Jenna's House of Idiosyncrasies Version 10.0 [Focus.]

I do this every year, (or, at least, every year since 2003) and it is absolutely compulsory.

As in years past, I must preface this with a warning to not proceed if you have delicate sensibilities. I would say, though, that overall, I've been especially good this year.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
   I joined a gym, and enlisted the help of a personal trainer. I am stronger than I've ever been, actually, as well as having way more energy. It's slow going but I definitely feel like I'm on the way to a healthier life, and I have gotten annoyingly evangelical about exercise.
   I'm currently housesitting for the first time ever, which is one of those things I thought I would never be able to do, being such a homebody who loves being surrounded by my own stuff. As it turns out, all I really need to feel at home is a comfy bed, a hot shower, internet access and plenty of time alone to recharge.
   Due to some insurmountable financial difficulties, I moved back to Winder from Athens without a clear plan or time frame of when I would actually be moving back. A little part of me is scared that I'll never get to move back to Athens, my home, but I try not to think that way.
2. Did anyone close to you give birth?
   Nope.
3. Did anyone close to you die?
   No.
4. What would you like to have in 2009 that you didn't have in 2008?
   Quite a bit more financial stability. And maybe, someone to love.
5. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
   There was the day I was approached while getting a shake in Ben & Jerry's about joining a gym. I had been looking at the website for that gym like four days earlier, and here I was getting ice cream for dinner, and I decided that maybe the universe was trying to tell me something.
   There was the day I decided that I had to give up my apartment immediately and move back to Winder, because I was officially out of money. I cried and cried and cried.
6. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
   Joining a gym and getting into better shape. It has been difficult, and slow, and while I'm there, getting my ass kicked by a treadmill or my trainer, I hate it. I hate just about every second of it. I often end up extremely nauseated and dead tired. I do love the way it makes me feel in the rest of my daily life, however, so I push as hard as I can.
7. What was your biggest failure?
   I was not able to lose any weight as part of my the exercise regime. Part of that is that building muscle often means gaining weight, and part of it is that although I intellectually know what to eat, and for the most part eat fairly healthy, I don't do a great job of sticking to a strict diet. So it's a little disappointing, but I try to focus on how good I feel, not how I look.
8. Did you suffer illness or injury?
   I know I must have had at least a cold, but I don't recall being significantly sick, outside of trying not to throw up after every especially hard work out.
9. What was the best thing you bought?
   My gym membership.
10. Whose behavior merited celebration?
    My baby sister graduated from college, summa cum laude no less, making her the only one of the three sisters to make it to the end of her Bachelor's Degree, and with honors to boot. I am extremely proud.
11. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
    The man that here I refer to as E. Edward Grey. I don't think he is tuned into other people's feelings, which I think mostly makes him a product of his upbringing, but it still stings when he seems mostly oblivious to how much he can hurt me.
12. Where did most of your money go?
    Barely living. Paying bills.
13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
    The opportunity to quit paying rent for a little while and use the cash to pull my life back together. The housesitting gig has been the greatest gift.
14. What song will always remind you of 2008?
    See It My Way, by Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons.
15. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
    A little sadder, being that my situation has deteriorated quite a bit, but also happier, because I can finally see some of a path that will lead me to pulling it all back together.

    ii. Thinner or fatter?
    I have no idea. Since I started building actual muscle I can no longer gauge with anything resembling accuracy.

    iii. Richer or poorer?
    Poorer. I was doing terrible this time last year, but I was definitely doing better than now. I think the economy has just gotten to everyone, including me.

16. What do you wish you'd done more of?
    Leaving my apartment. I spent a tremendous amount of time locked inside that apartment. And reading. I should have read more.
17. What do you wish you'd done less of?
    Waiting on checks to come in.
18. How will you be spending Christmas?
    Laying low at the parents house with them and my sister. Maybe seeing a movie. Extremely low key Christmas.
19. Did you fall in love in 2008?
    This time last year, I claimed to be over the guy I fell in love with, but this year it became extremely clear that I was not, am not. So much so that I made another run at him and got turned down again. I have not been lucky in love.
20. How many one night stands?
    None. Which is totally for the best; I simply do not have the constitution for casual sex.
21. What was the best book you read?
    I don't think I've finished a single book this year, but I did get more than halfway through Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!), and it is fucking hilarious.
22. What was your greatest musical discovery?
    Mates of State, Of Montreal (two bands which I was fully aware of but did not sonically embrace until this year), Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Justice, Onili, the Ting Tings.
23. What did you want and get?
    My Dad bought me a Yamaha keyboard so I could learn to play keys. I'm still working on it.
24. What did you want and not get?
    To lose 50 pounds.
25. What was your favorite film of this year?
    The Band's Visit, a lovely little film about the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra traveling to Israel for a show and getting lost. It sounds like a comedy, but it's not, although there are plenty of funny moments. It is a wonderful movie though.
26. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
    I laid low, taking a couple of days off work and pretty much refusing to leave my apartment. I was pretty depressed to be marking the passing of another year, and wanted to try and stem the tide of well wishers. It worked.
    I was 25.
27. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
    I hate saying this, but more money. Not having to worry about whether I could afford to eat on a daily basis would have made my whole year a whole hell of a lot easier.
28. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
    I am definitely a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl, and I don't know if that will ever change, but this year I started wearing skirts a whole lot, especially in the summer to stay cool, and I quickly got comfortable in them, which I didn't expect. I didn't leave the apartment much, since I work from home, but when I did I worked a little harder than I would have previously into pulling together a presentable look.
29. What kept you sane?
    I talked to my family constantly, especially my Dad and my little sister Sarah. Emily and Melissa were incredibly inclusive, attentive and helpful, especially when it came time for me to move back to Winder and was having a hard time with it.
30. What political issue stirred you the most?
    I don't think I know anyone who wasn't touched by this year's election -- even if you didn't care who won, it was impossible to not keep up with the presidential candidates, because they were everywhere. I was extremely fond of Barack Obama ever since I saw him speak at the DNC in 2004, but I got really invested in the race when Sarah Palin was placed on the Republican ticket, which seemed like a naked grab for female voters, and I found that insulting. By the end, however, I had election fatigue, and it was extremely difficult to stay enthusiastic about any candidate, because even as we were all celebrating Obama's victory, things were starting to go badly for me personally.
31. Who did you miss?
    • Before he came back to town this past summer, I missed CB a whole lot. Come to think of it, since I moved back to Winder I miss him a whole lot.
    • Edward. In recent months the amount of time we spend together has dropped off sharply. I try not miss him, because it's not that good for me, but most of the time, I can't help myself.
32. Who was the best new person you met?
    I may have known her in 2007, but most of my memories of her are from 2008, and that person is Rachel, who was first my good friend Drew's girlfriend, then fiance, and now his lovely wife. She's smart, witty, and totally embraced me as a friend because I am close to Drew. Not coincidentally, Drew is a best new person from 2006.
33. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
    When the person you have been pining after decides they want to make out with you, turn out the lights and stop talking. Nerves will make you ramble like a crazy person and that is not romantic at all.
34. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
    "You feel lonesome don't you / The light that you seek just aint in you today / So bang your head against the wall / But no one wants to see you fall down / The repetition kills you, the repetition kills you, the repetition kills you"