1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?: Go to Otakon-- & be literally out of the house & fairly on my own, if only for a short while. (I miss that.) Almost die at the MD Faerie Festival. Anything else....?

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

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 few things, i'm sure.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?: I can't think of anything.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?: Um.

9. What was your biggest failure?: I'm not really sure.... Not getting a job. Not trying to really branch out, despite being extremely introverted.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?: No, nothing outstanding from the usual.

11. What was the best thing you bought?: Oh wow. Um. Good question? Oftentimes buying things makes me feel guilty (i just bought things yesterday with gift cards & i feel guilty; come on), so... Maybe starting to buy Juxtapoz? I like that magazine.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?: Er. Janna, Maggie, Rachel, & Kayleigh for still staying my friends & in touch. Deanna, Ying Yu, kate, & Christa for putting up with me in Japanese. And, of course, the f-list for putting up with these posts (er, assuming you read). Billie for putting up with me on IM.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?: The usual... family's & someone's. But someone's feels moreso than usual, all recent events considered. My own. My uncle's? God, the drive to & from FaerieCon still makes me embarrassed & all that.

14. Where did most of your money go?: The usual? But i feel like my spending keeps getting more frivolous. (Which is why i want a job, especially: so maybe it'll knock some sense into me.)

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?: ....what did i get excited about? I don't know, because i didn't even get excited for Otakon.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?: Right now, i can't think of one. Generally, it seems that it's only years down the road where i hear a song & think, "Woah, god, that reminds me of..." Whether that be good or ill...

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?: Sadder.
ii. thinner or fatter?: Oh god, i bet fatter. I am horrible.
iii. richer or poorer?: I feel poorer, though i'm not sure.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?: Something alive. Maybe actually gone to Burdick (?) Hall & swum in the pool in a vain attempt to get in shape/thinner.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?: Being a lame ass?

20. How will you be spending Christmas?: Um.

21. What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in 2008?: Embarrassing? Can't think of anything. Am embarrassed over little things, anyway.

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?: No.

23. How many one-night stands?: None.

24. What were your favorite TV programs?: MythBusters, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters International, STORMCHASERS (Best Of Discovery marathon on today, Dec. 30, starting at 11 am Eastern time WATCH IT WATCH IT).... maybe Dirty Jobs?

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?: No, i don't think so.

26. What was the best book you read?: Ohhh. Perhaps The Invention of Everything Else, way back in January. Or was it actually Dec 07? Whatever; it's a brilliant book. Also The Principles of Uncertainty. The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest anthology.... did i read any books; my god.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?: Beach House. They're actually from Bmore, too, which makes me feel a tiny bit proud, that this fucked up little place could produce something like Beach House. I found out about them in Nylon, & the beginning of the article talks about winter in Baltimore, & how it hardens into a memory or a dream or something that you'll never be able to quite explain, talking about the boarded up townhouses downtown.... It was amazing to read, a total shock. Like, Someone just wrote that about Baltimore?

But yes, definitely Beach House... Hm, when did i find October Project? (I think Dec. 31, 07, technically. Also amazing.)

28. What did you want and get?: Sketchbooks?

29. What did you want and not get?: Ummm. Things. I'm very material.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?: Oh, i didn't see any movies. Not really. Well. Clone Wars and Indy IV. But really, i don't watch movies.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?: ......nothing. It was the worst day. I turned twenty.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?: Dur, getting a job, having a decent birthday, having someone not be an arse.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?: Haha. Fashion? If anything, college has kicked me back into trying to go utterly unnoticed, though am wearing my combat boots to shreds (because they're not real leather).

34. What kept you sane?: The Lord of the Rings. No kidding. Middle-earth in general keeps me sane.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?: Er, haha.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?: Politics pisses me off, no matter what it's about. My temper is really bad.

37. Who did you miss?: People, is suppose, though this past semester was surprisingly easier. Though i still increasingly miss days that have passed.

38. Who was the best new person you met?: My Nihongo no kurasu tomodachi! (Can i call them friends? And too lazy to grab the characters, even though i dislike Romaji.) Christa, Deanna, Ying Yu, Kate especially, as well as Ema. With Japanese grammar jokes & JUDO KURAPPU! Oh god, i thought the other half of the class was going to murder us.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.: Um.... I'm not sure? Although, after the Thing, i seriously got this from Malbeth the Seer:

To love a Beorning whose ways are false
Is like biting over slippery ice
With unshod horses out of control,
badly betrayed two-year-olds,
Or drifting rudderless on a rough glacier,
Or catching a groundhog with a crippled stomach
On a thawing hillside: think not to do it.

......but you see how well i've taken that advice. I guess to each their own.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: Oh, ack. At the expense of sounding absolutely, absolutely angsty: "Oh Christ how i hate what i have become."