The New Year Questionnaire – What Was Up in 2023

Here it is! Been working on the New Year Questionnaire since New Year’s, predictably. It’s still January (barely) and not yet Lunar New Year, so it’s still “timely”.

1. What did you do in 2023 that you’d never done before?

D: Attended the Annual General Meeting of the provincial Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario in Toronto.

S: Got my bloodwork redone (after that diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes several years ago – I’ve been putting off this appointment) and found that I’ve lowered my A1C from 14 to 6.3 by diet alone. Almost normal numbers!

E: Got my braces off; donated my hair (well over 30 cm); started high school; attended my first big concert (NF at the Scotiabank Arena).

A: Walked around on a roof to help clean the dining hall skylights at Family Camp; learned to kayak; joined the Young Apprentices with my dance company; began my last year of elementary school.

F, L: Went on a diet. That is, our people put us on one, and we had no choice. Since the summer, one of us is almost at goal weight and much more energetic… and the other one of us gained weight. Wha?

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions?

D: I am not yet able to do classic pushups, but I have gone from wall pushups to knee pushups, and can do two sets of 14 at this point. It doesn’t sound like much, but it feels like a lot! And I did go to bed earlier many times… but not all the time. (Depends on the book I’m reading, of course.)

S: There were many moments of contentment… Not being hard on myself is trickier.

E: No, I didn’t make music, but participated in music performance, very subtly. (This is what E says. I disagree. For the record, it should be remembered that E appealed to Barry Leitch, the Horizon Chase composer that he chatted with last year online, and Barry agreed to mentor E in his mission to write a piece of music for a “Passion Project” for school. E did create something in GarageBand, with which he was totally unsatisfied and which he has shunned since then. But which we his parents thought was cool. Also, I think he undersells his role as a percussionist in music class/band at school.)

A: Yes, I made a routine spending time with Shya most evenings. I also spent lots of time outside and sometimes I went to sleep better.

3. What is your resolution this year?

D: I’m renewing my determination to go to bed earlier. This first week back at school, I did pretty well and it was well worth it to turn my light off even 15 minutes sooner.

S: To knock off my doctor’s socks with my A1C at my next appointment in May.

E: For real this time, I swear, the same as last year. Making music!

A: Be better. (She would not be more specific than this. But she has already been much better – with reminders – about keeping her room tidy.)

4. Did anyone important to you die?

Our family said goodbye this year to Shya, our last surviving pet rat, and our sweet old-lady cat Ramona, who was past her 19th birthday. We really miss both of them. Within my Quaker community we lost treasured members Don Woodside and Reuven Kitai. Don especially felt like family, only a couple of years older than my own dad, and I still haven’t got used to him being gone. Our dance community lost a very dear teacher/choreographer/friend, Jackie Pullar, far too soon.

We are also saddened by the deaths of so many artists and bright lights in the world, including Gordon Lightfoot, Harry Belafonte, Tina Turner, Andre Braugher, Matthew Perry, Raquel Welch, Tom Wilkinson, Tommy Smothers, Shane McGowan, Suzanne Somers, Piper Laurie, Michael Gambon, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Barker, Robbie Robertson, Paul Rubens, Sinead O’Connor, Tony Bennett, Alan Arkin, Julian Sands, Cormac McCarthy, Tim and Robbie Bachman, Ian Falconer, Wayne Shorter, Gordon Pinsent, Burt Bacharach, David Crosby, Jeff Beck, and Ian Tyson. And I need to make special mention of Sue (“The Sex Lady”) Johanson, who had an enormously positive impact on her young radio listeners in the 90s with her matter-of-fact, empathetic, no-shame approach to every question.

5. What was your biggest improvement or achievement of the year?

D: Pulling together with my dance sisters to produce “Dynamic Equilibrium”, our first professional Mosaic show since before Covid, to celebrate Invoketress’s 20-year anniversary! (I performed in seven pieces.)

S: See #1.

E: My conspiracy theory video! (I hope to share this at some point. It was assigned and assessed by E’s temporary English teacher in Grade 8. Said teacher was so impressed that months later, when I saw him at my school and mentioned that he’d taught my son English, he remembered E’s name and was still talking about how professional his video was and how he’d made his whole family watch it.) Creating my Life movie (taking 8 episodes of a YouTube Minecraft series and editing it into a 2.5 hr feature), graduating/surviving Grade 8 (on the honour roll!), beating the Cataclysm Geometry Dash level (super-hard/“Extreme Demon”), getting to a new personal best on the Speed Cube at 21 seconds.

A: Improvements in my artistic ability (particularly drawing), basketball skills, and skating ability.

6. What has been a struggle or adjustment this year?

D, S: The feeling that all progress the human species manages to make is destined to be balanced by extra-special idiocy on the other end of the spectrum.

E: High school is a pretty big adjustment. And achieving the Cataclysm level was a struggle.

A: Having to miss the basketball tournament – see #7 below.

7. Did you suffer illness or injury?

D, S: Nothing serious, thank heaven.

E: Put a plumbing ring (faucet piece) on my finger (Di can vouch that it didn’t seem like a weird thing to do – it went on easily and looked legit cool) and ended up having to get it cut off in the ER because it would not come off.

A: Broke my wrist falling on the ice outside last February and had to bow out of the basketball team and tournament (for which she had been practising with admirable dedication).

8. What did you get really excited about?

D: Stratford Festival! I saw more plays in one season than I ever have (King Lear – Paul Gross made me cry at the end – Much Ado About Nothing, Women of the Fur Trade, and Rent) and they were ALL so good. Expensive – inflation really caught up with us at the end of the summer – but gosh. There’s nothing like live theatre.

S: I also enjoyed 3/4 of the aforementioned live theatre productions, which were thrilling.

E: Going to Teen Camp with my friends, enjoying the first Geometry Dash update in seven years.

A: Basketball in general, Christmas as always, New Year’s Eve sleepover with my friends!

F, L: Cat tree!

9. What brought contentment?

D: Hugs and snuggles with family. Cats. Good conversations with friends and colleagues. Feeding the chickadees in early spring. Spending several days on the Muskoka river with Skye and our kids.

 

S:  Seeing our children mature into the lovely young people they are.

E: Seeing David Francey perform, taking an epic Hamilton lakeshore bike ride with Emi.

A: Cats, my cozy bed, my favourite books.

All: A gloriously beautiful fall equinox weekend in Tobermory with Di’s family. It was the perfect end to summer.

10. What events from 2023 will remain etched upon your memory, and why:

D, S: The Israel-Hamas war; Doug Ford getting outed as an actual corrupt Greedybags while selling off the Greenbelt as though no one would ever know.

E: Orientation day, and the first day of Grade 9.

A: My 11th birthday party, visiting the Singing Sands in Tobermory.

11. What political issue stirred you the most?

D, S: See #10 above.

E: The Spaceuk hacking scandal.

A: Unfairly not getting on the volleyball team.

12. What do you regret or wish you’d done less of?

D: Actually… I could say I regret my more unproductive activities, but I’m realizing that when I go into unproductive mode, it’s for a reason. (Sometimes it even enables me to be extra-productive afterwards.) Taking a break is valid and sensible. So I won’t say I’ve failed at the things I haven’t finished… And therefore I don’t have real regrets while I’m still working on stuff, because I’m doing the best I can. For the most part. Ya know.

S: I’m always trying to cut back on Reddit… and it always sucks me back in sooner or later.

E: I regret making that group chat that ended up in disaster. Also, ruining my favourite song by making a Geometry Dash level of it… It will never be the same again.

A: Not diving underwater right away to be the first official participant of the Polar Bear swim at Tween Camp.

13. What decision are you glad you made? 

D: Attending the union AGM. It was such a cool experience – so much learning and somehow really fun, even with the many many hours of meetings. And a fascinating look at social dynamics of a giant group of educators.

S: That cat tree I purchased was a really good investment.

E: Becoming friends with Parker.

A: I’m glad I tried out for teams. 

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

D: Okay, all that #13 stuff being said… I do wish I could figure out how to blog more consistently. As usual. And although it’s kind of 2022 and kind of 2023, I wish I could have participated in ALL the songs on the Uke Heads album (rather than 6/10). More on that later!

S: The usual…

E: (verbatim) Partying. As in, making a big whoop, dancin’ with balloons. We don’t have any drugs or alcohol, so. We have to resort to balloons. And more heartfelt interactions with my deepest friendships.

A: I wish I had done more cooking and baking.

15. What song will always remind you of 2023?

D: If I Were a Fish by Corook, Pink by Lizzo, and this little song from Zelda (Breath of the Wild), which I’m slightly obsessed with. 

S: Take Five by Dave Brubeck.

E: Creekflow by Vylet Pony, HOPE by NF, Says by Nils Frahm.

A: If I Were a Fish by Corook, Anti-hero by Taylor Swift. (I’m officially a Swiftie now.)

16. What was your favourite TV show?

D, S: Bad Sisters, Only Murders in the Building, Bob’s Burgers.

E: Bob’s Burgers. I mostly only watch TV with my family.

A: Bob’s Burgers, Heartstopper.

*The kids and I also watched “High School Musical – The Musical – The Series” together and it was silly fun. Even E watched, and I think enjoyed it in spite of himself. He called it “Pish-Posh”, and soon we all called it that.

17. What was the best book you read?

D: (This question never gets any easier. Therefore, I fudge the boundary with categories.) For fiction, Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. For memoir, Daring to Drive by Manal Al-Sharif. For non-fiction, Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. For short stories, White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link.

S: Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell, Bewilderment by Richard Powers.

E: The Maze Runner (re-read) by James Dashner, Endling series by Katherine Applegate.

A: Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman, Odder by Katherine Applegate.

18. What was your favourite film you saw this year?

D: 25th Anniversary Titanic – still a pretty mind-blowing movie. Also Barbie.

S: Dune, Emily the Criminal.

E: Fractured.

A: Avatar: The Way of Water, Nimona, Barbie, Taylor Swift’s Reputation Tour.

19. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

D: 45, spring hike followed by Greek Garden dinner with the whole fam on the day, plus a beautiful Mother’s Day weekend away with Skye and Heather (friends since first year at WLU!).

S: Thai takeout and family movie (The Martian) on the day, then homemade birthday brunch on the weekend – with some artisanal waffles.

E: Sleepover with my friends – snacks and gaming and not much sleep!

A: Dinner at the Mandarin with grandparents, games (Snake Oil) with aunts/uncles, sleepover with friends, and… a second ear piercing (per ear)! [Yikes.]

20. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2023:

D: Life is easier for everyone when you can replace judgement with curiosity.

S: Gradual improvement is still improvement.

E: Never trust people whose names start with R.

A: “We used to be close, but people can go from people you know to people you don’t. And what hurts the most is people can go from people you know to people you don’t.” [Courtesy of Selena Gomez.]

F, L: Self-care is pretty much all that matters.

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

“All we are saying is give peace a chance.”