Questions of the Year
Dec. 24th, 2005 02:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhythmaningClearly, this questionnaire – I got it off ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
f4f3 – is part of the CIA selection process…
1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Wrote bits of a blog.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t make any – so I kept them all.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Fiona M.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What countries did you visit?
Other than Scotland, where I live, England. I can’t believe I haven’t been abroad in the last twelve months! Too many holidays in Scotland – but some of the bits of Scotland I visited felt more Scandinavian than British – and were, I believe, closer to Norway than to Edinburgh, let alone London.
6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
Satisfaction.
7. What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
February 15 – my mother’s birthday – we all stayed at the Peat Inn and had a wonderful time.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Not shouting at (specific) numbskulls at work.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Getting a new job; I kind of only passively tried, but it was something I meant to do. (However, my work has been remarkably more engaging and interesting in the last six months, so there are definitely compensating factors.)
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
A small digital camera. I mean to carry it with me everywhere, but although I carry it a lot, I don’t always have it with me.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My wife; my cats.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
People who still voted for Tony Blair – after everything!
14. Where did most of your money go?
Meals, holidays, wine, whisky, jazz, paintings.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Using my job to try to change things for the better. Saxophones. Music.
16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
I don’t think I have bought any songs this year… There is nothing that stands out – but Tommy Smith and Arild Andersen in the Round Church at Bowmore is the sound that will always take me back there.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
This time last year… I was more hopeful; so maybe happier, too. But generally I am very happy.
ii. thinner or fatter?
Marginally fatter; but no-one else seems to notice. I am more or less the heaviest I have ever been, but someone at work said to me on Monday, “there isn’t an ounce of fat on you.” (There is; I just hide it well.)
iii. richer or poorer?
Wealthier – I have more money in the bank, the stock market has gone up, I have more things. But more than that, much richer from the friendships that I have made and strengthened this year.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading; taking photographs; working in the darkroom (which I didn’t do at all); listening to music.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Working. (Although I am very disciplined, don’t take work home, don’t work weekends, and don’t work late. So I’m not really complaining!)
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Quietly, at home, eating good food and drinking fine wine, being nice to my wife and cats, and trying not to commit matricide. Listening to music and reading.
Number 21 has gone on holiday for Christmas.
22. Did you fall in love in 2005?
No, but I learnt to love some special people in different ways.
23. How many one-night stands?
Absolutely none, thank god.
24. What was your favourite TV program?
Nothing sticks in my mind. West Wing when it was on analogue.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
People I don’t like are not worth wasting that much energy on – so, no one.
26. What was the best book you read?
I have read many books; the one that sticks in my mind is, strangely, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – a rather wonderful conceit. The second volume of A Suitable Boy.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The Islay Jazz Festival – more of a rediscovery, since I had been there before.
28. What did you want and get?
Surprised.
Where IS number 29?
If number 29 is 'what did you want and not get?', that would probably be a new job – but then I wouldn’t have had a lot of fun, too, so it would be a double-edged sword.
30. What was your favourite film of this year?
An admission: I haven’t been to the cinema for more than a year. I have seen several things on DVD – of which Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was the most powerful, and Sideways the most disappointing.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
We drove up to Three Chimneys in Skye (one of my favourite places in the world) and had a wonderful meal. And if you really need to know, I was 45.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A more meaningful job (with those colleagues I love and value).
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
Same as the year before, and the year before that, and so on.
34. What kept you sane?
Pianos, saxophones and drums.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I really can’t think. Alyson Hannigan (but that has been going on for several years…)
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
American hypocrisy and British compliance.
37. Who did you miss?
Gerry, I guess.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
New person? I can only think of one, JWB, and I think he is on the right side. But I have got to know FE much, much better than I did before, so it is like a new friendship, so let’s say FE.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005:
Don’t play with the cats when you’re drunk. This is more knowledge I gained than something I learned, since it hasn’t changed what I do; I still play with the cats when I am drunk, and get scratched because of it.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
“The movie kept moving as planned."
f4f3 – is part of the CIA selection process…1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Wrote bits of a blog.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t make any – so I kept them all.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Fiona M.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What countries did you visit?
Other than Scotland, where I live, England. I can’t believe I haven’t been abroad in the last twelve months! Too many holidays in Scotland – but some of the bits of Scotland I visited felt more Scandinavian than British – and were, I believe, closer to Norway than to Edinburgh, let alone London.
6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
Satisfaction.
7. What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
February 15 – my mother’s birthday – we all stayed at the Peat Inn and had a wonderful time.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Not shouting at (specific) numbskulls at work.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Getting a new job; I kind of only passively tried, but it was something I meant to do. (However, my work has been remarkably more engaging and interesting in the last six months, so there are definitely compensating factors.)
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
A small digital camera. I mean to carry it with me everywhere, but although I carry it a lot, I don’t always have it with me.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My wife; my cats.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
People who still voted for Tony Blair – after everything!
14. Where did most of your money go?
Meals, holidays, wine, whisky, jazz, paintings.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Using my job to try to change things for the better. Saxophones. Music.
16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
I don’t think I have bought any songs this year… There is nothing that stands out – but Tommy Smith and Arild Andersen in the Round Church at Bowmore is the sound that will always take me back there.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
This time last year… I was more hopeful; so maybe happier, too. But generally I am very happy.
ii. thinner or fatter?
Marginally fatter; but no-one else seems to notice. I am more or less the heaviest I have ever been, but someone at work said to me on Monday, “there isn’t an ounce of fat on you.” (There is; I just hide it well.)
iii. richer or poorer?
Wealthier – I have more money in the bank, the stock market has gone up, I have more things. But more than that, much richer from the friendships that I have made and strengthened this year.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading; taking photographs; working in the darkroom (which I didn’t do at all); listening to music.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Working. (Although I am very disciplined, don’t take work home, don’t work weekends, and don’t work late. So I’m not really complaining!)
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Quietly, at home, eating good food and drinking fine wine, being nice to my wife and cats, and trying not to commit matricide. Listening to music and reading.
Number 21 has gone on holiday for Christmas.
22. Did you fall in love in 2005?
No, but I learnt to love some special people in different ways.
23. How many one-night stands?
Absolutely none, thank god.
24. What was your favourite TV program?
Nothing sticks in my mind. West Wing when it was on analogue.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
People I don’t like are not worth wasting that much energy on – so, no one.
26. What was the best book you read?
I have read many books; the one that sticks in my mind is, strangely, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – a rather wonderful conceit. The second volume of A Suitable Boy.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The Islay Jazz Festival – more of a rediscovery, since I had been there before.
28. What did you want and get?
Surprised.
Where IS number 29?
If number 29 is 'what did you want and not get?', that would probably be a new job – but then I wouldn’t have had a lot of fun, too, so it would be a double-edged sword.
30. What was your favourite film of this year?
An admission: I haven’t been to the cinema for more than a year. I have seen several things on DVD – of which Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was the most powerful, and Sideways the most disappointing.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
We drove up to Three Chimneys in Skye (one of my favourite places in the world) and had a wonderful meal. And if you really need to know, I was 45.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A more meaningful job (with those colleagues I love and value).
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
Same as the year before, and the year before that, and so on.
34. What kept you sane?
Pianos, saxophones and drums.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I really can’t think. Alyson Hannigan (but that has been going on for several years…)
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
American hypocrisy and British compliance.
37. Who did you miss?
Gerry, I guess.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
New person? I can only think of one, JWB, and I think he is on the right side. But I have got to know FE much, much better than I did before, so it is like a new friendship, so let’s say FE.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005:
Don’t play with the cats when you’re drunk. This is more knowledge I gained than something I learned, since it hasn’t changed what I do; I still play with the cats when I am drunk, and get scratched because of it.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
“The movie kept moving as planned."
