January 5, 2016

thirty-seven

Posted in Uncategorized at 8:34 pm by kate

  1. What did you do in 2015 that you’d never done before?

It was a whole lot easier to answer this question when I was 23 and basically moved to a new country and learned a new language every year. In 2015, uh, I don’t know, I finally saw The Lowest of the Low live.

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

I don’t think I made New Year’s resolutions last year! My resolution for this year is to publish something in a publication other than the one I work for.

  1. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No, but a TON of people that I know had babies. Like five different people that I work with and many ladies on the internet.

  1. Did anyone close to you die?

I am 35. Between the time I turned 30 and the time I turned 33, six people who were integral to my life died. Now it’s been several years since someone died and I’m still trying to pull out of dead-friend crisis mode and it’s surprisingly hard. No one died this year. No one has died for years. Everything is fine (my heart is still broken).

  1. What countries did you visit?

I will quote myself from last year and the year before: “this answer is always the same and I’m okay with that: Mexico and the US.”

  1. What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?

Before I answer this question I want to note that last year I talked about how in 2015 I’d have a good boss because my incredibly shitty manager finally left the company and a new director came in and it turned out to be 100% true. Everything about my job improved immeasurably this year. I am really happy! I work with great people! I stopped coming home from work literally every day and telling my boyfriend about how shitty and terrible my boss was!

So. What I would like to have in 2016 that I lacked in 2015 is a super great apartment. We had to move in June and it was awful. I had lived in a really beautiful house from 1880 for six years and then my landlord decided to turn it into a store and we had to find a new apartment and even though our new apartment is completely fine I hate literally everything about it and I want to move again this summer. I am embarrassed to admit it, but one of the primary problems with this place is that it’s three kilometers from my office and that is too far. I feel like I live in the fucking suburbs. It takes like 35 minutes to walk each way and ain’t nobody got time for that. I like to walk a lot, but apparently I do not like to spend 35 minutes walking to work in the morning carrying my shoes and wearing sneakers with a dress may god forgive me.

  1. What moments from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

The three quintessential moments of 2015 are probably finding out we had to move, moving, and finding this amazing secret spot between the coral reef and the shore that we visited every day in Mexico.

  1. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Being very good at my job. I’m a very good employee and I work hard to be a very good boss. One of the greatest joys of my professional life has been assembling and managing a really good team of editors. It took a lot of work (and one hundred thousand job interviews) to get there but it’s great.There is a lot (A LOT) I can say about being a good boss and a good employee but something I have been thinking about lately is that my old terrible boss did not really have a life outside of work. Being single-mindedly devoted to your work makes you a terrible fucking boss because you have no frame of reference for what kind of outside demands a regular person has on them outside of work. Having a healthy work/life balance is like, good for you as a person but also good for the way you interact with your coworkers.

  1. What was your biggest failure?

This year, like basically every year in recent memory, I failed to find a huge, wide-brimmed sun hat to take to Mexico. My head is gigantic (seriously, it is huge) so regular sun hats fit me, but very snugly (and not at all if I have my hair in a bun). It’s reasonably easy to find big floppy sun hats for people with regular-sized heads or basic hats for people with gigantic heads, but I want both. And it has been impossible to find. (Although to be fair, I basically only remember to look in the 7-10 days before I leave for Mexico every year.)

  1. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No, like last year my insane immune system kept me from getting sick (and also from eating like 90% of all possible food — my insane immune system is a mixed bag for sure).

  1. What was the best thing you bought?

Well, paying for movers is never a bad idea, and also, the people who lived in this house before us had TERRIBLE TASTE, so I bought a bunch of cans of paint (all a pale grey called Ruffled Feathers which was perfect because my personal feathers were CERTAINLY RUFFLED by having to move) and paid for a painter which improved things about 20%. (Although I hasten to clarify now and forever that I hate living in this apartment and can’t wait to move.) Also, when we moved in, the apartment had a TINY fridge, like one size up from a dorm room mini-fridge, and we lived with it for six months until it broke and then the landlord replaced it with a HUGE fridge that we are literally still talking about. HAVE YOU SEEN HOW BIG OUR FRIDGE IS.

  1. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My boyfriend’s. He’s a gem.  I am not used to having a partner who shoulders 50% off the load. My boyfriend often carries more than 50% of our mental, physical, emotional requirements and while that is SO AMAZING it has occasionally been hard for me to allow it. (I AM SO USED TO BEING THE ONLY ONE WHO DOES ANYTHING.) My natural inclination is always to be the valedictorian of everything. I want to be the valedictorian of MY JOB and ERRANDS and LAUNDRY and BAKED GOODS and CLEANING BEHIND THE COUCH. This year I really worked hard to let go of stuff that doesn’t matter and part of that was embracing Todd doing more and even though it sounds like I’m basically just describing a ten-step program for becoming incredibly, incredibly lazy I promise it was more nuanced than that.

  1. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

This is a hard question to answer because I know responsible gun owners and I know very smart, non-racist cops BUT SHIT Y’ALL DID NOT HAVE A GOOD YEAR.

  1. Where did most of your money go?

A LOT of my money went to savings this year, which was honestly a huge accomplishment.

  1. What did you get really excited about?

Last year my answer was “having friends over a lot and cooking for them” and that was also true this year, although I also got pretty excited about laying on my couch and not moving.

  1. What song will always remind you of 2015?

Gosh, so many of the songs from the musical Hamilton. I started listening to it in September and literally have not listened to other music since.

  1. Compared to this time last year, are you:
  • happier or sadder? probably happier?
  • thinner or fatter? the same, to the pound.
  • richer or poorer? richer.
  1. What do you wish you’d done more of?

I wish I had been more proactive in planning my workflow for the year. I also wish I had written down the names of the books I read.

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

Even though I had an amazing year professionally, I do wish I’d worked less.

  1. How did you spend Christmas?

This was the third year that I’ve spent the day with my boyfriend and his mother. My boyfriend’s birthday is Christmas Day so we did birthday presents + cupcakes on Christmas Eve and Presents For Everyone on Christmas Day. I got + gave some really great presents and we talked, drank and played cards and board games.

  1. Did you fall in love in 2015?

No, but I’m still super in love with my boyfriend and our amazing cats.

  1. What was your favorite TV program?

I don’t know that I had a stand-out favorite this year. I did watch Friends and Seinfeld both from beginning to end and I really, really enjoyed them.

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

No.

  1. What was the best book you read?

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. It was literally a life-changing book. If you read it and loved it (or read it and hated it) EMAIL ME SO WE CAN TALK.

  1. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I think I have to say Hamilton again — I love the whole thing so much.

  1. What did you want and get?

A big improvement in my happiness level at work, a really good trip to Mexico.

  1. What did you want and not get?

Magically being able to stay in my old house instead of having to move. I can barely even articulate how much I wanted that. Also to magically be willowy and lithe.

  1. What was your favorite film of this year?

This is what I said last year and it’s still true: I never, ever watch movies. I never, ever do! I don’t think I’ve been able to answer this question in any of the years I’ve done this quiz.

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

I was 35. I had a lot of trouble turning 35 because it felt SO FUCKING OLD, like ten times as old as 34. I couldn’t think of a single thing that I wanted for my birthday (which was unusual, I LOVE PRESENTS and always know exactly what I want) although at one point I gestured to my ears and told my boyfriend “I want earrings like this BUT BIGGER” I guess because I am an animal? Then I decided I did not want a new pair of diamond studs. Because I am an animal. In the end, my boyfriend gave me some great presents and I sort of eventually worked through my angst over being old by reminding myself that it’s okay if I don’t accomplish anything else before I die. In hindsight that sounds incredibly macabre but it was really helpful.

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

Winning ten million dollars in the lottery?

  1. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2015?

All winter: these five dresses from J.Crew basically feel like wearing pajamas, so I’m going to rotate between them without ceasing. When I’m in Mexico: have you considered taking my masterclass in wearing a bathing suit under your clothes?

  1. What kept you sane?

Walking, reading, working.

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

Last year I said basically every day I want to email Barack Obama and say YOU ARE DOING GREAT and that’s still true.

  1. What political issue stirred you the most?

Same answer as last year: everything about the way the world works breaks my heart.

  1. Who did you miss?

My beautiful, smart, funny dead friends. I miss them all a whole bunch.

  1. Who was the best new person you met?

She is not a person and I did not meet her this year, but I cannot overemphasize how much joy animated Pusheen stickers and gifs gave me this year. This cat is so plump and charming and every time I see her I literally want to jump up and down and applaud.

  1. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2015.

You should always hold out for what you really want. Never settle! (I learned this when I moved into an apartment I hated with every fiber of my being.)