1.01.2013

2013 -- the Great Leap Forward


I am really quite terrible at New Year's resolutions. Follow through in general is just, you know, really fucking hard. That being said, I'ma go ahead and make some anyway (because apparently in 2013 I am a masochist). And because I really am so very selfish and care mostly about my own damn sanity, I'm going to challenge myself to blog everyday for the month of January. The grad school process is winding down, but winter is just getting started, y'all, so I need something to occupy my time (and mind). 

I have a few other resolutions on the back burner, but I'm gonna save those for future blog fodder. You can thank me later.

So for today, a retrospect.

1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before?
Welp. I studied diligently for the GRE, and in a jangled up ball of nerves and stress, took the test in June. In an attempt to spend more time with my dad, I took up golfing. I'm really quite terrible at golfing, but I am very good at talking shit and drinking beer, so I put this one in the win category. I took a jewelry making class (which, again, was mostly me talking shit and drinking, while oohing and ahhing over Lindsay's newfound talent). 


2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Hmmm, that's a good question. I'm not so sure I made any definitive New Year's resolutions for 2012, but very early on in the year, around February, I made the very conscious decision to live HERE. As in, be present in my current location. A steady stream of updates, photos, and headlines from Korea were a constant mindfuck for me, making it very hard to feel settled and content. So I decided to turn off the noise and live in the now. It was a spectacularly positive choice. 


3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Ew. Maybe. I don't remember. Babies creep me out.


4. Did anyone close to you die?
Unfortunately, yes. Seems this happens more often the older I get...


5. What countries did you visit? 
I was firmly grounded in the USA. And after three years living abroad, I am fine with that. (For now!)


6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
Buy In. I'm working on it...


7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Christmas Eve, but I'm keeping that one to myself.


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Follow through. Yes. Definitely.


9. What was your biggest failure?
Sugar detox. Lack of sugar makes me a raging bitch, so I'll take this failure as a win for everyone else. :)


10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had an awesome case of summer strep -- TWICE. Other than contracting every single germ from my little monsters, I managed to remain relatively illness free.


11. What was the best thing you bought?
I really, REALLY want to say my blue Hanes sweatpants. They are warm and cozy, and made a helluva Halloween costume. And did I mention how fashionable they are? Best $8 I've ever spent. 

See? Aren't they just the BEST?!

*Parenthetically, the best purchase I made this year was probably a smartphone. Although my little candy bar Samsung was a speedy asset at trivia night, I took the great leap forward to 2008 and bought myself a shiny new (slow) LG. 

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
All my students!


13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I'm sure there were many, but I seem to have conveniently forgotten them all.


14. Where did most of your money go?
Food and beer, as per usual


15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The prospect of change


16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
Justin Bieber's Boyfriend. Haters to the left.


17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
Happier. So much happier. So much so, that the rest doesn't really matter.


18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
If wishes were fishes, we'd all be whales.


19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Overthinking. Always.


20. How did you spend Christmas?
In the best way possible -- eating, drinking, and generally creating merriment!


21. Did you fall in love in 2012?
I think I have fallen in love with all that is possible in the coming year.


22. What was your favorite TV program?
I like to think I'm one of those people who gets to say, "Oh, I don't watch TV", because, really, I don't. But I do sit in front of my computer for more time than is probably healthy, so... Oh, and the Daily Show. 


23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Hate? No. Have made a conscious decision to avoid? Absolutely.


24. What was the best book you read?
So many books, so little time. I did, however, very much enjoy Nothing to Envy by Barabara Demick. 
--"Demick follows the lives of six people: a couple of teenaged lovers courting in secret, an idealistic woman doctor,  a homeless boy, a model factory worker who loves Kim Il Sung more than her own family and her rebellious daughter." It was an excellent look at the everyday lives of North Koreans.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Spotify. How very fantastic it has been to listen to all the music, all the time.

26. What did you want and get?
In 2012, I was very much searching for piece of mind, community, a sense of belonging, focus, and contentedness. I think, I THINK, I have managed to find all of those things.


27. What did you want and not get?
It's good to want things.


28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I watched a lot of movies. I also "watched" a lot of movies. I don't know -- Batman?
*Follow through, follow through, follow through!

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Got my shit together and threw myself a sweet 16 x 2 luau. This is what happens when you are a child-free adult.


30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A couple hundred more square feet.

31. What kept you sane?
You mean who -- Melissa, Erica, and Patrick

32. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm cheating on this question, but let me explain why. Although I met a handful of new people in 2012, it generally takes me a very long time to feel as though I intimately know someone. With that being said, the best new people I met were those whom I already knew and took the time to get to know a little bit better. In Melissa I found an excellent listener, a keen observer, and an enthusiastic cheerleader. In Erica I found a passionate and opinionated conversational wizard. And she's fucking funny as hell. In Pat I found a partner in crime, a confident, and, let's be honest, a dancing monkey.

33. Valuable life lesson you learned in 2012?
"I realized that so much of this 'being present' business is simply telling the negative voices in your head to shut the fuck up." -- YUP


WHEW! Here's to 2013!

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