2014

I haven't done one of these things in a long time.

Where did you begin 2014?
At home. If I remember correctly, I was sick with a nasty cold and even missed a day of work.  

Where were you working?
Teachin' the old English at Antalya International University.   

Where did you go on vacation?
Vacations were a delightful treat last year, mostly cause Antalya's surrounded by amazing places. Within Turkey, I went to just about all of the cool little cities around Antalya, Kas, Petara, Istanbul, Kayseri, Cappadocia, Ankara, and Eskisehir. Outside of Turkey, I got to go to Cyprus, Greece (for a day), Croatia, Kosovo, and Bosnia. And, of course, I got to go home for the summer and stayed in Reno most of the time, but also went to Flagstaff to reconnect with grad school buddies and then to New Jersey for an internship with ETS. Man, it's good to go places, but I think I'm traveled out for a while.  

Did you move anywhere?
I was in Antalya for all of 2014, but I lived in three different apartments during that time (all within the last three months). Fun.

What sporting events did you attend?
Ummm...lemme think....  

Weddings?
I guess my wedding attending days are over.  

What concerts/shows did you go to?
I went to a few symphonies here in Antalya and a couple random bar shows here and there that don't really stick out. I miss going to good shows. Also saw a couple of bizarre plays here - both Shakespeare. One was Italian opera. One was in Turkish with platform shoes. 

Where do you live now?
A 5 minute walk from the Mediterranean sea.  

What's the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2014?
At the very tail end of 2014, I started to enjoy wine more than beer. Inconceivable. 

What has/have been your favorite moment(s)?
I've felt much more aware of nature this past year. I love my times with friends and family, but I think my favorite moments have been probably pretty savant-esque stares at the leaves in a tree, watching how the sunlight hits them, or savoring a moment with zero human made sound, or just letting the breeze do what it wants to my hair.    

What's something you learned about yourself? 

My happiness and self confidence DO depend, at least a little bit, on the people around me. 

I'm innately uncomfortable with talking about and criticizing people. I've pretty much always been, but my discomfort with it feels like it has sharpened this year. 

I'd rather hang out with a good person who smells bad than a mean person who smells nice.

My memory's gotten real weird and I don't remember as well as I used to, so I like talking about information and facts even less than I did in the past. 

I don't know very much about anything, and I never will, and I'm (mostly) okay with that.   

Any new additions to your family?
No additions, only subtractions. Other than plants. I've got a bunch of plants now.

What was your biggest challenge of 2014? 
Probably choosing to stay in Turkey a second year. It was a really hard decision.

Any regrets?
Nah. Sure. I don't know. Not knowing or trusting myself yet, at this ripe old age.

Change your hairstyle? 
It's pretty much continually going from near-pixie cut to chin length and back again.

Start a new hobby?
I started making ice cream recently. That's been fun and time consuming and expensive. But delicious. I've made coffee, mint chocolate chip, and beet ice cream so far. I've also kind of started weight lifting? Or incorporating weights into working out. Which feels dumb to type, but I love it. I'm definitely increasingly concerned about my own health, especially knowing that I've got a little bit of scoliosis and other back problems...weight lifting has really helped relieve the pain. So I guess it's not so dumb.  

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

On June 17th, I gave my mom a hug for the first time in 10 months. On July 1st, we had to put the Dusty Dude down after 14 years with him. It was so sad, but so peaceful. In mid March one of my colleagues and good friends here pretty much went crazy and was fired from the school and his brother had to fly here from the US to bring him back home. He was one of a kind - riding his skateboard around the university, rarely sitting down on the school shuttle, communicating through anything but English, knowing a dozen other languages, distributing little bits of plastic to people as though they - the plastic and the person - were treasured gold. That all makes him sound weird in a bad way, but he wasn't. He was a good teacher and a good friend and a good person, just weird. And, in the end, going through a harder time than anyone here realized. The day after he went crazy and was fired and knew he had to go back to the US, we all went to work as usual, except for him. He didn't get on the shuttle in the morning. I remember that moment really clearly. The shuttle pulling up to his stop, the other teacher getting on, but not him. He'd never get on the shuttle again. When I got to work, I locked myself in a bathroom stall and cried and cried and cried. I don't know what I was crying about, but I couldn't stop. Luckily I didn't teach until the afternoon. Also the day in April that Seda, one of my students, got hit by a car. She has since died. The hard stuff sticks out so much more than the happy stuff. Sadly.     

What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
Probably the internship with ETS...I feel proud of that for some reason. It made me feel like I could do something more productive with my writing some day. And also having and kind of enjoying a role at work that I never thought I'd want - being a level coordinator.

Did you suffer illness or injury? 
Dude, I don't know what is up with my sinuses here, but yuck. My hearing sucks more and more every day. And my jaw pops a lot. And my back aches. What's that? What's that, you say? You say today is Saturday? Goodbye, then, I'm going out to play.  

What was the best thing you bought?  
All of my plane tickets, even the ones that got messed up, rocked. I also am very pleased with the coffee grinder I bought...I now grind my own coffee and will probably never go back to that dreary life I led before.

Where did most of your money go?
Grad school loans, traveling, rent in New Jersey, FOOD

What do you wish you'd done more of?
Probably communicate more with the people who've stuck with me for a few years. And the people around me now.

What do you wish you'd done less of?
Sitting on a bus or in a taxi or waiting for a bus or for a taxi.

Books you read in 2014:
I'm not much of a reader anymore, I guess, but a few of my favorites were...A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor (it's been hard to read since I read this book because it was SOOOOOO darn good), The Martian by Andy Weir, No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, Tenth of December by George Saunders, and The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon.

What was your favorite TV program?
Fitnessblender.com. Check it out. They're great.

What music will you remember 2014 by?
I listened to this song by Rene Aubry probably a hundred times. On the shuttle, making dinner, hanging my laundry, doing dishes, right now. I love it.
The piano version of Where Is My Mind cause I can play it now and spent a good deal of time learning it and love it kinda dearly.
Korobeiniki (the Russian folk song that the Tetris theme song is based on), too, for the same reason.
Different Pulses by Asaf Avidan cause it's groovy and he sounds like a sultry lady.    

What did you do on your birthday?
I had friends over for a pancake brunch. It was the first day of our semester break, so it felt pretty great.

Who did you miss?
My mom and sister and dad and little brothers. Liz summed up my feelings about friends quite nicely - I have lived all over and have good friends speckled across the world.  While I do not regret my experiences, I often miss having a closer knit group of friends.

Who was the best new person you met?
Every person I met is the best in some way. That probably sounds like a lame cop out, but I hate "valueizing" people. That's something else I think I learned about myself - I believe everyone is worth knowing and I don't like prioritizing people. But, at the same time, that's probably how good friendships are formed...when you start seeing more value (is that the right word? enjoyment? kinship? fun? compassion?) in one person than in others and start spending more time with them. Or I don't know. You people are complicated and I understand nothing.

Favorite quote/song lyric:

That Asaf Avidan quote I put on here a few posts back sticks out a lot. Life is hard and emotional and anyone who gets to this point without experiencing some pain is blessed/fortunate/lucky, regardless of what you believe. 

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014.
The weather forecast is sometimes correct. Wear boots when in doubt.  

GOAL FOR NEXT YEAR:
Learn more Turkish, stay healthy, keep in better touch with friends back home, be more open to friends here, be kinder to myself on the days that I hate me, savor the days that I don't.