you'll find better things

This is one of my favorite parts of the new year. Is that sad?

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?: Hmm. Earned the majority of my income from a non-music job, hiked in the Grand Canyon, lived by myself. I feel like that's enough.

2. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

A clearer direction in life, a bigger oven, and a better grasp of ethical slutdom.

3. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Just general finding-myself stuff, I think. It's been an unbelievable year for that.

4. What was your biggest failure?

Hmm... Having a panic attack at work maybe.

5. Whose behavior merited celebration?

fantastic friends, notably Erica, Anna S, Rose-Anne, Shawn, Anna P, Aaron, Madeleine, everybody at work and dal niente. New people, old people. Most people in my life.

6. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Sarah Palin, Blagojevitch, etc. Myself sometimes.

7. Where did most of your money go?

Food, alcohol, plane tickets, rent. Spices.

8. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

It was kind of an embarrassingly overenthusiastic year for me. Food, cooking, books, Amanda Palmer, Alaska, Denver, hiking, friendship.

9. What song will always remind you of 2008?

Amanda Palmer's Ampersand, Jeff Buckley's Lover, you should have come over (because I can't believe that i listened to such a cheesy song so many times), Fiona Apple's Parting Gift

10. Compared to this time last year, are you

i. happier or sadder? happier :)

ii. thinner or fatter? thinner, goddammit. What does a girl have to eat to gain a few pounds around this place?

iii. richer or poorer? maybe about the same.

11. What do you wish you'd done more of? hoo boy. Cleaning my stove? Reading, hiking (although for a city girl I did decently this year), sitting by the lake. But really, I'm pretty happy with at least the last half of 2008.

12. What do you wish you'd done less of? Getting angsty about unimportant things, overindulging in certain things. But nothing terrible, really.

13. What was your favourite TV program? Hmm. Did I watch anything? I'm liking Firefly :)

14. What was the best book you read? The Practice of the Wild (so much more life-changing the second time around!), dear god Lolita. A lot.

15. What was your greatest musical discovery? Jeff Buckley (for when you need an angsty girly man), Amanda Palmer, PJ Harvey in a much more real sense than before. Rid of Me is one of the best albums ever.

16. What did you want and get? An apartment to myself, a wicked sense of self confidence.

17. What did you want and not get? The Colorado Symphony job

18. What was your favourite film of this year? Twilight. Definitely.

19. What did you do on your birthday? had dinner with many amazing and varied friends, and then had drinks and bitched about conductors.

20. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

You know what? I'm good.

21. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? thrift store chic. what a nice girl! Semi-boring, perhaps.

22. What kept you sane? cats, Erica, the internet, coworker gossip.

23. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Amanda Palmer. Yikes.

24. What political issue stirred you the most? Prop 8, the election.

25. Who did you miss? Erica, Tabitha

26. Who was the best new person you met? so many! Madeleine, Rose-Anne (not new, but new as a personal close friend). Hopefully many more to come.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Paying attention to myself makes me a vastly happier person, and being happy makes good things happen. It also makes me sound cheesy much of the time. Living alone is awesome, but convincing myself to clean is harder. I need mountains in my life.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. "And I wake up and I ask myself what state I'm in/And I say well I'm lucky, cause I am like East Berlin/I had this wall and what I knew of the free world/Was that I could see their fireworks/And I could hear their radio" Dar Williams What do you hear in these sounds. "I'll idealize, then realize that it's no/Sacrifice, because the price is paid, and/There's nothing left to grieve" Fiona Apple, Get Gone

41. Where did you ring in 2009? At Austin's house! We dropped a grapefruit at midnight. Then I made out with a random stranger. Good times :)

42. What was your status by Valentine’s Day? Not good, I can tell you that. Prepping 300 roses and then doing dishes in the bathtub? No thanks.

43. Where did you go on vacation? Alaska!!! Flagstaff, Denver (that wasn't much of a vacation, though).

44. What did you purchase that was over $500? A ticket to Alaska. My security deposit on my apartment.

45. Did you know anybody who got married? probably. Nobody super close, though.

46. Did you move anywhere? into my own place

47. What’s the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2008? Hmm. I can't think of anything I'm willing to make public. Ooh wait, posted a craigslist ad!

49. What’s something you learned about yourself? I have a lot of potential.

50. What was your best month? Any of the last six, I think. Oh, except for late August/ early September, that kind of blew.

51. What pop culture event will you remember 2008 by? I agree with Lauren, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.

I think I've blocked out the bad parts of 2008, but they've been so overshadowed by the good that I'm okay with that. I don't really do resolutions, but I have high hopes for 2009; change is coming, but I think it will be the good kind of change. Thank you to everybody in my life, I love you all.

See? Cheesy. That's what being happy does to me.