Check it out. Right on New Year's Day. This is momentous. lol
1. What did you do in 2015 that you'd never done before?
Went to a Super Bowl game (which, incidentally, was also my first american football game ever); saw a traveling Cirque du Soleil show (Kurios, all my ♥s!); tried online dating; entered the ranks of other poor schmucks in homeowner hell (and got my first mortgage to go with); got myself a genuine leather jacket; visited Kansas City for the first time; saw a strip show with the entire family in Vegas LMAO.
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I may actually have!
- Try online dating (already in process of trying out a specific dating app). We’ll see if my non-existent romantic hindbrain truly exists or not after this.
Well, I did end up making a new FB account (having previously deleted my first one a few years ago) for Coffee Meets Bagel (only to promptly leave the new account to rot again after a few weeks ahahaha). I think after 2015, it's pretty much evident that I'm so aggressively aromantic there really is no hindbrain to even speak of.
- Try to be less vegetative and actually do those 7-10 minute daily workouts (so far not good, lol).
I tried. It lasted 2.5 months. And then work/other stuff happened.
- Try, try, try to doodle again.
Again, semi-success? According to my tumblr's archives, I managed to doodle some in March, May, June, and December of 2015.
- Move more of my fic, even if it’s just one, onto AO3.
LOL Polished up one fic. A single fic. Just last month.
And up it went.
So I guess the lesson learned is that tiny, low-commitment resolutions are the best for everyone! And with that in mind, I suppose this will be the 2016 list:
- Visit either London or Hong Kong.
- Finish That One SNK fic.
- Start on That One SNK doujinshi (i.e., sketch/lay out at least one bloody page).
- Find and buy 2 pieces of furniture that I actually like.
- Buy a pair of leather pants.
- Start practicing Tai Qi again.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What countries did you visit?
Most of my traveling this year was state-side and for work. I was this close, THIS CLOSE to taking my first deposition of an inventor in Belgium though--!!! But the case settled unexpectedly during the first week of December, and so that nixed those plans lol (people keep telling me that it's probably for the best that I didn't go since I would've still been in Belgium when the Paris Attacks occurred... but a part of me will always be a bit bitter at the opportunity lost).
6. What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?
A black, all-leather modern L-sectional couch with chaise. Something like
this, only that's a forum photo and seriously, it should not be this difficult but it is. So. Fucking. Difficult. To find something even remotely similar in style, but using the quality of materials I want. :\
7. What date from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
2015/09/15 closed on my condo; 2015/12/25 was apparently my parents' 30th year wedding anniversary and the day we went as a family to see Absinthe (the Las Vegas strip show stationed at Caesar's Palace).
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Bought a condo and bankrolled my family's first trip together in years to Vegas.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting furniture before 2016??
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Still healthy as a horse and looking to remain that way for 2016, tyvm. /knocksonwood
11. What were the best things you bought?
TWICE ENDED BY SELLING THEIR TECHNOLOGY TO EBAY /CRIES. In lieu of that, rather than saying my condo over and over again, I'd say my leather jacket. Got it during a once-in-a-blue-moon sale from Banana Republic (they rarely, if ever, have no-exclusion sales for the general public, apparently).
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
I've read a lot of heartwarming stories/headlines this year. Just, random people being decent human beings. That always, and kind of sadly, merits celebration.
13. Whose behaviour appalled you?
Why the hell is Donald Trump allowed to speak? Why.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Condo down payment and mortgage. Also bankrolling family trip to Vegas over Christmas.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Kurios!! The newest cirque traveling performance came to Chicago, and I was all, "THE THEME/MOTIF IS FRENCH STEAM PUNK. YOU WILL HAVE TO BURY MY CARCASS SIX FEET UNDER FOR ME TO MISS THIS ASSHOLES." And I saw and loved and can confidently say that Kurios's soundtrack has ousted Ka and Alegria from their shared top-spots and might now be my new favourite of all Cirque soundtracks.
16. What song will always remind you of 2015?
Kurios's soundtrack. Also
this mandarin song a fan wrote/performed for the 2015 animated film 《大圣归来》.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? You know what, I'm probably always going to straddle the middle line. I'm never "sad" or "happy." Just lols and rage and judgment.
ii. thinner or fatter? I have no idea. Haven't even unpacked my scale yet. All my clothes still fit.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer??? If you count my mortgage and home ownership investment as net positives????
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Answer remains unchanged from last year: more creative crap.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stressing out during the condo closing process. Actually, just stressing out about anything related to this new condo, before and after I closed on it. Everything involved (i.e., working with contractors, furniture shopping, gathering together the necessary docs for the mortgage loan, have all been The Worst).
20. How did you spend Christmas?
Took my family to Vegas, where we saw Ka (my second time seeing, but it was their 10 year anniversary and tickets were on sale) and Absinthe (a strip show described as a bastard love child of Moulin Rouge, burlesque dancing, and all the politically incorrect bawdy jokes you could ever want to hear).
21. Where did you ring in 2015? How will you ring in 2016?
I'm so glad I made a note of this last year: 2015, I was invited to a nerd party where we missed the televised NYC countdown and ended up counting down using timeanddate.com's clock. This year, my parents and sister came to visit me in Chicago, where we cooked in my kitchen (blessedly larger than the joke of a space in my previous studio); ate on a sad little collapsible table; and sat on two collapsible chairs, a computer chair, and a large ice cooler. Then we walked up and down Michigan Avenue for an hour, came back, and completely missed/meh'd the Navy Pier fireworks when 2016 rung in half an hour later LOL.
22. Did you fall in love in 2015?
Hahahaha. No.
23. How many one-night stands?
None.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Still don't own a TV. I rewatched RWBY a bit though in memory of Monty Oum and the fact that RWBY Volume 3 had begun.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
So that one co-workers who had previously gained the dubious honour of being my least favourite person in the firm in 2014? Somehow my opinion of him nose-dived into the category of "he is an oversensitive, micromanaging, and paranoid asshole, and I hate him jfc" for 2015.
26. What was the best book you read?
Sadly, have not picked up a book for personal reading purposes all 2015.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I still listen to what I enjoy and cycle through phases. Maybe the fact that the RWBY Score is available and awesome?
28. What did you want and get?
My own place. A leather jacket.
29. What did you want and not get?
Furniture. Leather pants to go with the jacket. To take my first deposition (SO FUCKING CLOSE, ARGH). To learn how to shoot a firearm.
30. What was your favourite film of this year?
I didn't see a lot of films this year, and those that I did see were disappointing (e.g., Avengers 2, Jurassic World). Wanted to watch Kingsman and Mad Max - Fury Road. Still do, but my timing sucks lard and I just haven't had the chance to do so.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Thank fuck for my favour to myself from last year. Last year I went to work, and purposefully faffed around the entire day, billing less than an hour's worth of work the entire day and blitzkrieging through an amazingly plotty and feels-inducing
Assassin’s Creed AltMal fic on my new OnePlus One phone.
Doing this meme before my bday this year makes the self-perpetuating favour difficult, but I already know that I'll be back in the burbs for an eye appointment on my birthday this year. So likely will be spending it with my family.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Taking that bloody inventor deposition in Belgium. Though, I won't lie, the only reason why I was able to churn out artwork for the holidays was because that dep got cancelled. Bleh.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2015?
Leather has now entered the fray. More boots. XD Also wore a rather haute-couture-esque dress to the firm holiday party.
34. What kept you sane?
Weekly rant-fests with Linda and consuming ridiculously amounts of fandom. Spent a good 2-4 weeks just inhaling Teen Wolf fics despite having only read the wiki and watched a handful of YT clips.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
None.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Police brutality and the plight of the Syrian refugees.
37. Who did you miss?
Lots of people, but it's always a low-key thing.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Haven't met anybody new worth noting, unfortunately?
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2015.
Co-counsel may be senior to you by many years, but that "experience" means jack shit if they're proven incompetent; a 3rd year junior associate may very well know what to do and how to do things better than a 9th year senior associate.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"You must be joking" from You Must Be Joking on the Kurios Soundtrack. (This question is difficult :|)
Bonus. What was your favorite moment of the year?
Random moment: Finding this gorgeous set of 8 green and gold-gilt glasses at this chain thrift store in Kansas City for only $6.