2018 Survey in Letters to my Friend

I borrowed the format henter link description hereere, from another PB user. I like the survey, and perhaps it’ll help me with some ideas for a personal statement.

What did you do in 2018 that you’d never done before?
- confront someone about my feelings for him and his for me, regardless of what it is
- use a pomodoro app
- rent an apartment
- work an extrovert job (conference assistant)
- get my abstract accepted to a real conference
- take the LSAT
- decide to learn about healthy boundaries
- have my work discussed (though ultimate hated) by others

Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t even write down any new year’s resolutions last year, but I was in a really difficult place. I’m making some this year.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not really. I know two Facebook friends did but I no longer talk to them.

Did anyone close to you die?
No.

What countries did you visit?
I don’t go out of the USA. I’m here on a student visa.

What would you like to have in 2019 that you lacked in 2018?
- more self-esteem
- a paper published
- better LSAT score
- better relationship with my family
- better work ethics, better focus
- better prayer life

What date from 2018 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I might be wrong about the exact date, but it was probably June 7th. The day that my fed-up self decided to confront this guy and got it clear about how he felt about me. Turned out, he didn’t care and never had, but that was a big relief, because at least I knew, and because I knew, I was able to get myself space.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
It must have been that very confrontation in the previous answer.

What was your biggest failure?
Taking the LSAT for the second time and getting the EXACT same score despite having poured out countless hours of studying. I’ll try again.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not at all, unless I stretch it and include small bruises and paper cuts.

What was the best thing you bought?
Probably Habitbull Premium for like $4.50. This app has been a life-saver for me, and premium is totally worth it.

Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My listener and best confidant.

Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
I’m not really appalled by anything. But this person’s very being makes me depressed, because I’m jealous of her. She’s very beautiful, very intelligent, confident, social, put-together, and she goes after the guy I was obsessed with. But, it’s really part of life. And learning how to deal with all these disappointments without being crushed has helped me realize a lot of things.

Where did most of your money go?
Rent.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Feeling a flicker of self-confidence for the first time in my life!

What song will always remind you of 2018?
I don’t know. I haven’t ventured out much to explore different music. Perhaps the best song I’ve come to know of in 2018 is Demi Lovato’s “Give your heart a break”

Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? fatter. so sad. need to improve this year
iii. richer or poorer? about the same

What do you wish you’d done more of?
Pomodoro. Asserting my preferences.

What do you wish you’d done less of?
Obsessing. Overthinking stupid things.

How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent quiet Christmas with my relatives. A good meal. A karaoke night. Went shopping for a new jacket. Went to Church on Christmas Day.

Did you fall in love in 2018?
I stopped obsessing over a guy and fell back in love with my life. Honeymoon period is over now, though. I need to work to maintain this relationship with myself.

How many one-night stands?
No. Not at all my thing.

What was your favourite TV program?
I re-watched Friends on YouTube via short slips.

What was the best book you read?
I never can decide this. I won’t even bother.

What was your greatest musical discovery?
Probably the Broadway show “Head over Heels.”

What did you want and get?
Closure.

What did you want and not get?
A better LSAT score.

What was your favourite film of this year?
I watched “A Simple Favor” at the cinema with friends. It was pretty good. Wouldn’t be an all-time favorite, but I didn’t watch much of anything else.

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 25. I just kinda let it pass by. One good friend texted me Happy Birthday.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I had worked harder.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2018?
I learned to wear lipstick. I bought some nicer shirts.

What kept you sane?
My listener and confidant.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Not really my thing.

What political issue stirred you the most?
I’m so out of touch. Nothing I can really think of. Need to improve on this part.

Who did you miss?
My listener and confidant, whenever I didn’t talk to him. I finally decided to write letters to him on Prosebox, whom I address as “Friend.” I’ll never send these letters. I’m just writing them.

Who was the best new person you met?
A summer coworker named Julia. She was 6 years my junior so was only 19 but BOY she was wonderfully cool and resourceful. I learned a lot from her working style.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2018:
Best thing I’ve learned in my life: the key to self-esteem is accepting who you are, and never lie about how you feel.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I would like to insert here anything by Bernadette Farrell.

O God, you search me and you know me.
All my thoughts lie open to your gaze.
When I walk or lie down, you are before me,

Ever the maker and keeper of my days.

You know my resting and my rising.
You discern my purpose from afar,
and with love everlasting you besiege me:
In ev’ry moment of life or death, you are.

Before a word is on my tongue, Lord,
you have known its meaning through and through.
You are with me beyond my understanding:
God of my present, my past and future too.

Although your Spirit is upon me,
still I search for shelter from your light.
There is nowhere on earth I can escape you:
Even the darkness is radiant in your sight.

For you created me and shaped me,
gave me life within my mother’s womb.
For the wonder of who I am, I praise you:
Safe in your hands, all creation is made new.

O God, you search me and you know me.
All my thoughts lie open to your gaze.
When I walk or lie down, you are before me,
Ever the maker and keeper of my days.