Year in review

because now i've gone and caught up on both jdavid AND whiskeykitten's blogs, i guess i'm tagged. this may be a little vague and forgetful-sounding, partly because i am both vague and forgetful and partly because i just got home from australia yesterday and my brain is asleep in another country.

1. what did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? regained a fair portion of my sanity, worked out a way to maintain said sanity (although have yet to fully put this one into practice), had an operation on the nhs, cooked a vegetarian meal AND quite enjoyed it, done a road trip at christmas, knitted stuff for other people which actually seems to have been well-received.

2. did you keep your new year's resolutions and will you make more for next year? i don't think i made any. i did make a list of creative goals, some of which i achieved, others not so much - nothing out of the music list (although valiant attempts made, at least), 2 out of 5 in "art and design", everything under "creative development, mental and physical health" and not very much under "professional" (although again, valiant attempts made). i don't think i'll do actual new year's resolutions again this year, but i think i'll do another creative goals list and try to be a bit more formal about it and put it somewhere where i can actually see it this time.

3. did anyone close to you give birth? no.

4. did anyone close to you die? yes, my uncle (well, sort-of uncle - my mother's cousin's husband). he was a lovely jolly chap and christmas wasn't quite the same without his mad jokes. he's definitely very much missed.

5. what countries did you visit? denmark, france, switzerland, singapore, australia. oh, and england in that i went to shropshire a couple of times.

6. what would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? inner peace, confidence, time to compose, a flute, a reasonable private income that would mean i wouldn't have to work unless i wanted to.

7. what dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? i'm not good with dates

8. what was your biggest achievement of the year? losing 15 kilos, keeping it off, getting back on to the deprivation diet after a severe lapse and in general starting to sort out both my physical and mental health. i've made huge, huge progress on both and am immensely proud of the fact.

9. what was your biggest failure? um. actually don't think i had any significant failures. setbacks, yes; lapses of self-control, yes, but i don't think any actual failures. just lots of works-in-progress :-)

10. did you suffer illness or injury? yup. concussion, operation on my non-circulating veins, a two-month continuous tension headache that turned out to be an inflamed muscle and which i'm still having to regularly deal with, 4 months after it started, and a gentle round of flu.

11. what was the best thing you bought? bras that actually fit and support, a swimming costume likewise that i'm finally not ashamed to wear in public. it's amazing what properly fitting underwear can do for your self-esteem. i highly recommend it. oh, and a wii fit. i wasn't sure whether it would be a waste of money, but it's been awesome.

12. whose behaviour merited celebration? djelibeybi's. without his amazing support i'd never have made it through even the first phase of the deprivation diet, far less to the point of vastly improved health and shape that i've got to now.

13. whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? politicians', as always. this year, in particular george bush, john howard and kevin rudd.

14. where did most of your money go? assorted health stuff - nutritionist, masseur, osteopath and expensive health food type stuff and nutritional supplements.

15. what did you get really, really really excited about? making progress with my health

16. what song will always remind you of 2008? hmm. i don't really know cos i just dip randomly into my music collection generally, but the albums i've discovered this year that i've played a lot have been the trick to life by the hoosiers, scouting for girls by scouting for girls, lily allen's alright, still and mika's life in cartoon motion. yes, i'm a britpop junkie.

17. compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? happier
b) thinner or fatter? thinner, by about 15kg (not having weighed myself since coming back from aus where we were constantly being overfed for a month, this may be an exaggeration, but not for long)
c) richer or poorer? hmm no clue. i think i'll just skirt this one by saying that i'm healthier.

18. what do you wish you'd done more of? baking. but it wasn't allowed because of course i wasn't allowed to eat it and cooking the stuff and then not being allowed to eat it is depressing and leads to djeli eating too much of things he's not supposed to have either. on the plus side, i discovered knitting, which has become a good baking-substitute, and i got to do a ton of baking in sydney which i was then able to feed to my friends rather than eating it all myself. yay! and of course composing, but i'm still pretty pleased with the progress i made towards that goal.

19. what do you wish you'd done less of? working.

20. how did you spend christmas? early christmas with friends in london, then proper christmas with family in australia - a proper aussie christmas (barring midnight mass which we were too jetlagged to face, but we managed to get along there on christmas morning)

21. did you fall in love in 2008? yes, with djeli all over again.

22. what was your favourite tv programme? i don't really watch much tv, but when i remembered they were on i gained a lot of pleasure from ugly betty, secret diary of a callgirl, flight of the conchords and no heroics

23. do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? no. i try not to do hate. i came pretty close with one of my contract bosses but am delighted to say that i've overcome it and forgiven him, although i certainly won't ever be working with him again or recommending anyone else does. forgiveness can only go so far :-)

24. what was the best book you read? i'm very bad at picking a definitive best of anything, but books i've hugely enjoyed have been boris akunin's pelagia and the white bulldog, the winter queen and turkish gambit; susannah clarke's jonathan strange and mr norrell, which i finished on the plane and was just amazing; and jpod by douglas coupland.

25. what was your greatest musical discovery? that ealing has a choral society that does really interesting repertoire and who were happy for me to go along and sing with them.

26. what did you want and get? to regain some energy, lose some weight, feel a bit better about myself, and start sorting out my brain so as to get back to composition properly.

27. what did you want and not get? £2million, instant results, a flute.

28. what was your favourite film of this year? i always forget what i've seen when asked this question. last year's films blur with this year's and ones which i saw for the first time on video. i loved iron man and was totally blown away by quantum of solace which for some reason i expected to be a bit weak (i guess because previous bond films that have been based on bond going out on his own mission rather than a job that's been assigned to him have tended to be the weaker films of the series) but was most certainly not. i saw secretary on the telly too, which just fabulous and unexpected.

29. what did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? i lamented the fact that i couldn't have a birthday cake and turned 35. it was not the most memorable of birthdays.

30. what would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? if i'd actually managed to finish the score of the wretched satie arrangement and send it off to america.

31. how would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? i have a personal fashion concept??? wow! heh. well, i guess the thing this year is that previously i've just had to wear whatever i could buy that would do up around me. not because i was vastly fat, but because i was rather on the porky side AND very ... erm... generously proportioned, so anything with buttons down the front or which has been designed to accommodate more standard figures won't go anywhere near me. this year, however, i discovered the fabulous bravissimo, who not only have underwear for girls of my proportions but also make dresses and fitted tops and jackets that will accommodate my assets - woo! plus having lost so much weight and getting my legs sorted out has meant a whole new world of sexier skirts which has been rather nice. perhaps in 2009 i will actually develop a personal fashion concept rather than an attitude of "hey wow! i actually look good in this! and it does up!" regardless of style or whether said item goes with anything much in my wardrobe.

32. what kept you sane? well, sane is a relative concept, but that would be djeli, my nutritionist, tchatchke and my friend lis in particular.

33. which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? nobody new. still daniel craig as james bond, and over the past couple of years i have finally come to a proper appreciation of brad pitt (which horrifies my mother who hasn't bothered to see him in anything since a river runs through it which she hated). johnny depp and george clooney remain contenders and i still cherish a fondness for tim roth, although i haven't seen anything he's been in for a very long time as they tend to be more violent or harrowing than i can handle these days.

34. what political issue stirred you the most? politics leaves me totally cold, but i think the political issue that stirred me the most was one that should never have been a political issue, which is why it made me mad - kevin rudd (australia's prime minister for those of you who have better things to do that watch aussie politics) butting in and condemning artist bill henson when the police closed down an exhibition of his work because somebody who obviously knew nothing about art decided it was child porn. it achieved nothing other than creating more trouble for henson and showing rudd to be ignorant, bigoted and publicity-hungry. needless to say he doesn't have my vote, not that he would anyway because he obviously is not fit to work out an arts policy in the first place which is the first criteria of my voting for anybody.

35. who did you miss? my parents and my friend chris

36. who was the best new person you met? vanessa, my nutritionist. tchatchke would have been in here, because she's become an invaluable friend over the past year, but i still haven't actually met her, which rather puts her out of the running. going to rectify this omission this year - now there's a new year's resolution!

37. tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. it's better to earn less and have more time for the things that matter for you than to do what other people expect you to but be mad and miserable.

38. quote a song lyric that sums up your year. oh lord. i find these things impossible cos i don't really pay attention very much, so i'm going to pass on this one.