End-of-Year Meme .
Happy 2005.
All right. Never done one of these here, and I won’t start making it a regular thing, but it’s the end of the year.
It’s the start of the year, too. So let’s mark it.

1. What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before?
I ate tasty pickled Russian vegetables. I published my first single-handed, full-length features in Small Publication.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Don’t think I made any. Or did I. Maybe they were of the overly ambitious variety that had no ways or means attached. As is. So frequently. The case. I’m just gonna move on, now, before I analyze this into a ditch.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes. DaVida has the cutest baby ever.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, gracias a Dios.

5. What countries did you visit?
None, unless you count New Hampshire – and some might.

6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?
Oh, now see, this is just another version of that “Resolution” question. ~Sneaky~! Okay, okay. On the surface, I’ll say this: Better organization, a better social network since whole bunches of friends moved away this year and an AirPort card for my laptop.

7. What dates from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Hm. Not really a date-etcher. Still, I’ll remember reaching Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mt. Washington with Hunter after a full morning’s hike. And then of course, breaking up with Hunter a couple weeks ago.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Publishing several features with Small Publication felt nice.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I didn’t get an internship I wanted with my favorite radio show. Sometimes my break-up with Hunter seems like a failure, but I know it was the right thing to do.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No. I have some kind of bleckyvirus now, but that’s not a Capital-S Sickness.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Happiness. Then I misplaced it in the move.
Har. No, actually, my globe, from the Lakewood Antiques Mart.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My friend who quit her crummy PR job she hated, scoring a really great job with a foundation.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
People I consider friends who voted Republican.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Because of said lack of financial organization this year, I hate to say: To Crescent Moon Diner, Noodle, Aurora Coffee and the restaurant at Whole Check.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My trip to New Hampshire this summer.
16. What song will always remind you of 2004?
“Sadie” by Joanna Newsome. Her whole album, Milk-Eyed Mender, really. The latest Distillers album.
“Calistan” by Frank Black, even though it came out years ago.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier, actually.
b) thinner or fatter? A bit fatter, though not extraordinarily so.
c) richer or poorer? Doing slightly better, financially.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Wish I’d written more. Spent more time doing creative things. That’s what 2005’s for, I guess. And I guess there’s my resolution.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Freaking out over my relationship.

20. Did you fall in love in 2004?
Didn’t fall in love, no. Loved, yeah.

21. How many one-night stands?
None. Not my bag.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Err. Oh-! Regency House! Was that from 2004? Dunno, but I watched it this year.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Heck, no.

24. What was the best book you read?
The Watchmen by Alan Moore.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Joanna Newsom. Shall I say it some more?

26. What did you want and get?
An All-Clad stockpot. A job with health insurance. Kudos from professional cohorts about my work.

27. What did you want and not get?
A functional primary relationship.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
It was March. I was 26. Big group o’ friends went to one restaurant that turned out to be too pricey, and so we moved things to another place and had a pretty good time.

30.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
To have figured out absolutely—at least for now--what the right thing to do with my life is.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?
Possibly Problematic.
As in:
My Dresser/Closet Doth Overflow but that Salvation Army skirt is Just Too Damn Cute to Pass Up.

33. What kept you sane?
Walking my dog in the woods.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Oh, god. This band makes me go all Beatlemania every time they come to play here in Atlanta. (Bad photos of this band, I should say.)
(I’m silly.)
(Jesusfrickinchrist.)

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
The election.

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004.
Honesty >Ego
I think I learned it. I think so. Really, this time.

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
God, I’m bad at this. Well, the lyrics that popped into my head most often this year came from a song by the Silver Jews. And here are some of those lyrics:

“Punk rock died when the first kid said,
‘Punk’s not dead.
Punk’s not dead!’
You know Louisville is death;
You gotta up and move
Because the dead do not improve.”