three years and counting

Third time’s the charm!

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?

Flew in a teeny tiny plane piloted by a friend. Edited an entire book (freelance, not my own). Took long bike rides without a safety net. Went parasailing. Milked a goat. Became an avid comsumer of mussels.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I actually have been referring to my 30 for 30 list instead of doing the resolution thing, so I plan to keep doing that until 10/17/08. Please note that although several of them have been crossed off the list, all the freaking hard ones -- seriously, 30 miles on a bike, what the hell was I thinking -- are still left.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes! Several people, actually.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, knock on everything.

5. What countries did you visit?

The Netherlands, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic. And New Mexico, which sort of felt like a different country.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?

More self-discipline (just like 2005 and 2006! that one is probably a permanent resident of this list). More focus. The ability to do a handstand. A new iPod.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

My birthday, once again the date of the greatest surprise party ever. Not a specific date, but the writing group evening that P. showed us her first book.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Giving J a pretty great birthday surprise, if I do say so myself.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not committing more time to writing and not having the guts to do NaNoWriMo.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I had food poisoning for the first time ever; otherwise, no.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Plane tickets.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Why is it that I can never come up with anything for this question? I can’t think of a single person who did something awesome?

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

If I can’t come up with anything for this one either, does it balance out?

14. Where did most of your money go?

Into a six-month CD, which is scaring the crap out of me because it seems like I just wrote a check and threw it into the ether, and the ether cashed it, and then the money evaporated and ceased to exist. Oh, and to my landlord, restaurants, airlines, the overpriced gym that I now hardly ever go to because I am busy giving more of my money to yoga and African dance classes.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

The final Harry Potter book.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?

Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab.”

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? both, sometimes. also nervous-er, most of the time.
b) thinner or fatter? gr
c) richer or poorer? richer, a wee bit

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Writing. Exercising. Spending time with my grandmother.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Worrying -- third year in a row and probably forever! Downloading TV shows from iTunes.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

I was in Ithaca with J. We cooked dinner and watched The Queen from Netflix. Yay for Jews on Christmas!

*(editing starts here)*

23. What was your favorite TV program?

The Wire. And Top Chef.

25. What was the best book you read?

According to Good Reads, my five-star books were Kate Atkinson’s “Case Histories,” Thomas Cahill’s “The Gifts of the Jews” and Yael Hedaya’s “Housebroken.” Edna O’Brien’s “The Country Girls” has also really stayed with me.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Probably Dawn Landes. Thanks, Reuben.

27. What did you want and get?

A relationship that’s continuing to grow despite the distance.

28. What did you want and not get?

Smaller pants.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?

Superbad!

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

30, and I had a surprise party, as documented here.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

A published book with my name on the cover. And as with last year, going a whole year with no cavities would have been immeasurably satisfying -- although I got closer this time. Just one little one in the back.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?

Inexpensive? I didn’t get many new clothes this year.

33. What kept you sane?

You know who you are.

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

After seeing “Charlie Wilson’s War” last night, my Philip Seymour Hoffman crush is again in full swing.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.

Define “learned.” This is something I wanted to learn, but am not sure I have quite mastered yet: Everything is temporary, so stop freaking out, for heaven’s sake.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

"When you move into motion, the Atlantic Ocean cannot compare
My heart's out there, but I don't care, I'll throw it anywhere
We all hold on, but when we go, we'll be gone..."

cookies are an all-the-time food

Many a well-meaning... well-meaner has said, semi-helpfully, "You THINK you like Ithaca, but wait until you see it in the winter!" And then laughed a knowing har-har and flicked a glance of pure evil over their shoulders as they swished their swishy capes and swished off to make more dire predictions.

Well, I'm here to tell you: It is 4:19 p.m. on my first full day here. It is as dark as midnight. I am in J's apartment, sitting at his desk in the circle of light from one little lamp. I took a shower two hours ago and I'm trying to motivate myself to stop eating oatmeal cookies (note to Shannon: are these the best cookies ever or what) and leave the apartment for the first time today.

But did I mention it is dark? And also that it is raining -- RAINING, because NPR tells me it is 47 degrees outside, and what is up with this rain, it is supposed to SNOW here because it is supposed to be COLD. Not that I would really be appreciating the coldness, however, given the aforementioned inability to leave the apartment.
I think we're heading for the movies tomorrow night for the third year of our "we're Jewish! let's go to the movies on Christmas Eve!" tradition, and I'm only semi-determined to have gone outside before then.

This darkness thing -- yeah, it's a little harder to love than the Ithaca summer with its farmers' market and its pretty waterfalls and its hippies in their sundresses. But you know what is also hard to love? DC in August. Or July, or September. So I'm reserving judgement; check back in 11 days for the final verdict.