2017 Round-up in Surveys

1. What did you do last year that you’d never done before?
   Traveled to Auckland.
   Did a drag photo-shoot.
   Hung out in a Sydney member’s only nightclub with a bunch of rich people.
   Hit three-figures on the scales and went up another pant-size (eep!)

2. What traditions were started?
   None?

3. What traditions were broken?
   None.

4. What countries did you visit?
   New Zealand

5. Where did you go on vacation?
   Well I guess all my trips were kind of vacations. Having 4-day work-weeks definitely allows me to do so than if I were working the 5-day-working-week.

6. So the big one for me was Auckland, as I’d never been to New Zealand before. I was only there for what, 4 or 5 nights, but it was pretty cool to see some place new and just walk around. It’s set up for wanting to go there again, but this time to the South Island. They do a gay ski week there, which is tempting but once again, I’d be going alone more than likely.
7. Numerous Sydney trips, a few by myself for Mardi Gras and Surry Hills, then quite a few where I crashed at Ryan’s. I’ll be there again in two weeks to see what his new place is like, if he’s home that is.

8. Surfer’s Paradise last month for my b’day.

9. A new food that you were introduced to?
   I can’t think of any, other than Raspberry Coulee. I feel like we’re due for another food-invention. The last major one I remember was a drink and that was Red Bull.

10. What was your favorite TV program?
    This was ‘Orange Is The New Black’, “Shameless” (USA version) and ‘Younger’. They were pretty much my obsessions. I liked Sophie Monk in ‘The Bachelorette’ but I didn’t see every episode. Oh, and Eurovision, of course (which I MIGHT be going to this year!)

11. What was your greatest musical discovery?
    Oh there were just too many. LANY was probably my favourite. Anne-Marie, Daya, Dua Lipa, Shania’s return.
    Kip Moore, William Michael Morgan and Kane Brown (YUMMO) for the country music artists.

12. What song will always remind you of last year? “Sign Of The Times” by Harry Styles, “Cut To The Feeling” by Carly Rae Jepsen and “Missing” by William Michael Morgan.

13. What was the best book you read?
    I was terrible with reading, which sucks because I love it. This would have been “Jasper Jones” by Craig Silvey, on the flight back from NZ.

14. What were your favorite films this year? “Call Me By Your Name” was as brilliant as the critics said it was, despite starting off slow. Also, I only saw “The Greatest Showman” last week, but wow, just wow. “Coco’ was seriously cute also. Pixar can do no wrong. “Better Watch Out” was a hilarious Christmas horror movie, and “Happy Death Day” was a great take on ‘Groundhog Day’.

15. How would you describe your personal fashion concept last year?
    Bahaha, what fashion concept? I seriously need to be rich enough to afford a stylist because I might as well be blind.

16. Which celebrity/public figure do you fancy most?
    Brenton Thwaits is still my wank-bank go-to. I know he’s married with kids now but pffft.
    Respect-wise, it’d be Richard Branson. He always has a smile on his face.

17. What political issue stirred you the most?
    Haha, stirred is a good choice of word here. Marriage Equality for sure. The fact our Prime Minister put us through, first, an attempted Plebiscite (which failed) THEN a bullshit postal survey (to detour the law) for three months, to determine what we already knew, made me pretty fucking ropeable. The amount of HATRED I saw thrown around from homophobic and religious fuckheads who I want to punch out during that time was unreal.

18. Headlines in the news from this year that you’ll remember most:
    (Yeah, going with Kylie’s answers here…I think we all hear the same news)

“-The Las Vegas shooting.
-That horrible man who ran down people in Bourke Street mall killing several and injuring many more.
-All the chaos within our Parliament when heaps of politicians discovered they may not actually be eligible to hold their positions due to dual-citizenship issues.
-Marriage equality stuff, when the results of the postal survey came back, and then the nervous wait to see if our Parliament would go with what the majority of Australians who voted wanted.
-The attack at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.”

1. Are there any memorable slogans that describe and/or are from last year? “Vote YES”

2. Where did most of your money go?
   Rent, food and travel, oh and probably event tickets.

3. What was the best thing you bought?
   Experiences - plane tickets and concert tickets I suppose.

4. Where were you last New Year’s Day (of last year)?
   I was at Tropical Fruits, like I was again this year. Except this year was thankfully much cooler, even though I am still sunburned like a bitch lol.

5. How did you spend Christmas?
   My parents place out at Pittsworth. And then a Christmas dinner with a few close friends a few days later.

6. How did you spend New Year’s Eve?
   Watching fireworks in Lismore at the Tropical Fruits festival, wearing a friend’s pair of underwear and numerous glow sticks (see previous entry).

7. How old did you turn on your birthday (and what did you do)?
   I turned 34 last year/month, which is a bit of a worry. I always hate getting older because the higher than number gets, the closer to a ‘natural’ death I am becoming haha. I held a dinner event at Ze Pickle in the valley where 11 friends showed up, which was a great time but way too hot in there without aircon in the Summer heat.

8. What date from last year will be etched upon your memory forever and why?
   December 7th, 2017 was when marriage equality finally became legal in Australia :D

9. If you could relive any day from last year, which would it be and why?
   I’d probably have flown down to Canberra for the marriage equality announcement. I was SO very close to going down but it was too hard to predict the time it would actually happen with all the speeches and Bob Katter going on with his hate speech and such lol. It would have been cool to be there, but I watched it live anyway so it didn’t matter too much. It was cheaper not to go anyway.

+25. Did anyone close to you give birth?*
I don’t think so. I met my newest nephew at the Christmas party last month but Ruben is now over a year old so that would have been 2016 he was born.

1. Did anyone close to you die?
   No. People in my life seem to hang on for ages, so I’m expecting a heap to go at once lol. Once again, morbid me strikes again lol.

2. Whose behavior merits celebration?
   Magda Szubanski, Shelly Argent.

3. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
   Margaret Court, Bob Katter, George Christensen, Pauline Hanson, Lyle Shelton, Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott, Trump, Kim Jong Un.

4. Do you hate/dislike anyone that you didn’t hate/dislike this time last year?
   Nope, I hate the same people I hated years ago lol. No-one’s been added.

5. Who is somebody you will probably never see again after this year?
   Usually the friends who move overseas.

6. Who did (do) you miss?
   I miss my Sydney crush, Luke, who I only got to meet at a mutual friend’s party once, and saw out clubbing in Sydney, once. I don’t even know if he’s single, or interested. Crushes are so stupid. It’s like Ben 10 said, ‘They are called crushes because you can get crushed easily.”
   I miss James too, who moved to London and is living it up over there. And Rick, who moved to Sydney with his boyfriend.

7. Who was the best person (people) you met?
   Probably Julian, although I feel like we’ve been friends for over a year.
   And Peter, who makes me laugh a lot.

8. What did you want and get?

9. A Eurovision ticket, although I’m still not sure on it’s validity haha.
10. A few good friends who care about me as much as I do them.

11. More blowjobs from cute/hot guys than I can recall. Having a big dick is a blessing as well as a curse.

12. What did you want and not get?

13. Sydney crush HA.

14. Commonwealth Games tickets to the specific event I wanted (men’s 10m platform diving) , but I did get tickets to events around that one and the men’s swimming final, which was a nice surprise.

15. What is one thing that would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
    If I fell in love. It’s been over a decade since I had that feeling.

16. What would you like to have this year that you lacked last year?
    More money is always good isn’t it? Oh and that bottom rung on the out-of-reach property ladder would be nice too haha.

17. What do you wish you’d done more of?
    Had more confidence to do things and make friends.
    Eating healthy. I was pretty good but certainly not always.

18. What do you wish you’d done less of?
    Internet, but it makes me comfortable so I don’t regret it.
    Been anxious.

19. What did you get really, really excited about?
    Auckland.
    Seeing hot guys randomly.

20. What is something you took for granted in last year?
    Can’t think of anything, so that probably means everything.

21. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
    This is boring, but probably going to NZ.

22. What was your biggest failure?
    Not having a proper career I guess. It has it’s pros and cons I guess and I’m good if I focus on the pro’s more.

23. What was the funniest thing that happened to you this year?
    I guess just conversations with friends that made me laugh a lot.

24. What was the worst thing that happened to you this year?
    Probably being dragged to meet Ryan’s rich-friends when I was wearing jeans and a hideous t-shirt lol.

25. What was the best thing that happened to you this year?
    Peter, i guess?

26. What was the hardest thing you did this year?
    Probably only last week when my friend’s car broke down and I had to wait three separate occasions for the NRMA to show up.

27. What is something you have vowed to never do again?
    Let people treat me like shit for no reason.

28. Did you suffer illness or injury?
    I was ill a few times, which sucked ass.

29. What kept you sane?
    Music for sure. Gym for sure.

30. Compared to this time last year, are you:
    i. Happier or sadder? I’d say slightly happier. I like being that slightly bit wiser with each year that passes
    ii. Thinner or fatter? I am fatter according to the scales. I hit over 100kg last year. It could be muscle but it’s not showing on my upper-half which is frustrating and I think it’s my height not helping. Let’s go with fatter. But it’s not horrible because I recall not being able to get over 79KG in my pre-gym days in my mid-20’s.
    iii. Richer or poorer? I’m about broken even I think. I still have savings. I didn’t do a huge European trip like I did in 2015. I definitely spent a lot on events this year.
    iv. Older or Wiser? Older. I’m still figuring out the wiser bit.

31. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
    I don’t make them really.

32. What was a valuable life lesson you learned last year?
    I don’t know. I guess the cliche - that people are more concerned about themselves than they are about me and to stop taking shit so personally.

33. Tell us something you’ve learned about yourself.
    Nothing.

34. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
    William Michael Morgan - “‘Cause sometimes missin’, is my favorite place to be”
    Harry Styles - “We’ve gotta get away from here”
    Dua Lipa - “If you’re under him, you ain’t getting over him”