Twelve years ago, I found this questionnaire, and I’ve been filling it out every December since. See? 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003. Last year, I decided I’m going to add a few new questions every year from now on. Last year, I added a few more questions, and those are still marked with an *asterisk. This year, I had a hard enough time filling this out, so I didn’t add any more.
There’s something I should add as a preface to this year in review: I didn’t really have a great year. I mean…I had a successful year, but it wasn’t really that great. I know, I know. You follow me on Instagram, and my pictures are colorful. The beach is pretty, and I have lots of brightly colored outfits. But my year got off to a rough start. My cat died. A good friend person who never deserved to be my friend in the first place turned her back on me and never told me why, which made me really, really sad for awhile. I got food poisoning in Mexico and was sick for a month. I got behind on things and overwhelmed at work, and basically sacrificed my entire personal life for months on end to get a project done. I got frustrated with myself…a lot. I didn’t sleep many nights because I was stressed out and anxious. I got depressed. I felt lonely. I lost interest in a lot of things I used to love for a little while. I apologized to everyone over and over for no good reason, just because I felt out of place in my own life a lot of the time.
I’m not perfect. My life isn’t perfect. I’m really successful at what I do. I’m really smart. But I’m not always happy, and I know that I don’t always have control over that. Unfortunately, every medication I’ve ever taken for anxiety has made me gain lots of weight, so this time (like many others), I’m choosing to just wait it out and see what happens. What I do know is that I’ve been through this before. And usually right around the time it gets this bad, it starts to get better. So I’m looking forward to that.
Anyway, here’s my year in review.
What did you do in 2015 that you’d never done before? Visited Europe, made friends with a spider, played in a poker league.
Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? As usual, I kept lots, but not all. I’m working on my 2015 list — it’ll be my 13th straight year posting resolutions on this blog.
Did anyone close to you give birth? No.
Did anyone close to you die? Yes. My cat, Mele, died on January 12. 🙁
What countries did you visit? Mexico and Spain.
What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015? A co-working space in Virginia Beach that serves delicious coffee and speedy wi-fi.
What date from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory? July 1st — started a business.
What was your biggest achievement of the year? Launching a quoting system in Salesforce, passing my Salesforce Sales Cloud Consultant and App Builder certification exams, making some websites, growing Roma tomato plants that are still (sort of) alive and almost eight feet tall.
What was your biggest failure? Spending a whole bunch of time feeling anxious and depressed and like a big failure, even though I’ve been pretty successful at everything I’ve done. Eating wheat and gluten even though I know for a fact they make me feel bad.
Did you suffer illness or injury? I got food poisoning in Mexico in February, and I was sick for a month. And my ankles have been bothering me on and off since April — I should probably get that checked out.
What was the best thing you bought? These Ferragamo Vara pumps I’ve been wanting for almost 10 years.
Whose behavior merited celebration? Pretty much anyone who had to deal with me during a moment of panic, anxiety, or complete and utter lack of confidence this year. I don’t have a huge network of friends, but the few I have have been pretty amazing to me this year by accepting me even in my crazy moments, and I’m really grateful for that. Also, a few smart people on my team at work who I was able to count on this year to do some pretty amazing things and solve some pretty complicated problems.
Where did most of your money go? Rent, 401(k), investments, HSA, savings accounts, lunch.
What did you get really, really, really excited about? Friends and family coming to visit me over the summer. Antoni Gaudí once I got to Barcelona. BB-8.
What song will always remind you of 2015? Cheerleader by Omi. It seems like this came on every five minutes over the summer. It’s catchy, and it does make me smile when I’m in a crappy mood.
Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder? Sadder
Thinner or fatter? About the same
Richer or poorer? Richer
What do you wish you’d done more of? Running, reading for fun, taking photos, relaxing.
What do you wish you’d done less of? Worrying about what other people think, apologizing for nothing.
How will you be spending Christmas? I headed up to New Jersey for Christmas, as usual. I spent Christmas Eve at my grandparents’ house with my parents, aunts, uncles and not-so-little cousins. ALL of us were there for the first time in a long time. My mom made a gluten-free version of my chocolate peppermint cake, which was delicious. I stopped at Regina’s after that and caught up with her and her parents and and old friend of ours from high school and his boyfriend. On Christmas morning, I opened gifts with my parents and my brother, and we had my grandparents over for dinner. My dad made gluten-free cheese dumplings for the escarole soup! Then we went to see Star Wars (it was my third time). On Saturday night, we went to my dad’s cousin’s house for dinner to catch up with his side of the family. I spent a few more days in NJ shopping with my mom, catching up with Kristy and Sadie over breakfast in Asbury, and watching the other six Star Wars movies with my brother and my dad. 🙂
Did you fall in love in 2015? No.
How many one-night stands? None. I should just delete this question. I’m probably never going to have a one-night stand.
Who were your best friends? John, Kristy, Regina, Jeff, Michelle, Tina.
What thing did you do that was meaningful to others? I worked a lot, and I’m assuming that was meaningful to people. I hosted a few visitors over the summer, and they all seemed to have a lovely time. I showed some people how to use the Photoshop and Evernote apps on their phones — people really seemed to like that. I helped a lot of people with their technology and Salesforcey things both in and out of the office.
What was your favorite TV program? The Man in the High Castle, Jane the Virgin, Big Brother.
Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Kind of, a little.
What was the best book you read? Foundation by Isaac Asimov.
What was your greatest musical discovery? The Tallest Man on Earth
*What was your favorite meal? It’s a toss-up between my birthday dinner at Toto in Barcelona (April 10) and dinner at 5A5 Steak Lounge (September 18).
What did you want and get? A palm tree.
What did you want and not get? To stay on the third floor at work.
What was your favorite film of this year? Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I went to see it three times. I might go see it once more.
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 34. I was in Barcelona with John. We had coffee. We strolled around the Gothic Quarter. We had lunch at this colorful market. We had dinner at Toto. We had drinks at Boca Chica.
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If more people said “thank you” to me for all my hard work…the way they did all the time last year.
What kept you sane? Coffee, Evernote, beach days, boat rides, summer visitors, a few smart people, poker, gin & tonics, podcasts, playing solitaire on my phone.
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Do my favorite podcasters count? Alex Blumberg, Jeremy Ross, John De Santiago, and Gillian Madill.
What political issue stirred you the most? Donald Trump is ridiculous.
*What mystery from 2015 was never solved? What the hell happened to this Brooks Brothers tunic? Where did it go?
Who did you miss? Grandma Tillie, Mele, and Jessie.
Who was the best new person you met this year? This John.
*Did you start any new traditions this year? I don’t think so.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2015: I should really stop underestimating myself.
Quote that sums up your year: “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” ~Yoda
