Passion

1. What did you do in 2013 that you've never done before?
So many things! Maybe the most notable was beginning to hike. On July 3rd I hiked 14 or 15 miles around Florence Lake with friends. That was pretty crazy, and unlike anything I'd ever done before.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I do not make resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My cat died in March. :-(

4.5 Did anyone close to you get married?
Nope.

4.75 Did anyone close to you have other critical, life-changing moments or revelations?
Yes. Holy crap, yes. Not mine to reveal here, but it was an eventful year for a lot of people close to me.
Oh, I guess I can reveal that my dad was diagnosed with liver cancer. That was (is)... bad.

5. What states/countries did you visit?
... just Michigan and Nevada, I think. It was a quiet year for travel.
ETA: Also Georgia for DragonCon!

6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
I guess I'm still hoping for more followthrough. I need to make myself work on leather and other creative pursuits. I need to make myself seriously examine my career and then plan out where I want it to go, and make it go there.

7. What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 17 and July 3. Also June 1st - I feel like I woke up on June 1st.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Hmm, not sure. Successfully integrating into a circle of friends, and developing a strong social network?

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not doing a good job at work. Not doing anything at all to further my career in any way.
Not figuring out my relationship with my dad.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I hurt my knee pretty badly in October.

11. What was the best thing you created?
New social relationships? And a few neat leather items.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Jim's. Jim's been awesome.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I'm gonna leave this blank this year for the sake of "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

14. Where did most of your money go?
Food, actually. Also rent and loan repayments.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Corsets. I bought a lot of corsets.

16. What song will always remind you of 2013?
Hmm, not sure. I listened to Lifehouse's Between the Raindrops a LOT. Walk the Moon's Anna Sun was my theme song for our housing search. Really like that song. Maybe also Peter Hollens' Shenandoah? I listened to that on repeat a lot, earlier in the year.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
- happier or sadder? Much happier!
- thinner or fatter? A little thinner! Going mostly paleoish and cutting out almost all sugar helped me lose about 12 pounds. Some of that I put back on in the last month, though. Eesh, holiday food.
- richer or poorer? Monetarily I think richer. A little less debt, a lower rent rate. Emotionally, much much richer. Life feels so full now.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Learning. Working to build a stable future - I need to attend to my career path in 2014.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Wasting time. Surfing the internet. Crap. I'm doing that right now, aren't I?

20. How did you spend Christmas?
I went into lab for a couple hours, then played video games and hung out with Jim. Our housemates and I started a tradition of making gingerbread houses, which was a lot of fun, and I hope we keep that up.

21. How will you be spending New Years?
A bunch of us went to Colleen's for dinner, which was delicious and fun. I got to meet her friends Nick and Erica, who are amazing. Eventually Chris and Colleen and I ended up watching the fireworks down at the Ferry Building, which was great. Jim worked, as usual.

22. Did you fall in love in 2013?
Yes. :-)

23. How many one-night stands?
None.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
BABYLON 5!!

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Peter Hollens

27. What did you want and get?
Meaning. Emotional connection.

28. What did you want and not get?
Direction. A plan.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
? Thor 2?

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
28. Jim took me to the ballet to see Cinderella! I wore my wedding dress. We got ice cream at Smitten.

31. What one thing would have made your year?
My year was made. It was a great year. :-)

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?
Same as always! Solid colors. Skirts whenever possible. Oooh, I did begin adding a lot of corsets.

33. What was the best book you read?
I really liked the Guild of the Cowry Catchers series by Abigail Hilton. Not sure it was the best thing of the year, but it was really good.

34. What kept you sane?
I don't think I was really in danger of insanity this year. I was pretty well-grounded by friends, loved ones, good books, good food, lots of intellectual stimulation... I'm not sure this question is still relevant.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Ummm, I dunno. I kinda started to tune out this year. It all just seemed like more of the same. I feel I can effect more change by starting conversations with the people around me than I can by closely following politics. Also, I kinda feel like Obama let me down, so I'm done paying attention to him.

37. Whom did you miss?
My cat, Claire. My friend Claire. My friends Stefan, Ann, Eliz, Mike, Mike, Andrea. The more I build a community here, the easier it is to let go of people who are far away. I don't know if that's good or bad.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Chris.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.
You are not broken. You have great capacity to love. You have more power over your own life than you realize.

40. A quote or song lyric that sums up your year:
This is part of last year's, but it's oddly relevant this year too:
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some
But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours
Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damm you're free
Look into your heart and you will find love love love love
Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing
We're just one big family
And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved loved loved

Also this bit, from Between the Raindrops:
Hold on and take a breath...

Though, really, I'm not sure either of those sums up the year at all. It's a hard year to sum up. It was an adventure, and it was emotional, and there were PEOPLE, and I remembered parts of myself, and I hope I grow as much as a person in 2014 as I did in 2013.

Merry Christmas!

Some things have changed quite a bit in the last month or two, so I did most of this meme with the first 8 or 10 months of the year in mind.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Gave up. Dropped out of graduate school.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I never make resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
None.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A real career and a life goal. Happiness.

7. What day from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The day I left Connecticut was actually rather painful and will be difficult to forget.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Deciding to take action to force my life in a different direction because I was unhappy and not because I thought it was the thing I "should" be doing.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Choosing to drop out right before the economy crashed. Losing my sense of direction in life.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Pretty severe depression for the first half of the year. Glad to have that past me.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Hmmmm. I bought Claire on Dec 30,2007. Can I count her as the 2008 best purchase?

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Hmmm. I think I'm going to abstain from comment on this and the next question.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?


14. Where did most of your money go?
Food, gas, rent.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Leaving Connecticut. And a certain new relationship. :-)

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Hmmmm. Dogtown Mines is the sound of driving west and trying not to feel guilty about leaving the east behind.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder?
Happier. With promise of continued improvement.

ii. Thinner or fatter?
Thinner. I'm not eating much these days.

iii. Richer or poorer?
Quite a bit poorer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Singing. Dancing. Trying to be a human being and not worrying so much about what I'm "supposed" to do with myself. I still need to learn to let go.

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

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I'll be flying back to Utah on Christmas Eve, and spending Christmas here.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Uhhhhhh. This... ummmm.... ask me again on New Year's.

22. How many one-night stands?
Zero.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Oh man, I love How I Met Your Mother. Weeds is really good, too. I miss Gilmore Girls. :-(

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.

25. What was the best book you read?
I didn't read much at all in 2008, actually. I will be remedying that in 2009. (is that really how remedying is spelled?)

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I think Darren Smith is actually a late 07 discovery, but I'm counting him anyway. I'll throw Blue October in there as well, just for the hell of it.

27. What did you want and get?
My personality and identity back from the vile clutches of the soul-crushing graduate program at Yale.

28. What did you want and not get?
I'm gonna leave Zach's answer here: "A job, a job, o yeah, and a job."

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Ummmm. I'm wracking my brain and I can't remember any of the films I saw this year.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 23. My friends threw me a surprise party. It was absolutely wonderful. My wife carried a cake through the rain for me.
<3

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A more satisfying conclusion to the drop-out-of-grad-school thing. i.e. a real career.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
The same as always. I wear what is comfortable. Jeans, t-shirts, college sweatshirts. Lots of scarves (oh man, I love scarves).

33. What kept you sane?
Claire. Coffee. Loud music in my car.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Uhhh. Is this a romantic question? I really admire Obama, but not romantically.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
The gay marriage issue and abortion. Don't even get me started.

36. Who did you miss?
Everyone, at one point or another, having moved across the country. I currently very deeply miss my east coast friends.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
*grin* Unequivocally, Jim.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Life is primarily something you go through alone, on your own power. You should therefore not do anything because you think other people will approve or disapprove; your actions have to be motivated by internal forces like desire for happiness and desire for success.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
So I'm putting my luck to the test, I'm bringing the eastern seabord's best. We'll be making it up someday, losing time along the way....

The same meme, two years ago

Going home tomorrow afternoon. I've never in my life been so excited about going to Reno. I cannot WAIT to get on that plane tomorrow. Flying west! Into the setting sun! Toward the correct ocean, the correct coast, home. (At this point "home" is anything east of Utah, so I use the term lightly.) (Speaking of Utah, another one of my cousins is having a baby, and she's naming her after my grandma, the one who died two years ago. Everyone together now: "Awww!")

I'm gonna make a trip over to SF after Christmas and stay with a friend for two nights, then go down to Santa Cruz for less than 12 hours and get a ride back up to Reno with Ann to go SKIING OVER NEW YEAR'S!!! Yay!!! I could not possibly be more excited about this series of events. Unless it involves continuous chocolate and a marriage proposal and the promise that I don't have to come back to New Haven afterward.

Again, in true Christmas spirit, I give you... the meme!
( Sing about me! )

So, I was wandering around on the internet yesterday afternoon instead of working on my NSF grant. There's a girl at Columbia University, a junior, who writes a sex column for the Columbia daily newspaper. I found a link to her site through IvyGate, which is a blog dedicated to the happenings of the Ivies.
IvyGate
Miriam Datskovsky

Anyway, so one of the links on the side of Miriam's page leads to an interview she participated in with NPR, about love among 20-somethings. It was a fascinating discussion. One of the main points touched upon was that "men are the new women," meaning that, these days, women ask out men, and men are the coy ones who get to choose. It was also suggested that women are becoming more promiscuous while men are beginning to hold back, possibly because they (the men) want more romance and possibly because they think they can do better. Sixty percent of college students are female, which translates to a huge discrepancy once we graduate and move to urban areas. Men have all these choices now, and women don't. They also discussed how, because of this phenomenon, and maybe also partly because of TV, women feel like they have to sleep with a guy straight off, or someone else will. It's a matter of competition. Fascinating. And it's a horrible thing, but I definitely think it's true. If I look around, at myself and at UCSC and Yale, that's what I see. Men are holding back, and women are throwing themselves at them, desperate to hang on to one but largely unable to do so.

Anyway.

As long as we're posting links, I'm getting my sister a magnetic dachshund for Christmas.

What are you getting your mom for Christmas?