thirty-three

January 3, 2012

thirty-three

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

I can’t think of a single thing!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I did! And I will. My resolution last year was to have more parties, and I did decently well with that. My resolutions for this year are a lot more mundane, for one, I’d like to stop carrying so much fucking stuff in my purse, for two, I would like to do some neck/shoulder stretches every night because my neck is a total disaster and three, I would like to start dressing more mindfully, because I started out 2011 dressing well and then sort of spiraled into a morass of yoga pants. Toward the end I started wearing jeans with sneakers, god forgive me.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Some of our friends had a baby and it’s literally the cutest baby I’ve ever seen.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

My father died in July and it was pretty awful. He was 52, we were estranged, and my grief for him was  far more pervasive than I had imagined it would be.

5. What countries did you visit?

Mexico, twice, and the US a handful of times. (I think it was San Francisco, New York, Santa Barbara, New York.)

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

Last year I said I wanted  more people to share my life with and that I would like to finally get my Canadian citizenship. I got so many more people to share my life with in the most wonderful way but I did not get my Canadian citizenship. I’m still here for good, though.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Well. When I met Bill, when my father died, the snorkeling trip we took at the end of our trip to Mexico.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I don’t feel like I personally had one, although starting to see a therapist after I realized that I couldn’t deal with my father’s death on my own feels like a substantial accomplishment. Also, I played 212-point word in a Scrabble game. (It was AMORTIZE.)

9. What was your biggest failure?

In November I asked my ex-husband, Cram, to take Mervyn full-time. That was brutally hard.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

A little. I had surgery for this weird abdominal thing and like I mentioned above, my neck and shoulders are sort of a disaster.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Tickets to Mexico, twice. Every trip out to the reef and every plate of ceviche.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

The behavior of my boyfriend and the behavior of my manager and our senior  manager, who are my second- and third-favorite people on earth.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Rob Ford. He’s Toronto’s mayor and he’s a terrible, shitty person with bad ideas.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Rent, sushi. And I paid for my father’s funeral, despite the fact that he left me $1 in his will as a way to indicate he didn’t want me to receive anything else (and despite the fact that he did not even know my date of birth).

15. What did you get really excited about?

Going to Mexico, being in love with the right person.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

A particular Pearl Jam bootleg, any one of several songs by the Lowest of the Low. And Adele!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? The last two years my answer was “happier, by far” and that’s also my answer this year. I am exponentially happier than I was last year.
– thinner or fatter? Thinner, by a tiny bit.
– richer or poorer? The same.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

I did more of everything I could possibly want to. It was a year without regret, really.

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

I also don’t feel like I have an answer to this one, although I guess I could have spent less time being annoyed by incompetence.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Christmas Eve, Bill and I had a quiet day together and opened our presents, ate some appetizer-style foods and I probably fell asleep on the couch at least once. On Christmas Day we went to his parents’ house, attended mass with them and had an extremely delicious Christmas dinner.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?

Oh my goodness, yes! I fell super in love with Bill, who is my boyfriend. We met in March. He is handsome and kind and funny. I hope we will be together for many years. I also fell in love with a handful of babies and a portly, reserved cat named Chaos.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Downton Abbey, Community, Top Chef. Sadly, I had to drop Project Runway from this list after many years because the last two seasons have been just terrible. Awful, gimmicky editing and terrible judging.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No.

24. What was the best book you read?

I don’t think I read anything extraordinary this year.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I lost my iPod about halfway through the year, so Bill loaned me his old one, and I got to listen to a lot of the music he loved in college, which was great.

26. What did you want and get?

The love of my life, a real partner. And more local friends. Basically I got everything I wanted.

27. What did you want and not get?

For a little while I wanted to get engaged to Bill IMMEDIATELY and then I realized that there was really no rush—we’re going to be together for a very long time no matter if we get engaged now or a year from now.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

I’m really terrible at watching movies so I might say Downtown Abbey again. It’s really so wonderful, and truly produced at the level of a feature film rather than a television program.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I was 31! It was a Sunday, and I was leaving first thing Monday morning for a week-long business trip to Santa Barbara, so we kept it low-key: diamond earrings, super-delicious dinner.

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

I said this last year and it’s still true: if my tiny, charming apartment had a dishwasher OH MY GOD. That would be so great. Seriously, I want for little else.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

It started out so well! But Jesus H, I ended the year on a down note.

32. What kept you sane?

100%, without a doubt my boyfriend Bill.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I seemed to develop crushes on interiors and historical homes this year rather than people.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Jack Layton’s death this summer was incredibly unfortunate. And Rob Ford, again.

35. Who did you miss?

My grandfather, still. My dad, in a different way.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

Bill, of course. He’s amazing. We were talking the other day about how we had a totally normal first date that was actually pretty unremarkable (I mean it was fun, but not spectacular) and then we fell in love with each other. I was not expecting to fall wildly, head-over-heels in love with him (or anyone, I think) but I totally did.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

I am not sure I learned one. I felt like I became acutely aware of how quickly time moves, though, and how mindful you have to be to appreciate the good things in your life.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

I am still not a song lyric person.

 

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