I generally laugh at most surveys, in a mean "you are so fucking retarded if you think I care whether you prefer coke or pepsi" kind of way. Myspace is littered with them, in case you haven't noticed. But there is one kind that I am always inclined to repost, and that happens to be end of year ones. I have no idea why, but they really just appeal to me in some way. So imagine my glee when at 6:00am this morning I awoke to one such survey invitation over at All & Sundry ! Weee! So here goes, 2008 in review.
1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? I learned to do a ton of stuff this year, but I guess the big obvious one is I got married.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't know that I've made one the last couple years...this year I'm resolving to bust my ass to lose the baby weight, and I honestly think I'll accomplish it.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yep, a few friends, and the wife of Nik's cousin who was due the first week of January who everyone SWORE COULD NOT POSSIBLY GO BEFORE ME was at our belated Christmas Eve dinner with her 8 day old baby last night.
4. Did anyone close to you die? It's not over yet, knock on wood, but no.
5. What countries did you visit? Zero!
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? An infant, damnit.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? September 6th. My wedding day, homie!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Battling my demons full-force, without a doubt. Stepping outside my comfort zone to achieve a goal, even if my goal didn't have the intended consequences.
9. What was your biggest failure? Mismanaging my money for so long.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Does pregnancy count?
11. What was the best thing you bought? Hmm. Does the hall for my wedding count? If not, I'd have to say something cheesy like the makeup brand I'm currently using. Seriously, it was a goddamn revelation.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My husband's, my son's, and my new extended family. They've together and uniquely provided so much comfort and love that I find myself in awe looking back at how they've managed to deal with me.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Unfortunately, this is a territory into which I won't venture on this website.
14. Where did most of your money go? Until recently, to really fucking stupid things, to be honest with you.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Weddings, babies, kindergarten. God, I am so boring and domestic.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Fields of Gold by Sting.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Exponentially happier.
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter, holmes, so much fatter.
c) richer or poorer? HA! Even though my husband and I bank a whopping FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS LESS a year than we did last year, we find ourselves far more financially comfortable now due to better management. Go us!
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Appreciate my family.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Mourn my family.
20. How did you spend Christmas? With a ton of people that I love, eating things I shouldn't be eating, and generally enjoying life.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008? How gay is this? I fell in love with myself for a change.
22. What was your favorite TV program? Heeee, Big Love.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Don't think so. Unless you count some of those bitches on that show "Momma's Boys." I hate you, too, Ryan Seacrest.
24. What was the best book you read? I get cool nerd points if I say the books from the Wheel of Time series, I lose human cool points if I say Twilight.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? I'm digging Paramore right now, but I haven't gone crazy over anything this year. Music sucks, nowadays.
26. What did you want and get? A wedding!
27. What did you want and not get? To have this baby in 2008. But there's still a couple days left, right?
28. What was your favorite film of this year? Shit, I'm drawing a blank, here. Most of the time, I catch movies so much later than everyone else that I don't even know if the stuff I saw came OUT this year.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 22 two days before my wedding, and needed to be reminded that it was my birthday. I spent it getting fake-tanned in preparation.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? A baby, damnit. And possibly a lack of wisdom teeth.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Pregnancy chic. Or Pregnancy Hobo. One of those.
32. What kept you sane? My family.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? If by "fancy" you mean respected and supported, then Obama, hands down. If by "fancy" you mean "please come over for some 'hide the sausage', then we need to have a discussion about Robert Pattison. But only if he lets me call him Edward.
34. What political issue stirred you the most? Like everyone else answering this, I could just leave it at the election on the whole. But the singular issue that really gets me going every time has been gay marriage and reproductive rights.
35. Who did you miss? A lot of people. Again, territory I can't cover.
36. Who was the best new person you met? I don't think I really met anyone new, but I got to know a few people a lot better this year, and my life is better for knowing them.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Again, with the cheese - I can love, I can be loved. It's so simple and so amazing.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. It's 6:27am now, I can't sing for you.
Now you do it, too! Leave your answers in the comments or send me a link to an entry containing it! Bring on 2009, bitches!