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Wrap it all up, put a bow on it |
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So here we are again- time for a New Years wrap up of the year. I'm a little more onto it this year, it's only January 4th so I'm only slightly late to the party. 2023 was a pretty solid year, some progress made career-wise, Sabrina growing up and becoming cleverer and sassier every day, and getting to catch up with Nick and meet his partner Aimee in August when they visited from London, which was really cool.
1. What did you do in 2023 that you'd never done before? I graduated with a Masters degree. I toilet trained a small child. Other exciting things like that.
2. Did you keep your New Years' Resolutions, and will you make more for next year? For the last few years my goals have been fairly similar: healthier lifestyle and losing weight, and also better financial stability. Once again, not really made any huge improvements in these areas, although lately I have been exercising more and trying to eat less fast food at the very least.
3 . Did anyone close to you give birth? Luke and his partner Steph had a baby daughter called Skye. Don't think anyone else I know had any babies in 2023.
4. Did anyone close to you die? No...although I was quite sad when I heard about the actor Matthew Perry dying.
5. What countries did you visit? Once again we didn't travel anywhere. For starters, Sabrina is 4 now, but that's still quite a bit young for any long trips, especially as she has become prone to carsickness recently (much like me when I was a kid). But also, money is still tight- I've only been working part-time this year because of needing to be with Sabrina whenever she's not at Kindy, and Tai doesn't earn much with his government administration role, and prices for everything keep increasing a lot with inflation. But one day, hopefully we can do some more travel.
6. What would you like to have in 2024 that you lacked in 2023? Same as ever- more savings, less debt. More energy, less excess weight. The usual story for me.
7. What date from 2023 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? There are a few that come to mind: - The day I was diagnosed with epilepsy. That may sound like a bad thing, but actually it was a huge relief to have a proper diagnosis for symptoms I had been struggling with for years, and finally be on medication that works. -Sabrina's birthday. She turned 4, and had a dinosaur/unicorn cake. As well as family, her friends Bonnie and Lily from Kindy came over with their parents, so it was a busy and fun day. -Graduation day. Tai and Sabrina came to watch my graduation ceremony, then we got Taco Bell for lunch (overpriced and disappointing, by the way), and then briefly popped into my work to show off my grad gear before heading home.
8.What was your biggest achievement of the year? Well the graduation I suppose. Starting my job, my first job as an Accountant, which is great because I get to work in an office, wear my own clothes instead of work uniforms, and get to sit and drink coffee all day. It's awesome. Also I suppose getting a doctor to refer me for testing for epilepsy so I could actually get a satisfactory diagnosis was an achievement in itself.
9. What was your biggest failure? Not a failure as such. But there was drama earlier this year, involving the daycare Sabrina used to go to up until earlier in 2023. They changed ownership, and one of the teachers was given the job of managing the daycare. Soon after, I was notified by the daycare that I had been underpaying fees for Sabrina, and owed the daycare about $2000. I of course was stunned, and rightly annoyed, because the daycare should have been clearer about the fees upfront, sent actual invoices rather than just relying on me knowing and making payments, and informed me much earlier if I was paying the wrong amount.
Nevertheless, I felt so annoyed at myself for not asking for a written confirmation of the fees earlier, when Sabrina first started there, or later when I had increased her hours. So although it wasn't my fault as such, I felt so silly for not doing more.
Anyway, I argued the back-payment, they refused to write it off, or accept repayments in small, manageable amounts, so they pulled Sabrina out of the daycare. By amazing coincidence, about half an hour after getting the message Sabrina had to leave, I got a call from the Kindergarten around the corner from our house, where Sabrina had been on the waiting list for over a year. They said a spot had opened up, and Sabrina could start the following week. So she did, and it's been much better at Kindy. Fees are way, way cheaper because unlike daycares, kindergartens are government-owned. Plus I get invoices emailed to me regularly so I know exactly how much to pay.
Sabrina was sad to leave her friends at daycare, but she has made new friends at Kindy and loves it there. Unfortunately it wasn't the end of the daycare drama though, as they referred the debt to a collection agency, and I had to negotiate a repayment schedule with them- but at least I was able to get it down to a manageable amount.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I caught a couple of colds, but probably less sickness than other years. The big thing was the epilepsy.
So, a few years ago there was a strange incident, where I was on a walk by the beach in Mana, Porirua. I smelled a strange, chemical-like smell, and then felt dizzy and nauseous. I then felt exhausted and nauseous for the next day or two. I went to the hospital, who couldn't figure it out, and wrote that it was probably just a passing virus.
The episodes kept continuing on and off for the last few years, with a mixture of symptoms: weird smells, nausea, fatigue, dizziness, confusion and short-term memory loss, tingly weak limbs, mishearing people talking as gibberish, and sudden rushes of random emotion. I saw another doctor, who said they were migraine aura symptoms, so I accepted that, and tried to keep myself better hydrated, because I knew that in the past dehydration had caused me migraine headaches.
But the episodes continued, and became more and more frequent in late 2022 and early 2023. I had googled my symptoms many, many times over the years and not found anything conclusive, but one day several months ago, a google search popped up with the UK epilepsy website. I read it, and there was a section about epileptic focal seizures- seizures localised in the temporal lobe of the brain. The symptoms it noted for these types of seizures fit my experiences perfectly.
So I went to a GP once more, and told them this information. The GP took me seriously, referred me to a specialist at Wellington Hospital, and after a couple of appointments, and EEG, ECG and MRI tests, it was confirmed I had focal epilepsy, caused by a cavernoma in my temporal lobe. A cavernoma is a brain lesion, like a lump in the brain, but it's not harmful or cancerous or anything- it just interferes with brain function and causes these seizures. So they put me on medication, that I will probably have to take every day for the rest of my life- but so far it's working extremely well, so it's been a huge relief these last couple of months.
11. What was the best thing you bought? I had a few big purchases this last year, despite money being tight. I got a new phone, because the old one was slow and prone to crashing with some apps. I got some nice new shoes for both me and Tai, because our shoes were falling apart. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but good quality shoes cost a fortune these days.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration? Tai's parents, Debra and John were great, looking after Sabrina all day every Tuesday, so that me and Tai could both work a full day that day. Sabrina's friend Bonnie is a real sweetheart, she looked after Sabrina during her first week of Kindy. The first time I left Sabrina on her own at Kindy she was crying, so Bonnie helped her and became a great friend to her.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? The new National/Act/NZ First government. Got into power and immediately started trying to undo any progress made in the country for the last few years.
14. Where did most of your money go? Rent. Food. Car expenses, e.g petrol, repairs and servicing, WoF, registration. New shoes. New phone.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Sabrina's birthday. Graduation. Starting my new job. Christmas.
16. What song will always remind you of 2023? Something Better by Hidinin. Great song, I spammed it on Spotify a lot. But also all the songs from Frozen, and from the Sing movies. Sabrina's been really obsessed with Sing, and with Frozen lately. In fact, for Christmas, Santa had to get her Elsa and Anna dolls for her stocking.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: i. Happier or Sadder? Happier- I feel accomplished, having finished studying and started a job that I enjoy and am learning a lot from.
ii. Thinner or Fatter than last year? Maybe a smidgen thinner. We had some bad habits this last year of relying too much on DoorDash when things were busy, plus I ate a lot of trash over Christmas, but I have been exercising and just generally moving around a lot more since starting my epilepsy meds, because I don't have to worry about triggering seizures if I get overheated anymore.
iii. Richer or Poorer? Compared to this time last year, richer. Compared to most of 2023, poorer. The Christmas/NY period is when my car's warrant and rego are always due, so that always hits us super hard, especially given the other expenses of Christmas. But last Christmas/NY at end of 2022 was worse, because I wasn't working yet, and Tai was in a contract role instead of a permanent role, so had no leave available over the Christmas shutdown period.
18: What do you wish you'd done more of? Budgeting, meal planning, exercising.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? DoorDash. xd
20. How will you be spending Christmas? Christmas morning it was just the three of us, at home opening presents and eating waffles for breakfast. We had a Zoom call with my brother Nick and his partner Aimee, plus also Debra and John came over, (John was dressed as Santa) and gave Sabrina a present. Then we spent the afternoon and evening at Brierlee and Steve's house, hanging out with them and Dad and Jill. More presents, a barbecue, board games, stuff like that.
22-23---I have cut out these questions because they are never relevant to me (they are questions about relationships/sex etc. ) Let's just say I have been married for nearly 9 years now.
24. What was your favourite TV programme? I didn't watch much TV. I watched lots of horror/thriller movies in the lead-up to Halloween, and then lots of Christmas movies in the lead-up to Christmas. Lately, I've just been watching a lot of YouTube. I discovered some new YouTubers I really like- Leeja Miller, an American lawyer who does videos analysing US political events and other issues from a legal standpoint, Two Cents- a couple who do videos giving financial advice, and Weird History- a YouTube channel with videos about interesting and unusual historical facts.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I guess I'm not a big fan of the owners/managers of Sabrina's old daycare. But, oh well. Stuff happens.
26. What was the best book you read? I would have liked to have read more. I mostly just read books to Sabrina at bedtime each night. Nick and Aimee got Sabrina a couple of books from a series called The Princess in Black- they're cool, they're about a princess who lives a secret double-life as a superhero.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery? I've mostly been listening to the same bands I've been into for the last few years, plus listening to a lot of Sabrina's favourite music to keep her happy. But I'm really into this band Hidinin- I don't recall if I had come across them prior to 2023.
28. What did you want and get? Tai got me an epilator for Christmas. It may not sound exciting, but I get a lot of chin hair on account of having PCOS which messes with my hormones, so using an epilator is great for that. He also got me one of those big drink bottles, the ones that have time of day measurements on them so you can make sure you are drinking enough water every day. I'd been wanting one of those for a while.
29. What did you want and not get? I said this last year too, but- I’d like to get a DNA test. Find out more about my history and genealogy.
30. What was your favourite film of the year? The only time we went to the movies this year was to see Barbie. All three of us went, but Sabrina got a bit bored. I loved it though, it deserved the hype it got.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 38. I went to work on the day, which was actually fun. When I arrived, there were some balloons tied to my desk. I got given a coffee voucher, and our Tax Team went out for a morning tea to the cafe over the road to celebrate so it was nice. Later in the week, we had a dinner over at Jess' place too.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more enjoyable? More money I suppose? Or at least fewer money dramas, like the daycare drama, or car repairs when my car broke down because it was leaking transmission fluid.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2023? My personal fashion concept was, “I work in a quiet, corporate, accounting office, so let's make things more interesting by wearing eccentric, brightly coloured dresses and dangly earrings".
34. What kept you sane? Work, and YouTube.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Na, this question's boring, and I never have a serious answer for it. Let's come up with a new question: 'What was the best place I went out to eat this year?' Great question, quizmaster. My favourite was when Nick and Aimee came over for a visit from London for a few weeks. There was a burger competition going on with lots of food places in Wellington, and we went to this gaming cafe and tried their burger- it had Mountain Dew fried chicken, and doritos, buns made out of noodles and other crazy stuff in it (the inspiration was foods gamers like). I liked it, it was really weird.
36. What political issue stirred you the most? I tried not to get too stressed out about the election, but it did get me quite tense.
37. Who did you miss? Like every year, I miss my Mum. This year, 2024, it will be 10 years since my Mum died. It seems so crazy, a whole decade of my life that she's not been a part of, not been able to see. 10 years of no advice, but also no nagging, but also no helping out when I'm struggling with money or surprise problems.
38. Who was the best new person you met? I met the people at my work. Conlan, my supervisor, is the nicest guy ever. Nicole is quiet, but friendly. Rochelle is a great boss. Simone is helpful. Also I've met the teachers and kids at Sabrina's Kindy. They're really lovely.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2023? Get it in writing. Always get it in writing.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: "I know we've come so far, but we've got so far to go" from the Hairspray musical (I know, that's a blast from the past for me, I was obsessed with Hairspray back in like, 2007 and 2008?)
weezieishness · Thu Jan 04, 2024 @ 02:13am · 0 Comments |
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