One of the things I would like to do more this year is write, and this year end/beginning meme seems like a good start.  Several years ago when I was a writing machine, blogging was a huge help in keeping the wheels turning.  So here goes…

1. What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?
I’m already starting to think maybe this was a bad idea. My memory is…not very good (to be kind), and I’m drawing a blank on the first question. Never done before. Hmm.  I started an investment/retirement account–something that probably should have been done a decade or so ago. Oh! I did NaNoWriMo and won! I’d started NaNo before, but I never got more than like a week in.   NaNo, in case you don’t know, is National Novel Writing Month, where participants endeavor to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year?
My resolutions tend to be the same thing over and over. Get in better shape, be healthier, stop procrastinating, etc. The procrastination one is usually top of the list. So I kept them as much as I ever do–I fail spectacularly in some ways and do great in others.  I am, if anything, a work in progress.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
If close to me is anyone in my immediate family, no. Several acquaintances had children.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes, my husband’s father passed away in March.

5. What countries did you visit?
Stayed in America all year. Though we were given the chance to go anywhere in the world we wanted, I decided, much to Spouse and Spawn’s horror, that the timing wasn’t right for a huge vacation. We went to Texas for a week instead. It was perfect.

6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
More sleep.

7. What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Not much gets remembered to the point that dates stick with me. Or maybe it’s just that big one-off events didn’t happen this year to me personally. Don’t quite remember the date, but something happened in late May that changed the course of the year in a very good way. Oh, I guess I remember the 15th of October. We had to put Gryphon down that day. That would be the very not good way.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
NaNo definitely. I wrote 53,000 words during the month of November and got my languishing novel back on track in a way that my Monday evening writing sessions tried to do but didn’t quite accomplish. I also taught myself how to crochet, how to knit lace, and how to knit Continental style. And over the course of two days this December, I did the yard work I had been putting off for literally multiple years.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Chronic procrastination. I failed to get good, consistent writing habits.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
YES. No illness, thankfully–especially after getting gut punched by the flu late 2012. This spring when I started running outside, after spending the winter running inside on a treadmill, I developed pain in my hip, what I now know is the tensor fasciae latae. The year was pretty much a cycle of taking a couple days off running, then thinking I was better, only to have intense pain on the next run. Lather rinse repeat. This turned into iliotibial band issues. And then the beginnings of knee pain. And some hamstring pain on the other leg. I was a mess. And because I’m a dumbass it took me until November to force myself to rest for weeks instead of days. So I started back with the running about ten days ago. Very slow, never two days in a row. All good! I even bought myself some cold weather gear and went out yesterday for a 3 and half miler at 35 degrees. 35 degrees, you all. Yes, I am a giant cold baby.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Hmmm…this one is a lot harder. Can’t pick a single best. So I won’t try! I got a new phone (HTC One) this spring and I love it. I got a pair of jeans that I love THIS IS A BIG DEAL. Hunter rain boots. I know there is a ton more–good year for smart/lucky purchases.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Spouse continued twenty-year streak of awesomeness. Spawn also was delightful (when she wasn’t making me want to jump in front of a truck). She did fabulous in school, hit a personal best at Irish dance, and made me and her dad laugh at ourselves.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
There are so many political/media figures who in my opinion deserve a lifetime of eternal torment that I can’t single out any one. So I’ll just go with the odious parents who think “breaking a child’s will” has any place in responsible parenting. And I’ll add to them people whose livelihoods are made by encouraging and exploiting our political and social differences.  Information is one thing–delivering it in a one-sided and inflammatory way is gross, and it kills me that so many people dive in and wallow along with the panderers.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Food.  Housing.  Irish dance.  Lotto.  My shoe habit.  Gin.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
We are in the early stages of a big house remodel–something we’ve talked about doing since we moved into this house twelve years ago. Very exciting!  Also I quit my job in August–I loved my place of employment and my coworkers, but I have never been more happily unemployed in my life.  Also my husband decided to run for judge this (2014) year.  The excitement brims and flows over.

16. What song will always remind you of 2013?
Ugh…I don’t know? None? I don’t listen to pop music unless Spawn wins a skirmish in the battle over the car radio, so I’m not exactly current on this year’s top 40. I guess “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, whom we saw at Riot Fest in Chicago this fall. Or “Add It Up” by Violent Femmes at the same festival.   I will never hear either of those songs and not think of this year.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: Happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter? Richer or poorer?
Happier. About the same weight–which pisses me off because I lost 10 pounds this fall and gained all but three back during the month of December. Richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Productive writing. Really…anything productive.  I suck.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Wasting fucking time and procrastinating.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Opening gifts with Spouse and Spawn, breakfast, Breaking Bad binge watching, take-out Indian.  It was our ideal Christmas.

21. Did you fall in love in 2013?
Just more in love with the things that already have me.

23. How many one-night stands?
LOL no.

24. What was your favourite TV program?
Spouse and I started watching Breaking Bad a couple months ago, and it really is as good as the hype. Also I adore Justified.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Not a hater.  But really there was not a person I can think of who behaved in a way this past year that made me decide that they were horrid when I had previously believed them to be not horrid.

26. What was the best book you read?
I think the only book I finished was Perdido Street Station. So I guess that was the best. Reading is something I’d like to do more this year. I usually only pick up my Nook when I’m going to bed and I fall asleep within a paragraph or two. Not a good way to make progress 😉

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I was obsessed with First Aid Kid before the local indie radio station played “Emmylou” to death.

28. What did you want and get?
Spouse got a new car, so I took over his GTI. Took care of my car envy!

29. What did you want and not get?
Single payer. Or any rational healthcare system.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I did not see nearly enough movies. I guess I’d have to pick Gravity.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I honestly have no idea. I probably went out to dinner with Spouse. Old.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
To have not gained back the weight I lost. A minor thing, but the one that springs to mind right now.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?
Comfortable. Warm in the winter, cool in the summer.  More drab than colorful.

34. What kept you sane?
Conversations with my husband.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Crap, I don’t know. I have more of a flavor of the week thing. Short attention span. Right now probably getting ready to circle back around to Timothy Olyphant because Justified is starting again soon, so I’ll go with him.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I’m a political junkie, and I get riled up over all kinds of stuff. Forced to pick one…probably the shit-show that is the health care industry in this country. And money in politics.

37. Who did you miss?
Whom…but whatever.  My sisters.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
I don’t recall anyone I met this year, probably due to my poor memory rather than lack of meeting interesting folk.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013:
Less is more.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

My shadow’s
shedding skin and
I’ve been picking
Scabs again.
I’m down
Digging through
My old muscles
Looking for a clue.

I’ve been crawling on my belly
Clearing out what could’ve been.
I’ve been wallowing in my own confused
And insecure delusions
For a piece to cross me over
Or a word to guide me in.
I wanna feel the changes coming down.
I wanna know what I’ve been hiding in

Forty Six & 2 by Tool