2010

At first I felt a bit silly filling out this questionnaire, but then I saw that Mikael Sol had done it, too, so why not me.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?

Lots of stuff — the nicest being starting to rent a garden outside the city and renovating the construction trailer that is there. That place makes me very happy.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

No and no. (Maybe I should remove the boring questions from this questionnaire, but I’m too lazy.)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What countries did you visit?

Germany, Sweden. THAT’S IT.

Germany.

Sweden. (Photo by Ilan)

Edit:

Apparently I was also in the Czech Republic. I even found some photos in my archive to prove it. o_O

Czech Republic.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

I would like more of what I’ve been getting in the latter half of 2010, please.
The first half was perhaps characterized the most by how my relationship with Ilan wasn’t working out at all. Too much dishonesty, drama, resentment, stupid games from him, and sacrifices from me, that just weren’t worth it. Oh yeah, and he (38) ‘fell in love’ with some 22 year old chick in late December 2009, and in the first half of 2010 he went out of his way to spend as much time as possible with her, even meeting her in Berlin. Now he says he did that (and a lot of other things) to “spite” me because I was “evil psycho bitch” (because apparently he as a grown-ass human being did not have any responsibility for his own choices, lmao, while I of course carried 100% of the responsibility for his actions, lololol).
Anyway, eventually I found out and broke up with him, and became happy and free. My need to give affection to someone was after that fulfilled in a very nice low-intensity, low-maintenance, no-expectations, non-exclusive “friends with benefits” relationship, which makes me very happy and also leaves my brain alone, so I can be mentally stable and focus that energy on making comics.

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched in your memory, and why?

None, really …

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Breaking up with Ilan with a for me untypical level of grace and style, renovating my trailer, and basically getting by just fine on my own and finding a good balance between personal freedom and human company that makes me happy and content.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I can’t really think of any significant failures. :o/ Maybe not searching Ilan’s computer sooner, so I wouldn’t have had to hold back around cute hairy guys for so long.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I caught a couple of colds, as usual. Sometimes I had back pain and lovely muscle pain from working hard. Oh, and I burnt my left hand twice within just a month or so. One of the burn marks may leave a nice scar that will always remind me of happy times making kimchi pancakes.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Building materials and tools for my renovation project. And my wonderful sewing machine!

12. What was the best thing someone gave you?

Many people gave me a lot of friendship, sympathy, support and also sex. :3 That I appreciate very much.

13. Were you lucky in love or lucky in cards?

I guess I can call it being lucky in love that I could solve pretty much all my relationship problems.

14. Where did most of your money go?

The rent, as always …

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

My renovation project. :3
Oh, and the piggy in the bathtub!!!!!!!

(Photo by Ilan.)

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?

Some of the many songs are Bob Dylan: “Tomorrow Is a Long Day”, The Cure: “Just Like Heaven”, Bruce Springsteen: “City At Night”, Futureheads: “Hounds of Love” (it’s been all over the radios and youtubes and it’s so cute that the lead singer doesn’t disguise his Northeastern UK accent), as well as the collected works of Tracy Chapman, since that was pretty much the only music I had during a wonderful summer week that I spent at my trailer, drawing comics.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

Happier or sadder? — Much happier!!!! V^(oo)^V

Thinner or fatter? — More muscular, maybe, after all the hard manual labour and long distance biking, although I haven’t done that in a while now.

Richer or poorer? — Maybe a bit poorer financially, but I’m doing all right.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Drawn even more comics, of course …

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Had bad one night stands. Although they, too, were useful in their own way.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

On Christmas Eve I made a Charles Bronson shirt, hung out a bit with Ilan (we watched The Prestige), then talked on Skype with mum and Ainur. On Christmas Day I made peremech and ate them in the evening along with lots of other amazing food in a nice little gathering of friends.

21. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve?

I don’t really know yet. Maybe go out somewhere …

22. Did you fall in love in 2010?

Not really. I have been feeling nice, quiet affection, but not that terrible unstoppable life-endangering passion, thank Dog.

23. Did you fall out of love in 2010?

Yes. The process was quite dramatic! First there was a series of nights when I was “inexplicably” feeling so terribly bad that I was screaming in mental pain (luckily I was alone at my mum’s house in the middle of the forest at the time). Then, a couple weeks later, I got a sudden urge to look in Ilan’s laptop, which he in a twist of fate had left home when he went to Brazil, after spilling beer on it. (Maybe it was around the time when Ilan was at his hotel room in Rio, about to get a back rub from a girl he had just met …?)
I was mostly very calm about it, and especially my renovation project — doing something all on my own, where I could see immediate, concrete results — certainly helped me focus on more important things and not take it so harsh.

24. What was your favorite TV program?

Deadliest Catch, True Blood and The Walking Dead. Whee!

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

I never hate anyone …

26. What was the best book you read?

Arkady Babchenko’s One Soldier’s War in Chechnya, which I finally read. It was part of my effort to do research for a contribution to a comics anthology with the theme “sex and war”, but I became so depressed and desillusioned that it could not possibly be contained in such a short work, so I gave up.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Bob Fox. And I kind of rediscovered The Cure.
For some inexplicable reason I had been avoiding the albums “Human Touch” and “Lucky Town” by Bruce Springsteen, but now I finally listened to them. I also finally got the “Tracks”, and “The Promise” came out just recently. Whee!
For a really pathetic reason I had been avoiding the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. My first ever close encounter with the opposite sex — the hairy Israeli guy who cowardly stole my fist kiss in my sleep, and later tried to have sex with me only to blurt out that he loved this other girl — who he now seems to have children with, which makes it a bit more okay, I guess, — liked their music. Now I’ve been listening to them and come to the conclusion that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a greater thing than the opinion of some stupid guy.

28. What did you want and get?

TO GET LAID. A LOT.

No, seriously — to have time and presence of mind to draw comics. Also to have a place where I can be alone and in peace and focus on my comics and the simple joys of life, such as gardening and maintaining a compost toilet.

29. What did you want and not get?

I only wanted and didn’t get things that would have been bad for me anyway. :op

30. What was your favorite film of this year?

I never go to the cinema these days, so my favourite film that I *saw* this year was probably Children of Men.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 29, and you can read all about it in a previous entry. Or, you can just let this photo of a useless ragged old penis sum it up:

32. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying?

The latter half has been extremely satisfying, so I would be greedy if I asked for any more than this.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?

Three words: Charles Bronson shirt.

34. What kept you sane?

Drawing comics and working on my trailer.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I have a bit of a crush on Olga Kurylenko. :3

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

Some of the most stirring issues:
— The unclear and badly formulated Swedish child pornography laws and how they unfairly hit against comics (the laws have been in existence for a few years, but the topic finally stirred up this year when somebody who was convicted by them went to the media)
— The Israeli army’s attack on the “Freedom Flotilla”
— The rights of Roma in Europe, after several EU countries have been kicking out Roma in poorly disguised racism, against EU laws
— The general rise of Fascism and racism in Europe

37. Who did you miss?

My mum, Ainur, Mitsu, Sergei, Ilan sometimes when we were still together, and my friend with benefits.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

Hmm. Well, it was nice to meet Mikael Grahn in person for the first time ever. :3

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:

Monogamy is not for me. Wheee!

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

Oh heartbreak and despair got nothing but boring
So I grabbed you baby like a wild pig

(How I really want to mishear the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen’s “Leap of Faith” …)

V`(oo)´V

P.S. I also worked a lot this year, but apparently that was pretty boring so I didn’t mention anything about it. Boring work is good if you want to draw exciting comics in your free time. Tinet ♥ the monotony of digital lettering.