2008 Yearly Round-Up, Looking Ahead

Happy New Year! Thank you all so much for participating on my blog, for chatting with me on Twitter, for being such talented and interesting people to work and play with. I wish you all the very best in 2009, and I look forward to sharing in many adventures with you.

Unlike last year, when I was eager to put the previous terrible year behind me, this year I’m simply eager for the year in front of me. Still, I enjoy the exercise of looking back and summing up, of tying up some mental loose ends and tidying things before moving on. I’ve taken last year’s meme and altered it to my liking.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
   At the beginning of the year I went on a knit and crochet project-finishing rampage. I don’t know if I’ll ever do that again, but it was gratifying while it lasted. I worked on a television show for the first time, not counting being a guest. I wrote fiction for the first time since I was forced to in high school. I haven’t touched my NaNoWriMo story (nor the other project I’ve been working on with a couple of friends but haven’t mentioned here before) in a long time, but I will get back to it (and the other) soon. I sold a website, and though it didn’t make me a gazillionnaire it was not only the right thing to do but also makes me feel very much a part of the ’00 internet generation. I did my first recorded interview (see the #22 below).
2. Did anyone close to you give birth?
   In addition to cousins, our good friends had a baby in October. We’re definitely at that stage in life when babies are becoming ubiquitous.
3. What countries did you visit?
   The U.S. and England.
4. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
   Sustainable creativity.
5. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
   November 4th, 2008: The election of Barack Obama. In the early days of the Democratic primaries, I was very torn between Clinton and Obama. After reading up and talking it out, I came to believe that Obama was the best choice. If you’re not prepared to vote for hope and change, how can you maintain any hope for change? Beyond that, though, I think Obama’s intelligence and temperament will bring good leadership to the U.S. for the first time in years and years. Given the bleak present and outlook into the new year and beyond, only time will tell if he’ll be able to be a popular President, but I have no doubt he’ll be a good one.
6. What accomplishments from 2008 are you proudest of?
   The online crafts community coming together and my resulting interview with Joss Whedon (i.e., the collective accomplishment). The Fall 2008 issue of Interweave Crochet, which is the one I think first fully embodied what I wanted the magazine to be, both in style and in content. What I wrote about Twilight. Getting our book club back up and running. And, certainly my decision to move on in my career.
7. What was the best gift you received?
   My iPhone. Two days after my birthday.
8. Where did most of your money go?
   To the bank. Which thankfully didn’t collapse.
9. What did you get really, really excited about?
   I was totally jacked up about that interview (see #6). It was so much fun to talk to so many excited crafty people about it, and to make new online friends as a result. And I talked with the one person whose work I most admire. And I discovered I really love interviewing people and am in fact hoping to do much more of it in the coming year. I’ve never had so much fun online.
10. Compared to this time last year, are you:
    a) happier or sadder? Happier.
    b) thinner or fatter? A little bit fatter.
    c) richer or poorer? Richer.
11. What do you wish you’d done more of?
    Spent time with my friends, crocheted, crafted in general.
12. What do you wish you’d done less of?
    Worry. I did a bunch of worrying, especially over the summer when I was battling my feelings about work.
13. How did you spend Christmas?
    By not celebrating Christmas in not-snowy-enough-to-enjoy-skiing Whistler. (Until, of course, it got snowy. And then the dog got scared and ran away. But then we found her, and all was happy and good.)
14. What was your favorite TV program?
    Mad Men. Even in the same year we watched the first two seasons of The Wire, which we’d been assured we would think is the best television show ever. No. Mad Men. Better even than the first half of the last season of Battlestar Galactica. (Oh man, I can’t wait for the second half of the last BSG season!)
15. What was the best book you read?
    Nonfiction: Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning, by George Monbiot
    Fiction: Blindness, by Jose Saramago, or The Road, by Cormac McCarthy – it’s hard to pick
    In Between: What is the What, by Dave Eggers
16. What was your greatest musical discovery?
    The Wave Pictures
17. What was your favorite film of this year?
    I really didn’t see that many. I’m surprised to realize that, actually. I certainly thought the most after seeing Synecdoche, New York.
18. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
    We had a barbecue then went to see our friend’s band and danced the night away; I turned 32.
19. What kept you sane?
    Greg. Friends. Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
20. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
    Again with the Joss Whedon. The entire existence of Dr. Horrible rocked my world. Also, of course, Barack Obama.
21. What political issue stirred you the most?
    The passage of California’s Proposition 8 (an abomination), the election of Barack Obama.
22. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008?
    If you don’t try, you’ll never know. When you try something new, go big or go home!