A bit late, and with a gap last year, unfortunately... but here it is:

[gnommi]

1. What did you do in 2015 that you'd never done before?
Went to the Grant Museum of Zoology film club (recommend!!)
Went to Skypod (also recommend - free to get in and STUNNING views)
Went to Kew Gardens after dark to see the winter lights with squirmelia
Bought a house
Learned how to remove rawlplugs, fill in holes, unibond wall and take up laminate... DIY skill-set continues to evolve!
Bought wallpaper
Moved out of my home city (well, this was late in 2014, but I missed a year so...)
Gave my first lecture to postgraduate students
Designed and ran my first lab teaching session
Introduced a new test to our lab repertoire
Represented my lab at a conference
Went to a concert at Cecil Sharp House (Belshazzar's Feast - lots of fun)
Stayed in Epernay and visited several champagne vineyards including Andre Bergere (where we drank champagne chilled in a horse-trough, served in a vineyard) and Champagne Colin where M. Romain Colin himself gave us a tasting...
Became a member of the British Museum
Lost what I thought was a really close friendship, to my shock and horror
Learned to solder silver and copper and basic silversmithing at RACC
Learned to bezel set cabochons, fold forming and metal inlay at Vanetta Seecharan
Went to the Amateur Entomologist's Society fair by myself
Went to the Rock and Gem Show in Kempton Park to buy stones to set
Visited Hatton Garden and witnessed the surreality of precious metal and gemstone trading close up
Played (and was utterly traumatised by) Hatoful Boyfriend
Went to Gingerline
Visited the Isles of Scilly, which now rank top of my list of Places I Want To Retire To.
Took the awesome Night Riviera sleeper from Paddington to Penzance
Took the tiny Skybus from St Mary to Land's End. Survived.
Interacted with inquisitive seals, just inches from our boat
Had puffins, razorbills and guillemots fly around us whilst we sped in a RIB around an uninhabited island strewn with submerged wrecks with Island Sea Safaris
Took a boat to the pub on St Agnes and back - (now, sadly? up for sale)
Had more balance testing in the shape of the dread SPINNING CHAIR.
Realized that I am probably more than halfway through my life
Took numerous boat trips from Kingston to Richmond and Hampton Court
Watched a screaming flock of wild parakeets in Richmond Park
Took a Finn to Hampton Court Palace
Saw great crested grebes at Canary Wharf
Took the Dangleway over Greenwich
Went to a conference in a hotel which overlooked Tower Bridge
Went to Lewes, where I saw someone play the nyckelharpa and I bought a display of false teeth in a junk shop - three firsts for the price of one!

2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Don't think I made any. This year I really need to make more effort to stay fit - it definitely gets harder as you get older!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
A couple of exes did (Alice, Mel), Greg/Flis did, Sina/Emma got pregnant, Pete/Christine reproduced. I think I'm on a new cohort of younger friends getting married and up the duff now - my contemporaries are taking theirs to school now. NONE HERE. NOPE.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Politically complicated question. My gran died (overdue). My cousin died (too soon).

5. What countries did you visit?
I think only the UK and Ireland? It's been a bit busy this last year...

6. What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?
More training - maybe get onto the reporting trial
A job with slightly more prospects and stability - not that I've been in this one that long!
Less tub round the middle

7. What dates from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Gossiping with Prof Flanagan and Prof Sir Nick in Dublin Castle throne room at Pathsoc.
Finally exchanging contracts and getting the keys to our new house.
Most of the things we did on the Scilly Isles. Beautiful, beautiful place - definitely up there with Sark and the Isle of Man.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Chilling out at work

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not keeping up with technology and publications better

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Face-planted on the pavement twice due to Balance Issues and almost broke my nose - let's not do that again

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I want to say house, but Only Time Will Tell

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Enduring love for Professor Sir Nicholas Wright, as always.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Politicians. All of them. Rich, entitled, "I'm-all-right-Jack"'s who just want to see the country burn to line their pockets. My previously close friend, and mine at her behaviour, which just made it worse.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Jewellery-making, commuting, buying a house, getting it plastered, plumbed, repaired, etc etc etc forever more.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Nothing much, really. But then nothing particularly got me down either. Hello, early forties?

16. What song will always remind you of 2015?
No idea! Probably something Dave honks on his honkertina. Geese In The Bog or Eels In The Sink are two likely candidates.

17. Answer these for 2015:
a) happier or sadder? Everything Is Alright.
b) thinner or fatter? Hahaha, thank god for Lycra
c) richer or poorer? Richer, until the house purchase. Oops.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Same as last year: Relaxing. Being productive. Looking at the world through my eyeballs and not a screen. Seeing people face to face. Learning. Reading.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Procrastinating. Getting drawn into drama. Time-wasting on the internet. Eating takeaway crap.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas just gone with the in-laws as usual. Would have been better to meet up with Soton folks and rellies but them's the breaks I guess :/

21. Did you fall in love in 2015?
12? years and counting. How did that happen? Once again, Ha! for accidental long-term monogamy...

22. How many one-night stands?
Is this a trick question?

23. What was your favourite TV program?
Masterchef - The Professionals, Bake Off, Hairy Bikers, anything with Michael Mosley, documentaries as usual. I really enjoyed Fargo and almost uniquely for me, I watched ALL of it! I think I also managed all of Forbrydelsen but I think that's your lot apart from 70's young adult folk horror...

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.

25. What's the best book you read?
I got back into reading a little more this year, thanks to having a proper commute again.
The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century was truly gripping and a real eye-opener in many ways. I'm currently reading Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies which is also very enjoyable. I bought a whole lot of random stuff from Waterstones Gower Street's (now very sadly defunct) remainders section, which turned up some real gems, including the amazing "The Maldive Shark by Herman Melville (which contains some beautiful prose sketches of some unexpected places) and William Hope Hodgson's The Ghost Pirates and other stories. I also read the entirety of the not-very-heavyweight-but-highly-entertaining Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. Me, fiction? I know, right!?

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
This year I've mainly been listening to Venetian Snares and traditional folk music.

27. What did you want and get?
A better job. House-buying out of the way. Less stressed.

28. What did you want and not get?
The right better job. Thinner.

29. What was your favourite film of this year?
Didn't watch many of note, but really enjoyed In Order of Disappearance.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Dinner at The Pig (see years passim). 43. I think. We also went to Cinnamon Club but it was a bit of a let-down. We had cocktails first somewhere but it's all a bit fuzzy...

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
People I love being a bit less retarded about their interpersonal relationships I guess. This includes me. Finally being able to move into the new house. Seeing my friends and relatives more often. Ma making the effort to come and see where I live.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2015?
Grey, leggings, sacks. Jewellery I made myself. Forgetting to brush my hair. I think I have a skirt somewhere. I want a tweed jacket.

33. What kept you sane?
Dave, my friends, pathology, crazy museums, Private Eye, crafting stuff.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Anyone blonde, grumpy and androgynous. Usual suspects.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
All of the nonsensical "Johnny poor/foreign/religious/different to you somehow person is going to steal all your cake/blow up your children/ban you from eating bacon" claptrap spouted to cover the fact that the country is a total mess all by itself thanks to the fat, born rich, snobbish louts in power.

36. Who did you miss?
My friends in places other, my family.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Our current neighbours, the Hurrys, are pretty special. The work mates are pretty cool.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2015:
Look where you're going, kerbs are to be stepped up and over, not fallen over. Don't take "later" for an answer.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year
"where has thou been since I saw thee?"



Here's 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008. I'm still fundamentally an overworked, navel-gazing sod, easily distracted by dead stuff, making things and travelling, but I actually AM cheering the hell up (or at least ceasing to be bothered by as much). That counts, right? Next stop "Kids these days don't know they're born", "Hey, you! Get off my lawn", etc etc.

Comments

[noodlefan.livejournal.com]

I just found this entry of yours, as I'm about to fill in mine for this year.
Interesting read!

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

I'll be doing another one shortly!