eXtreme posting!

Also, this.Connor: I’m a cowboy!
Me: On a steel horse you ride.
Connor: Do you want me?
Me: Dead or alive, baby. Dead or alive.

(Ed. note: I would greatly prefer “alive,” but was keeping with the Bon Jovi theme.)

stolen from the world.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?:
Raised a two-year-old, went to alcohol education classes, um… stayed in one place for an entire year.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?:
Yes, and maybe not. My New Year’s resolutions tend to be ridiculously lame, like, “Continue to breathe,” so maybe it’s time to just scrap the tradition. (Or go really vague, as in, “Be a better person,” “Improve my health,” etc.) 3. Did anyone close to you give birth?:
I feel like I should say yes, but… I don’t think so, although as soon as I post this I will probably remember that I gave birth or something.

4. Did anyone close to you die?:
My grandfather.

5. What countries did you visit?:
Siiiigh.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?:
A more flexible budget. (AKA, a larger disposable income.) I guess what I would really like in 2008 is a higher standard of living, which means material things like nicer clothes and the resources to take small trips or go on fun outings.

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?:
February 9th, 2007. My grandfather died then. It was an awkward time for a variety of reasons. Let’s just say LINGERING GUILT, and also I will miss him. (Even though we weren’t exactly tight anymore.) (Why am I making excuses?)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?:
I sure wish I had something to say here. Um, I guess my biggest achievement was not beating myself up for not having a big achievement. Go me. Actually, why be modest? It’s lame, but kudos to me for bringing my drinking back under my control instead of letting it control me. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and I don’t talk about it very much, but there were some bad moments and I am very proud of myself for getting my shit together. There, I said it.

9. What was your biggest failure?:
I just never seemed to earn enough money. I lost my lucrative job (it wasn’t my fault I lost it, but nonetheless), and from there I just turned into the world’s biggest slacker/whiner.  (Excuse me, “freelancer.”)

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?:
See above, re: lost job. I lost it because of a nasty, nasty facial injury that prevented me from showing my face for a while.

11. What was the best thing you bought?:
I didn’t really buy anything. The best new thing I got was this computer, but my mom bought it.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?:
Connor’s, of course. He raises the bar for awesome every single day.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?:
My friend Lyndie, who finally hit the rock bottom of severe alcoholism and seems content to stay there.

14. Where did most of your money go?:
Rent/bills/kid, mostly. I suppose artichokes deserve an honorable mention here.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?:
I was really, really, really excited about maybe going to Seattle in February, but my stupid tax return got all fouled up. I was also really, really, really excited about Michael’s return to school, and that had a much more pleasant resolution.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?:
Hinder, Lips of an Angel. Yeah, yeah, I know: lame.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or hardened?: Much happier.
ii. thinner or fatter?: I think I’m about the same. Rather, I think I’m fatter, but realistically I am about the same.
iii. richer or poorer?: Poorer. Alas.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?:
Getting out of the house.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?:
Listening to Britney Spears. It’s a disease, okay?

20. How will you be spending Christmas?:
Mostly at Michael’s parents’ house. Feh.

22. Did you fall in love in 2007?:
I stayed in love in 2007. It was pretty great.

23. How many one-night stands?:
None.

24. What was your favorite TV program?:
Smallville.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?:
No.

26. What was the best book you read?:
Am I seriously supposed to narrow it down like this? Shit. Um… I quite enjoyed Everything Is Illuminated. And to my great shame, I also liked Bitch by Elizabeth Wurtzel, although I don’t think the essays spoke directly to the book’s premise.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?:
The Postal Service. Man, I am behind the times.

28. What did you want and get?:
Your mom. A computer. (Thanks, my mom!)

29. What did you want and not get?:
The fiscal freedom to conceive another child. Boo.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Stardust was about twelve different flavors of awesome. 

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?:
I, uh… don’t remember what I did, actually. Probably sat at my house. I was old enough.

32. Whats one thing that would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?:
Travelling somewhere for fun, even if it was just Albuquerque or something. In other words: a vacation.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?:
Jeans, faintly cutesy shirts. I became strangely obsessed with high-heeled shoes, too.

34. What kept you sane?:
Kiddo.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?:
Britney Spears. I just developed a truly weird obsession. I don’t know if I “fancied” her, exactly; I just could not tear my eyes/ears/brain away.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?:
I refuse to answer this on the grounds that ALL OF THEM.

37. Who did you miss?:
Crosbys, my mom, various people near and far.

38. Who was the best new person you met?:
Jack, I guess, although I think he was the only new person I met.

bah, with a side of humbug.

I have tried to avoid writing here because Christmas fills me with the sort of “cheer” best reserved for therapists, but I was up until all hours thinking about something and now I cannot stop thinking about it. I hope flinging it out into cyberspace will somehow alleviate the obsessive nature of this ponderance. (Big words! Merry Christmas!)So… what I’m wondering is this: Since Christmas is ostensibly a celebration of Jesus’ birth, conveniently celebrated around the time of old pagan winter festivals which were themselves probably designed to alleviate the gloom and glum of damp, dreary winter, what would happen if historians suddenly found conclusive proof that Jesus was actually born in the summer? Let’s say May. Would we all shuffle our huge consumerist decorating-and-gifts bonanza into the early summer months? What would happen to the Christmas tree? Since it’s traditionally an evergreen of some sort, best appreciated in winter, and it's meant to be a representation of the Yule log, would we just drop it? Would we pile our gifts under a willow or elm? Would we snuggle cozily into aesthetically lit family rooms and exchange gifts while sipping refreshing lemonade?

OR! Would the whole thing fall apart? How much does the winter ambience, the snow and the cold and the monotony of winter play into these “holiday feelings”? Is Christmas really one big excuse to get out of the cold-weather doldrums, just one big reason to skive off work for a few days and appreciate a good party? If it were discovered that the reason for the season is actually not seasonal at all, would we still roast the goose in December?

I am not expressing this very well at all. I am just trying to envision a Christmas-in-summer scenario and falling miserably short. Somehow, I think that if Christmas fell in May, it would be a much smaller deal. I think that I need to hear from some Aussies before I form a solid conclusion.