The Goodbye to 2012 Survey

That I stole from Search Results, who always has the best surveys EVER. Since Baker B and the cats and I are having our usual very quiet very peaceful New Years Eve Celebration that so far has just involved watching two episodes of Peep Show, two episodes of That Mitchell and Webb Look and laughing till we cried at both, I’ve got plenty of time for a survey. 

1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before?
Bought a brand new car. Which only happened because I was in a wreck that totaled my three-year-old-so-practically new car, which we’d only had a year. And it was the other person’s fault and bizarrely buying a brand new Fit only cost a couple of thousand dollars more than buying a 2010 Fit….. ummmm…. wait. That is a lie. Or almost a lie. Twenty years ago Baker B and I bought a new car. It was about a year after we were married, and we’d done all our research and decided what we wanted, (a Colt) and found one in Asheville– then Baker B’s dad found one that was a better deal in Morganton and he is the one who actually went through the purchasing process. He also bought us a car with no cassette player (this WAS 20 years ago) much to our vast disappointment. And we never did have one installed. He also ended up only making us pay him back for about half of the price so we couldn’t complain. 

So I guess the actual true thing that I did in 2012 that I have never done before is buy a Brand New Technology Thing– an iPad Mini. I never ever EVER buy Brand New Technology. I always wait so long that by the time I buy a thing, they have released the Next Thing. For example, I finally bought a Kindle nearly 2 years ago– and they immediately announced the Kindle Fire. I LOOOOVE my iPad Mini– I am SO GLAD I waited for it. I’d decided ages before to get some sort of tablet, but couldn’t decide what, and for once being a procrastinator worked in my favor. By the time I decided on an iPad there were rumors of a mini, and I wanted something small so decided to be very unlike myself and exercise patience, and wait for that to be released. 

 
2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I really don’t make New Years Resolutions. I like to think more in the lines of New Year’s goals. I did plan to get more exercise and eat better in 2012, and I did semi-okay with that. I also planned to do a LOT more writing which I did not do so well with. I will re-plan that for 2013. Plus the exercise and healthy eating. And cooking.

 
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My oldest niece had her second child in April. Her first was nearly 10 so there is quite an age gap there. She just turned 30 so is still young enough to have the energy for it. 
 
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My cousins’ aunt died – she wasn’t actually technically related to me, but I was very fond of her, and my cousins were quite close to her. And they are close to me so that counts I think.
 
5. What countries did you visit?
None!!! I didn’t even visit any states other than South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. Oh, and Tennessee. And I may be making it up about West Virginia.  
 
6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
A Big Trip…. and I’m getting one!!! Kim and I are going back to England in June, and it is… OFFICIAL!!!! I just booked our London Lodgings at the same spot we stayed before. Yippie!!!! SO any of my UK buddies, we’ll be in London the third week in June and touring around the country – probably mostly Wiltshire — the fourth week, if anyone wants to meet up for a pint or two! As you can probably tell, I am QUITE beside myself with excitement!

7. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Sadly I think the entire summer will be etched in my memory for unhappy reasons. Baker B’s mom broke her femur and was in the hospital and then in rehab, my dad got a UTI and ended up in the hospital and then in rehab,  I was in a wreck that totaled my car and broke my arm (and I am STILL dealing with the insurance and bills. Everything will eventually get paid by the other guy’s insurance, but it has taken forEVER and they really did not make it clear that they were mostly going to just pay ME a lump sum and then I’d pay the medical bills, which meant that I’ve been sending the increasingly-annoyed bills on to Progressive instead of making any payments myself until this past month. It has been delay after delay and I am beyond sick of dealing with it, quite honestly). Then our beloved Stella got gravely sick, and although she hung on for several months we lost her in September. Basically mid-June till mid-September just sucked. Yet another reason I am beyond thrilled at our Upcoming June Trip. Summer is my favorite time of the year by miles, and I did not enjoy last summer. Although as Baker B reminded me more than once, my dad and his mom had a much worse summer than I did. Princess. 
 
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Not going off the deep end?? Did I achieve ANYTHING this year?? At ALL??? I don’t think so! Maybe having a broken arm and having surgery on it yet recovering very quickly would count. I can’t think of a thing I could actually call an achievement, which is pretty darned sad. Maybe that better be a goal for 2013. Achieve something! Anything!!!
 
9. What was your biggest failure?
Well, on the plus side, I also can’t think of any huge failures. Aside from the failure to achieve anything at all, which is kind of an on-going failure of mine and certainly was not limited to 2012.
 
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
The aforementioned wreck, in which the long bone in the lower part of my left arm was broken. Oh, and then a couple of days later I was stupidly walking across a median at the grocery store parkinglot that is full of big decorative rocks, and I slipped and fell  (doubtless due to having my arm in a sling thus being unbalanced) and really really REALLY twisted the flying fuck out of my ankle. So I had a broken arm AND could barely walk. It was not fun. But I did recover quickly, at least from the broken arm- I expected to be in a cast for six or eight weeks, and ended up being in a full cast for two and a half and then getting an upgrade to a removable half cast. Which meant I got most of the use of my left hand back too, so could type and grasp light things again and that was WONDERFUL. My ankle took forEVER to get completely well but at least it was not broken. And since I could have easily been, oh DEAD, or at least seriously injured (my car looked like a crumpled tin can) I am actually NOT complaining about all this. It was not fun but it could have been much MUCH worse.  

 
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Well, the aforementioned new car, whichwe really do love, the aforementioned iPad which I am completely crazy about, and a new 32 inch HD TV, which means we can now stream the entire internet from my laptop!!!! Our former TV was ancient and not capable of streaming and it is beyond thrilling to be able to watch, oh, ANYTHING. It’s a little overwhelming, really. But in a fun way. 
 
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Baker B gets all sorts of gold stars for being the best and most patient son ever when his mom was in rehab for like three months– he went down there at least once a week and often more, and he is still going down nearly weekly to visit and do her chores (a two-hour round trip from here). He also took very good care of me while I was recovering from my accident. And he has been dealing with a work situation for quite some time that I won’t go into here, but let’s just say that his reactions to this very unpleasant situation have been flawless. The situation is also coming to an end, happily for everyone involved. But I have been extremely impressed with how he’s handled all this stress. Baker B is not usually one to handle stress with grace. He deserves a great big party. 
 
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The Republicans, the Tea-Partiers, the gun freaks, and oh, way too many more to list. We are living in appalling and depressing times. 
 
14. Where did most of your money go?
Paying off credit cards, the home equity line, and the mortgage. And Starbucks. And groceries. And all the stuff we buy that we really could live without but we are not very thrifty people. 
 
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I think that level of excitement has only been reached with our just confirmed England Trip plans for next year. Most of 2012 has not been all that exciting, really. Upsetting and depressing and frightening, but not what I would call exciting. 
 
16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
I am drawing a complete and total blank here. I will come back to this if anything occurs to me. 
 
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? I think at this moment, probably happier. Overall I think it was a sadder year, though. 
 
ii. thinner or fatter? Exactly the same, which is annoying since I was going for thinner. 
 
iii. richer or poorer? A little bit richer, actually, since Baker B got a very unexpected and VERY welcome raise a couple of months ago. It was kind of a shock, but in a good way. So there IS one very good thing that happened in 2012!
 
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Write. And exercise. 
 
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Eat unhealthy food and laze around. Although I did not do as much of that as I am capable of. Still, I could have done less. 
 
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Too late for that – it’s already done. 
 
22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
Yes. Yes I did. I fell in love with my iPad Mini. I am hoping we have many many years together. 
 
23. How many one-night stands?
None. Baker B will be quite relieved about that. 
 
24. What was your favorite TV program?
I have tons of favorite TV programs! Especially since getting the nifty new TV that we can stream from – we’ve been watching all sorts of stuff. Amusingly, it’s pretty much all British TV. And even more amusingly, we’ve discovered several fantastic new shows (new to us) in just the past couple of weeks. Well, two of them have been in the past two DAYS. 

I guess my first obsession in 2012 was probably Downton Abby, though, which I got hooked on right before the second season aired here. Then I got Baker B hooked on it. And now I am waiting on the edge of my seat for the third season to start here next Sunday. And now we can stream it from PBS!!! Yippie!!!

I’ve also been pretty obsessed with House, although now that I’m about half through the last season, I can admit that I will be kind of glad when it’s over. 

I think I might have gotten hooked on The Killing in 2012. Oddly I can’t remember for sure, but I think it was similar to Downton Abby in that I started watching the first season right before the second one aired last spring. 

Looking at my Netflix history, I see that we also got hooked on A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Doc Martin, and Reaper in 2012. We’ve just in the last few weeks discovered Peep Show, which is maybe the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, and only tonight started watching That Mitchell and Webb Look which is an also hysterical sketch comedy by the same two guys who do Peep Show – David Mitchell and Robert Webb. AND last night we started watching Come Fly With Me, which is the Little Britain guys doing a "reality" show about an airport and is also hilarious. And of course we’ve been watching QI for quite awhile between everything else. 

Oh, and I’ve been watching Vera by myself. A slow moving, complicated and very well-done crime drama staring Brenda Blethyn as a cranky, frumpy, obsessive detective  in Northumbria. I like it so much I’ve ordered the books- it’s based on a detective series. I usually do not like detective series, but so far the first one is very well-written, and I certainly do like the show. 

So apparently my biggest achievement for 2012 would actually be watching an incredible amount of mostly British television. Go me! 

And now it is officially 2013 and time to log off – a very happy New Years to you all!