A Treasure Found at Home

The Year in Review, Q/A style

1. What did you do in 2004 that you’d never done before?
~Asked for more in pay than I thought I’d get…and got it!
~Refused to “be friends” with an ex.
~There was some boundary pushing at Burning Man, I don’t need to go into details.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution, I’m not sure if I’ll make one this year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
someone sorta close did

4. Did anyone close to you die?
someone sorta close did

5. What countries did you visit?
My only travel was inside the States this year

6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?
An honest lover! (For more than a weekend, that is.)

7. What date from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory?
The dates not so much as the days:

~Getting a call from ex-squared’s other lover telling me he’d been with her the whole time he’d been with me.

~Taking Refuge. *snap* *woosh* *clear*

~My birthday.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting a good job, moving out of the TL, and becoming more deeply involved in Shambhala and Buddhism.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not going with my gut and staying more distant from Drummer Boy when I thought he was getting more involved
than he said he was. In other words, being the jerk.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No. Yay!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Ticket for Burning Man, I needed that vacation…a total re-charge to my batteries which allowed me to regroup
and push again for what I need for ease of living.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Dharmaqueen, My Uncle John, Hamster_grrl

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Ex-Squared

14. Where did most of your money go?
rent, moving, food

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Spending time with friends ~ Burning Man, ANDCs, Shambhala

16. What song/album will always remind you of 2004?
I don’t know yet, this will take a few years to sort out.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? no
iii. richer or poorer? richer, in both money and friends

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
sitting, discipline in my practice

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
using the credit card!

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Reading at my parents’ house in Florida

21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
hamster_grrl & dharmaqueen

22. Did you fall in love in 2004?
A thousand times.

23. How many one night stands in this last year?
I tried for one, but he kept coming back!

24. What was your favourite TV programme?
I don’t watch TV, for the most part, so I don’t have a favourite.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No, I don’t hate anyone. There’s one I’d rather not engage with at all, but I don’t hate him.

26. What was the best book(s) you read?
The Pirates in an Adventure with Scientist!

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
*** (I’ve been out of the loop; so unfortunate)

28. What did you want and get?
A job which paid me more than the sum total of my bills; I can afford to go out sometimes!

29. What did you want and not get?
Honesty from Ex-Squared

30. What were your favourite films of this year?
Garden State

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I went to a potluck dinner with some friends and we all thought about palindromes. I was 31.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
See 29.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?
comfortable, classic, inexpensive

34. What kept you sane?
knitting and sitting and friends

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Jude Law, all of a sudden~who knew? Though he hasn’t totally replaced Gene Kelly.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Right to Marriage; Physical/Sexual Abuse

37. Who did you miss?
East Coast Friends, Oregon friends

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Almost anyone at SF Shambhala, my MI who by turns tolerates and pushes me, Zoe_serious, Miss Moon,
dharmaqueen, K (!)

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004.
Sit with it, lean into it, know your boundaries so you can push them, but ~ It is always OK to walk away from a
situation that makes you feel uncomfortable. Really. Always.

And: It’s sometimes really really hard to be stern with a child, but sometimes it needs to happen anyway. That
is putting him before you. E.g.,
*K climbing on foot of bed when he should be asleep*
Me, all stern: What are you doing?
K: Whatever I want!
Me *laughing inside, oh my god that was so cute!*: You’re supposed to be lying down. Do you need a time out?
K: Yes.
Me *Crap, the threat didn’t work, now I have to do it!*: Ok, into your crib!

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?
“Let it go, let it go, let it go”