Year End Meme

From Dyke Wife at Seismic Twitch:

JANUARY

1. Who kissed you on new years? No one. Thank heavens because that just leads to trouble and grief.

2. Did you have a New Year’s Resolution this year? Not to have any resolutions. Same as every year. Resolutions just lead to disappointment and self-loathing. I can do that fine without resolutions.

3. Does it snow where you live? Yes. Just enough to be delightful and not wear out its welcome.

4. Do you like hot chocolate? Yes! Very yummy. I sometimes make it with coffee in the mornings. Once, I ordered some at a chic little tea room where I had gone with a friend to celebrate finishing the first draft of my master's thesis. They put a piece of chocolate in the bottom. My friend, who was classier than I, said that's how real hot chocolate was made.

5. Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop? No. I'm not sure that I would particularly like it, either, because of all of the crazy people. Still, I wouldn't turn down the opportunity.

FEBRUARY

1. Who was your Valentine? No one. See January's #1. I can buy my own candy, thank you.

2. When you were little did you buy Valentine’s for the whole class? We had to. So no one would feel left out. All of those cheap, stupid Valentines. Yet, it seemed like a cool deal, when I was 6, mostly for the little class parties we had with the candy and cupcakes and juice. Now that I think about it, those poor teachers must have been insane to have whole classrooms of 1st graders hopped up on sugar. Also, now that I think about it, this practice reinforced heteronormative romantic notions of love. What a stupid holiday.

3. Do you care if the groundhog sees its shadow or not? No. Never understood this tradition. Not sure if I've ever seen a groundhog, either. If I did, I think I mistook it for a beaver.
4. What did you receive for Valentine’s Day? Nothing, unless you count the candy that I gave myself!

MARCH

1. Are you Irish? 1/16th or something like that. Although they were probably Scots-Irish, which isn't really either, although it probably explains some of the contrarian strains in that side of my family.

2. Do you like corned beef and cabbage? Actually, I sorta do. Not for every day, of course, but maybe once a year. In fact, the best sandwich I ever had was a Reuben (which has both ingredients) that a friend served to me after I had biked halfway across Houston, Texas. Damn, that was a tasty sandwich that day.

3. What did you do for St Patrick’s Day? Ate candy?

4. Are you happy when winter is pretty much over? By March, yes. Winter isn't so bad here, but in New England, by March I was certain that either the sinuses or the depression was going to kill me.

APRIL

1. Do you like the rain? Usually. Especially if it matches my mood and I have work to do.

2. Did you play an April Fool’s joke on anyone this year? No. They are cruel.

3. Do you get tons of candy for Easter? Only what I give myself. I give myself a lot. (Do you detect a certain candy theme in my life. I swear, if I'm ever diagnosed with diabetes, I will not be surprised. I will consider it the worst day of my life, but I won't be surprised.)

4. Do you celebrate 4/20? No. That's Hitler's birthday. I was the only 1st grader who knew that.

5. Do you love the month of April? I don't not love it. Usually, toward the end of the month I like it a lot better.

MAY

1. What is your favorite flower? All of them! Especially if they smell pretty, too!

2. Finish the phrase “April showers…” "May come your waaaaay!" Also, "...aggravate my depression."

3. Do you celebrate May 16th: National Piercing Day? No. What an odd celebration. I have more than enough piercings for someone my age. I'm going to have to have about two more decades before any more piercings becomes cool, rather than a pathetic grasp for youth.

4. Is May anything special to you? The end of the semester!

JUNE

1. What year did/will you graduate from high school? 1985. I actually have nothing more to say on that except that it occurred in May, not June. I graduated on a Friday, and began my first office job the following Monday. That job taught me two things. First, I didn't want to become a lawyer. Second, I didn't want to work in an office.

2. Did you do anything fun during this Month? Went to the Berks, a workshop in Mississippi, and flying. So, lots of fun! Did I actually end up blogging about any of that except flying -- other than the crappy American Airlines story?

3. Have a favorite baseball team? Hell no. What a boring game. I think of the Simpsons' episode in which Homer decides to go on the wagon and discovers that drinking had made baseball interesting.

JULY

1. What did you do on the 4th of July? Slept.

2. Did you go to the fireworks? No. Too many people, too hot.

3. Did you blast the A/C all day? Oh hell yeah. I live on a swamp, of course I blasted the a/c.

4. Did you go on vacation? What is this "vacation" of which you speak?

AUGUST

1 What was your favorite summer memory of ‘08? Flying. Berks. Mississippi. Flying.

2 Did you have a sunburn? No. I don't burn easy. I also don't stay outside long enough to burn. Years ago, when I had a bicycle, I went out for hours on end. I didn't burn my back so badly, but I did burn the tips of my ears so badly that I got blisters. Putting sunscreen on my ears had never occurred to me.

3 Did you go to the pool a lot? No. Here, the pool is a big urinal for kids. Also, I don't own a bathing suit, and can't face going to purchase one.

4 Were you ready for school at all? Nope. Too exhausted. Still too exhausted.

SEPTEMBER

1 Are you attending school? No; but I did attend an acting class. Does that count? I teach school.

2 Do you like fall better than summer? As much as I love summer, fall has just a bit more of an edge on it, probably because I never had fall until 2001.

3 What happened this month? School started. Isn't that enough?

OCTOBER

1 What was your last Halloween costume? A serial killer. They look just like you and me. If you don't buy that, a vampire.

2 What is your favorite candy? Oooh, so many! Smarties. Skittles. M&Ms. Junior Mints. 3 Musketeers. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Need I continue?

3 What was your favorite thing(s) about this month? The Opening of the Candy Season!

NOVEMBER

1 Whose house do you go to for Thanksgiving? VUBOQ's Punch and Pie Party!

2 Do you love stuffing? Yum! Yes! With sage and gravy!

3 Anything special in this month? Went to a conference and chaired two panels. Oh, yeah, and the U.S. elected itself a black president!

DECEMBER

1 Do you celebrate Christmas? I try not to; but every time I think I'm out, the suck me back in. Bastards. It's the nephews. Christmas is the only time I can see them, so I go to Texas, and then they have the tree and such. I refuse to do presents. I will bring the nephews presents just 'cause, but I tell everyone that I don't want presents and that I won't give presents. My present is that they can take the money that they would spend on me and spend it on themselves. The whole present-giving thing is too much trouble and stress for everyone, and so unnecessary.

2 Have you ever been kissed under the mistletoe? No. But once, in 7th grade, I tried to get Jeff Walker, the darling little trumpet player on whom I was crushing, to find himself under the mistletoe. Our family had gone camping the weekend before, and my brothers and I harvested tons of the stuff mostly because we had never seen it before, much less seen it growing on a tree. I was going to whip some out around Jeff in the band hall. Sadly, my cockblocking frenemy told him what I was up to, and he totally avoided me. When I found out that she told him, I avoided him. So, no kiss. In fact, a decade would pass before I got any kiss.

3 Get anything special last year? Nope, unless you count the three month funk that followed Christmas. See the whole no-presents policy above. My aunt did unload an armoire, gigantic mirror, small table, and fireplace mantle on me. She was getting rid of them, so I took them. Almost all of my furniture is second hand, but the best secondhand pieces come from her. They class the place up. So, I never refuse.

4 What do you want next year? To keep my job.

5 What do you love most about December? The end of the semester!