2008 : Food I could eat at college
2009 : 30 hours to a day
2010 : Seb coming to the US with me
2011 : Something something thesis.
2012 : Hah. If you haven't figured it out so far, you haven't been reading.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept this year?
2007 : Whatever smells least / Misguided victorian
2008 : Hey, Misguided Victorian would be a kind of neat name for a fashion label!
2009 : Eh.
2010 : At the moment - anything warm
2011 : Maturing a little
2012 : I wears what I wants
34. What kept you sane?
2007 : The Silence of the Chambers in my Mind
2008 : My wonderful boyfriend, who has endless patience
2009 : Still the wonderful boyfriend (though I think sometimes I'm slowly wearing away at his patience...)
2010 : See above
2011 : Just grinned and bore not being sane for most of it :D
2012 : Going for walks by the river in the forest
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
2007 : Noone
2008 : I just don't fancy celebrities/public figures
2009 : As above
2010 : I pay so little attention to celebrities/public figures that this question is pretty meaningless. This question is out next year, too
36. What political issue stirred you the most:
2007 : Abortion/RU486
2008 : Homelessness
2009 : The Great Firewall of Australia
2010 : Equality for LGBTs
2011 : Same sex marriage & Marijuana legalisation
2012 : See above, both of which are enacted in my new home now! Old home has some catching up to do.
37. Who did you miss?
2007 : My host family
2008 : My host family
2009 : My host family
2010 : Seb
2011 : Some people who have already graduated
2012 : Seb
38. Who was the best new person you met?
2007 : I met too many new people to judge this. Again, the definition of 'best' is complicated.
2008 : Didn't meet enough new people this year to judge this.
2009 : ?
2010 : Once again, met too many.
2011 : Abbey, one of my supervisors.
2012 : I met way too many people this year
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this year.
2007 : Ask for help if you need it.
2008 : That my happiness shouldn't depend on someone else's.
2009 : Time management is really important
2010 : There are some things I don't suck at.
2011 : I might be making a terrible mistake, but all I can do is see what happens.
2012 : My life is my own, and it's up to me to make of it what I will.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
2007 : I don't believe a year can be summed up in a song lyric, so have a lyric of what I'm listening to at the moment. Judge it's appropriateness for yourself.
"One last perfect verse
It's still the same old song
Oh Christ, how I hate what I have become"
2008 : Um. Uh. First thing I can think of -
"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts (diddle de de)
There they are a-standing in a row (bump bump BUMP)
Big ones, small ones, some as big as your HEAD!" (yeah, I got nothing)...
2009 : No.
2010 : Still No.
2011 : .
2012 : We live in every moment but this one.