I don't watch enough films to do a film round-up so...

...here's a meme that I've done pretty much every year on one of my other blogs for the last five years or so.

Meme of 2008

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Spontaneously decide to mission it down to London for a gig at the Albert Hall the day before said gig. Leave the gig just in time to get the last train back to Birmingham at 1am-ish in the morning and then go to work the following day. About 36hours into a new relationship with my travelling comapnion.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't. But I have made some this year. I'm doing pretty well so far, but we're less than two weeks in.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My great aunt Haidee. She's been in a home for several years and I hadn't seen her since my early teens. She'd had a stroke and then dementia in recent years and probably didn't remember any of us too well. I was terrified of her when I was small, but grew to understand her sense of humour more when I was a bit older. She was headmistress of girls' boarding school in Kenya for 30 years or so and taught maths. A truly inspirational woman. Mum did her funeral.

5. What countries did you visit?
Thailand and France.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Job security. More time for creative writing. More self-belief. I'm working on the second two, not a lot I can do about the first one.

7. What date(s) from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
12th April. I persuaded Ed to go out with me.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Probably interviewing Colin Dexter, creator of Inspector Morse. That, and blagging a free hot air balloon ride for me and a photographer.

9. What was your biggest failure?
RInging up a woman who had committed a terrible crime more than 50 years ago, and atoned for it, to see if she would be willing to talk to us about it. I had a pretty good idea what she would say and I shouldn't have disturbed her, even if a senior colleague told me to.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Some little sod bent my knee entirely the wrong way in judo. And I had lots of colds, as usual.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My iMac. So pretty. It's my precioussss.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My sister's. She's had a tough time, boywise, but she hasn't let it stop her and I'm really proud of her. Also, well done the American public, for electing Obama.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Politicians mainly, but that's par for the course.

14. Where did most of your money go?
On food probably and rent.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to see Joan Armatrading with Ed, going up in a balloon, going home for Christmas.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Grace Kelly - Mika, I know it's not recent, but I had it pretty much on repeat while on holiday in France. It reduces me to a giggling, bouncing ball of joy each time I hear it.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
I. Sadder or happier? Happier. Things are a whole lot better than they were 12 months ago.
II. Thinner or fatter? Fatter. But not lots. And once it is warmer and I don't have a sodding cold, more exercise will happen..
III. Richer or poorer? About the same.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing for myself. That's one of my resolutions this year

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Work! Hehe.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Spent it with my family of four, muchos fun :)

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Yup. Though I'm not really sure what love is anymore.

23. How many one-night stands?
I don't really do one-night stands. So none.

24. What was your favourite TV program?
Meh. Don't really watch TV anymore. Out of sequence, Patrick introduced me to Screenwipe and The West Wing, both of which are awesome on a stick. I watched Merlin for lack of anything better to do, but acknowledge that it really was quite shite.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.

26. What was the best book you read?
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. At times I had to stop reading, it was so physically painful to carry on.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Didn't listen to much new stuff this year. Things that were new didn't impinge greatly. Jens Lekman (the one song I posted on here is the only one I know) and The Knife's original version of Heartbeats (covered for the Sony Bravia advert with the bouncing balls) were both awesome but I never got beyond the one song. Newton Faulkner was a pretty good find.

28. What did you want and get?
Mean Girls on DVD. Win. I'm sure there were other things, but I've forgotten what they were.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
Probably Mamma Mia! actually, though I don't remember seeing many films this year, I think I saw The Other Boleyn Girl (not bad, but raised a lot of feminist ire), Hellboy II (good, but the climax of the film was completely undermined by another crucial aspect of the plot, which was a bit dumb really), Iron Man (boring shit), The Dark Knight (too long and disjointed), but wait... changed my mind, Kung Fu Panda! Mamma Mia! is number 2 though.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 24. And I had a barbecue in my back garden with friends. Which is exactly what I did last year. Freaky-deaky.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Doing more creative/freelance work.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Young professional, with hints of rock chick/tomboy. When at home, jeans and a sweater. I've moved out of leather jackets into chunky knit fabrics for the top layer. This is possibly a good thing and leads to fewer accusations that I'm a secret leather fetishist.

34. What kept you sane?
The fact that I'd rebuilt my psyche from the bottom up and was focused on pleasing myself rather than other people.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
He's a hardy perennial, but probably David Bowie, but only in a low-key background general adoration kind of way. I've never really done celebrity crushes.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Anything to do with women's rights, generally.

37. Who did you miss?
Ed, when I wasn't with him.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Tom. Who I actually knew sort of before, because he was a couple of years ahead of me at uni, but I'd never really spoken to him. But he works at the same engineering firm as my boyfriend and comes out with us a fair bit.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Positive thinking does work. But you have to do an awful lot of it. Wanting to be over someone doesn't make it happen faster.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"Some mirrors have been broken,
and some things pull you back,
but I see something growing up from the cracks" - Cracks, by Thea Gilmore