2020 Review Thingo Part 2.

This post is the second of two parts. Part one can be found here: Review thingo 2020.1

14. What song will always remind you of this year?

Ballad of Bunnings Karen.
OK, so it’s not a song. It’s performance poetry in the style of Banjo Patterson.

For some bizarre reason, everytime a covid related lockdown was announced, Australian people would rush to the supermarket to stock up on toilet paper. You can’t eat it. Yet people would get TP as if their life depended on it. Also as if you couldn’t catch covid-19 by jamming the supermarket in the 2 hours before curfew or lockdown hit.

Anyway, Bunnings is a chain of hardware stores like Home Depot in the USA or B&Q in the UK. At one point, masks were mandatory inside shops, yet some people refused to wear them claiming that it was their right to not wear a mask. This song is about them.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?

Happier! I’m not dead or sick! No one I know is dead or sick!
Sadder! How did we get to this? A bunch of people thinking this is all a hoax.

b) t̶h̶i̶n̶n̶e̶r̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶f̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶?̶ Are you stronger?

Marginally larger. I ate a lot more working from home; and then turned to chocolate to keep me going through the day. I thought I changed this question. Perhaps the question should be: Are you stronger? I thought I changed this question. Right, I’m changing it now.

c) richer or poorer?

Probably poorer due the amount of online shopping. Yet richer, because I’m not buying a daily coffee while working in the office. I do miss that ritual.

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

Looked after me before looking after others.

18. How did you spend Christmas?

We were supposed to spend Christmas at an old station/ranch house in the NSW outback (also like in 2019). Instead, the NPWS cancelled on us because of the rain (rain makes the dirt roads impassable for day/weeks as they get torn up if you drive on them when wet), so we spent Christmas in a motel room in Cobar. Thankfully average temperatures this year were in the low to mid 30s instead of the mid 40s! I think the only nod that we had towards it being Christmas (rather than any other day), was the teeny tiny round of Christmas Cake that I had bought from Flour and Stone. We explored a lot of Cobar and found two football fields that we didn’t know about before.

19. Did you fall in love this year?
No.

20. What was your favourite TV program?

Why do all the Australian on-demand tv stations online, on the internet require you to sign in? If I didn’t have to sign in, I probably would have watched more TV online. I don’t need to sign in when I watch your tv shows on my tv.
As it is, I can only remember watching crap home renovation tv shows, re-runs of the cook & the chef, and gogglebox.

21. What was the best book you read?

I haven’t done much reading, and as it is, I mainly read cookbooks.
I liked the bits that I saw of Maeve O’Mara’s Food Safari: Earth, Fire, Water, mainly because there was a complex interesting looking dish involving amazake (with koji) and dehydrated black olives. I was very excited to see Shannon Martinez’s A Cookbook (that happens to be Vegan) in the book remainder store. Yes, I bought it.

22. What was your favourite f̶i̶l̶m̶ theatre event?

I really only watch movies when I’m on a plane, going for an overseas holiday. No holidays in 2020, so no new movies.
So my alternate question – because I go to the theatre a lot more than I go to the cinema.
Favourite theatre event for 2020: Cursed! at Belvoir Street theatre. Three generations of family get together – are they cursed, or is life what they make of it?
I also did quite enjoy watching Hamilton online.

23. What did you do on your birthday

Fark. Worked from home. Lame, huh?

24. What kept you sane?

Cycling or yoga every morning before starting my work from home routine.

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

Francesa Mills. Saw her in The Globe’s streaming of Two noble kinsmen, and was like *thunk* this woman is AMAZING.

26. Who did you miss?

As much as some of the stupidness annoys me … I miss being in the office with my co-workers and the ritual of going to the cafe for the morning coffee.

Onwards!

2020 Review Thingo Part 1

Questions repeated from Shauna Reid 2017 Review Thingo, because the actual reverb thingy appears to have stalled on the interwebs.

This post is going to be published in two parts, mainly because it’s still a work in progress, but also because it’s the last day of January, and I really gotta get something out there! This is 2020.1.

Earlier “year in review” posts can be found:

2019 Review Thingo
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014 part one, part two
2013
2011
2010

1. What did you do in 2020 that you’d never done before?

Purchased an overlocker (serger) and a sewing machine. Both secondhand of course. I had been really getting into the regular sewing bees with the local boomerang bags group, so when the first Sydney COVID lockdown started in March, I bought these two machines second hand so i could keep making bags. The overlocker was heaps of fun – I overlocked all my bag & handle blanks, but never quite got around to sewing them together to make a complete bag. Adding to the list of partially complete projects.

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

a. Reduce single use plastics by buying from bricks and mortar store, rather than online.

Yes, and no. All good until covid hit. I don’t think I bought anything excessively extra, but then it got to the point where I preferred to buy certain goods online (from independent stores), rather than go out. And then I would go and buy takeaway food, as a relief from the need to cook (because 8 hour workshops in person, turned into 8 hour workshops ONLINE. Very draining).
There was a brief period in which reusable coffee cups could be used in cafes (rather than single use landfill cups), but when Sydney had it’s “Northern Beaches” outbreak in December, that put those small gains to a screaming halt.
2020 reduce plastic usage: 0
March 2021 edit – cafes like Ragamuffin and Bourke Street Bakery have started accepting reusable cups again. Yay!
I’ll keep this resolution on the list for 2021.

b. Finish stuff, rather than have partially complete projects.
2020 finish stuff: 0
You know what I think it is? I’m like a magpie, easily distracted by something new and shiny.

c. meditate daily.
I didn’t meditate daily, but with the start of the coronavirus work from home lockdown in Sydney, I started off the day with a yoga, possibly the closest thing I have to daily meditation. I got to 90 days in a row before I fell off the wagon.
2020 meditate daily: 0.25

I have started (again) with an app that has a “new year’s meditation challenge”, to meditate at least 15 out of 21 days. There are short intros to various mediation concepts leading in, a bit less intensive than the meditate in may interviews. I made it to about 20 days consecutive, and then had one day off, and am now restarting.

A new one for 2021: Be kinder to myself. Daily grateful moments

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My friend Reg gave birth to baby Mia, about 3 months premature. This was in May.

4. Did anyone close to you pass away?

My bees. I realised part way through the year that although I have referred to my bees dying, I haven’t actually told you about it.

Early January 2020/late December 2019, it was so hot. Sydney was ringed by bushfires, smoke was in the air. My bees were under stress. Small Hive Beetle (SHB) can detect the bees under stress – so they moved in, which causes more distress, and so the spiral starts. I noticed some odd behaviour, even so much that I thought the bees were about to swarm. After chatting to some other beekeepers, I decided that I needed to get into the hive, but was hamstrung by the lack of other warre beekeepers available for about a week. In the end, I grabbed a beekeeper who was available and went in, but it was too late. The remaining bees (clustered on the outside), had disappeared, and i think the queen had died. Six hours worth of cutting out comb and then “cooking” SHB larvae in boiling water is not a task I would wish on anyone.

Now imagine that this was a beehive on a farm that is only visited once a month? All you would see is any empty hive filled with the vermin SHB, and probably wax moth. No bees.

5. What countries did you visit?

Australia! One of the emergency edicts brought in as part Australia’s covid-19 response was that Australians weren’t allowed to leave the country.

As various covid-19 clusters grew, this turned into state based or local government area based lockdowns, stopping various residents of certain areas entering/exiting one state or another. The police forces in Australia are generally state based (rather than city/county based like in the USA), so the majority of police were deployed to border towns and the roads between states.

I haven’t even left the state of NSW during 2020.

But then, with the various state and country based restrictions, NSW is currently at 14 days of no community transmission of Covid-19. That’s pretty good.

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked in this one?

These are the words I picked in last two years reverb:

Creativity

Sustainability

Engagement
and I will keep them again for 2021. Does that mean I have been lacking these things the past two years? Hmm.

7. What dates from this year will remain etched upon your memory?

The “very last play” I saw at the Opera House in March 2020, before the covid-19 lockdowns stopped all theatre in the state.
The “very first play” we saw in real life, all masked up after lockdown – Virginia Wolf’s A Room of One’s Own. Not the best play to discover that you can no longer concentrate on a monologue

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Maintaining a good LIFE/work balance while working from home. My routine generally involved morning exercise before I started the working day – yoga, a walk to the station, or a long bike ride. Then, my partner kept me honest at the end of the working day, by making sure I ended my day on time by going for a walk.

Also pretty happy that we haven’t managed to kill each other yet, and that we kept a few online “theatre dates” with the theatre crew via videoconferencing.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Finishing projects. Cleaning up.
I enjoy the end products of gardening. but never quite get around to planting the seeds or seedlings.
This is despite working from home. So my routine is now to do at least 10 minutes in the morning – repot or plant something, before I do my morning exercise and start work.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No, thank goodness.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Hmm. The toy is still new, but I bought a pressure cooker, which I have wanted for a while. I had been eyeing off stove top pressure cookers, as well as electric. I ended up with an electric one.

This has actually been really useful during summer because I have been able to cook and not heat up the kitchen. Very happy.

12. Where did most of your money go?

Online shopping.
Our once-a-day coffee habit, no longer supplied by the cafes near the office, had to be supplied by me. I’ve worked out that we went through about 8kg coffee, April – December.
I’m still a bit wary about stepping into shops for too long a period. So if there isn’t a local stockist of something that I can run in and grab; yes, I have ordered it online and had it shipped.

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

Australia’s relative success in containing covid-19.
Jacinda Ardern’s re-election as prime minister in New Zealand.
The election of Biden/Harris in the USA.

2019 Review Thingo

Questions repeated from Shauna Reid 2017 Review Thingo, because the actual reverb thingy appears to have stalled on the interwebs.

Earlier “year in review” posts can be found:

2018
2017
2016
2015
2014 part one, part two
2013
2011
2010

1. What did you do in 2019 that you’d never done before?

Travelled to Tenterfield, Inverell, Grafton, Glen Innes areas, all within NSW Australia.
Joined a local Boomerang Bags sewing group, and learned to sew a little on a machine! These groups make reusable bags from reclaimed materials that would otherwise be put into landfill.

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

I don’t remember what new years resolutions I made in 2019, so clearly can’t have kept them.

This year I’m trying to use less single use plastic, so if there’s an option to buy something in a bricks and mortar store (rather than online), that’s what I’ll do.

Complete projects that I start, rather than having a house filled with partially started efforts.

Meditate daily.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My friend Clare gave birth to Liam in June.

4. Did anyone close to you pass away?

No

5. What countries did you visit?

Australia and USA. Shouldn’t discount the country that you live in as a place to visit!

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked in this one?

These are the words I picked last year:

Creativity

Sustainability

Engagement

7. What dates from this year will remain etched upon your memory?

The week that I spent on Lady Elliot Island, in the Southern part of the Great Barrier Reef. Same as last year – and yes, I went again this year!!

Two years in a row. How indulgent.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I got some kudos at work for some problems I managed to hose down by working cooperatively etc.

I helped start up a local Women’s Shed.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Stopping procrastination.
Making time.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Consistent niggling injuries, the downside of getting older.
The leg thing I talked about at the end of 2018? I somehow knocked off a piece of cartilage in my knee, & it was rattling around like a pinball in my knee joint. I got an arthroscopy to vacuum it out.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

A ticket for a special vegan Southern-style dinner, created by Shannon Martinez as part of good food month.

12. Where did most of your money go?

Online shopping. I joined a buy swap sell group to get rid of some clothing that I had purchased. I still have the clothing I started with, but now I have even more. Then the penny dropped that each purchase meant another shipping satchel, & these aren’t necessarily recyclable. See New Years’ Resolution.

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

My second visit to the Great Barrier Reef as part of a yoga retreat. I went in 2018, and so I knew what I was in for. This year’s trip was in October, and the weather was so much warmer. I went snorkelling once, twice, even four times a day. I was a lot more confident in the water, going into the water on the ocean side (always with a swim buddy) and I saw SO MANY TURTLES. Very excited. I love turtles. Also saw a few cow tail rays, which are all black with gold spots. Fantastic. Yes, the reef has been bleached (2016) and it is recovering from the last bleaching event; however it looks like 2019/20 is another hot season and the coral may be bleached again. It’s not a good thing.

I also managed to get the last ticket to a sold out show to Terry Pratchett’s Maskerade in Brisbane. The show was sold out, and I had my name put on a waitlist. Miraculously, someone returned their ticket, and I got it. Woot!

14. What song will always remind you of this year?

Tones and I, Dance Monkey.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?

Much of a muchness.

b) thinner or fatter?

Marginally thinner. It took me all year to lose the weight from eating all the American diner breakfasts I had in a fortnight in the USA in 2018. How did I measure? Whether or not I fit into a specific item of clothing.

c) richer or poorer?

Probably poorer due the amount of online shopping.

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

Meditate.

18. How did you spend Christmas?

At an old station/ranch house in the NSW outback. Daily temperatures were 25 deg C to 45 deg C – thank goodness one room had refrigerated air-conditioning. Unfortunately for evaporative air-conditioners (swamp coolers) you need potable water, I don’t think you can use bore water due to the salinity and minerals.

19. Did you fall in love this year?
No.

20. What was your favourite TV program?

Seriously. Can’t remember anything memorable that I watched on TV. I watched Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell when it was on tv; and also the x-files seems to be getting a bit of a repeat on SBS. I seem to be drifting a lot towards the home renovations type shows, including things like Escape to the Country.

21. What was the best book you read?

Cannot believe that I used to be such a bookworm. I have a lot of aspirational books that I carry around with me on my travels, but never quite get around to reading. Case in point:

Thinking Fast and Slow. I don’t think I’ve made it past page 50.

I’ve been getting a lot more into ferments, and I have recently picked up Pascal Bauder’s foraging/ferment book, as well as the Shockey’s miso, tempeh and natto book. Sandor Ellix Katz is touring Australia in early 2020, so I’m looking forward to something on this tour.

22. What was your favourite film?

I really only watch movies when I’m on a plane, going for an overseas holiday. After commenting on Shauna’s 2018 review post, I realised that I had only seen part of Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri, so I finished that. And I cried again. Other movies seen include…. The Shape of Water (OMG! The staging, the storyline, the ending …), Secret Life of Pets 2 (uh…), Toy Story 4 (Yes!), 50% of The Dead Don’t Die (Don’t bother), Precious (OMG!) and I, Tonya (WTF? I don’t get it).

So from that list, I think The Shape of Water and Precious were probably my favourite films.

I must add to my list of things to see: Parasite.

23. What did you do on your birthday

Parkrun. Had a vanilla slice. Delicious.

24. What kept you sane?

Gardening. Yoga. Cycling when I couldn’t go to the gym.

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

Uh.

26. Who did you miss?

Perhaps this should be “what” did I miss? Time. Being present.

Onwards!

2018 Review Thingo

Questions repeated from Shauna Reid 2017 Review Thingo, because the actual reverb thingy appears to have stalled on the interwebs.

Earlier “year in review” posts can be found:

2017
2016
2015
2014 part one, part two
2013
2011
2010

1. What did you do in 2018 that you’d never done before?

Visited the Great Barrier Reef (Lady Elliot Island).

Celebrated thanksgiving in the USA.

To me, celebrating Thanskgiving is kind of how Australians celebrate Christmas. I enjoyed it. There was cranberry sauce (made from fresh cranberries – I’ve never been able to try that before), the bird, sweet potato casserole, cheesy corn casserole, green beans & toasted almonds, green beans in garlic (because I thought beans & almonds was too boring), some kind of cheese choux pastry. Then a super rich cheesecake made in an “instant pot” pressure cooker/slow cooker.

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

Gratefulness – I thought about doing it, on and off.
100% – Nope. I practiced a little more active listening.
Me time – some. I made an effort to go to the gym at lunchtimes. I also found a great massage therapist. OK, so she’s on the other end of town from where I am based, but, finding a good massage therapist makes it worth it.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Amelia says: “Hello!”

She was born in February 2018.

4. Did anyone close to you pass away?

Not someone close to me, but a colleague lost her mother-in-law one year after she lost her husband. Both to bowel cancer. Awful.

5. What countries did you visit?

Taiwan (Christmas/New Year 2017/18) and USA.

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked in this one?
Creativity

Sustainability

Engagement

7. What dates from this year will remain etched upon your memory?

The week that I spent on Lady Elliot Island, in the Southern part of the Great Barrier Reef.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Making time

9. What was your biggest failure?

Stopping procrastination.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Yes, in the second half of the year, I did something to my leg and then I was trying to rest it, and I was all sad because I couldn’t get my endorphin rush from going to the gym.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Hmm. Massages for me.

12. Where did most of your money go?

Solidteknics.

I told you last year that I bought my first solidteknics pan.
I have now bought a lot more pans, and replaced all of my teflon frypans (as well as ones that claimed to be for life). Now these ones are actually for life, even if you do burn them to a crisp while cooking.

The first pan I bought, the deep pan, I have *ahem* sold, because it was too heavy for me.

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

My first visit to the Great Barrier Reef.

Going to Brisbane to see a production of Terry Pratchett’s Men At Arms.

Eating lunch at Chez Panisse cafe.

14. What song will always remind you of this year?

Uh.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?

Marginally happier.

b) thinner or fatter?

Marginally fatter. Too many american breakfasts in a short period.

c) richer or poorer?

Probably poorer due the amount of solidteknics metal I have purchased.

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

Massages for me.

18. How did you spend Christmas?

The last working day of the year, or what I would term ‘Christmas Eve’, I spent at a BBQ with cycling friends. I didn’t make last years Christmas cycling event, perhaps I will in 2019.

Road trip for the real Christmas date in the calendar.

19. Did you fall in love this year?
No.

20. What was your favourite TV program?

Doctor Who

The Checkout, a consumer affairs show which has now sadly been cancelled.

21. What was the best book you read?

Not sure if it was the best book, probably the only books I read were:

David Holmgren’s Retrosuburbia – case studies on how to downshift and retrofit your house.

The subtle art of not giving a f*ck – took me a while to get to this book. The GM left, and the very next day, a copy of this book was found on the street library bookshelf in the office.

But I am looking forward to receiving my copy of Forage, Ferment and Feast, a book co-written by Wei’er Higgs, one of the founders of Gutsy Ferments. They make lots of different kinds of yummy sauerkrauts, amongst other ferments.

22. What was your favourite film?

I really only watch movies when I’m on a plane, going for an overseas holiday. So…. this year I have seen The Incredibles 2, The Kingsmen 2, Mission Impossible: Fallout (6), Deadpool 2. Looks like I chose only to watch sequels (or sequels are the only things available).

CRAZY RICH ASIANS. I saw that on the plane. The other movies I enjoyed. This one I might make an effort to see again.

23. What did you do on your birthday

Went to work. It made me sad.

24. What kept you sane?

Gardening. Cycling when I couldn’t go to the gym.

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

Uh.

26. Who did you miss?

A more content me.

2017 Review Thingy

Questions taken from Shauna Reid, because the actual reverb thingy appears to have stalled on the interwebs.

Previous editions can be found:

2016
2015
2014 part one, part two
2013
2011
2010

The question list is a bit too long to tackle in one sitting, so I’ve divided it into two.

1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?
Um. Zumba! I tried a zumba class, managed not to trip over my own feet, and liked it enough to go back again. and again.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for this year?
Once again, I’ve forgotten what my resolutions were. Luckily I have last year’s reverb to check.

mindfulness – yes. Sort of. I participated in a program called power of presence, then mindful in may, then mindful in may continuers. I did get into a bad habit on the train though, of thinking I could multitask, and use both my phone AND meditate at the same time.
being present in the moment – sometimes.
Being grateful for the little things – like a wave, I did it lots at one point, and then not much in others. Sometimes I would stop, look up, and appreciate the lovely blue sky above.
Stop buying stuff. Yes. And no.
Start decluttering. No. I just collected more and more plants, seeds.

This year.

Gratefulness.
100%
Me time.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Why hello there, Chloe.

4. Did anyone close to you pass away?
Not close to me, but two colleagues passed away recently. It was a bit of a shock, because one of them had just retired early so that he could enjoy time with his family.

5. What countries did you visit?
Taiwan.

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked in this one?
More travel.

7. What dates from this year will remain etched upon your memory?
I had think about this one. Perhaps the date that I logged into my university website and found out that I had passed my last subject, and as a result …

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I finally finished my post-graduate degree. Woot!

9. What was your biggest failure?
Procrastination. I’m really good at putting things off.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Just niggles associated with getting a year older …

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I can’t remember one thing that stands out. I did buy a recently discontinued solidtecknics Cast Iron “Deepan”, whilst I was overseas. Probably bit of an impulse buy

12. Where did most of your money go?

Remedial Massage! My physiotherapist left me (he got a new job), and after finding various massage therapists not suiting me, I finally found a good place. Such a shame it’s on the other side of town.

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Home fermentation. I got some milk kefir grains via the crop swap sydney group, and have been trying them out again. If I make small quantities, it is manageable, and I like having a milk fruit “smoothie” (or a fruit lassi) in the mornings. Then I split the grains 50/50, and have been making both milk kefir and nut milk kefir. Nut milk kefir makes really fluffy pancakes, particularly if you have the patience to make the batter the night before. Then there was my kombucha, and water kefir. Oh yeah, and I made miso.

14. What song will always remind you of this year?

Not my “song”, but my soundtrack to the latter half of this year was anything zumba:

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?

Can I be both happier and sadder? That’s about different aspects of my life.

b) thinner or fatter?
Much of a muchness. Certainly a little stronger than last year; but not as strong as the year before that. When I changed jobs, I lost access to onsite bootcamp/yoga, and it’s taken a bit of effort to put exercise back into my routine again.
c) richer or poorer?
Marginally poorer, because I keep spending on stuff that “I really really need”, then once I get said stuff, suddenly don’t need it any more.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Time with friends. I think I said that last year.

18. How did you spend Christmas?
Christmas lunch with the family on Christmas Eve. Flew out overseas on Christmas Day.

19. Did you fall in love this year?
No.

20. What was your favourite TV program?
I had a bit of a noir thing going.

Midnight Sun (loved it so much, I watched it back to back, twice), followed by Witnesses, then followed by Dicte episodes back to back until she annoyed me with her pigheadedness. All courtesy of sbsondemand. Love it.

21. What was the best book you read?
Brene Brown’s Daring Greatly. I’m sure I’ve read others, but this one resonated with me, and was read most recently.

Oh!Oh and Gut. Fabulous. I then turned into a microbiome preacher, and how I have little bacteria in my gut that crave donuts, so intuitive eating probably isn’t a good thing.

22. What was your favourite film?
Um. I picked three tv shows!

23. What did you do on your birthday
Didn’t go to work. Had lunch with my mum.

24. What kept you sane?
Lunchtime swimming, and then when the pool shut down (*sob*), lunchtime yoga. Putting in regular exercise as part of my weekly schedule.

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

26. Who did you miss?
Still miss my mother in law. I also miss the camaraderie of my old workplace, but looking to build camaraderie at my new(er) workplace.

2016 Reverberating Revoo

I forgot about doing this until I spotted Shauna Reid’s edition. Oh noes! I’ve missed the haze of a post Christmas/New Year lethargy, but if I don’t post now, I never will.

Edition 2015
Edition 2014
Edition 2013
There was no Edition 2012.
Edition 2011
Edition 2010

1. What did you do in 2016 that you’d never done before?

Changed jobs. This may not sound a big thing to you, but after spending 10 years at the same company (ancient, I know), and then upping sticks for different work environment, that’s HUGE for me. Plus, I had a fondness for the old workplace which was slowly eroding away, as the good things that had made it a wonderful workplace were being eroded away.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for this year?
Can’t remember what they were, and thus I can’t remember if I kept them.
More for this year:
mindfulness!
being present in the moment!
Being grateful for the little things.
Stop buying stuff.
Start decluttering.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, my friend Clare. Such a gorgeous little thing, sometimes she greets you with a serious look, and then suddenly she smiles. Wow.

4. Did anyone close to you pass away?
Father in law. Friend’s sister.

5. What countries did you visit?
USA. Taiwan. Funeral. Holiday.

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked in this one?
Patience.

7. What dates from this year will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Anzac Day (25 April), we were in our Nation’s capital, we saw a football game, and then on the drive back, the father in law passed away.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Making the leap from one job to another. Yes I know, I should define myself more than my work, but you do spend 30% of your time there.

Catching a LOT of swarms – BEEcoming obsessed.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Being present in the moment.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Gave myself some form of RSI from squeezing honey out of honeycomb using my hands.

11. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
sadder

b) thinner or fatter?
same same. Slightly porkier.
c) richer or poorer?
One year’s salary richer. One year’s spending on vintage tupperware poorer.

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

Parkrun!
Have you heard about this? Every saturday morning, around 8am (or whatever suits the local council), there is a free, timed 5km running event at various locations.

13. How did you spend Christmas?

With the family. Surprisingly, I didn’t kill them. There’s always next year.

14. Did you fall in love this year?

With my friend Clare’s baby.

15. What was your favourite TV program?

The Katering Show. I discovered it. Watched two seasons cover to cover in (almost) one sitting, and then started again.

16. What was the best book you read?
I didn’t read that many books in 2016, but I just found out about The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, which has even been made into a film!
How did I miss that?

17. What was your favourite film?
Inside Out. I watched it on the plane.
I also watched Bad Moms 1.5 times, it took me a few days to realise that the plane version had *censored out* the video sex scene. One day the main character had a husband at home, the next day she didn’t.

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

Didn’t go to work. Old enough to know better.

19. Who did you miss?
Mother in Law. She passed away in early 2015, and not a week goes by that I think “She would’ve known the answer to that!” I wish she was still with us.