Year-end meme

[nonelvis]

It's the year-end meme, via profrobert.



1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? Yikes, as if I can remember anything that's happened this year after a long day at work? Let's go with "wrote and publicly posted pornography," then.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? See above, re: no brain cells left. Actually, I'm sure I made a new year's resolution ... oh! It was to stop being annoyed by plot holes in Rusty's scripts! And amazingly, I think I've kept it.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Not this year, but I only missed the cutoff by a couple of months -- my niece had her first birthday in early November.

4. Did anyone close to you die? No, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit? Didn't leave the U.S. this year, but next year, it'll be England and possibly Canada.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? A completely steady income.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 2007 was not so memorable that there are specific dates that stick with me. A few events stick out -- Valentine's Day, when I saw something I worked on pimped on Dr. Phil's show; columbina finding what appears to be the perfect job for him, after months of piecemeal work and disillusionment; hearing from a friend I hadn't spoken to in 20 years; writing fiction again.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Professionally, I'd say it was selling the very large job I am busting my ass on right now. Personally, it's being able to write fiction again.

9. What was your biggest failure? Having to rely on columbina to pay a large chunk of my fucking self-employment taxes.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Injured my left trapezius muscle in such a way that if I don't sleep well or overdo it on the computer, it hurts to turn my head to the left. Physical therapy has partially dealt with the problem, but I've slacked off on my exercises, and the pain -- obviously stress-related -- has started to come back. Also, I sliced open one of my fingers and had to get three stitches.

11. What was the best thing you bought? I didn't make many large purchases this year, but a bunch of small ones were very worthwhile: a new region-free DVD player; Warren Ellis' book Crooked Little Vein; Richard Thompson's 1,000 Years of Popular Music; The Fratellis' Costello Music.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My friends, online and off; my husband; and my family, all of whom put up with me on a regular basis.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Like profrobert said: W, Darth Cheney, and the rest of those neo-con assholes in office.

14. Where did most of your money go? See #9.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Buying tickets to see David Tennant on stage next year!

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? "Flathead," the Fratellis. The instant I heard it on that iPod ad I knew I had to have it. I listened to this album constantly.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? About the same on all counts.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Selling more business and spending more time slacking off. You can see the problem here, I trust.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Sitting on my butt angsting about how much I hate selling rather than actually trying to sell more business.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? In the traditional manner of my people: Chinese food and a movie.

21. What was your favorite TV program? I am not even going to bother filling this one in, because if you have spent any time at all reading my LJ, it should be painfully obvious. (And if not, consider the usericon to be a ginormous hint.)

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I try not to hate anyone, but always fail. At least I don't think I hate anyone new.

23. What was the best book you read? Tie between Crooked Little Vein and When Sisterhood Was in Flower, by Florence King. ms_hooligan gave me a copy of the latter, and I laughed my ass off all the way through.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery? Apparently I hate Abba and disco less than I thought, because one of the other albums I couldn't stop playing was the Scissor Sisters' Ta-Dah.

25. What did you want and get? See #15.

26. What did you want and not get? I desperately wanted to go to Japan this year for Worldcon, but we just couldn't swing it financially.

27. What was your favorite film of this year? Man, we hardly saw anything this year. Looking back at Wikipedia's list of 2007 releases, I'd have to go with Zodiac. I am such a sucker for psychologically oriented (i.e., not horror blood-fest) serial killer stories.

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I don't remember if I did anything on my 37th birthday. Gimme a break, it was almost a year ago!

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Having had enough money to pay my goddamned taxes on my own. (You may notice a theme here.)

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? More boot-cut jeans. Slightly nicer work clothes.

31. What kept you sane? Dedicated leisure time, when I could remind myself to slack.

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? See #21, or heck, just see the usericon.

33. What political issue stirred you the most? I couldn't put it better than profrobert: "the international disgrace and embarrassment that W is."

34. Who did you miss? My in-laws. They are great people, and we aren't going to be able to go to Louisiana for the holidays.

35. Who was the best new person you met? I didn't make any new and close friends in person this year (yes, I am a Myers-Briggs "I," why do you ask?), but I have met so many great people online -- and who knows, maybe someday we'll meet in person. Here's to you, my flist.

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. Not to work on a thought-provoking meme when I have very little brain left? Oh, all right, how about: the fucking taxes will always be there to bite me in the ass, so I really have to save and/or sell to make sure I can pay my way.

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. Oh, I suppose we can go with this, in case I haven't bitched about it enough: "Should five per cent appear too small/Be thankful I don't take it all." -- The Beatles, "Tax Man."

Comments

[kalleah.livejournal.com]

We were unpleasantly surprised by a tax bill a few years ago. It rankles, doesn't it? Meh.

[nonelvis]

Self-employment taxes are fucking evil. There's no other way to put it.

[iainpj.livejournal.com]

oh! It was to stop being annoyed by plot holes in Rusty's scripts! And amazingly, I think I've kept it.

You lie! You lie like a lying thing! I'm pretty sure there's comment-thread evidence to the contrary out there, and I know there's email evidence! (Yes, I know I probably started it much more than half the time. But still.)

[nonelvis]

"The Runaway Bride," which I know I bitched about this year, gets a pass because it aired before the beginning of the year, and I was annoyed about the plot holes then, before the resolution went into effect. HA!

"Gridlock" is the only Rusty episode this season I outright hated, and that was because it was incredibly boring, not because of plot holes.

You might have me on LOTTL, but even there my objections to it are not that there are logical flaws in the plot, but rather that the plot resolution is so spectacularly lazy and dumb that I just want to smack Rusty upside the head.

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

You know how I know we're middle aged? Our biggest bitch is about taxes, followed by body aches and pains.

Just to bitch some more: You know, I sold my old place for about $20k more than the house cost. Should be a push, right? Well no, because of capital gains taxes, EVERY F****** CENT I MADE THIS YEAR IS GOING TO THE GOVERNMENT (and then some). At least Albany mostly does worthwhile stuff with it; it galls me that the rest of it is going to fund W's crusade.

[nonelvis]

You know how I know we're middle aged? Our biggest bitch is about taxes, followed by body aches and pains.

WE ARE ANCIENT AND DECREPIT :-(

I have never had to pay capital gains, but I know people who have, and it's never pretty. I wouldn't object so much to the self-employment taxes if I thought being taxed twice was at all fair, but that, along with the thought that my tax dollars are going towards that mindbogglingly stupid war, just makes me furious.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

In the olden days, before they incorporated the Nutjob Wing, this was what historically led people to become conservatives as they aged.

[nonelvis]

Oddly, bitching about taxes hasn't made me more conservative, because I still have no problem paying taxes -- even higher taxes -- if it will get more and better services. I am just dumbfounded by the way the IRS manages to squeeze money out of people who don't have it. $20k is hardly any profit on profrobert's old place; isn't the point of capital gains to tax much bigger profits? And meanwhile, you know that large corporations and wealthy Republicans are managing to hide every last cent of their income while begging for more government subsidies (e.g., corporate tax credits as blackmail payments for not moving a major office; the attempted repeal of the estate tax).

If anything, this is turning me into one of those flat-tax or progressive-tax weirdos, not a conservative. But I'll give you advance warning before I decide to hole up in the basement with gold bullion and a shotgun.

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

Just to be clear, I didn't make a $20k profit on the sale of my apartments; that was the difference between their sale price and my puchase price for the house. The reason I'm paying every cent I earned this year is that I made a 250% gain over the purchase prices for the apartments, and I blew through the federal rollover deduction (and the state doesn't even have one). Once upon a time, you could rollover your gains on your primary residence (I'd still pay cap gains on my rental unit, but even then it's reduce my tax bill by 70%). Another way of looking at it is that I could do *everything* major I want to do to the house (add roof deck, new facade, renovate garage to put in hottub) if I weren't shelling out to the government instead.

I still support a progressive income tax, but where the hell are W and his cronies about repealing the capital gains tax? The *one* thing that helps rich, old, white guys that could also help me, that's what they don't do. (Clearly I'm not rich enough or old enough, and in W's mind, probably not even white enough.) And I also hope they succeed in repealing the estate tax, though I doubt that'll happen now.

[nonelvis]

Clearly I'm not rich enough or old enough, and in W's mind, probably not even white enough.

Eh, probably it's that you're not Christian enough. That's what you get for not believing in Jesus, you heathen.