the 2008 that was

Shamelessly stolen from Dorothea, and in lieu of the SNOWPOCALYPSE post that’s been rattling around in my head, I present an end-of-year meme:

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? Opened my time capsule from 1988. I’ve never opened a time capsule before, and it was a crazy-nutty experience.
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Probably not, since I don’t remember what they were. (No, I’m not looking.) I have one resolution/goal for 2009: do the critical house projects.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? 3 of our neighborhood association board members had kids this year!
4. Did anyone close to you die? No.
5. What countries did you visit? Only the one I live in. As for states, Oregon & Texas.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 which you lacked in 2008? A finished kitchen.
7. What date from 2008 will remain etched in your memory, and why? The day I spent with HA in March, because we had such a good time and really reconnected. (It’s more complicated than that, but still good.)
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Work site redesign!
9. What was your biggest failure? The painfully slow progress of any sort of house work.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Other than the post-SXSW flu, it’s been a pretty healthy year physically.
11. What was the best thing you bought? My new bike!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Elizabeth’s: she was amazingly brave trying a move up here, even if it didn’t quite work out.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My own, quite often. I had some serious depression-related backsliding, especially the last few months.
14. Where did most of your money go? The usual: mortgage, bills, etc. More debt than I’d like.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Going to SXSW. 🙂
16. What song will always remind you of 2008? anything off of The Chameleon’s Under the Bridge, just because we’ve listened to it a lot lately. I bet there’s other stuff, but it’s not floating to mind at the moment. update: I was going thru some files and found Back Ted N-Ted’s 999 Buttons, which I downloaded from the SXSW Music site after reading that story where that guy listened to every single song. I love that song. “Little did we know what we know now….”
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: Happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter? Richer or poorer? A little sadder, I think; definitely thinner; about the same.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Taking pictures, writing, otherwise being creative.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Moping, watching videos.
20. How will you be spending New Year’s? I seriously have no idea. Probably hanging out at home with C.
21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with? Other than C? Ummmm…Elizabeth? Kat?
22. Did you fall in love in 2008? Ha! I remain an old married lady. 😉
23. How many one night stands in this last year? Don’t you wish you knew…. (Of course not, silly, and if I had, would I be telling all the internets?!)
24. What was your favorite TV program? Not that much TV, even in Netflix. A lot of South Park online the last couple of months, and we re-watched the whole Avatar series. Plus, ummm, the whole 1st season of 90210, which I had never seen before.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Hate? That’s a strong word. There’s a person or two that I have a stronger antipathy for than previously, though.
26. What was the best book(s) you read? Traffic (Vanderbilt); Nixonland (Perlstein); Good Calories Bad Calories (Taubes); The Happiness Myth (Hecht); Court of the Air (Hunt). I wouldn’t mind getting in a little more fiction.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Brian Ferry. (Yeah, really. C got me a CD last year.)
28. What did you want and get? To go on a micro-trip for my birthday, like last year. To go to SXSW.
29. What did you want and not get? What stands out most is the Ute (cargo bike), because we pre-ordered in August, and the bike shop is saying now that it’ll be probably at least February before they get in. Grrr. I want a bike I can carry 20lbs of cat food on!
30. What was your favorite film of this year? Of this year? I’m trying to think if I’ve actually seen anything made this year. We haven’t seen a movie in the theater at all this year. (Goes scooting thru Netflix history.) Oh, wow, The Bank Job is from 2008. I really liked that one. Also, Standard Operating Procedure. I don’t think “like” is the right word, but it was fascinating.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old did you turn? Played Wii, ate cupcakes, turned 34.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Having a vegetable garden.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? At work, business casual, with lots of pants this fall. At home, bike-style, capris, pants that roll up, technical fabrics. Also, alas, still working through wardrobe downsizing. Oh, and 2008 was the year when I discovered wool. 🙂
34. What kept you sane? Is it snarky to say Wellbutrin? But seriously, folks: bicycling. Lots and lots of bicycling. Also, occasionally, teh twitter (et al).
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Meh.
36. What political issue stirred you the most? The whole goddamn election.
37. Whom did you miss? Kat, just cause we don’t see each other that often. Of the dead? Grandpa Nelson, I think, but I think that’s the answer every year.
38. Who was the best new person you met? I really enjoyed meeting Dori Smith at SXSW, also Catherine Nolan. More locally, I think Tim from the neighborhood association is pretty awesome.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Let’s call these re-learned, in spades. 1) Sometimes you just have to start DOING stuff to get going. 2) Other people have different wants & needs. 3) I can look back on my younger self and love the goofy awkward girl that was.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: it’s obvious that I don’t listen to enough music, because I have no freaking idea. Let me think about that & get back to you. Okay, since I’m listening it to again, I’m gonna be emo & quote 999 Buttons, because it connects Nos 7, 15 & 16. 🙂

…the way you say my name
takes me back to ’95
before my broken heart
caused me to cheat & lie

[…]

I thought you were uptight
you thought I was troubled boy
little did we know what we know now

[…]

all this time
that’s gone by
all this time
these memories

And happy new year, everybody!