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dolorosa_12It's that time of year again...
1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
Give a paper at a conference with over 600 delegates. Move to a country where I didn't speak the language. Learn enough to be able to communicate in a new language.
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't make any resolutions and I'm not going to make any for this year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My step-aunt (she's married to one of my stepmother's brothers) gave birth to a daughter in early December.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank goodness.
5. What countries did you visit?
I visited Wales. I went to Ireland two times. I lived in England until September, and since then I've been living in Germany.
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
A PhD whose end is in sight. Fewer worries about just about every aspect of my life. More fluent German.
7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 2nd, the day when I took my bags, took a bus and a plane and a train and another bus and wound up living in a country I'd never before visited, whose language I didn't speak.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Moving to Germany. Giving the aforementioned conference paper. Being published, twice. And I feel I should also mention that I think my ongoing relationship is a big achievement. Relationships are difficult, and you have to work hard to make them work, and I'm proud of M and me, and what we are together.
9. What was your biggest failure?
I feel like I gave in to anxiety far too much this year. I am a worrier, and I worry about everyone, and sometimes I let the worry take over my life.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Just the usual bad colds, and, apparently, anaemia.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Plane tickets back to Cambridge.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
M, for being such a kind-hearted, understanding and all-around wonderful person.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thelxiepia for being the sister I never knew I had. My friend D in Heidelberg, who has done so much to make sure I feel welcome here.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
The Tea Party and extreme right-wing libertarian types in the US, for being so blinded by hatred and fear that they have made the situation in their country worse than it could've been. And various misogynists both on- and offline.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent and uni fees.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Seeing M three times since moving to Heidelberg (twice in Germany, once in Cambridge). The Celtic Studies summer school in Dublin. Meeting up with my friends from the summer school again at the Tionól in November. Srafcons (of course). The publication of Savage City. Having my two articles published.
16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
'Blinding', by Florence + The Machine, easily. That song basically defines how I have felt for this whole year - that I've woken up from a long, hallucinatory slumber and stepped into a summer of light and happiness.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier, if that's possible.
ii. thinner or fatter? Probably about the same.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer, oddly enough, as the cost of living in Germany is much lower than in the UK.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Working on my thesis, but I think all PhD students feel like this.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Having my niceness and doormat-like nature taken advantage of.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
I stayed in Germany with M's family for Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we visited his grandmother in the nursing home where she lives and had coffee and cake. Then we went back to his place and opened the presents and had Christmas Eve dinner. On Christmas Day he and I went to his sister and her boyfriend's place for a meal of roast goose.
22. Did you fall in love in 2011
I fell more in love.
23. Did your heart break in 2011?
No.
24. What was your favourite TV program?
My new favourite show was Pretty Little Liars, which absolutely blew me away. I still love Buffy the most though.
25. Where were you when 2011 began?
On the roof of my building in Sydney.
26. Who were you with?
Various family members.
27. Where will you be when 2011 ends?
At my friend D's place in Heidelberg, with her husband and M and possibly another stray medievalist, eating raclette.
28. Who will you be with when 2011 ends?
With D, her husband C, and M.
29. What was the best book you read?
A tie between Savage City bysophiamcdougall and The Demon's Surrender by sarahtales. I think Savage City wins though, as I was thanked in the acknowledgements.
30. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Without a doubt, Florence + The Machine. (*insert dramatic flailings about how the lyrics 'SPEAK TO MY SOUL OMG'*)
31. What did you want and get?
A place on the St John's College Heidelberg exchange. My paper to be accepted at the Maynooth International Celtic Studies Congress.
32. What did you want and not get?
Aside from the obvious ability to teleport, I wanted more emotional stability, I guess.
33. What was your favourite film of this year?
Easy A, which I saw at home rather than in the cinema.
34. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
My classmates from my German course and I went ice-skating and then drank glühwein at the Christmas markets. Then I had an Indian meal with another friend from Heidelberg. I was 27 (gulp!).
35. How many different states did you travel to in 2011?
I was in Australia for a few days in January, in NSW. In the UK I was in Cambridge, London, Cornwall, Norwich, Norfolk, Bangor and Southport (I realise this is a mixture of cities and regions, but I don't care). In Ireland I was in Dublin and Maynooth. In Germany I've been to Heidelberg, Vlotho, Bielefeld (and other small towns in Nordrhein-Westfalen) and Mannheim.
36. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Skirts and bright colours.
37. What kept you sane?
M andthelxiepia.
38. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I genuinely fancied no one, although I adored the character of William Garrow from Garrow's Law. He makes my left-wing heart sing.
39. What political issue stirred you the most?
Misogyny and rape culture.
40. How many concerts did you see in 2011?
I saw Cassio Avenue (the band of the daughter of our departmental secretary) with M and my old housemate D at a tiny concert in a Cambridge pub.
41. Did you have a favourite concert in 2011?
Well, that was the only concert I went to, so obviously it was my favourite.
42. Who was the best new person you met?
I met two new sraffies in person this year, Bryn andhoopyfroodyford. They were both pretty cool. I met some amazing people at the summer school in Dublin and conference in Maynooth, of whom M deserves special mention. And I am so grateful to have met D, my friend in Heidelberg, who is so generous and welcoming.
43. Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
Yes. Now let's just leave it at that.
44. What was your most embarrassing moment of 2011?
I'm not easily embarrassed.
45. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
Sometimes, it is necessary to be selfish. I've not yet had the guts to put that into practice, though.
46. What are your plans for 2012?
Make the most of the academic opportunities in Germany in the first half of the year. And this goes for the whole year, but do good, solid work on my thesis. And work out what the hell I want to do when I've finished my PhD, and start laying the foundations that will enable me to do it.
47. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Basically the entirety of 'Blinding' by Florence + The Machine:
Seems that I have been held, in some dreaming state
A tourist in the waking world, never quite awake
No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber
Until I realise that it was you who held me under
Felt it in my fist, in my feet, in the hollows of my eyelids
Shaking through my skull, through my spine and down through my ribs
No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world
And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack
All around the world was waking, I never could go back
Cos all the walls of dreaming, they were torn right open
And finally it seemed that the spell was broken
And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open
And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open
No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world
1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
Give a paper at a conference with over 600 delegates. Move to a country where I didn't speak the language. Learn enough to be able to communicate in a new language.
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't make any resolutions and I'm not going to make any for this year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My step-aunt (she's married to one of my stepmother's brothers) gave birth to a daughter in early December.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank goodness.
5. What countries did you visit?
I visited Wales. I went to Ireland two times. I lived in England until September, and since then I've been living in Germany.
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
A PhD whose end is in sight. Fewer worries about just about every aspect of my life. More fluent German.
7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 2nd, the day when I took my bags, took a bus and a plane and a train and another bus and wound up living in a country I'd never before visited, whose language I didn't speak.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Moving to Germany. Giving the aforementioned conference paper. Being published, twice. And I feel I should also mention that I think my ongoing relationship is a big achievement. Relationships are difficult, and you have to work hard to make them work, and I'm proud of M and me, and what we are together.
9. What was your biggest failure?
I feel like I gave in to anxiety far too much this year. I am a worrier, and I worry about everyone, and sometimes I let the worry take over my life.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Just the usual bad colds, and, apparently, anaemia.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Plane tickets back to Cambridge.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
M, for being such a kind-hearted, understanding and all-around wonderful person.
thelxiepia for being the sister I never knew I had. My friend D in Heidelberg, who has done so much to make sure I feel welcome here.13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
The Tea Party and extreme right-wing libertarian types in the US, for being so blinded by hatred and fear that they have made the situation in their country worse than it could've been. And various misogynists both on- and offline.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent and uni fees.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Seeing M three times since moving to Heidelberg (twice in Germany, once in Cambridge). The Celtic Studies summer school in Dublin. Meeting up with my friends from the summer school again at the Tionól in November. Srafcons (of course). The publication of Savage City. Having my two articles published.
16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
'Blinding', by Florence + The Machine, easily. That song basically defines how I have felt for this whole year - that I've woken up from a long, hallucinatory slumber and stepped into a summer of light and happiness.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier, if that's possible.
ii. thinner or fatter? Probably about the same.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer, oddly enough, as the cost of living in Germany is much lower than in the UK.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Working on my thesis, but I think all PhD students feel like this.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Having my niceness and doormat-like nature taken advantage of.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
I stayed in Germany with M's family for Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we visited his grandmother in the nursing home where she lives and had coffee and cake. Then we went back to his place and opened the presents and had Christmas Eve dinner. On Christmas Day he and I went to his sister and her boyfriend's place for a meal of roast goose.
22. Did you fall in love in 2011
I fell more in love.
23. Did your heart break in 2011?
No.
24. What was your favourite TV program?
My new favourite show was Pretty Little Liars, which absolutely blew me away. I still love Buffy the most though.
25. Where were you when 2011 began?
On the roof of my building in Sydney.
26. Who were you with?
Various family members.
27. Where will you be when 2011 ends?
At my friend D's place in Heidelberg, with her husband and M and possibly another stray medievalist, eating raclette.
28. Who will you be with when 2011 ends?
With D, her husband C, and M.
29. What was the best book you read?
A tie between Savage City by
sophiamcdougall and The Demon's Surrender by sarahtales. I think Savage City wins though, as I was thanked in the acknowledgements.30. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Without a doubt, Florence + The Machine. (*insert dramatic flailings about how the lyrics 'SPEAK TO MY SOUL OMG'*)
31. What did you want and get?
A place on the St John's College Heidelberg exchange. My paper to be accepted at the Maynooth International Celtic Studies Congress.
32. What did you want and not get?
Aside from the obvious ability to teleport, I wanted more emotional stability, I guess.
33. What was your favourite film of this year?
Easy A, which I saw at home rather than in the cinema.
34. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
My classmates from my German course and I went ice-skating and then drank glühwein at the Christmas markets. Then I had an Indian meal with another friend from Heidelberg. I was 27 (gulp!).
35. How many different states did you travel to in 2011?
I was in Australia for a few days in January, in NSW. In the UK I was in Cambridge, London, Cornwall, Norwich, Norfolk, Bangor and Southport (I realise this is a mixture of cities and regions, but I don't care). In Ireland I was in Dublin and Maynooth. In Germany I've been to Heidelberg, Vlotho, Bielefeld (and other small towns in Nordrhein-Westfalen) and Mannheim.
36. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Skirts and bright colours.
37. What kept you sane?
M and
thelxiepia.38. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I genuinely fancied no one, although I adored the character of William Garrow from Garrow's Law. He makes my left-wing heart sing.
39. What political issue stirred you the most?
Misogyny and rape culture.
40. How many concerts did you see in 2011?
I saw Cassio Avenue (the band of the daughter of our departmental secretary) with M and my old housemate D at a tiny concert in a Cambridge pub.
41. Did you have a favourite concert in 2011?
Well, that was the only concert I went to, so obviously it was my favourite.
42. Who was the best new person you met?
I met two new sraffies in person this year, Bryn and
hoopyfroodyford. They were both pretty cool. I met some amazing people at the summer school in Dublin and conference in Maynooth, of whom M deserves special mention. And I am so grateful to have met D, my friend in Heidelberg, who is so generous and welcoming. 43. Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
Yes. Now let's just leave it at that.
44. What was your most embarrassing moment of 2011?
I'm not easily embarrassed.
45. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
Sometimes, it is necessary to be selfish. I've not yet had the guts to put that into practice, though.
46. What are your plans for 2012?
Make the most of the academic opportunities in Germany in the first half of the year. And this goes for the whole year, but do good, solid work on my thesis. And work out what the hell I want to do when I've finished my PhD, and start laying the foundations that will enable me to do it.
47. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Basically the entirety of 'Blinding' by Florence + The Machine:
Seems that I have been held, in some dreaming state
A tourist in the waking world, never quite awake
No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber
Until I realise that it was you who held me under
Felt it in my fist, in my feet, in the hollows of my eyelids
Shaking through my skull, through my spine and down through my ribs
No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world
And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack
All around the world was waking, I never could go back
Cos all the walls of dreaming, they were torn right open
And finally it seemed that the spell was broken
And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open
And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open
No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world
