No alarms and no surprises, please.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

End of 2007 meme

I love memes. As this one is a reflective meme and my 2007 was, um.... interesting so this may not be the peppiest look back that you read. But here we go.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Started thinking about myself.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Nope. Resolutions are for suckers. Recipe for failure.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope. No new babies.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope. The Fridge circle had a zero population growth this year.

5. What places did you visit? I went to Maine. That's about it. Man, I loved it up there. Fridge needs a walden-esque cabin out there.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? A significant other that's not bat-shit crazy.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? September 4th was my daughter's first day of kindergarten. That kicked ass. December 9th, which was a lousy day last year and this year was once again a shit sandwich from which I got to take a bite. I hate December 9th.

8. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
Seriously? My biggest achievement was holding it together and being able to provide a warm environment for my kids.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I had a bunch, all tied for first. But, I'm not listing them. See, each of them was like one of those failed rocket launches of the 50's and 60's. Outstanding learning experiences. There's far more information in failure than success.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nope. Nothing aside from a random virus brought home by my kids. Lucky!

11. What was the best thing you bought? My favorite thing I bought was Guitar Hero for the Wii. I love that. The best thing was probably my CPAP machine - a treatment for sleep apnea. Transformed how I sleep. I'm cranky when I can't use it.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My kids. Always far better behaved in public than I can believe, I am usually a very proud parent. Nice job, little guys!


13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Haha... see #6.

14. Where did most of your money go? Mortgage, childcare.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The Arctic Monkeys. They appeared on my radar this year (a bit late, really) and I listened to their two albums constantly for weeks.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Blue Picadilly/Miss You by The Feeling.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) Happier or sadder? Happier.
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter.
c) richer or poorer? Richer. And poorer. It's pretty complicated, really.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? I wish I had taken a legit vacation. I didn't though.


19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Pout like a whiny little nancy boy.
20. How did you spend Christmas last year? Um... awkwardly?

21. Did you fall in love in 2007? heheh. no.

22. How many one-night stands? None. But occasionally I spooned with a yellow labrador. Does that count?

23. What was your favorite TV program? Deadwood. I was pretty damn late to that party, but tore through those DVDs like they were going out of style. Cocksucker!

24. What did you do for your birthday in 2007? the dishes, I think, then I had a living room campout with my kids.

25. What was the best book you read? tie - The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman and The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? hey! I kind of already answered this question, didn't I? Well, I'll put number two "discovery". Critical darlings Kings of Leon. Their first two albums have been in rotation for months and months with no end in sight. Just a fantastic band.

27. What did you want and get?
Guitar Hero. Total present to myself. Then I went out and pimp-slapped Tom Morello, Slash and Beelzebub. In that order.

28. What did you want and not get? A divorce.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? Superbad.

30. Did you make some new friends this year? Yeah, a couple.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? I can't think of one thing.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Haggar stain-resistant pants?

33. What kept you sane? My kids. Having to provide stability and structure for them helped me a lot

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Rachel Weisz

35. What political issue stirred you the most? Jeez.... This could be a top ten list. Waterboarding tapes?

36. Who did you miss?
Dennis. Didn't see him at all this year.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Dan at work, who brought sanity to the QA department and kicks ass in many other ways.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. Having the the entire infrastructure of your life crumble isn't as debilitating as it sounds...