ok so, it’s well past time for the year-end wrap-up post wherein i answer a bunch of questions that i’ve already answered before. it’s taken me a long time to get through it this time for some reason. THIS year, since i’ve totally stagnated on this thing and effectively driven away everyone who ever read it ever, i can FINALLY be 100% honest filling this thing out! actually, i’ve pretty much always been honest on this… man, that’s boring…
ok, so i’m actually gonna mix this up a little bit. some of the old questions are dumb and no longer apply. i’m killing those and replacing them with new ones. that’s a little less boring…
01. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
i tried out a lot of new cooking techniques and played with a lot of new ingredients. i can’t even begin to list them all, sadly, but it was a really good year for cooking.
02. How did you see in the new year?
with friends and food and laughter (mostly) but without my lovely wife who was in florida with one of our good friends, tina. i missed her. i’m glad she’s back.
03. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
same as always, my only resolution was “become a better version of me” and i made a few steps in that direction.
04. Did someone close to you give birth?
yup. it was a good year to be an uncle – ginny, bethany, and andrea!
05. Did anyone close to you die?
actually, no.
06. What was the best trip you took this year?
austin, tx. so much neat food, drink, and music to experience. had a blast dipping my toes in the “keep austin weird” culture…
07. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
more creative outlets… many more.
08. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
probably 3.25.2011 – my first (and hopefully not last) trip to austin. man, that’s a cool town.
09. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
honestly? landing a new, full-time job in one of the worst economies i’ve ever experienced and, thereby, wrapping up (and officially making it through) a year of freelancing that i will remember for the rest of my life.
10. What was your biggest failure(s)?
i seriously fail in small ways all the time… it’s a constant.
11. Did you suffer illness or injury?
nothing major, actually. that’s pretty great.
12. What was the best thing you bought?
at the risk of sounding both impossibly materialistic and hopelessly stereotypical – my new tv. we got a beautiful, large, fantastic HDTV that i still, months later, find myself watching and saying “dang. that looks so good.”
13. Whose behavior merited celebration?
so many people but, this year, i really have to say that jess took the cake. she made the scary decision to return to school, get a second degree and pursue a new, totally different, career. she’s braver than i am as i don’t know if i could ever find it in myself to go back to school. she also assisted in a real-deal, full-on, dead-guy-on-the-slab, autopsy. like with dead people and all. not watched – assisted. handled guts and everything. without throwing up or anything. she’s tough as nails, that girl. she’s my hero.
14. What made you sad this year?
lots of things, unfortunately. jim moving was sad. the behavior of congress in regards to our country’s debt crisis (hell, their inability to do ANYTHING besides bicker and snipe across party lines) was absolutely deplorable. the list could go on and on but the main thing that made me sad is the continued realization that friendships change and, as people grow, they often grow apart. i generally love and thrive on change… but it also sometimes makes me sad.
15. Where did most of your money go?
the usual. food gas bills debt etc.
16. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
my trip to austin, a new job, time off around the holidays, the release of the new tintin movie (FINALLY), and getting my hands on a kindle fire!
17. Compared to this time last year, are you
i. happier or sadder? – happier. i begin to see the outlines of God’s plan… i think…
ii. thinner or fatter? – sadly, i’m weighing in a touch heavier than last year. time to get it back off.
iii. richer or poorer? – richer. 2010 was spent almost entirely self-employed. freelancing didn’t pay as well as the current gig.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
painting. laughing. writing music. *ehem*… blogging?
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
making excuses and waiting on other people to get their shit together before moving forward.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
we spent the days leading up to christmas with jess’s folks (they came to visit) and then we packed the dogs in the car and went to my folks’ house in huntsville, al. and got to spend time with family including my nephew jack and the newest addition, luc!
21. How did you spend your anniversary?
this year was our two-year anniversary. we went out to p.f.chang’s and brought along our bottle of wente nth degree chardonnay that we were given on our honeymoon by my uncle mike. it was really nice, actually. we had good service, a nice table, excellent food and a truly superb wine. you can’t make a big deal out of every anniversary so you just have to make the “small” years sweet. and it was.
22. What was your favorite culinary experience of the year?
this is a hard one… it was going to be the fantastic meal/beer flight we had at L.A.B. in Asheville but that might just be tied with spending the entire day smoking meat on new year’s eve with the mick.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
castle. hands down. it’s just so daggum clever.
24. What was your favorite video game?
i only by, on average, two or three games a year so this category is pretty narrow. that said, i did purchase skyrim and, like all of the critics, i found (and continue to find) it absolutely engrossing and amazing. it’s beautiful, it’s well-crafted, and the gameplay is so deep that i often lose track of what’s going on in the greater plotline because i’m too busy forging my OWN plotline. this is one of those games that reshaping the video game industry.
25. What was the best book you read?
“a game of thrones” and the ensuing series, “a song of ice and fire”
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
while i certainly didn’t “discover” them in 2011, needtobreathe put out an album this year that absolutely blew me out of the water. it’s really freaking great. that album was the 2011 winner easily.
27. What did you want and get?
a new tv and a kindle fire!
28. What did you want and not get?
still want that new tattoo and an upright bass… and that cali mailing address.
29. Favorite film of this year?
the social network. the writing, directing and acting were all great but the SCORE was amazing. reznor deserved that oscar – he did a phenomenal job.
30. What music will you remember from this year?
i’ve been really blown away by the depth of listener’s songwriting of late… i get something new every time i hear a song off of wooden heart no matter how often i might have heard it. that and the needtobreathe album pretty much make up the “sound” of 2011.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
i turned 32 this year and i played it low-key this year. jess cooked me all sorts of tasty things (including my favorite and traditional birthday cookies) and we went to boscos for dinner. really chill.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
more songwriting. i don’t do it often enough and i always feel… i dunno… calmer/more alive afterwords.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
still rocking the “honestly too old to be a punk” look for the most part. hoodies and converse feature prominently in my wardrobe.
34. What kept you sane?
my wife. my dogs.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
you know, zooey deschanel has topped the list for so long… but i really hate the idiot character she plays in that show “the new girl” and it’s kinda ruined it… might have to come up with a new celeb crush.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
f*$# politics.
37. Who do you miss?
i miss the pacific ocean. she’s a cruel temptress and she won’t stop calling my name…
38. Who was the best new person you met?
sounds like a cop-out, but probably 90% of the people that i’ve met in the course of my new job are pretty great. there’s a very low density of stupid/annoying people in this company and i rather like that.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011:
when i was younger, i tried to be hard so that the things that life throws at me would bounce off. but hard things chip and shatter. now that i’m older, i’m strong. i can take a beating and keep going. i can heal and show the scars of the experiences that made me stronger. and i can keep going. now that i’m stronger, i can let the hard shell fall away. i don’t need it anymore. it gets in the way of growing strong.
40. What song lyric or quote sums up your year:
Goin to California
Suitcase in my hand
Never run away a boy
When you can walk away a man
- “The Reckoning”, NEEDTOBREATHE
