2005 - that was the year that was

[liv]

I'm doing my own version again: making lists of five (or so) representative things and people that sum up the past year for me.

Books

• Michael Marshall Smith: Only Forward
• Yann Martel: The life of Pi
• Keri Hulme: The bone people
• Samuel R Delaney: Triton
• William Goldman: The Color of Light

Music

• Indigo Girls: Closer to fine. Pretty much the only song in the world about academia:

  I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
  Got my paper and I was free

  So very much in my head and on my playlist through the last agonizing months of writing up!
• Tindersticks: Tiny Tears. Perennial obsession, that one, but for 2005 in particular I was listening to it a lot while I was taking part in a really intense discussion about some issues that are emotionally loaded for me, and listening to that both matched the mood induced by such discussions, and helped me to handle them.
• Renaud: Les aventures de Gérard Lambert. 2005 was a year of Renaud obsession, because I finally bought myself Renaud à Bobino. I already knew about three quarters of the songs, and this one was new to me from the album. I hated it at first but it hugely grew on me. (It's about a thug who shoots le Petit Prince from Saint-Exupéry's book, and is surreal and blackly funny.)
• Bowling for Soup: I don't wanna rock. Love Bowling for Soup, because they do hard rock / neo-grunge that is self-aware to the point of being self-parody, and also highly listenable; this song always puts me in a good mood.
• Venetian Snares. Thuggish Poet introduced me to this group, who do weird electronica including some sampling from classical music, and I'm fascinated. I bought their album, Rossz csillag alatt született towards the end of the year and it's already one of my most listened to albums overall!

LJ posts

• cakmpls: Why is it OK to say "I don't like children"?
• gnimmel: Knowing and unknowing (on how blogging affects the way people relate to eachother)
• zestyping: Foster parenting and sexual orientation (really well reasoned essay on manipulation statistics)
• crschmidt: On being a college dropout
• misia: Faith, virtue and safety

My posts

• VD musings (or, why I love my friends)
• The rape prevention controversy
• Kamtza and bar Kamtza (or, the nature of responsibility)
• Acting out of character by dipping my toe into the waters of feminist discussion
• Setting the world to rights

Significant events

• I cut my hair for the first time in a decade.
• I got a PhD.
• I moved back to England to live with my parents until I find a job.
• I went to north America to see blackherring, darcydodo and rysmiel and a whole bunch of other cool people (no single link; I should tag the relevant posts so I can link to all of them at once).
• I went to Australia to see my uncle and his family, and MK and his family, and failed to get a job.

Stories

• misia: Book pusher
• ixwin: Angsty gay pirates in Shakespearean pentameter
• rho: A metaphor conceived in the shower
• catelin: Fag
• daegaer: Hitchhikers Guide slash involving tea

People I'm really glad I got to know better (not restricting this one to five)

• leora
• oompalumpa
• jpallan
• ewtikins
• deborah_c
• timeplease
• usuakari

People I already loved who continued to be wonderful (or this one; I am so blessed in that the list of people I automatically include is getting long!)

• lethargic_man
• rysmiel
• compilerbitch
• doseybat
• blackherring
• pseudomonas
• darcydodo

New additions to my friends list

• adrian_turtle
• cakmpls
• secutatrix
• tattycat
• linley

Friends from other places who joined LJ

• brenna26
• daneres
• curious_reader

Only three. Not doing so well with corrupting people this year, must try harder!

People not on LJ

• MK
• MF
• LC
• PM
• SC

Places

• Dundee
• Cambridge
• New York (and Boston)
• Berkeley (and San Francisco)
• Montreal
• Melbourne

And I've succeed in my goal of staying single for the whole year. All 365 days of it, yes sir.

Comments

[otterylexa.livejournal.com]

It's true. secutatrix DOES know everybody!

[liv]

She totally does. I met her through taimatsu, who is also remarkably well connected. I liked her at first sight; if she has that effect on lots of people that could explain why she has loads of friends.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

*smile* Thank you, and it pleases me inordinately that three out of the five books you pick are at my instigation; hope you find more to like so among those I have given you that you have not yet got to, and those I will doubtless send you in future.

[liv]

You've been really good for me this year; I could have written almost the whole post about you. As it was I changed the music choices from my original set which was pretty much all the stuff you played to me when I was visiting, because in some not very sensible way it seemed unbalanced to include a lot of music as well as a lot of books I got from you. *Hug*

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

You've been really good for me this year; I could have written almost the whole post about you.

Thank you. *hug* I suppose it's good for my ego that you didn't.

As it was I changed the music choices from my original set which was pretty much all the stuff you played to me when I was visiting, because in some not very sensible way it seemed unbalanced to include a lot of music as well as a lot of books I got from you.

While that is entirely fair enough, I should still be really interested in seeing those original music choices and what you would say about them.

[usuakari.livejournal.com]

Indigo Girls: Closer to fine. Pretty much the only song in the world about academia:

I'm sure there are others out there; I just can't think of any right now. 'Closer to Fine' remains one of my favourites of theirs, although the first 5 or 6 songs off that album are really good.

People I'm really glad I got to know better (not restricting this one to five)

Aw shucks. All I and tooticky did was to meet you in a cafe for dinner. Wait until I do some really amazing... ;)

[liv]

OK, if there are other songs equally suitable for finishing a PhD as Closer to Fine, I'd love to know what they are! An academia themed playlist would amuse me, plus it would be a useful gift for several of my friends who are enduring the final stages of higher degrees right now. And yeah, I do like most of that album.

All I and tooticky did was to meet you in a cafe for dinner
I know, but you met me at a time when I was feeling really down and you cheered me up no end. That's not nothing, and I'm really grateful. And this has been a year of meeting people in person whom I previously knew through LJ, and I'm really happy that I can do that (in spite of the prevailing wisdom that everybody on teh intarweb is an axe murderer or a pervert).

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

I'm really happy that I can do that (in spite of the prevailing wisdom that everybody on teh intarweb is an axe murderer or a pervert).

I'm not an axe-murderer; the other very much depends on where you start from, being one of those designators that seems to be heading in the "awarded in scorn and adopted in pride" direction.

[liv]

You are so right. I really shouldn't say pervert when I mean predator. It's so completely second nature to me that I really do not care about anyone's sexual proclivities as long as their actions are consensual, that I forget to be careful with words. This is not the first time you've called me on this kind of mistake. I shall resolve to be more careful, and not in a new year resolution kind of way, but sincerely. Thank you.

[daneres.livejournal.com]

Not sure I agree that I've been corrupted - just followed, like a sheep, the trend for creating a blog! It's been a worthwhile exercise though, so thank you.
I'm not hassling you, but did you get the email I sent re. meeting up? I'm just concerned I got the address wrong.

[liv]

I know, I don't really take credit for convincing you to join LJ. Not for curious_reader either; she's really a friend of lethargic_man's. But there are several people I've been working on who are proving annoyingly resistant. I'm glad you've found LJ to be worthwhile, anyway.

I did get your email, and a round of serious diary hacking is the next thing I have on my agenda, as I have vague promises to meet up "in the new year" with a bunch of people, and need to turn them into specific arrangements. Thanks for the reminder, but it is in hand even if I'm being slow and inefficient!

[jmtkalcich.livejournal.com]

I just thought I would say hi and that this is a good list. We met a few weeks ago at a birthday celebration involving lots of fruit beer and late nights with even later mornings.