Year-end survey for 2020 in Trichotomy

1. What did you do in 2020 that you’d never done before?
Zoom

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No resolutions

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
ENT doctor pianist friend had a baby girl in February - a month before the pandemic hit and they got sick from it. Sounded like a harrowing experience. At least his daughter won’t remember it.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thankfully, but a few of friends lost someone to COVID.

5. What countries did you visit?
Heh.

6. Where did you go on vacation?
The couch

7. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020?
A vaccine.

8. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March 9th - last day I spent in the office, thinking how in convenient it would be to have to work from home for a couple of weeks. Also, La Professeure was saying we should stock up on food and me thinking that was unnecessary.

9. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Started cooking regularly. Lost 25 lbs. (Those things may or may not be related).

10. What was your biggest regret?
Wished I brought more stuff home.

11. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing serious, touch wood.

12. What was the best thing you bought?
The 27 inch curved widescreen monitor I bought with company work-from-home budget is pretty sweet. It is cheaper and neater the monitor that comes in the company-recommended work-from-home kit. The new modem which I bought from the budge allowed both of us to work from home.

13. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My company’s site managers for setting work-from-home policy early; the new Social committee member who drove the zoom concert; my brother-in-law who worked on the campaign; the Treasurer who continued to organize social meetings for musician friends on zoom; La Professeure for being supportive and understanding.

14. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Idiots. That includes employers (like my brother’s and La Professeure’s) who require their employees to come to the office to work in person to perform work that they can complete at home, endangering everyone for no reason.

15. Where did most of your money go?
To the bank

16. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Vaccine. But I was pretty excited about my new tablet/laptop.

17. What song will always remind you of 2020?
Phantom of the Opera. One verse is 20 seconds. So many hand-washing sessions to us humming that.

18. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Same
ii. thinner or fatter? Much thinner.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer

19. What do you wish you’d done more of?
I feel I could have done more to keep the amateur musician group active.

20. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Youtube

21. How did/will you spend Christmas?
Zoom with La Professeure’s family.

22. Did you fall in love in 2020?
With the same person, you fall in love every day.

23. How many one-night stands?
0

24. What was your favourite TV program?
Watched so much TV. Mando probably was my favourite. Also, discovered twoset violin on youtube.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Idiots

26. Who is someone you will probably never see again after this year?
My protege who went to Canada for grad school in renewable energy, probably.

27. What was the best book(s) you read?
A Chinese Melting Pot by Graham Johnson.

28. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Florence Price. Knew who she was but a lot of friends starting playing her work in the summer.

29. What did you want and get?
Sleep

30. What did you want and not get?
A vaccine

31. What was your favourite film of this year?
13th. Again, knew all the facts but never had them strung together as a coherent narrative.

32. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Worked. 43.

33. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A vaccine. It’s getting repetitive.

34. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020?
Bum. But at least this year I have lots of company.

35. What kept you sane?
La Professeure. A good broadband connection.

36. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Clare Malone

37. Who did you miss?
Everyone

38. Who was the best new person you met?
The social committee member in the amateur music group. Probably also the only new person I met.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020:
Life can suddenly become unrecognizable at any moment (Copied from Andrea)

40. Tell us something you’ve learned about yourself:
I can cook!

41. If you could relive any day from 2020, which would it be and why?
The Leap day concert we put together at the amateur musician group.

42. Did any of your predictions for the future come true in 2020?
Liverpool did win the league.

43. What was the funniest thing that happened to you (or the funniest thing you did) this year?
Not much of a year for levity.

44. What was the worst thing that happened to you this year?
Our A/C breaking down in the middle of a heat wave in a pandemic? Or us shredding our car tyre in the middle of nowhere in a pandemic? Grateful that it’s nothing horrible.

45. What was the best thing that happened to you this year?
Not having to commute.

46. What was the hardest thing you did this year?
Delaying routine maintanence for myself, my piano, my bike.

47. A new food that you were introduced to:
Lidl Market frozen entrees

48. What traditions were started?
Treasurer-organised zoom concerts.

49. What traditions were broken?
Pretty much everything.

50. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Argh…

51. Did you save any Chinese fortune cookie fortunes from this year, what do they say?
What you need is just around you.

52. What is something you have vowed to never do again?
Sleep with my wrist under my butt. Did that a week+ ago and my wrist is still sore. :(

53. Headlines in the news from this year that you’ll remember most:
Press Conference at Four Season Total Landscaping

54. In 2020, what did you realize you had previously taken for granted?
Health

55. Are there any memorable slogans/sayings that describe and/or are from this year?
Stop the Count and Count the Votes.

56. What will you be doing this New Years’ Eve?
We’ll be running a zoom party/concert.

57. Where were you last New Years’ Day (2020)?
Threw a party at home. So quaint.