2011

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

Holy shit, what a great year. I went to New York, Ho Chi Minh, Busan, and Seoul, and let it get awkward with a really pretty lesbian backstage at the Bowery Ballroom (Me: “You’re really pretty.”, Her: “…Thanks?”).

Tim Boelaars, “Cherish your surrounds”, from To Resolve Project

It’s also my first time to take care of a cat, and I spent pretty much the entire second half of 2011 in a haze of Claritin, hives, and litter box deodorizer.

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

2010: “I saw my dad more often by default because my grandfather died. I’m not sure if I wrote any fanmail this year though. This year, I resolve to rid my diet of meat.”

2011: I did not eat any meat…except that one time at Laneway.

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

I wish I’d spend less time dicking around online so I could get my papers done sooner. I’m on the fence about meeting more people in that meeting more people way. It’s almost as if people have a creeper quotient that only increases with age, one from which I am not exempted. There has also been a noticeable increase in sloppiness and re-issues of Saturday morning cartoon merchandise.

Other than that, there’s been more than enough beer-drinking and stuff-making. I think I chose wisely when it came to the people I surrounded myself with this year.

4. What do you wish you’d done less of?

2010: “I wish I’d done less dicking around online.”

Yeah, what she said. Or you know what, no. Maybe I should just stop calling it “dicking around online” and start calling it what it is: “work”. I’d probably be a lot more productive with a little change of perspective.

5. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Wye Oak, Sharon Van Etten, Future Islands, Mirah, and The High Highs. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot on the local front. I’m not sure if I first heard Multo play in 2011 (was this 2011? So confused…)

6. What did you want and get?

I’ve finally accepted that my salary is what it is and I would not trade it for a higher-paying job if it would mean I’d have to relinquish the kind of flexibility and control I have over my hours. I like the “writing breaks”.

Emory Allen, “Make time for play time”, from To Resolve Project

Oh, and I started grad school!

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

I turned 26. I was in Ho Chi Minh, hanging out with my dad. He left that night, then the next day I took a cooking class at Hoa Tuc, then drank on the bridge overlooking District 1 and 5 with a new friend.

Wait, I took a cooking class this year for the first time. I should add that to no. 1.

Best new people!

Daniel Darwin’s pretty much the only new person I met this year, whom I’ve been able to hang out with constantly. Everyone else, I met while traveling, so I’m not sure if they count because doesn’t traveling just leave you with a long list of people who are all new?
Nonetheless, I’m thankful for all the lovely and gracious people who bought me dinner or drinks, or made me coffee, or let me interview them for other writerly pursuits (whether legit or illegit), or let me crash on their couches. Regardless of how many episodes of Jersey Shore you’ve seen, or how much Roberto Bolano you’re read, those who make the conscious effort to be assholes are actually the exception and not the rule.

Scott Hill, “Keep in touch”, from To Resolve Project

That, or people are just nice to me because (in Doble’s words) I’m a girl.