2011 in review

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
Walked the length of the High Line Park in NYC.
Got a tattoo.
Recruited and trained a kick-ass group of docents and then set them loose on the masses at the Headlands Auction.
Slurped oysters at Swan Oyster Depot.
Hosted live bands on my radio show.
Got not-kissed on the kiss cam (twice) at an A's game.
Drove a Ford F-150 from San Francisco to LA.
Learned how to give my cat subcutaneous fluids.
Filed a stolen car report with the police.
Watched the Cubs win a game at Wrigley Field.
Bought an iPhone.
Wandered around Alcatraz at night.
Stuck my toe in the sea in Sweden.
Shouted from the top of a tower in Copenhagen.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't make 'em.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Many coworkers.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
It was a particularly rough year for friends' beloved pets.

5. What countries did you visit?
Denmark and Sweden and then airports in Canada and Switzerland.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Progress on my hypothetical tumblr "Wham Bam Pan Am"

7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
All of August.  Heart broken, cat almost died, car stolen.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I never get sick of hearing that people liked what I wrote about them in the SF Weekly.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Too much dwelling on the past, blaming myself, trying to understand things that can never be understood.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
A string of nasty infections that caused me some pretty serious misery.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My new car.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Every single one of my brave, courageous, amazing friends. 

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
...

14. Where did most of your money go?
Therapy.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
A weekend in LA with my then-beau.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
"My Mistakes" - Eleanor Friedberger
"Do What You Will" - Papercuts
"Red Star" - EMA

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i.happier or sadder? Sadder
ii. thinner or fatter? Thinner
iii. richer or poorer? Richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Cooking for myself and others.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worrying.  Total waste of imagination.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
DJing in the morning, lunch with my family, and then dinner with my clan.

21. How did you spend NYE?
Dinner with friends, then home to a viewing of The Social Network with the cat.

22. Did you fall in love in 2011?
Yes. 

23. How many one-night stands?
None.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Party Down
Parks & Recreation
Workaholics
No Reservations

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't really, mostly because I am resigned to the fact that people will never change.

26. What was the best book you read?
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell
Changing My Mind - Zadie Smith
High Line: The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky - Joshua David and Robert Hammond

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Mikal Cronin
Widowspeak
Shabazz Palaces
Active Child
Metronomy

28. What did you want and get?
A guy I liked who liked me back.

29. What did you want and not get?
A guy who sticks around.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
The Tree of Life
35 Shots of Rum
Beginners

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
35: Got my first tattoo (a Margaret Kilgallen tree) in the morning and then had a celebratory brunch and cocktail at Gather with Patrick after.  Dinner with dear friends at Picante that evening, then a blow-out party at my place a week later.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A new apartment in Oakland.  It's in the works for next year...

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Simple, elegant, bad-ass.

34. What kept you sane?
Richter-cat.  My friends.  Visits to the Headlands.  DJing.  Art.  Loud music.  Writing.  Travel.  Long walks.  Salons at my place.  Pema Chodron.  Food trucks.

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

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Occupy

37. Who did you miss?
My more far-flung friends and family.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Son

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
If it seems too good to be true it probably is.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"If this time through
We don't get it right
I'll come back to you
In another life"
--EMA, "Anteroom"