I’m putting this up a day later than I would have liked, but there were a handful of questions on which I managed to procrastinate for a good while before finally forcing myself to just write something or another down.  It’s always interesting for me to go back and read what I wrote in previous years (2010 and 2009), if only to marvel at the contrast in my states of mind.

If this is too TL;DR for you (and I can hardly blame you if it is!), here’s the long and short of it: 2011 was, on the whole, a very fantastic year for me and certainly a very memorable one as well.  Looking ahead to 2012, it will be something like take two of my senior year: I’m going to have to sit the GRE again, figure out what exactly I am going to do come fall of 2013 (as my current contractual position ends that summer), and hopefully see those plans through to fruition.  But that all feels very distant from my current vantage point, and I feel that I’ve earned, at least for the moment, a little bit of time to bask in what I accomplished in the previous year.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?

I wrote a thesis, presented it at an academic conference, received many a rejection e-mail from grad schools, graduated university, somehow got a full-time job following graduation, and survived an earthquake and a hurricane in quick succession (…not that the bar for survival was especially high or anything).  And, on a less serious note, I sang karaoke for the first time here in the States, woke up at 3am to watch an Australian Open match, and dressed up as Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong’s mad fourth wife.  There was a good reason for the latter, I promise.

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

I will review my resolutions from 2011 in greater depth later, but, yes, I managed to keep almost all of them.  Resolutions for 2012 are forthcoming.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What countries did you visit?

None, sadly.  I haven’t been able to leave the U.S. since I came back from Oxford, but I will be off to China in eighteen days’ time and am most excited about that.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

A clearer idea of what I want to do with my life.  Yes, I know this response is both too general and cliché, but there you have it.

7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

The Carroll Round (14-17 April), graduation (21 May), first day of work (13 June).

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

At the risk of sounding like I’m boasting, there are a number of justifiable contenders for this title, but, ultimately, it is hard to top graduating from university and getting a full-time Real World job.  Writing an entire novel in thirty days does come close, however, and I still can’t believe I pulled off my senior thesis in as little time as I did, what with everything else going on at the time.

9. What was your biggest failure?

There are some fraying ties with various people that I never quite managed to mend, which I swear is what I say every year. 

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nothing serious.  Nothing really minor either, now that I think about it.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

I would say my flat – because having a place of one’s own to live is kind of a big deal – except I am, of course, renting this place.  As such, I will offer a decidedly more superficial response and say these black leather pumps from Ann Taylor.  My professional wardrobe is still a work in progress, but these have definitely become a staple thereof.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

Friends & family, as always.  They keep me grounded and sane, and I would be lost without them.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

The Republican Party?  Alternatively, the European Central Bank.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Rent.  And clothes for work?

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

Graduating from Georgetown was a pretty big deal, I dare say.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

♪ Data Romance – Swept Away

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

i. happier or sadder? Happier, unequivocally so.
ii. thinner or fatter? Transitioning to the more or less sedentary working life coincided with the first episode of statistically significant weight gain in, er, the last six years or so.  But, since I cook for myself now and exercise regularly, I feel much healthier than I have in ages, so this doesn’t bother me much at all.  
iii. richer or poorer? Richer.

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

Er.  Sleep?  I am always of the opinion that I could have found more time in my life for sleep.

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

Conceding to my introverted tendencies.  I know I can summon the willpower to remind myself that putting myself in social situations is, in fact, a good thing (in moderation), but, sometimes, it really is just easier to stay at home with a book, some TV, or Mozart piano concertos.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

At home, per usual.  I opened presents in the morning with the family, helped my sister edit her college essays and set up her new laptop, and saw The Artist with my mother.

21. How will you be spending New Year’s?

Since the New Year is already upon us, I spent the last day of 2011 attending to errands, cooking myself a nice dinner, and watching Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Katherine.

22. Did you fall in love in 2011?

What a droll question.  No.

23. How many one-night stands?

Does the average person have enough one-night stands in a year that a query like this is necessary?  In any case, my answer is zero, of course.

24. What was your favourite TV program?

Oh dear, I consumed such an obscene amount of television this year: Peep Show, Glee, Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey, North and South, The Good Wife, The Big Bang Theory, Sherlock, and The Thick of It.  I’ll just say that it’s a drawn between Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey while reassuring the rest of them that I still love them dearly.  (Well, maybe not Glee as much these days.)

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Hate is such an unnecessarily strong word, as I was taught in primary school, but, even if I were to replace it with something less vitriolic (e.g., “mildly loathe”), nobody comes to mind.  That is an honest answer.

26. What was the best book you read?

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder; because I apparently consume seriously depressing 900-page books on 20th-century European history the way housewives devour chick lit while vacationing at the Jersey Shore.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Always a dangerous question to ask, if only because the answer risks become unnecessarily lengthy and unwieldy.  From the non-classical music standpoint, this was the year I discovered Glee, and, as terrible as the show has become, I can’t quite divorce myself from the irresistibly catchy songs yet.  Foster the People were, arguably, the only new artist to claim a spot in my regular music rotation; other “discoveries” of sorts – meaning artists of whom I had never heard prior to this year or to whom I only really started listening this year – include Fionn Regan, Bag Raiders, Gem Club, and Lykke Li.

From the classical music standpoint, this question is much more fun to answer!  My collection of it underwent spectacular growth: Beethoven string quartets, more Debussy piano music, and Schubert in general.  I really took to violin concertos this year, for some reason or another, and began the task of listening to the standards of the repertoire (Mendelssohn, Bruch, and Tchaikovsky come to mind, and I am in the process of getting acquainted with Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Berg).  My favourite violin concerto by far, though, was Prokofiev’s second.  Other things that stick out in my memory: Fricsay’s recording of the Beethoven Ninth with the Berlin Philharmonic, Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” violin sonata, Alexandre Tharaud playing the keyboard music of François Couperin, and finding my ears more receptive to the “noise” of post-1945 classical music than they previously were.

28. What did you want and get?

A settled post-Georgetown future.

29. What did you want and not get?

More postgrad acceptance letters, I suppose?  Not that this really made much of a difference after February.  Also, this wool pencil skirt from J. Crew: I’ve been lusting for it since September but can’t bring myself to buy it. #firstworldproblems

30. What was your favourite film of this year?

The film for which I was most excited was easily Pianomania, a documentary about a Steinway & Sons piano technician who must satisfy the whims of anal-retentive concert pianists, not to mention his own OCD-necessitated aspirations.  I mean, of course I would love it.  (Trailer here, for any interested parties.)

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

Oh hell, I had a genuinely miserable birthday, as I spent all of 27 August hiding in my flat from Hurricane Irene.  (The day was partially redeemed by an amusing e-mail exchange with Shapiro in which we competed to find the most ridiculous editorials possible on Fox News’ website.)  I turned 22, a rather dull & insignificant age.

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

There were various points throughout the year during which I would not have refused an exogenous injection of self-confidence.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

Pencil skirts, dresses, blazers, pumps – all for the office, naturally! – and my Banana Republic trench, picked up at a very steep discount during last year’s post-Christmas sales and worn absolutely to death since.  This was the year that I learned how to walk comfortably in three-inch heels (I use comfortably in a very liberal manner here), and that’s actually an achievement of which I’m quite proud.

34. What kept you sane?

Classical music.  Espresso.  Preferably together at the same time.

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

Is it redundant of me to say Roger Federer?  I’ve loved the guy for the better part of the last decade, but there was something about 2011 being a rather poor season for me that masochistically upped my devotion to the fellow.  There is also the second iteration of eye candy of the male persuasion to consider.  Oh, and Dan Stevens/Matthew Crawley of Downton Abbey fame, who shall certainly be awarded a prime spot on the forthcoming third iteration of eye candy, date TBD.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

I imagine my current place of employment has something to do with this, but I became much more interested in the ongoing clusterfuck that is the Eurozone debt crisis, as well as fiscal issues, more broadly speaking.  I also made a serious attempt to get a handle on the financial bacchanalia that led to the Great Recession.  Oh, and the debt ceiling shenanigans this past summer made me lose whatever miniscule faith I had left in the Republican Party’s competence and rationality. 

37. Who did you miss?

Let’s change this question to “Who do I miss?”, and my answer to that is: Georgetown friends who are no longer here in DC.  Geographic dispersion blows.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

I have a lot of supremely awesome co-workers, so I shall say them, collectively.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011:

That I am never half as mature as I think I am; there is always so much more to learn.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

‘cause when you find yourself a villain
in the story you have written
it’s plain to see
that sometimes the best intentions
are in need of redemption

-- Death Cab for Cutie, “You Are A Tourist”