le ridicule

This is an end-of-2009 meme that caught my eye when it was spreading a few months ago. My answers will probably be the same as they would have been then, so I'm doing it despite the time lag.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before? flew to meet someone I'd met online.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I haven't made one in a dozen years, so there's nothing to break.
3. How will you be spending New Year's Eve? I slept through it. NYE isn't a holy day for me.
4. Did anyone close to you die? yes
5. What countries did you visit? just this one
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? nothing. Seriously. 2009 was plenty damned full.
7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? November 16. Why? I was thrown off balance; haven't regained equilibrium since.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? oh, probably that I wasn't axe-murdered by the guy I met on the trip from #1, above - if you're asking my friends, anyway
9. What was your biggest failure? there was no one overwhelming event. November was...hard.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I had a sinus infection on and off the last four months of the year
11. What was the best thing you bought? a much-needed new computer
12. Where did most of your money go? paying off my student loans
13. What song will always remind you of 2009? "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band
14. What do you wish you'd done more of? listening to that quiet inner voice
15. What do you wish you'd done less of? acting on the wishes of that quiet inner voice. She's a romantic fool.
16. What was your favourite TV program? in real time: NCIS. In retrospect: ReGenesis
17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? just Megan
18. What was the best book you read? there are way too many from which to choose
19. What was your greatest musical discovery? Dala Girls
20. What was your favorite film of this year? my film-happy friends will be distraught to know that I can't name one; I don't think that I saw a new movie this year
21. What did you do on your birthday? got horribly drunk, said some very stupid things to a good friend, could barely move for 24 hours, and regretted it (physically) for a weekend and socially for much longer. It was terrific and I can't wait for the next one.
22. What kept you sane? writing, my friends, and alcohol. Ahhh, irony.
23. Who did you miss? Johnnie
24. Who was the best new person you met? Reed
25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009: L'on ne saurait mieux faire voir que le magnifique et le ridicule sont si voisins qu'ils se touchent.* --So you've got to learn to appreciate the ridiculous, eh?

[from The Cat, who got it here]

* There is nothing one sees oftener than the ridiculous and magnificent, such close neighbors that they touch. [Bernard de Bovier de Fontenelle, in Oeuvres--Dialogues des Morts {IV, 32}, {ed. 1825}]