2008 Year-End Survey

Happy New Year everyone! I intended to post this last night, but I didn’t have time to finish it before we headed out to some New Year’s Eve festivities. I’ll post more on that (complete with videos) tomorrow. For now, I leave you all with these silly surveys on the past year.

In 2008 did you:

1. go to a party?: yes
2. try something new?: sure, I got married, that was something new! I also tried living abroad. I’d like that to end, but I have a few more years of it.
3. have someone change your life?: yup, John sure did
4. kiss someone?: did a middle schooler write this? hello, I’m married
5. tell your family and friends you love them?: all the time
6. buy something extravagant?: if our honeymoon, trip to Baden Baden and car count, then yes
7. had someone else do something nice for you?: John does all the time – he cooks dinner sometimes and does laundry with me. However, Germans are not as nice as Texans, so random acts of kindness are at a new all time low.
8. do something wrong?: I’m sure. Everyone screws up sometimes.
9. move?: yes, once — to Germany
10. go to a concert?: not that I can think of

best of the year:

1. party: our wedding, duh
2. show: uhhh I have way too many: How I Met Your Mother, Chuck, Lost, Scrubs, Greek, Secret Life of the American Teenager (yes, I watch that), Army Wives, The Unit…
3. cd: no idea…
4. movie: Love and Other Disasters was great
5. song: Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap, even though it wasn’t released this year
6. experience: getting married
7. purchase: food…it’s important
8. book: Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
9. month: May-June
10. day: probably our wedding day, but who knows – there were 366 (leap year) of them!

worst of the year:

1. party: there were no bad parties, but it was sad that we couldn’t make it to some weddings this year: Kayla & Andrew’s, Veronica & Jake’s, Christine & Eric’s and Shannon & Stan’s
2. show: I don’t know, but I like this answer I wrote in 2005 — I don’t watch bad TV…oh wait, there was that one time where I watched an hour of public access programming and some guy named Joe tried to convince me that the Ice Age never happened and the world expanded to break up pangea instead of continental drift. It turns out that John also watched this…this was before we met. That’s really weird that we both happened to watch the same horrible public access show when I had never watched public access before or after this.
3. cd: I actually only bought one cd this year that I can think of and it was a great jazz CD, so no bad purchases!
4. movie: I saw Borat this year, and I wasn’t a big fan of it
5. song: that “I Kissed a Girl” song by Kate Perry
6. experience: having our photographer cancel on us 29 days before the wedding, getting pink eye for the first time ever the month of our wedding, & having our DJ cancel two days before the wedding…luckily, it all worked out!
7. purchase: I’m sure I bought some junk, but I can’t think of anything at the moment other than some cheap eyeshadow by Rimmel that I threw away after I tried it for the first time
8. book: Again, I’m not sure. I think the worst would have to go back to 2007 when I attempted to read Prep. I put it down within the first 100 pages.
9. month: I can’t really say that a whole month was bad, so none!
10. day: worst day? probably when our photographer backed out of doing our wedding

hopes for 2009

1. predict something that you think will happen in 2009?: I predict that I will finish my master’s degree. 🙂
2. what do you hope changes about your country?: I hope people will come together and start volunteering more and generally caring for one another more.
3. what do you hope for yourself?: a job…
4. what do you hope for your family?: happiness in the darkest of days, love, peace and health
5. what do you hope for your best friends?: happiness in the darkest of days, love, peace and health

during 2008:

1. where were you when it began?: at Trocadero in Paris (in front of the Eiffel Tower, aka La Tour Eiffel)
2. did you stay up?: yes, after New Year’s we walked down the Champs-Elysees before taking the metro back to our hotel
3. what was your new year wish?: Uh I didn’t make a wish, nor did I make any resolutions
4. how many boyfriends/girlfriends?: just one, my husband
5. broke up?: no
6. have any crushes?: just my husband
7. care to mention names?: I believe I already have 🙂
8. new friends?: of course…Shanda and Marcus, Jamie and Brandon, the folks at the Haus
9. had to say goodbye?: yes but there were hellos again
10. missed anyone?: yes, many people!
11. win anything?: yes, I won a book at The Book Lady’s Blog
12. best place you went to?: Playa del Carmen
13. worst place you went to?: the ferry ride to Cozumel was nauseating, but flying with a severe cold was also horrid. I thought my ears were going to explode, and I think perhaps one of my ear drums did burst.
14. happiest moment?: getting married to John
15. how was your birthday?: good! It was nice to have people just come by the house and get to play hostess
16. best present?: John and I got a Slingbox and a Garmon GPS for Christmas. Both are really awesome, but we haven’t been able to try out the Slingbox yet. We also like the Guitar Hero I gave John as well as all the awesome clothes, candlesticks, and pearl earrings! Thanks everyone!!

Survey Part 2

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
flew from Europe to the US, got married, went to Mexico, lived for more than half the year outside the US, decided I like tomatoes

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t make one before, and I don’t plan to make one this year, but John & I do have a new workout plan.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Sylvia had a baby this fall, and several of my sorority sisters had babies or are pregnant

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes

5. What countries did you visit?
France, Germany, Mexico and the US

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
a job

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 31 – the day John and I got married

8. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?
planning our wedding

9. Your biggest failure?
I guess not finding a job, but that’s not my fault…I’ve applied to 40!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
If you count my heart stuff (PACs), then yes. Oh, and like I said before, I got pink eye for the first time ever this year.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I don’t know…I said something else about this before, so I’ll stick with that.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
This is a cheesy question, however, I’m very proud of John for getting promoted on December 1!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
There are far too many examples of this…

14. Where did most of your money go?
Taxes and to TKS (the cell phone and internet company here that sucks really bad)

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
getting married, our honeymoon & going home to visit for Christmas

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Bebo Norman – A Page is Turned (our first dance)
Norah Jones – Come Away With Me (our last dance)
Rascal Flatts – My Wish (my dance with my dad)
and anything from our ceremony (Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring; Water Music: Air; Rigaudon; Uncreated One; Widor: Toccata)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder?
happier
ii. Thinner or fatter?
a little fatter, yuck
iii. Richer or poorer?
richer, I guess

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
reading and learning German as well as traveling, but we’ll be planning more trips soon (we’re heading to the Alps for skiing in 2 weeks)

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
worrying?

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
We flew back to Texas and spent Christmas Eve and morning with my parents and Andrew, then we went to John’s mom’s house and spent the afternoon there and a few hours in the evening at John’s dad’s house. We also did Christmas stuff early with Jimmy, Molly, Will & Julia and late with Stephanie, David & Emma. Yes, we had 5 Christmas celebrations. Whoa.

21. What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in 2008?
I don’t recall anything…

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
No, I was already in love!

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No. I don’t hate.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
sadly none

25. What did you want and get?
a great wedding and honeymoon

26. What did you want and not get?
Isn’t this the same question as #6? Same answer…a job

27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 24. I had lunch with my brother and had people over in the evening for snacks, games and hanging out. The next day, I went home and had a celebration with my family.

28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
getting a job

29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
less t-shirts than last year

30. What kept you sane?
I don’t think I’m sane??

31. What political issue stirred you the most?
The election

32. Who did you miss?
All my family & friends back home!

33. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
I don’t know. I’m too tired for something like this. Perhaps it should be something like “I learned that going to bed early is good.” Whatever.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
All I could come up with is this (because I really like the song):
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
your dreams stay big, your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
and while you’re out there getting where you’re getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.
From “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts