2009: Hil and the Year of Exclamation Points/Expletives

well! it's been 2010 for two weeks now, and the year has kicked off to an incredible start: my birthday was great, band practices have been great, writing for the dig has been great, my apartment's cleaner than usual and i've thoroughly enjoyed traipsing all over town in my new (WARM!) snowboots.  as happy as i am to leave 2009 in the dust, it deserves a look back, even in the form of a silly blog post.  i grew more than i thought possible in 2009.  i went through a lot of nasty firsts (first heartbreak, first layoff, first time i ever ran myself ragged etc) but the year had its high points, too.  found this rundown somewhere and decided i should give it a try.  if anything, it helps put the past 12 months in perspective and i feel more confident than ever that this year will be better than the last.  and the last year, overall, was a damn good year. if anything, the lows not only justified the highs, they made me appreciate 'em so much more.

also, 2010 is already the year in which i got a song written for me for my birthday, i saw my first fellini film (AND LOVED IT) and it's the year in which i'll venture out to texas with a rowdy crew of rockstars and one of my best friends.  that's not a bad start, seeing as we haven't hit the 20th day of the year yet...

X H

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
flew off to another country completely on a whim; got my heart real broke; got laid off; road a bike on city streets; attended a bunch of big name music festivals as a member of the press;  met, interviewed wrote stories on and even befriended some of my favorite musicians of all time (liiiiiiiiike the avett brothers. le sigh.)

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
the only resolution i ever make is to try to eat healthier and work out more.  throughout unemployment i was pretty good about getting to the gym every other day and kept that schedule up for a good five months... and then i found a job and my life turned chaotic and i had no more time for fitness.  as i'm currently a bit... softer than i'd like to be (i'm trying to avoid "fat" but 'cmon) as a result, i'll be making the same resolution.  vanity counts/kills.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
nope. no new babies this year.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
yes.

5. What countries did you visit?
jolly old england.  i had a stopover in reykjavik for a good few hours in between logan and heathrow, so does iceland count?

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
a time machine.  there simply aren't enough hours in the day, period.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory?
january 23rd.  it's the day i got my nose pierced.   i have no idea why i'll remember it other than i distinctly remember writing in my planner "NOSE PIERCIIIIIIIING APT 8PM PINO BROS!!!" on the day of january 23rd.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
making my mom proud throughout a pretty painful, humiliating ordeal.  it may seem juvenile or silly, but i always (try to) do the "what would my mother think?" thing before i let loose on someone who's crossed a line.  i did this time around.  my mom's a resilient person who's been to hell and back so many times that she could draw the map to the route in her sleep, so to aim for her level of calm and class amidst the most tawdry of motives isn't an easy feat.  she says i made her proud; that's probably my biggest achievement.

9. What was your biggest failure?
letting my feelings get the best of me, generally speaking.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
i got a naaaaasty case of food poisoning that put me out of commision for a week.  other than that, my pride took a brusin'. (haha.) that's it.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
my first cashmere sweater ever; a plane ticket to london

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
my friends are the most hilarious, loving, beautiful and fiercely loyal people i've ever met.  their behavior always merits celebration!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
it's really, really not worth getting into. take my word for it.

14. Where did most of your money go?
sadly, to material things.  having a full-time gig and money in the bank is dangerous for a girl with a newfound love for cashmere, hand-tooled leather boots and vintage goods.  my cashmere sweater count for 2009 is now up to 5, thanks for the sale package i just got from j.crew today.  [granted, i got  those sweaters at an average of 50% apiece, but still.]

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
spring and summer in the city.  i wouldn't take anything back about the bike rides, lake house trips, rooftop barbeques and sweat-soaked dance party adventures that took place in the spring and summer months.  and the UNION SQUARE FARMER'S MARKET. OH MY GODDDD.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
2009 will forever be the year of GAGA. [i was hesitant and late to the bandwagon, but i have arrived.]

17. Compared to this time last year, are you
i. happier or sadder? happier.  last year around this time i was in an interesting spot. haaa.
ii. thinner or fatter? softer. i'm SOFTER. (in the belly/butt region.  ok so i'm fatter.)
iii. richer or poorer? richer. in friends, in life, in wisdom, in cash, whatever, i'm richer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
taking care of myself, honestly, be it sleeping more or making sure i've got my own back covered.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
i wish that i'd put WAY less energy into resenting and loathing the existence of people who hurt me, even if they were terrible and even if their transgressions were severe. i absolutely could've handled myself better in those situations and i'm not proud of how i dealt with disappointment, heartbreak and humiliation in that regard.  2010 is the year of turning the other cheek and cutting hurtful people out of my life.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
christmas eve at dad's, christmas eve at mom's.  pretty great at both houses.

22. Did you fall in love in 2009?
noooo no no no.  i started 2009 in a bit of a haze falling for someone who had absolutely no business being in a relationship with a girl like me and it was the first time i had ever really opened myself up to the possibility of being a real girlfriend.  as awful as it sounds, i was waaaay too busy throughout 2009 to even THINK about love, let alone search for it or allow it to find its way into my life in a romantic sense.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
MAD MEN.  Joan Holloway, you're an inspiration to us all.  (i've never wanted to be a redhead so badly before in my life.)

24. What was the best book you read?
crime and punishment. yup.  dostoevsky and i get along famously.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
i'd go out on a limb and say lake street dive.  i love their music so much, and rachael, bridget, mike and mike are great people, to boot.

26. What did you want and get?
a week in london with some of my favorite people on the planet; a year full of fantastic music; the opportunity to work with and chronicle the works of great artists and musicians living in/passing through boston on the regular; absolutely incredible nights dancing and reveling and loving my life with my very, very best friends.

27. What did you want and not get?
looking back on it, i guess i really wanted my relationship with dan to work at the time.  that's changed.  i also really wanted to salvage some friendships that pretty much self-imploded.  that's changed, too.  either way, i'm starting 2010 with the attitude that i've left those relationships in 2009 and that's where they'll stay. i feel infinitely better as a result.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
pirate radio.  good god that movie was brilliant.

29. What did you do on your birthday?
it was pretty chaotic and frenzied and glorious - ten or so of us went to dali for dinner, and then we went back to my apartment, where boyfriend of the moment had made an AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS red velvet cake from scratch.  i blew out my candles surrounded by about 25 of my closest friends, and then we went to the inman bukowski.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
i dont know if it would've made 2009 more satisfying, but i wish that i had invested in a camera and dabbled with photography more.  i take decent pictures and spent a good half of the year hanging out with people snapping photos all the time wherever we were, so i regret not using that as a learning experience to gain some insight as an intro to photography.  with that said, i do plan on buying a new fancy camera before austin, portland and spain this year so that i can document my trips as i've never been able to do before.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
i think i threw out "urban bohemian" once and it stuck, so that.  i also like "that cambridge asshole": too put together/intellectual for allston, too hipster for back bay/beacon hill, a little more formal than your run-of-the-mill davis/union sq attire.

32. What kept you sane?
hours of conversation over dinner, subway rides, movies, albums, packs of cloves and bottles of wine with lianne.  afternoons on the couch with indian food, bad tv, cookie dough rolls and introspectives with marcy.  grounded, perspective-changing chats with maya. and the occasional "we love you, honey" from mom/dad/stepdad/grampa/broskie.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
this question is silly! i have no idea.  not robert pattinson.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii have absolutely no idea.

35. Who did you miss?
everyone i left back in new york.  visiting in october was such a painful/lovely reminder that i had a great life there and that i'm eager to return to it sooner rather than later.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
tall order!  i was so fortunate in the friendships i made in 2009.  that list is miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiles long.  you're all the best.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
don't let the bastards get you down. 

38. Quote a lyric that sums up your year.
"every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."  i could've gone with the whole "one door closes/another opens" thing, but semisonic is so much more badass than julie andrews, let's be honest.

39. What are your plans for 2010?
world domination, one snappy interview at a time.  i also plan on using my kitchenaid mixer more as that sucker is a culinary dream come true for me.