2005 Wrap-Up

A week into 2006, I finally get around to posting this:

1. What did you do in 2005 that you had never done before?
Went to New Orleans. Had a significant role in a show at a semi-professional theatre. Had a significant role in the office of said semi-professional theatre. Bought an average car from a smarmy, overpriced dealership-- unfortunate decision on my part.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I stopped making resolutions years ago.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Mike Duck's wife Stacey. First of the direct college friends to become parents.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Well, my family cat Yang, who had been with us for 14 years. That was sad. No humans, though, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?
None but the U.S. I did get out of Lancaster a few times, though, to Chicago and New Orleans by plane and various MD, DC, PA, & NJ trips by automobile.

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
Ah, this one is easy: my own apartment. I fear it may not happen, though, since I can't afford it yet. But in ten months once I climb out of my hole of debt and manage to save a couple thousand bucks, who knows?

7. What dates will remain etched in your memory and why?
August 15, because that's my birthday.

8. What's your biggest achievement of the year?
Learning to be comfortable with where I am, I guess. Even though that only happened in the last few months of 2005. Oh, and getting a real job with benefits.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Perhaps not enjoying the aforementioned significant role in a semi-professional theatrical production. It should have been so much fun, but instead it stressed me out and I was just counting the days until it was over.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really, besides a monstrous sinus infection in June, for which I took antibiotics that made me vomit. But that's not really even worth mentioning, so forget it.

11.What was the best thing you bought? Oh, I would love to say my car. It was certainly the most expensive thing I bought. But honestly, the $20 pair of jeans I got at Target have been invaluable.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Um. Hm. Is is terrible that I can't think of anyone? How about everyone I love, for continuing to be so lovable?

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and disgusted?
I was very disappointed in my sister-in-law for a while.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Bills bills bills debt debt debt. I ran up a hefty credit card bill my first year out of college, and I've been working on paying it off for two years. Granted, I spent the better part of 2005 working for $7 an hour, so making a significant dent in the debt has been slow going.

15. What did you get really, really excited about?
Hm. Chicago with Tristan. Proofreading at work. (No, really.) I would love to say the trip to New Orleans, but I was exhausted and working a lot and also sick, so the anticipation was a little muted.

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
Panthers by Wilco. Also, pretty much anything by Beck.

17. Compared to this time last year are you:
a) Happier or sadder? Probably about the same, really. I'm more content now, but at this time last year I was getting excited about a new relationship that was full of potential, so I was pretty happy.
b) Fatter or thinner? A few pounds thinner, I guess. I lost some weight when I was stressed out last spring and it never really came back.
c) Richer or poorer? Richer. I was making $7 an hour, remember? God help me if I weren't a little richer now.

18. What do you wish you had done more of ?
Writing. Always writing, but I find it so difficult to actually do. Traveling, too. I'm afraid of falling into a working rut and never fulfilling my wanderlust.

19. What do you wish you had done less of?
Freaking out about the oh-so-nebulous future.

20. How did you spend New Year's Eve?
I went to a wedding at a swanky hotel in Philly. It was smashing.

21. Did you fall in love in 2005?
I sure did. Tee hee. :)

22. What was your favorite TV program?
The OC was the only prime time show I watched, but it certainly wasn't my favorite. I have to go with Friends reruns, because I continued to feed my collection of season DVDs and I was never disappointed.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. I can't say I hate anyone.

24. What was the best book you read?
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince has to be my choice, because it's the only one I can think of off the top of my head. I wish I'd done more reading, too.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Beck, I think. I was obsessed with his music last spring.

26. What did you want and get?
An iPod. I'd been talking about it for a good six months and finally got one in July. Super-cheap, too, thanks to Tristan's computer purchase.

27. What did you want and not get?
A bright blue VW New Beetle. Screw Consumer Reports and epinions.com. Who cares if the car is historically unreliable? That's the car I wanted, and I should have gotten the damn thing instead of my practical Toyota.

28. What was your favorite film this year?
It's not a 2005 film, but I finally saw The Godfather in its entirety, and I thought it was awesome.

29. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I went to the pool with my mom and niece and nephew, then went to Target and bought myself some stuff, then went out for sushi with my boyfriend. It was a very lovely day for turning 24.

30. What one thing would have made your year measurably more satisfying?
Getting a full-time job with benefits sooner than I did. I feel like I'm far behind in the getting ahead game, and I wish I'd been making more money sooner in the year. Working at the theatre was an interesting experience and a great resume-builder, but I would love to have paid off my debt sooner.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion in 2005?
Easy going with layers. I love jeans, tank tops, and flip flops. I love to dress up, too, but I always look better in my mind than I do in real-life. Now I just stick with what works.

32. What kept you sane?
My boyfriend, whose presence automatically makes me feel calmer inside, and anyone who would listen to me freak out about the future (friends, my Mom). I wish I could say writing, because that's always been such a wonderful outlet for me, but there were times when writing in my journal just felt like too much effort.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Pssh. Not a one.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Pass. Sorry.

35. Who did you miss?
My best friend from college, who was several states away for most of the year and who I was used to seeing or talking to at least every other week.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Well, a couple of weeks ago at a Christmas soiree for Tristan's work, we sat with a woman named Hazel Jackson, who was the first black woman to teach at a local high school and at a local university. Hearing a first-hand recollection of the days of segregation from a determined, good-natured old woman was a better history lesson than I ever endured in school.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005.
I learned to let go of the past, basically. I was carrying around some hurt and disappointment in 2004 that was doing me a lot of bad and very little good, and I discovered as time progressed that the crappiness of 2004 had made me aware of all the wonderful things still waiting. I also stopped longing for college and realized that those days are over, but it doesn't mean life has to suck.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Oh come on. I can't even sum up a year in my own words, let alone someone else's verse.