2007 Year-in-Review Meme

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
Uttered a sentence in Urdu.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I made some plans for 2007, though I wouldn’t call them new year’s resolutions, really. As for 2008, I decided to participate in the project “101 Goals in 1001 Days.” Thanks to Trillwing for the link. Here are a few of my goals.

HEALTH
1. find/rediscover an escapist hobby
2. lose some of my grad school/biryani weight progress being made
3. consume more calcium
4. exercise 3-5x a week progress being made
5. tone my arms

RELIGION & SPIRIT
1. keep the day of rest at least twice a month

CREATIVITY
1. play violin for enjoyment
2. look into Scottish fiddle lessons
3. make craft projects for fun
4. keep a "craft box" with odds 'n ends in it
5. return to creative writing
6. take classical Pakistani violin lessons done!

FRIENDS
1. have friends over and cook a meal for them

FINANCIAL
1. contribute maximum to Roth IRA
2. build up savings

HOME
1. plant a kitchen garden (something I can grow in a window box or a few large pots)
2. keep potted plants around the house
3. frame my favorite photos, posters, and cards
4. use more color

STUFF I WANT
1. a car (I finally sold Sophia when I left for Pakistan)
2. buy and frame some artwork
3. Microsoft Publisher

EXPERIENCES & ADVENTURES
1. visit Iran

GET IT DONE
1. compile my Pakistan journal and print it out, with scapbook items
2. back up my photos and documents to CD
3. organize my itunes
4. finish gender analysis for UCLA globalization project done!

INTELLECTUAL
1. do something to keep up my Spanish
2. re-subscribe to feminist magazines/journals
3. get my Urdu to a conversational level
4. learn to read basic Urdu
5. Learn some Farsi

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, my classmate Cheryl, now the proud mother of twins.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Kate Stephens, co-worker and friend, a fiercely loving, ferociously hard-working, and inspiring woman. She was a devoted mother of five, a devoted sister, daughter and friend. She helped I don’t know how many dozens—maybe hundreds—of women to recover their lives from drugs and alcohol addiction and to acquire work skills to help them move forward. To quote one anonymous message from the cascade of flowers left where she was killed (by a car): “Kate, you taught me how to grow up and how to be a productive member of society.” We can’t know how much spirit went out of the world when we lost her.

5. What countries did you visit?
Pakistan. Who knew?

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
A savings account with actual money in it.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I don’t know about dates being etched, but I’d say the day I graduated with my Master’s Degree in Education was pretty damn cool. It was June 16, by the way.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
See above. Also going to Pakistan to teach school. It isn’t precisely an achievement, but it is a big deal.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not keeping up with exercise and healthy eating as much as I would like.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I’m a Kindergarten teacher. Duh.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Pakistani women’s clothes are so cool.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My parents’ and sister’s for their unstinting support, patience, and even enthusiasm.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
George. George’s behavior has been appalling for seven years in a row now. I hold out hope that whoever replaces him in 2008 will be at least some improvement, but since our country seems to make the same mistakes over and over, I’m not getting my hopes up for radical changes.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Grad school. And far too much of it went to eating take-out. I have got to learn to enjoy cooking more.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Did I mention I’m teaching school in Pakistan?

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
The latest big Bollywood hits are “Partner” and “Om, Shanti, Om.” Definitely on this year’s soundtrack.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
Happier, fatter, and I’m making more money but I have to pay off student loans, so I think it’s a wash.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Creative hobbies, like crafts and music.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Eating out and procrastinating.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
At my parents’ house, Inshallah.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
What, you want details?

22. How many one-night stands?
That would be zero.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
I got into Rosemary & Thyme. It's a British mystery series on PBS.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don't have that kind of energy.

25. What was the best book you read?
Women and the Political Process in 20th Century Iran, by Parvin Paidar. Yes, I am a geek; I was also getting my Master’s degree in one year. Do not imagine that there was time for out-and-out pleasure reading. And it is a fabulous book.

For novels I recommend Broken Verses and Kartography, by Kamila Shamsie. I found those while looking for fiction and non-fiction on Pakistan.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Qawwali and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

27. What did you want and get?
A job teaching in an Islamic Asian country.

28. What did you want and not get?
More sleep.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
I didn't see too many movies this year. I did see Miss Potter and Quinceanera on DVD recently, both of which are really cute.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 31. My friends Brian and Carine took me to dinner at the Olive Garden.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not much.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Expanding. Being in South Asia has taught me that maroon and chartreuse really can look lovely together.

33. What kept you sane?
Stubbornness.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Azam Taleghani.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
The havoc that we as a nation are wreaking in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran. Including the fact that we’re doing the same short-term gain crap we always do and setting up the next round of hell for ourselves and the rest of the world in the process.

36. Who did you miss?
The Brad I used to know.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
The Littles.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
I am now old enough to be aging noticably. This means that I really do have to exercise if I want to maintain my energy level and physical fitness, and that I can no longer stay up late to do homework. I tried. Didn't happen.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I don’t do song lyric summing up.