2006 - The Year in Review

This comes a little late for a year in review post, but I just found the format on another blog I was reading and thought it was cool...so here goes...

1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Lived in Halifax, sent there by my company to work on a special project

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I never make resolutions...too easy to break them!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope...but a couple of good friends are trying real hard!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Only my rat, Larry, who I'd given to a friend to take care of before going to Halifax.

5. What countries did you visit?
Stayed in Canada...got to see lots of places I'd never been though.

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
A comfortable place to live and proximity to my family and friends. And I've got them both already!

7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Several, but probably the one that ended up having the most impact on my future was July 10, the day I found out I would definitely be moving back to Ottawa at the end of the year, and not staying in either Nova Scotia or Newfoundland permanently. (I had proposed I become a full time resource person to the offices I'd been working for, and the proposal was rejected)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Actually achieving what I was sent to Halifax to do, almost single-handedly as it turned out, and learning I can do pretty amazing stuff when I have to.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not making the most of my time out east to explore more, meet new people, etc.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Really bad homesickness a few times, close to depression, and a very bad pinced nerve/muscle spasm in early November that flattened me for three days.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My new car...well, new to me.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My mother's...for being so supportive of my move to Halifax, even though she hated every minute of my being away.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
George W. Bush's...as always.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Downpayment on my car.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The opportunity to live in Nova Scotia for a year.

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
Into the Mystic - Colin James' version. Because of the lines: "And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home / And when that fog horn blows I want to hear it / I dont have to fear it" The song really seemed to be about me.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i) happier or sadder? Much happier;
ii) thinner or fatter? about the same, I think;
iii) richer or poorer? the same...but I have much less disposable income now, as my expenses are much higher

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Sightseeing...getting out

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Sitting around my teeny apartment alone.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With Tonia's family, in Amherst, Nova Scotia, the day before I moved back home again.

21. Did you fall in love in 2006? oh god, yes...into it and out of it again without the guy ever knowing a thing.

22. How many one-night stands?
One....kinda-sorta.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
There were a few: Heroes, Lost, 24, Sopranos

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nah...I don't think I've ever actually hated anyone in my life.

25. What was the best book you read?
The Outlander series by Diane Gabaldon...2006 was the Year of the Outlander for me, as that was almost all I read all year.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Pink

27. What did you want and get?
Lots of kudos from my colleagues on the work I did

28. What did you want and didn't get?
The guy I was stuck on...but I never really expected to get him anyway.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Can't remember...didn't go to a lot of movies, nor rent many either. I may come back to this when I think of one.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 47...flew home for the weekend to surprise my friends at Carol's birthday party (she has the same birthday as me)

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
To have felt that all my work was really making a big difference (it's not), and to have discovered the passion I need to care enough to put the energy into making it make a difference.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006? good?
Egads...fashion and me are like oil and water. But after an observation by a man I like that I wear a lot of black, I resolved to start wearing much more colour and have discovered a particular shade of greenish blue that really looks good on me.

33. What kept you sane?
The Internet...without it I would have been COMPLETELY isolated in Halifax (when not at work)

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
None come to mind at the moment

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Nothing comes to mind...I hate politics

36. Who did you miss?
All my friends and family in Ottawa.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Liz...the gal I worked near at the office.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006?
That I'm a hell of a lot more capable than I give myself credit for.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Same as above, from Into the Mystic:
And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when that fog horn blows I want to hear it
I dont have to fear it