Year-End Survey

Because I don't always post surveys at Blogger, and because I haven't worked on a survey in a long time, I present to you kids the 2008 survey (courtesy of Oryza the Genius)! Everybody's supposed to have an obligatory year-end post(s), and since I haven't posted anything the past few, let this be the start of (hopefully) a series.

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1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
>> Put up with people patiently. :D

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
>> I've never done resolutions before. Mebbe it's time I did. Huh.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
>> I am not that sure. My sister might have.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
>> Nobody that I know of.

5. What countries did you visit?
>> That depends. In my imagination, I roam around a lot. In real life, I am a desk jockey.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
>> Gee that's a lot. More money?

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
>> One overcast Saturday in September (it was either the 13th or the 20th - my bet's on the 13th) where the adage "First impressions last" was unceremoniously proven wrong by that fickle barmaid called fate.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
>> Quitting two jobs.

9. What was your biggest failure?
>> Quitting two jobs!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
>> Various episodes of colds and fevers. And asthma. And my leg problem came back after a wicked night of drinky-drink with the Pucholo whilst I was still working in Outblaze. I chased a jeep. The jeep won.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
>> A set of awesome headphones (with mic!) for less than 300 pesos. The coffee press I got for my dad comes as a close second. I didn't buy that many books this year.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
>> Oh, way too many people. No matter how dejected I got this year, the people I surround myself with are always, always amazing.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
>> Ooooh. Tsismoso to'ng survey na to. Pero sige - myself. And certain other folks I cannot mention since this isn't a private post. :D

14. Where did most of your money go?
>> Oh man. Travel and food. And drinky-drink. And dates. Not the fruit.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
>> My post-Christmas presents from Lauren and Ninsy. :D I knew for weeks that they had some stuff for me, I just didn't know what they were.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
>> Atlas by Battles. Cheers to Inigo and KC for introducing me to this awesome band.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
>> happier or sadder? A mix of both. For totally different reasons. Or does this come as no surprise?
>> richer or poorer? Richer (I first typed poorer here, but in retrospect, I am actually more affluent).
>> thinner or fatter? fatter. Even if all my relatives can't tell the difference. It means I still know how to dress up yo.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
>> Letting go (only a few people know what this entails. You know who you are, and you helped me through this period - I thank you from the bottomless pit that is my heart / stomach).

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
>> Drink, surprisingly.

20. How did you spend the holidays?
>> With a smile on my face that was really, really genuine, despite all of my earlier misgivings. I plan on greeting the New Year with an even bigger smile.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
>> Yes. Thrice. Sabi nila, third time's a charm.

22. How many one-night stands?
>> None, thank God.

23. What were your favorite TV programs?
>> Heroes, House, Pushing Daisies (RIP), The Visionaries, Silver Hawks, How I Met Your Mother, Californication, Black Books, Dragon Ball Z. These were also the only things I watched that were part of a series. These were also all watched from my laptop. I can never get used to having a television around again.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
>> Hate the crime, not the person, I always say.

25. What were the best books you've read?
>> READ:
1. Salman Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown
2. Isaac Asimov's The Robots of Dawn
3. Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Reread. His best book.
4. Kurt Vonnegut's Time Quake. AWESOME.
5. Sanjay Nigam's The Transplanted Man.
6. Jim Butcher's Grave Peril.

READING:
1. Thomas Pynchon's V.
2. Ursula K. LeGuin's The Retelling.
3. Jean-Dominique Bauby's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
4. Arthur Nersesian's The Fuck-Up.
5. Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day.
6. Various Authors, Fifty Years of Russian Prose.
7. Michael Ondaatje's Running in the Family.
8. Yann Martel's Life of Pi.
9. Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and Other Stories.
10. Irvine Welsh's Glue.
If I listed them all down here, I'll probably go batshit insane.

26. What was your favorite film of this year?
TOP 5 (that I just saw this year):
1. The Dark Knight
2. Tropic Thunder
3. Voices from a Distant Star
4. Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle (yeah, I suck, I know)
5. Howl's Moving Castle (technically, saw this last year, but I saw it again this year, so meh).

27. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
>> Shifts from office clothes to very relaxed.

28 Whom did you miss?
>> The Cagayan de Oro people.

29. Who was the best new person you met?
>> If I put her name down here, I am dead meat. :D

30. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
>> If something isn't working out for you, you have to bring yourself to dump whatever that thing is. If it's just going to be excess baggage, you'll only end up making things worse for you.

31. What was your greatest musical discovery?
>> Battles.

32. What did you want and get?
>> Haha! :D

33. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
>> 25th. Start of my quarter-life crisis. Spiral breakfast, then work work work.

34. What one thing would have made your year immeasureably more satisfying?
>> More willpower.

35. What kept you sane?
>> Myself, for most of the year. Somebody else during the latter part. My friends, throughout it all. My family, esp the kids.

36. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
>> Sasha Grey. :P

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
>> I've got you under my skin. :)