The End of Days
30/12/2010 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaIt's that time of year and a certain survey is doing the rounds again.
1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
Can't think of anything at the moment. Nano doesn't count since did it first last year
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Didn't make any but progress on the 101 things in 1001 days has been on a serious go slow.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
A pretty little cat who adopted the Lair as her unofficial home. At first there were three kittens but now two have mysteriously disappeared
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Well, it's part of the job description when working in a nursing home. One really gorgeous man who had been there a couple of years. He like the serpent was a fan of a certain boss but being a customer not an employee - he was in a position to tell her exactly how little he thought of her. Lots of us made a point of thanking him for that
Then there's others whose demise was nothing but a cause for celebration - two in particular come to mind. Not just for Izzie but a whole bunch of the other house elves. What a way to live your life that countless people (and not even particularly twisted malicious ones) are delighted when you die
5. What countries did you visit?
Bits of Cyberia. Much faster and more fun with the big bad Mac
Also one itsie bit of Oz - Bridgetown - which is as gorgeous as ever and a wonderful source for nanowrimo inspiration
6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Last year's wish was a decent boss with half a brain. It took until August for this wish to be fulfilled but got there in the end
As for this year - to finally start on the path of some grand project
7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Big bad world stuff - 20th April - the date of the BP oil spill. 20 April sure is an unlucky day for the USA
14th October - the amazing rescue of the Chilean miners. What a wonderful case of under promising and overdelivering. Not just that they got all the miners out - but that they set an example to other governments - China who treat their miners like disposable objects. They have sort of been put on notice by the threat of a very good example
Personally - the Howler from the first week of January and all the associated hassles with fending off the evil cheshire rat boss. Lucky only had to wait another two months
March - Sculpture by the Sea and a nasty visit from the Dementors. The latter we would rather forget but twisting an ankle later in the month made it quite clear that physical pain in spite of all the inconvenience and annoyance is infinitely more bearable than mental pain. To have both at the same time would be the worst of all possible worlds
The departure of the aforementioned Cheshire Rat who left to go off and have her Siamese triplets (one lives in hope)
May/June a wonderful heritage festival that included the first visit to Fremantle prison in more than 15 years - it was a crisp and crunchy spooky June day with very delicate light
Also a heritage event at a beautiful old church with choirs, art works, cups of tea, glasses of wine and the first outing of the very spooky Dark Angels tarot deck. While sipping tea at a table decked in a red gingham chequered table cloth in a hall that used to be a church. Most magical indeed
Wednesday 2nd June was the turn of the Vampires of Eternal Night deck at the old lunatic asylum -both decadent decks courtesy of a certain Cat ;)
September - the arrival of three certain dark and shiny Baba tarot decks and the ritual of choosing appropriate places to peek at them
Coffee in the gorgeous old Revelly's cafe on its last day of trading. It looks like a church but was really an old boys school and the National Trust refused to renew their lease. Indulged in a bunch of sentimental memories and nostalgia and started plotting and planning there for November's nano novel with the very spooky Bohemian Gothic tarot
The amazing annual King's Park wildflower festival accompanied by a copy of a very fascinating book about creativity "The Path of Least Resistance"
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Standing ground against The Rat Queen and not backing down or grovelling to her. Unfortunately it took so much time and energy for the first few months of the year that little was left for anything else
Goblin baiting. It's a long long story and best not told in a public place
Using all these juicy morsels to fuel this year's nano adventure. Finished it too
9. What was your biggest failure?
Letting the Dementors get the upper hand. Ended up neglecting the garden for pretty much most of the year since February
Procrastinating on the Goblin job front. Graduated in Feb 2004 and still not even properly started looking for a paying job counting beans.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
The Izzie eyes have been not quite the same since that damned flight to Amsterdam. A noticeably decreased ability to decipher small print which is becoming increasingly more obvious and worse with each passing year
Sprained an ankle while on holidays of course so that was a whole precious week pretty much wasted including missing out on an equinox sunset at the beach amongst all the pretty sculptures
This was soon followed by one seriously nasty urinary tract infection which lasted only four days but felt like 40 and stuffed up life infinitely more than a twisted ankle
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Can't quite decide between the Bohemian Gothic and Russian Victorian Romantic tarot decks. The latter was a seriously elusive little beastie and all the more precious for that.
Sure there's some books in there but cannot quite think at the moment
12. Where did most of your money go?
The House goblins usually get 50% of the Izzie after tax income and this year was no exception. But with the arrival of the froggie tenants, now increased it to about 66% and the continuing addiction to weeds and seeds.
13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The Kitchen Cabinet coming to town followed only two weeks later by some serious back stabbing in Canberra and a most amusing election campaign
Oh and the grand Nanowrimo adventure and a certain deck of tarot cards
14. What song will always remind you of 2010?
"Don't Fear the Reaper" Blue Oyster Cult
15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or Sadder - about the same. Just emerged from a phase of serious gloomy doomy misery.
Older or wiser Both - we hope
Thinner or fatter? Fatter. Ask Petunia - that's the only bit of Izzie that she is capable of noticing
Richer or poorer? Richer - not only does the serpent have most of the stuff she needs but also most of what she wants. The rent from the two froggies in the house has made a huge difference even if most of it simply got added to the house repayments. It's meant keeping the evil plastic in the black to the tune of $500 for most of the year and being able to prepay the annual holiday and have emergency funds for the January plumbing disaster
16. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading, gardening and decluttering
17. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Being cranky and neurotic. Being overenthusiastic when it comes to weed hunting - ie buying too many plants and then seeing rather more of the poor things dying than should be the case. Buying and planting anything but a cactus after October is just plain stupid
18. How will you be spending Christmas?
At work until 5.30pm and then at the ma and pa's place. It was a disgusting sticky hot and humid day. The weather ruined it totally
19. Did you fall in love in 2010?
What is love?
20. What was your favorite TV program?
The Gruen Transfer and its baby brother "Gruen Nation" - a feast of political advertising
Occasionally watched "Gardening Australia" but it's just not the same without Peter Cundall
21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Three critters come to mind - two are goblins from the day job and one a resident since August. Lucky that one of the goblins spends most of his time at the bank and visits only two or three times a year. The other was the boss for three months and nearly managed to trash the place in that short period of time. In his opinion, having sufficient staff and paying them were considered optional extras. Did not take long for a downward spiral to start and speed up very rapidly. Lucky he left before the whirlwind became a hurricane
22. What was the best book you read?
The best book - "Fooled by Randomness" Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The most fun book "Angels and Demons" Dan Brown
23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Not listened to much music this year so will cheat and make it 'artistic discovery'
Saw a certain picture at the touring Guggenheim exhibition and spent nearly the whole time drooling over its strange spooky surreal gorgeousness
This Leonora Carrington is truly a reincarnation of Heironymous Bosch with a hint of Marc Chagall and Arthur Boyd
24. What did you want and get?
The Bohemian Gothic and Russian Victorian Romantic tarot decks, also "Vampires of Eternal Night" and Vampyre tarot decks and a big purple nano banner
25. What did you want and not get?
The menopause
26. What was your favorite film of this year?
The Social Network
Also loved "The Loved Ones" a seriously sick Oz flick and the latest Potter movie. But it just does not stand on its own like the last few.
27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Visited the usual lunatic asylum before pottering off to Petunia's place for a piss up.
28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Last year Izzie wrote
"A Boss Voodoo doll that really works when you stick pins in it or invent all sorts of evil torments" and guess what the two froggies gave the serpent for Christmas? !!
Will wait until January to try out the evilness.
As for this year - only time will tell
29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Fashion is an alien concept to this slobbish serpent. But we are rather partial to green hats.
30. What kept you sane?
Sane - Izzie sane? Never ever?
31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Er. Izzie prefers politics - Hollywood for ugly people. Bill Leake and Michael Leunig we guess - two very wicked Oz cartoonists. But Bill Leake got badly injured when chasing parrots and has been missing in action for quite a while now
First prize will have to be for Alan Rickman in his Severus Snape incarnation with an honorable mention to Julian Assange for pissing off just about everyone on a pedestal. B
32. What political issue stirred you the most?
A very nasty, petty and extremely entertaining federal election and the festival of Schadenfreude that is Wikileaks. Not much that we did not already know before but it was amusing to hear the Americans come straight out with it. Never mind this 'micro-manager' nonsense - they called the ex prime minister Kevin Rudd a control freak
And it was rather surprised to see which Labor 'faceless men' were on their pay roll. Pity that Mark Latham wasn't one of them. That would have been too juicy
33. Who did you miss?
Lots of folks at work left this year due to so many management stuff ups and two of them were really beautiful souls.
34. Who was the best new person you met?
Our new boss. She is kosher and one of those rare creatures who believes that promises are made to be kept and that house elves should actually be paid for working extra shifts or attending 'compulsory training'
35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
Blessed are those who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed
Aside from several encounters with Dementors, most of the really awful days all had in common that they'd been the object of much anticipation and expectation. Most of the misery was due to sizzling hot or icky sticky weather which made original plans difficult or plain damned uncomfortable.
On the other hand, some days which carried no expectations at all turned out to be the most wonderful and memorable of all the year.
Also discovered just how true it is that all you really need to be happy is something to be enthusiastic about
And the other big one - never ever underestimate the power of a hairy scary deadline.
36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Must pass on this one maybe will be back later
1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
Can't think of anything at the moment. Nano doesn't count since did it first last year
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Didn't make any but progress on the 101 things in 1001 days has been on a serious go slow.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
A pretty little cat who adopted the Lair as her unofficial home. At first there were three kittens but now two have mysteriously disappeared
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Well, it's part of the job description when working in a nursing home. One really gorgeous man who had been there a couple of years. He like the serpent was a fan of a certain boss but being a customer not an employee - he was in a position to tell her exactly how little he thought of her. Lots of us made a point of thanking him for that
Then there's others whose demise was nothing but a cause for celebration - two in particular come to mind. Not just for Izzie but a whole bunch of the other house elves. What a way to live your life that countless people (and not even particularly twisted malicious ones) are delighted when you die
5. What countries did you visit?
Bits of Cyberia. Much faster and more fun with the big bad Mac
Also one itsie bit of Oz - Bridgetown - which is as gorgeous as ever and a wonderful source for nanowrimo inspiration
6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Last year's wish was a decent boss with half a brain. It took until August for this wish to be fulfilled but got there in the end
As for this year - to finally start on the path of some grand project
7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Big bad world stuff - 20th April - the date of the BP oil spill. 20 April sure is an unlucky day for the USA
14th October - the amazing rescue of the Chilean miners. What a wonderful case of under promising and overdelivering. Not just that they got all the miners out - but that they set an example to other governments - China who treat their miners like disposable objects. They have sort of been put on notice by the threat of a very good example
Personally - the Howler from the first week of January and all the associated hassles with fending off the evil cheshire rat boss. Lucky only had to wait another two months
March - Sculpture by the Sea and a nasty visit from the Dementors. The latter we would rather forget but twisting an ankle later in the month made it quite clear that physical pain in spite of all the inconvenience and annoyance is infinitely more bearable than mental pain. To have both at the same time would be the worst of all possible worlds
The departure of the aforementioned Cheshire Rat who left to go off and have her Siamese triplets (one lives in hope)
May/June a wonderful heritage festival that included the first visit to Fremantle prison in more than 15 years - it was a crisp and crunchy spooky June day with very delicate light
Also a heritage event at a beautiful old church with choirs, art works, cups of tea, glasses of wine and the first outing of the very spooky Dark Angels tarot deck. While sipping tea at a table decked in a red gingham chequered table cloth in a hall that used to be a church. Most magical indeed
Wednesday 2nd June was the turn of the Vampires of Eternal Night deck at the old lunatic asylum -both decadent decks courtesy of a certain Cat ;)
September - the arrival of three certain dark and shiny Baba tarot decks and the ritual of choosing appropriate places to peek at them
Coffee in the gorgeous old Revelly's cafe on its last day of trading. It looks like a church but was really an old boys school and the National Trust refused to renew their lease. Indulged in a bunch of sentimental memories and nostalgia and started plotting and planning there for November's nano novel with the very spooky Bohemian Gothic tarot
The amazing annual King's Park wildflower festival accompanied by a copy of a very fascinating book about creativity "The Path of Least Resistance"
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Standing ground against The Rat Queen and not backing down or grovelling to her. Unfortunately it took so much time and energy for the first few months of the year that little was left for anything else
Goblin baiting. It's a long long story and best not told in a public place
Using all these juicy morsels to fuel this year's nano adventure. Finished it too
9. What was your biggest failure?
Letting the Dementors get the upper hand. Ended up neglecting the garden for pretty much most of the year since February
Procrastinating on the Goblin job front. Graduated in Feb 2004 and still not even properly started looking for a paying job counting beans.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
The Izzie eyes have been not quite the same since that damned flight to Amsterdam. A noticeably decreased ability to decipher small print which is becoming increasingly more obvious and worse with each passing year
Sprained an ankle while on holidays of course so that was a whole precious week pretty much wasted including missing out on an equinox sunset at the beach amongst all the pretty sculptures
This was soon followed by one seriously nasty urinary tract infection which lasted only four days but felt like 40 and stuffed up life infinitely more than a twisted ankle
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Can't quite decide between the Bohemian Gothic and Russian Victorian Romantic tarot decks. The latter was a seriously elusive little beastie and all the more precious for that.
Sure there's some books in there but cannot quite think at the moment
12. Where did most of your money go?
The House goblins usually get 50% of the Izzie after tax income and this year was no exception. But with the arrival of the froggie tenants, now increased it to about 66% and the continuing addiction to weeds and seeds.
13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The Kitchen Cabinet coming to town followed only two weeks later by some serious back stabbing in Canberra and a most amusing election campaign
Oh and the grand Nanowrimo adventure and a certain deck of tarot cards
14. What song will always remind you of 2010?
"Don't Fear the Reaper" Blue Oyster Cult
15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or Sadder - about the same. Just emerged from a phase of serious gloomy doomy misery.
Older or wiser Both - we hope
Thinner or fatter? Fatter. Ask Petunia - that's the only bit of Izzie that she is capable of noticing
Richer or poorer? Richer - not only does the serpent have most of the stuff she needs but also most of what she wants. The rent from the two froggies in the house has made a huge difference even if most of it simply got added to the house repayments. It's meant keeping the evil plastic in the black to the tune of $500 for most of the year and being able to prepay the annual holiday and have emergency funds for the January plumbing disaster
16. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading, gardening and decluttering
17. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Being cranky and neurotic. Being overenthusiastic when it comes to weed hunting - ie buying too many plants and then seeing rather more of the poor things dying than should be the case. Buying and planting anything but a cactus after October is just plain stupid
18. How will you be spending Christmas?
At work until 5.30pm and then at the ma and pa's place. It was a disgusting sticky hot and humid day. The weather ruined it totally
19. Did you fall in love in 2010?
What is love?
20. What was your favorite TV program?
The Gruen Transfer and its baby brother "Gruen Nation" - a feast of political advertising
Occasionally watched "Gardening Australia" but it's just not the same without Peter Cundall
21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Three critters come to mind - two are goblins from the day job and one a resident since August. Lucky that one of the goblins spends most of his time at the bank and visits only two or three times a year. The other was the boss for three months and nearly managed to trash the place in that short period of time. In his opinion, having sufficient staff and paying them were considered optional extras. Did not take long for a downward spiral to start and speed up very rapidly. Lucky he left before the whirlwind became a hurricane
22. What was the best book you read?
The best book - "Fooled by Randomness" Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The most fun book "Angels and Demons" Dan Brown
23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Not listened to much music this year so will cheat and make it 'artistic discovery'
Saw a certain picture at the touring Guggenheim exhibition and spent nearly the whole time drooling over its strange spooky surreal gorgeousness
This Leonora Carrington is truly a reincarnation of Heironymous Bosch with a hint of Marc Chagall and Arthur Boyd
24. What did you want and get?
The Bohemian Gothic and Russian Victorian Romantic tarot decks, also "Vampires of Eternal Night" and Vampyre tarot decks and a big purple nano banner
25. What did you want and not get?
The menopause
26. What was your favorite film of this year?
The Social Network
Also loved "The Loved Ones" a seriously sick Oz flick and the latest Potter movie. But it just does not stand on its own like the last few.
27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Visited the usual lunatic asylum before pottering off to Petunia's place for a piss up.
28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Last year Izzie wrote
"A Boss Voodoo doll that really works when you stick pins in it or invent all sorts of evil torments" and guess what the two froggies gave the serpent for Christmas? !!
Will wait until January to try out the evilness.
As for this year - only time will tell
29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Fashion is an alien concept to this slobbish serpent. But we are rather partial to green hats.
30. What kept you sane?
Sane - Izzie sane? Never ever?
31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Er. Izzie prefers politics - Hollywood for ugly people. Bill Leake and Michael Leunig we guess - two very wicked Oz cartoonists. But Bill Leake got badly injured when chasing parrots and has been missing in action for quite a while now
First prize will have to be for Alan Rickman in his Severus Snape incarnation with an honorable mention to Julian Assange for pissing off just about everyone on a pedestal. B
32. What political issue stirred you the most?
A very nasty, petty and extremely entertaining federal election and the festival of Schadenfreude that is Wikileaks. Not much that we did not already know before but it was amusing to hear the Americans come straight out with it. Never mind this 'micro-manager' nonsense - they called the ex prime minister Kevin Rudd a control freak
And it was rather surprised to see which Labor 'faceless men' were on their pay roll. Pity that Mark Latham wasn't one of them. That would have been too juicy
33. Who did you miss?
Lots of folks at work left this year due to so many management stuff ups and two of them were really beautiful souls.
34. Who was the best new person you met?
Our new boss. She is kosher and one of those rare creatures who believes that promises are made to be kept and that house elves should actually be paid for working extra shifts or attending 'compulsory training'
35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
Blessed are those who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed
Aside from several encounters with Dementors, most of the really awful days all had in common that they'd been the object of much anticipation and expectation. Most of the misery was due to sizzling hot or icky sticky weather which made original plans difficult or plain damned uncomfortable.
On the other hand, some days which carried no expectations at all turned out to be the most wonderful and memorable of all the year.
Also discovered just how true it is that all you really need to be happy is something to be enthusiastic about
And the other big one - never ever underestimate the power of a hairy scary deadline.
36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Must pass on this one maybe will be back later
