what an amazing year it's been! (a meme for you)

I'm following Bleeding Espresso's year-end meme. Drop a comment if you play along--I'd really love to read your analysis of 2009!

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
So many things: spoke at the AHA (the biggest baddest annual history conference), worked in the D.C. National Archives, paddled in my first outrigger canoe season culminating with my Catalina Crossing, testified at my husband's LDS church trial for Apostasy, swam under the moon in Albuquerque, wandered the flats of Cape Cod, perused my own medical records in Denver, turned 38 years old & raised funds for Huang Meihua's prosthetic legs, leaped into Walden Pond, dyed my hair purple...

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
The only one I made was to get limber enough to do the splits. I'm still working in that one...

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My youngest sibling. Her wee one is adorable!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My dear blogfriend Sara and my GrandmaB. I miss both of them dearly.

5. What countries did you visit?
Just the U.S. this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
My Ph.D. dissertation.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
9.9.09, the date of John's ex-ing.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Being present to the experiences that came my way.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Being short-tempered or impatient with my loved ones.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
A nasty cough in August that kept me away from Sunstone. A torn bicep that almost kept me from competing in the Catalina race (oh and all that black-and-blueness for a week afterwards). Near-daily achiness from my paddling & cross-training.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My black tutu

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My kids. They rock the world.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The local LDS leaders (you might remember that I wrote a post about that, but later deleted it)..

14. Where did most of your money go?
Supporting our family.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I think I get really, really, really excited about almost everything, but particularly travel.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
See #38, below...

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer?
a) just as happy
b) just as fat (tho with a bit more muscle tone)
c) just as rich

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Skinny-dipping (just kidding--I've never actually done that)
Gardening

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Stressing about things beyond my control, especially about the depressing job market for historians

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Relaxing at home with my family

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
I think I fall in love nearly every day.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
I watched a few episodes of Mad Men and it looks promising, but not worth getting caught up in right now.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No.

24. What was the best book you read?
No idea. It was probably something about diphtheria (my current dissertation-related obsession)

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Emily Wells, live & in person. That girl is a musical hypnotist!

26. What did you want and get?
Nearly everything (and more)...

27. What did you want and not get?
Such a complicated question, which doesn't seem worth answering right now.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Ugh, I hate favorite questions. Harry Potter 6?

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Turned 38 and celebrated the 25th anniversary of my cancer diagnosis in a spectacular way.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
To get more work done on my dissertation.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
Cheap, comfortable and eclectic. With an occasional corset.

32. What kept you sane?
Paddling. Home.

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

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Healthcare, for everyone.

35. Who did you miss?
Sara. The world just wasn't as exciting without her around to share things with.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Every new person that I met was the best. Seriously. And my old friends, they were the best, too.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
Still learning this one, and doing a wee bit better at it this year!

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
There's just something about this song by Muse that grabs right around my ribcage and squeezes, making my heart beat that much harder, reminding me how very alive I am...

They will not force us,
They will stop degrading us,
They will not control us,
We will be victorious

Let me know if you do the year end meme!