Year in Review

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?

I ran in and finished a half-marathon without stopping to walk. I barely ran (in terms of speed), but I ran. I remain very proud of myself for this.

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

Here's what my new year's resolutions were: "In 2007, I'd like to run the half-marathon. And try to make the world better since I didn't really do that this year. And figure out more of what I believe and what I don't. And find more ways to be creative and create things." I did the half-marathon. I'm not sure I did the rest. Although I did just buy a new video camera and look forward to using it creatively. This year I would like to do some improvements on my house and re-embrace exercise.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes! I watched my friend's second daughter being born, and my lifelong friend also had her second daughter, my godchild.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, thankfully.

5. What countries did you visit?

I traveled out of the country in 2004, 2005, and 2006, but not in 2007. I try not to be sad about that, but I am, a little.

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?

A regular series of full nights of sleep. (Same as every year.)

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Not to be a broken record, but the half-marathon was a great day.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

See #7.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Utterly failing to maintain my newfound fitness regimen and outgrowing all of my clothes by the year's end. This truly depresses me on a deep level, and I'm trying to rise out of it.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Not really, thankfully.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

I think maybe my new video camera. Otherwise, not sure. Right now there are ten brighly colored gerber daisies scattered throughout the house, and I'm feeling very glad that I bought them.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

I'm going to go with my three favorite women: my sister, who graduated from law school, passed one of the hardest bar exams, moved to Bolivia, and is preparing to begin the rest of her life; my best friend, who changed her life on a leap of faith; my other best friend, who has been a warrior mama.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, George W. Bush. (It's the same answer every year; I can't help it.)

14. Where did most of your money go?

I probably spent the largest sum of money on my damn busted pipe.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Seeing Spring Awakening.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?

Hm. I think my favorite song from this year was Tomorrow Is a Long Time by Nickel Creek. I have no idea if their version is actually from this year, but I sure listened to it a lot once I discovered it, and I love it a whole lot. I also love Mark Erelli's version of Shawn Colvin's "I Don't Know Why." (You can hear it here, #9.) I just learned a new song called "Have You Ever" by Brandi Carlile on a CD that B. made me, and I love it so much that the love is spreading backwards into all of 2007 and forward into 2008. I knew nothing of Brandi Carlile but a recollection that she is beloved by Al Lowe, and I wish I had paid attention to her before. (Enjoyable Brandi Carlile clip [singing a Beatles song]: here. Singing "Have You Ever": here.)

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

a) happier or sadder? I don't know. I remain sort of chronically sad that I have fallen off the fitness wagon, but apparently not sad enough to climb back on it. More like paralyzed fitnessly, I guess. Weird.

b) thinner or fatter? GOD -- fatter. By a large margin.

c) richer or poorer? Richer, but not exceedingly more so.

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

Exercising, post-spring. (I did take an hour-long walk this afternoon on a beautiful sunny day around the lakes, which was a nice way to spend an hour on the last day of the year.)

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

Inexplicably crying. Lying awake in the middle of the night fretting about things that happened in other lifetimes.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Going to mass with my parents and siblings where we once again marveled at the weird out-of-tuneness of the "Gloria" song, sitting around a large table of food with my family, re-watching the game against Auburn, and overall having a pretty fun and functional Christmas.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?

I continued to be in love with the same person.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Friday Night Lights, though it caused me some discomfort with the shift from the perfection of last year; Ugly Betty remains fantastic; Pushing Daisies is basically a joy; Dirty Sexy Money is deliciously fun; The Office somehow seems to get better each season; Brothers and Sisters=still really good, though I still can't really buy this supposed great romance between Flockhart and Lowe. Battlestar Galactica ended awesomely, and I'm excited for the next season, whenever that is. I enjoyed Big Love season two on DVD.

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

I can't think of anyone. I pretty much reserve all of my hatred for the president. (Still.)

24. What was the best book you read?

Best novels: The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak was the best book I read this year, but I was lucky to love or really like several others as well, including The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, Long May She Reign by Ellen Emerson White, and Love Is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield. Currently, I'm loving What Gets Into Us by Moira Crone, and next up is How Sassy Changed My Life, which it most certainly did.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Hmmmm...I mostly just listened to music I already loved this year, though I did spend countless hours listening to the soundtracks of Once, Hairspray, and Across the Universe. Once's music has definitely been especially special to me.

26. What did you want and get?

An A in both of my graduate classes.

27. What did you want and not get?

Rid of my under-eye circles.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

I saw a lot of movies I loved or really liked this year (not all of which were actually released this year). Loved: Waitress, The Heart of the Game, The Lives of Others, Once, Hairspray, Juno. Really liked: Pan's Labyrinth, Grey Gardens, Shut Up and Sing, Diggers. Liked parts of / hated parts of / still think about often: Across the Universe.

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

I turned 32 and had dinner with my family.

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

I hate to sound like a broken record, but more sleep.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?

Um. Jeans? T-shirts? The usual. Busting out of said jeans by December. Ugh!

32. What kept you sane?

Love: of boyfriend, family, friends, dogs, cats.

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

Hm. I don't know that fancy is the right word, but I was so impressed and enchanted by Keri Russell in Waitress and very glad the world finally got to see her talent in a big way.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

The upcoming presidential election has me alternately excited and scared.

35. Whom did you miss? I miss Madeleine L'Engle, even though I obviously did not know her. I just miss knowing that she exists, basically.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

My godchild. Ned, Olive, Emerson, and Chuck. And I also enjoyed meeting my classmates.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.

But I know
There’s so much more to find
Just in looking through myself, and not at them
Still, I know
To trust my own true mind
And to say there’s a way through this
On I go
To wonder and to learning

-- "All That's Known," Spring Awakening

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

I tried to listen to "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" on the way to work more mornings than not, and it never failed to put me in a better mood and make me feel more happy to be alive. So I'm going to go with the last verse of this song, as dorky as that might be.

All the sounds of the earth are like music,
All the sounds of the earth are like music,
The breeze is so busy it don't miss a tree,
And an ol' Weepin' Willer is laughin' at me.

--Rodgers & Hammerstein

(The same survey: 2006, 2005, and 2004.) (First found via Linda.)