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You guessed it! New Years, so it's time for my yearly New Year's quiz. Let's do it.
1. What did you do in 2025 that you'd never done before?
A lot of parenting things I suppose. I became a tooth fairy- twice. I became a dance Mum, taking Sabrina to ballet and acro dance classes.
2. Did you keep your New Years' Resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't recall if I actually made any last year. I am a fan of goal setting and resolutions, but I might not have done anything last year. If I had, it would have been the usual boring things, like eating healthy and losing weight, maybe saving money.
To be honest I'm not sure what is most important for me to aim for in 2026. I still want to improve my health and fitness, have more energy. I'd like to be in a good position financially. I'd like to be more on top of keeping up with housework and errands, but at the same time I want to make sure I focus on what is best for me, rather than burning myself out on housework just to keep certain people (i.e Jill) from judging me.
3 . Did anyone close to you give birth?
Tai's younger brother Sy - he and his partner Carol had their fifth child this year. They now have five kids, all with names starting with R: River, Riley, Ruby, Reah and baby Rita.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
I can't think of anyone who did. A few celebrities, but that's the case every year.
5. What countries did you visit?
None. The furthest away we went was to Paraparaumu (about an hour's drive away) where we did an overnight mini-holiday last Summer, and went to the beach and took Sabrina to a couple of parks. It was nice.
6. What would you like to have in 2026 that you lacked in 2025?
More money. More energy.
7. What date from 2025 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I suppose when I started working at Xero. I had been out of work for around three months, after losing my job at BDO. I remember on the first day I arrived about five minutes early, but was still the last one to arrive out of the group of us starting that day. The first couple of weeks at Xero were fun, a group of us doing induction together, plus a bunch of newbies in Auckland too training with us online.
8.What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting the job at Xero I suppose. When I had gotten the job at BDO, they had seemed so desperate to hire me, that I got a certain amount of false confidence. So when I lost that job, I expected it wouldn't take too long to find something new. So then after three months of no luck at all finding work, it was getting a bit desperate. I wasn't ecstatic when I got offered the role at Xero, because it isn't an accountant role as such. But I've ended up actually really liking a lot of things about it.
9. What was your biggest failure?
I guess losing the role at BDO. They used the 90 day rule, so in all likelihood there wasn't much I could have done differently. But, in hindsight I would never have left Findex if I knew BDO were going to do that.
I found out recently it wasn't just me either. My uncle who works in IT had a contract role there at BDO. His was technically only a temporary contract but he had hoped they might extend it and they didn't. Someone else he worked with was hired for a permanent role, but got let go at 90 days too. Seems like they make it a habit of treating employees as disposable.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Oof, so I had a doozy near the start of the year when I was at BDO. The BDO office is in this beautiful 1930s art deco building on the Wellington waterfront. Tiles, brass doors, just gorgeous.
One night I finished a bit late, which was normal for me because I often started late after taking Sabrina to school in the mornings. When I got downstairs, the main door was locked and the big old metal shutters had been brought down. But there was a small side door I could still exit through. It had an old, awkward steel handle. I opened that, and then being so relieved it opened and wasn't locked, I didn't even notice that the door didn't go all the way to the bottom. There was a metal bit at the bottom sticking up about 15 cm.
Because I didn't see it, I didn't lift my feet and so as I stepped forward, I tripped and went falling forwards through the doorway. With my feet still behind the bottom part of the door, I couldn't do anything much to break my fall, and so I planted smack bang on my chest on the concrete footpath. My chest and my stomach took the whole impact, so while fortunately I didn't hit my head, I was completely winded.
I was in a lot of pain and a bit light-headed, so I lay there a full minute or so, and then someone came to help me. She helped me sit up. I was still feeling a bit light and winded, but I could tell I had no major injuries, so when she asked if I was okay I said yes, and she left. So then I sat there for a couple of minutes, trying to catch my breath before I stood up. Then I passed out while sitting there, alone, and realised I had made a mistake telling her I was fine.
Finally, I stood up. I felt okay, just...weird. I started slowly walking along, holding on to the windowsill of the building beside me just in case. Then suddenly, I passed out. I still was holding the windowsill, and so managed to get on to the footpath as I passed out without injuring myself. But then once I was conscious again, I didn't feel confident trying to stand up again.
Then another person came, a guy who I think was a European tourist. He stopped to help, but also he seemed reluctant as he seemed to be in a hurry. He asked if I needed help so I said yes. He said he couldn't stay, but that he would order me an ambulance. Then he walked off, and I was stuck there on the footpath, unsure whether he had called anyone or not.
A few minutes later an ambulance arrived. By then, I was definitely feeling better and had gotten up on my feet again. The staff took me into the ambulance however, and did a few medical checks to make sure I was okay. About twenty minutes later when that was done, I was feeling basically fine apart from a bit bruised, so they left and I went back to the station to catch the train home. All in all a scary experience, and I was sore and bruised for a while afterwards.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
I don't remember whether it was late 2024 or early 2025, but we got one of those little robot vacuums. Not very powerful, and takes ages to get through a whole room. But it's worth it sometimes because I can just leave it to do it on its own. For the most part, it can detect objects and go around them, but it has trouble with the lips around the bottom of our slide doors, as they only come up a couple of centimetres off the ground, so the vacuum tries to go over them and then gets stuck.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Most people I guess. The people I have met at Xero are really friendly and helpful, and I've enjoyed working with them so far.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I guess the management team at BDO.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Desperately trying to keep up with rent, bills, Sabrina's after-school care, food etc. Those few months of not working got intense.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Sabrina's dance concert for her ballet and acro dance classes at the end of the year. It was at the Expressions theatre in Upper Hutt (where I performed in Nunsense 2 many moons ago when I was a young, not-so-innocent 23 year old). Sabrina was dressed in this adorable tutu, and Minnie Mouse ears, and they did a dance to the Mickey Mouse club song. It was frickin cute as. Then at the end of year prizegiving the teacher said Sabrina was one of the best dancers in the class, which is impressive considering she only started halfway through the year.
16. What song will always remind you of 2025?
I came across a handful of good songs. I finally got around to listening to the Misterwives album they released back in 2020, and it turned to be a great album. Whywhywhy is my favourite song, and I listened to that a lot. I also found a song called Breathe by Dom Fera, which I really love, and I listened to that heaps.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
ii. Thinner or Fatter than last year?
Don't know. I assume about the same.
iii. Richer or Poorer?
Poorer on account of spending the last half of the year playing catch up because of the months I wasn't working.
18: What do you wish you'd done more of?
Exercising and eating better. Also reading more books. All that time I wasn't working, and still didn't finish reading 1984, which I started reading a year ago now.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Watching stuff on YouTube. Not the good stuff, just some of the random stuff I ended up bingeing.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
We hosted Christmas at our house again. I prefer hosting, because then I get more say about the food and the music choices. Nick came over from London for a couple of weeks, and he stayed with us in the sleepout for some of that time, so that added an extra layer of fun to Christmas. I got him a Christmas stocking, so that he could get gifts from Santa too like the rest of us did. Sabrina was treated very well this Christmas- she had asked Santa for a very specific dress she had imagined in her mind, which was sparkly gold with rainbow hearts. This seemed a daunting task, but Santa finally decided to call upon a friend called Lisa with great sewing skills to fulfill that wish.
22. Did you fall in love in 2025?
I fell in love with our little black-and-white kitten Zelda. We got her from Kitten Inn, where Jess volunteers, early in the year during my non-working period. She's now a grown up cat but still very sweet. Oh, and she got a stocking and gifts from Santa too. xd
23. How many one-night stands?
I don't have a night-stand, but that does remind me, I need to tidy up the top of the drawers beside the bed sometime. Thanks for reminding me.
24. What was your favourite TV programme?
Coronation Street. It actually drives me nuts on the days that it's not on, I get antsy waiting for the next episode. I also continued watching Only Murders In the Building, and Elsbeth. I recently started watching a show called Younger. Seems good so far.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Naaa.
26. What was the best book you read?
I finally read a couple more chapters of 1984 the other day. Although technically that counts as this year, not last year. I read the first few pages of The Tale of Two Cities on Christmas Eve though.
Apparently in Iceland there's this Christmas tradition where people read books and eat chocolate in the evening on Christmas Eve. I thought it sounded nice, so we've done that both last year and this year. This year, I bought myself The Tale of Two Cities to read, plus a Bluey book for Sabrina, and the D&D Players Handbook for Taina (he's still very into D&D).
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Dom Fera, the more recent Misterwives songs, and a handful of other songs. Plus I listened to a bit of this podcast about the history of rock music, starting way back with the jazz and country music of the 1920s onwards.
28. What did you want and get?
A job. I got myself some cute shoes for Christmas, super multi-coloured with flowers and peace signs on them. Nick bought us a dishwasher for Christmas so that's exciting.
29. What did you want and not get?
Bills paid off. A spare phone for Sabrina to listen to podcasts in bed would be good.
30. What was your favorite film of the year?
I went with Dad and Jill to see the documentary movie about Jacinda Ardern. So good, nothing surprising, but just nice to see the proof that she really is such a cool person. Also, I didn't see it at the movies, but I saw Wicked recently. Sooo great. I was always a big fan of the musical, and while noone can ever replace Idina Menzel's vocals, Cynthia Erivo's high notes still sent chills down my spine.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned the big one. 40. It sounds scary AF hearing the number. But it doesn't really change anything. The reality is, I am still me and I am still happy with the life I have created for myself so far, so I have no reason to fear being in my forties.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more enjoyable?
I could have done without the BDO debacle, and the money stress that was triggered by this. Other than that, I have no complaints. I enjoyed my year, and I feel optimistic this year will be great too.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2025?
Work clothes. Xero has a casual dress code, so that sometimes means work clothes includes trackpants, other times a bit nicer. Basically, anything colourful and I'm here for it.
34. What kept you sane?
YouTube and apps on my phone. Just an easy way to chill out.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I was watching a YouTube video from the React channel last night, and I was thinking about one of the React guys, a young 18/19 year old-ish guy called Jaxon. He's smart and has good taste in music, but also is quite cocky and very vocal with his opinions. He's a bit cynical at times. Watching him last night, I was thinking, "You know what my toxic trait is? I totally would have gone for a guy like him when I was that age." As a teen/young adult, I was drawn to guys who were so full of themselves.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
It's hard to remember, it seems like it's always one thing after another. Mostly just the government cutting back on various services and funding.
37. Who did you miss?
My Mum really. I just know she would have loved to get the updates on what everyone is doing, hear all the goss.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Pretty much everyone at Xero. Davina is fun, she's in her sixties but acts much younger, and she's one of those no-holds barred kind of people who says what she thinks. Hamish is a sweet guy who helps everyone with every question and problem, and seems to have endless patience. Lewis is a quirky oddball, and I can never be sure when he's joking and when he's serious.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2025?
Last year I wrote: "I learned that I can fill the same quiz out year after year, and not even notice that at some point, question 21 went missing. I wonder what that question was, and when was the last year I included it before accidentally deleting it the following year?"...basically, same answer this year.
But also I learned, if a company seems really really eager to give you a job you're actually under-qualified for, it might be too good to be true.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"Chickety china, the chinese chicken, you have a drumstick and your brain stops ticking". Basically, I ate fried chicken from Fresh Bun bakery a lot for lunches this last year.
 weezieishness · Tue Jan 06, 2026 @ 03:55am · 0 Comments |
