Thursday, January 2, 2014

2013 Wrap-Up

I've done this the last couple of years, on January 1.  It's kind of depressing, the similarity from year to year! [This is a good meme to do today because I have literally spent the entire day sleeping.  A nap...wake up...eat...another nap...more food...another nap.]



1. Was 2013 a good year for you?
On the whole, yes.  No major tragedies.

2. What was your favorite moment(s) of the year?

Having the tea party I'd wanted to have with Jeri for 45 years...and including the kids as well.

3. What was your least favorite moment(s) of the year?

Any of the arguments I've had with my mother, where she got frustrated and hung up on me.

4. What did you do in 2013 that you'd never done before?

Joined a support group for people dealing with loved ones with dementia.

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

I stopped making resolutions long ago; I never keep them

6. Where were you when 2013 began?
For the past several years we have gone to a small party attended by members of the former Davis Comic Opera Company. It's low key. We have home made soup, home made bread, fabulous desserts, great conversation, and are home in bed by 12:30 a.m. because we're all getting so old.

7. Who were you with?
About a dozen (or less) people from the Davis Comic Opera Company.

8. Where will you be when 2013 ends?
We thought we would be at the same party, but Walt was sick and I was feeling "questionable" so we stayed home and were in bed before midnight.

9. Who will you be with when 2013 ends?
Walt and the dogs
10. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not close to me, but Ned's step-sister-in-law just gave birth to Olivia Zane a couple of weeks ago and my friend from the SPCA and Facebook, Jennifer, and her wife Tana celebrated the birth of AnnaGrace.

11. Did you lose anybody close to you in 2013?

Five people we knew died last year, none of them "close," but all missed nonetheless.

12. Who did you miss?

The same folks as previous years:  David, Paul, Gilbert and Peggy

13. Who was the best new person you met in 2013?

We really enjoyed spending time with Bob and Linda on the Ukraine/Istanbul tour.

14. What was your favorite month of 2013?

December--look how often family (in some group or other) was together, and I include in that "Pinata family" too.

15. Did you travel outside of the US in 2013?

Only to Ukraine and Turkey.  :)  Probably no big international travel for us in 2014

16. How many different states did you travel to in 2013?

I don't think we went to any other states this year.  Even Walt didn't get his annual trip to Boston in 2013. And we missed the big family wedding in D.C. because we were in Istanbul at the time.

17. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?

A functional Congress that actually accomplishes something.  What an oddity that would be.

18. What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

November 8, the day that Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines.  It was several weeks before I was able to learn that my sponsored child, Fred, his family and their house were all OK.

19. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting my mother moved into Independent Living here in Davis

20. What was your biggest failure?

The same one it always is...inability to stick with (or even start) a healthy diet.
21. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I am very fortunate, no.

22. What was the best thing you bought?

I decided I could afford to add one more child to my list of sponsored children, and selected Navya through World Vision.

23. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Malala Yousafzi, the Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban for promoting education for girls.  I have seen her several times this year in interviews and her speech to the United Nations and each time I marvel at her poise, her dedication, and her selflessness.

24. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

How much time do you have?  The nutcases that are holding Congress hostage, and the religious right that are still fighting gay marriage, gay equality, and, in some cases, even recommending death of anybody gay. The ones who refuse to give up the fight to defeat the Affordable Care Act, and especially the idiots, all these years later, who refuse to believe Obama was born in Hawaii.  It's all noise and distraction that keeps up from actually accomplishing positive things in this country.

25. Where did most of your money go?

Like last year, to books.  New books, used books, Kindle books, audio books.

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

Walt telling me he was getting tickets for us to see Book of Mormon.

27. Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2013?

Very little, though there was that last cousins day....  I probably drank more that night than the rest of the year combined (which isn't saying much)

28. Did you do a lot of drugs in 2013?

Do aspirin and Aleve count?  Even counting them, almost none.   Definitely nothing not prescribed or available over the counter.

29. Did you treat somebody badly in 2013?

I hope not.

30. Did somebody treat you badly in 2013?

If anybody did, I can't remember it, so it must not have been very badly!

32. What do you wish you'd done more of in 2013?

Travel to Santa Barbara to spend time with the grandkids.  We are there so seldom that each time it takes a couple of days for Brianna to warm up to me.   Fortunately, I don't have that problem with Lacie.

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

Spent sleepless nights worrying about things over which I have no control.

35. What was your favorite TV program(s)?

NCIS, Scandal, Criminal Minds, Big Bang Theory, Jeopardy, The Daily Show

36. What song will always remind you of 2013?

"What Does the Fox Say?"

37. How many stage shows did you see in 2013?

About 50.  I reviewed 48 of them and saw a few others that I didn't have to review.

38. Did you have a favorite stage show in 2013?

In musicals, it would have to be Billy Elliot, which I'd wanted to see ever since it first opened on Broadway.  It did not disappoint. In straight plays, I think The North Plan, a comedy at Capital Stage which featured Marta's friend, the wonderful actress/comedienne Katie Rubin.

39. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I don't make musical discoveries--I don't listen to current music enough!

40. What was the best book you read?

I don't know if it was the best book, but the one that definitely had the biggest impact on me was "Babi Yar" by A. Anatoli (Kuznetsov), the story of the occupation of Kiev, told from the perspective of a 13 year old non-Jewish boy who witnessed (and lived through) it. Having just been to Kiev and stood at Babi Yar, this book really grabbed me.
41. What was your favorite film of this year?
I only saw six movies this year, and probably my favorite was Last Vegas, which we took my mother to.

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

I turned 70 and the family had a big party for me at a local brewpub.  Such fun!   The party was for me, turning 70, for Tavie, the oldest of the Pinata kids, turning 50 and for Rich, a Pinata Dad, turning 75.

43. What did you want and get?

Tickets to Book of Morman (Christmas gift; we will see it this month!)

44. What did you want and not get?

World peace

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

A phone call from Peggy with an explanation.  I'm over it--but I still will never stop wanting to find out what happened.

46. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?

Thick fuzzy sox

47. What kept you sane?

Writing my journal, I guess.  NCIS marathons are good too.

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

I'm too old to "fancy" celebrities, but I do enjoy watching Mark Harmon perform.  As for public figures, I am often in awe of Rachel Maddow.  (I'm consistent--those were my two choices last year too!) And Jon Stewart crosses both lines.

49. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.

Life is change, unfortunately.

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

"Thank God, Thank God you're doing fine (x3)
Thank God you're doing fine
Thank God you're doing fine"

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