2014 was, without a doubt, a complete rollercoaster. All that babble for another day though. I hope you all have a lovely Christmas, if you do celebrate it. If not, then I wish you a great holiday season! I did this year in review for 2013 and 2012, after having done it privately since 2005 or 2006. I think that I will change it up a bit next year, though. The questions are getting a little bit dull and Daniel has ideas of thinking up our own questions.

I guess these questions also don’t sum up my year a hundred percent, because there are so many bits and bobs that can’t be detailed in these questions. I suppose that is why I started summing up the previous year in the early days of new year, which I started in 2012. You can look forward to a bit of that on the first of January I suppose! :)

Here is a photo of the Christmas cards I made this year. It was a bit hard thinking of something unique compared to the paper star I did last year, and the Christmas tree I did the year before. Instead, I went for the blue and the silver, with all the cards having a random arrangement of a big blue star and three small silver ones.

Anyway, onto the questions.

1. What did you do in 2014 that you’d never done before?

Drove to a faraway town, more or less just to see my favourite band. I drove with my own car!

2. Did you meet any of your important goals this year? What are your goals for next year?

Last year, I wrote, “For next year, I just want to find a new job, and be happy.” I did find a new job. It was like a blessing, because despite spending a lot of time applying for jobs, the one I ended up getting was one I was approached about – not one that I applied for. And this year, I made a few big changes in my life that have left me happier.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Not that I remember.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Not that I remember either.

5. What countries did you visit?

I was in Japan for part of January.

6. What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014?

A better sense of organisation and productivity. I take pride in being organised and productive, but I also have a habit of taking on too much work. Not to mention other habits like playing with my hair and overestimating how much I can eat (weird thing, I know). I guess I want to be able to kick all those bad habits and keep on top of things at the same time.

7. What dates from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

There are a few dates, but I think I’ll remember my second Hackathon at work (10th October) most fondly because we did such an awesome job and it was loads of fun. Also, we ended up getting a share of the winnings, which is not as good as winning it all, but still wonderful!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I photographed some of my first festivals, including Groovin The Moo, Listen Out, and The Blurst of Times. Got some really great shots that I’m proud of too.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Breaking the whole website at work… can’t say it’s a huge failure, but I was the least proud about that.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I had a very bad cold for a better part of the summer, but otherwise no.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Probably my car. Incidentally the most expensive, but it’ll last a while to come. I guess I also bought a few clothes and pieces of jewellery that I am really happy with. I love when I buy clothes and they get a lot of wear. This goes for the striped tee I bought from Popbasic, featured in Fashion Friday: The Road Not Taken.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Nicholas’s! I guess it makes me laugh that the song Celebration by Kool & The Gang will always remind me of him (how many times has he linked to the video where a celebration is relevant? Too many.), but that song should always play in the background when he enters a room purely because of all the awesome things he’s done at work to improve our website.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

I don’t think anyone’s behaviour made me depressed but there were a few people whose behaviour I wasn’t too pleased with. It’s all blown over though.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Starbucks, subscription boxes and public transport.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Seeing Hey Geronimo yet again. They came around in December again and I saw them twice! I was pumped. There were a lot of other music-related excitements, including being excited to see Velociraptor again, also knowing that guitarist Joshua would be in Sydney, and we had talked for years but never met. I was also excited to shoot a number of festivals including Groovin The Moo, Listen Out and The Blurst of Times.

I was also super excited to catch up with Lilian especially since I started the Best Friend Lunch series.

16. What song will always remind you of 2014?

The Days by Avicii.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder?

Happier. So, so, so much happier.

b) thinner or fatter?

Thinner.

c) richer or poorer?

Richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Going to gigs. I went to significantly less this year, and I suppose that’s because I wasn’t bothered half the time, or was too tired.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Lying, and buying so much damn cheap jewellery!

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

With my family. I love them so much.

21. Did you fall in love in 2014?

Yes. More in love than I have ever been before.

22. Read any good books?

Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav. When I read it, I could relate to so many of her writings and monologues in that book. I am sure if I read it now, I would be able to relate to it so much more. She writes so beautifully. She writes about the kind of love we all experience but are too afraid to voice. She writes all those words for the times we have trouble putting our feelings into words.

23. What was your favorite TV program?

Unfortunately I didn’t have one, because I didn’t watch very much television at all. I haven’t even caught up on the latest series of Doctor Who.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No. I prefer not to hate people at all, it’s a negative feeling I choose to stay away from.

25. What was the best movie you saw?

I saw Love, Rosie with Lilian, and The Fault in Our Stars and Interstellar with Tristan. All of these movies were wonderful, and very emotional. I honestly don’t think I could pick the best one. All three had their good and bad points, but I think the one that rounds out with the least low points is Love, Rosie. It is based on the book Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern, and oh boy do I love that book!

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I got really into Calvin Harris – not that surprising really. I also discovered the bands Neon Trees, Broken Bells and Metronomy. I loved Architecture in Helsinki’s new album NOW + 4EVA. The colour scheme across the album art and all the promo material, and even their costumes, was so lovely! It matched their singing and dancing style.

27. What did you want and get?

A new record player, Nirvana’s Nevermind on vinyl, a new wallet and new sunglasses.

28. What did you want and not get?

A new MacBook, but I guess I held out for it. I wanted a new ear piercing but soon changed my mind. I also wanted to attend a lot of concerts that I didn’t get the chance to, particularly Arctic Monkeys. I absolutely, totally wish I saw them.

29. What did you do on your birthday?

I went to work, but the design team had bought me a really nice ice cream and crumble cake! They surprised me by saying, “We have a meeting. Now.” I was quite surprised at the short notice, but we went outside and they had a cake for me, awwwww.

In celebrating my birthday though, I had a birthday dinner at The Dip (now closed). I invited an array of friends from work, old work, university, and high school.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Maybe if I didn’t go through with a few things that I shouldn’t have done, and if I didn’t go through a lot of emotional pain, but it was all worth it in the end. I can’t say that it would have made things immeasurably better if that all didn’t exist.

31. Who kept you sane?

I suppose my mother did, and I do thank her for that. ♥️

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

Joshua Byrd. I’ll put my hand up and admit this, I had quite a platonic crush on him. He has such a beautiful soul, and is a very nice guy. We have so much in common – a love for poetry; the same bands; animals; so on and so forth. I finally got to meet him after years of talking to him and interviewing him earlier this year, and I would love to catch up with him someday, one day.

33. What political issue stirred you the most?

I didn’t really pay attention to the news – I don’t really read or watch the news these days. I can’t say anything bothered me a great deal, but a lot of issues related to feminism and racism did pop up. I will always boycott anyone associated with those issues.

34. Who did you miss?

I didn’t see a lot of people from time to time, mostly my friends, and sometimes I didn’t talk to them for a while. I missed a lot of people!

35. Who was the best new person you met?

I met so many lovely new people at work, it’s incredible. I have never gotten along with so many people at once, in the one place. But sorry, my favourite person at work is Nicholas.

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014:

Love. Love makes the world a better place.

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

I guess I could quote the whole song here, but Michelle Branch has been my favourite artist as of late. I have been revisiting her Hotel Paper and The Spirit Room albums, and I just love all her lyrics. I didn’t feel like really scrounging for something that totally summed up my year. Here is one.

You get me when nobody understands
You come and hold my hand, baby
You get me
You look inside my wild mind
Never knowing what you’ll find
Still you want me all the time
Yeah, you do
– You Get Me, Michelle Branch