I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing

December 30th, 2006

We’re back, and we’re not just back, we’re back with pink eye. Well, I am, anyway, as Ad has eyes that are white as snow, as normal eyes should be, unlike my own rosy-pinky-crusty variety that also have the added bonus of itching like the dickens. Further, have you honestly heard of anyone getting pink eye since the third grade, when the first epidemic ripped through language arts class with Mrs. Santee? Pink eye! PINK EYE! It’s so humiliating.

Also, my pants don’t fit. As in, I am forced to wear my one pair of X-Treme Fat Pants 2006 until I can shed some of this holiday weight that I squarely blame on my sister’s Mexican wedding cakes, which are also known as the greatest cookies known to man. Frump and fat are taking us into the new year at Chez Jonniker.

Mmm, crusty eye and elastic waistbands. We’ve got your sexy right here. Do you want to make out and maybe rub eyeballs?

All is not lost, however, for we’ve also got your meme! Linda posted this, and because I am against posting my own resolutions and yet, it seems wrong to just let the year go by without an instant of reflection, this seems appropriate. In short, however, despite a remarkable amount of unforeseen challenges, this was our best year ever. Feel free to steal!

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before? Got a dog and a job that I absolutely love that involves writing – two of the best things I’ve ever done.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Let’s see…I don’t think I made any, so I don’t think I kept them. I’m not sure about this year. I have resolutions, certainly, but I don’t want to think of them as new year-ish, since those are never kept.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes! My younger brother had a baby boy, Ayden, and Ad’s brother had a baby boy, Nathan. This brings my nephew total to seven, which means, statistically, it’s not looking good for us for another boy, should we opt to procreate. Someone’s got to break this cycle, to Ad’s disappointment.

4. Did anyone close to you die? No, thank God.

5. What countries did you visit? Sadly, none, unless you count the Everglades.

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006? A finished manuscript.

7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I don’t know about dates, but I’ll certainly remember the first time something I wrote was printed on actual paper that other people read, and I will always remember the day we brought Sunny home.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting my shit together and becoming a happier person – I had no idea what an anxious mess I was before. And changing careers was huge for me, and a big adjustment. Truthfully, I’m still adjusting to it – a lot of times I look at my salary, which is greatly diminished from its former glory in my old career, and I feel guilty, and sometimes it makes me a little upset. But the truth is, without making that change, I am not sure if I’d still be married, and I would have missed out on so much of my life. I am a completely different, happier person, albeit one who still can’t remember to mail out thank you notes, birthday cards and bills out on time.

9. What was your biggest failure? Hrm. Not working on my book enough, maybe?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I don’t think so. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease at the end of 2005, to my enormous relief.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Sunny!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I hate to say this, as everyone else does, but my husband’s. Shit, I love the spit out of that guy. We had our best year yet, in large part because we had to rely on each other more than we ever had to before. Having no friends in a new place will do that to you, and I think that kind of stress either makes or breaks a relationship, and I’m happy to say that it made ours. I’ve spent more time with him than I’d ever spent with anyone, and and I’ve never been bored or exceedingly sick of him. That’s pretty cool.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Mel Gibson. And yet, Braveheart is one of my favorite movies.

14. Where did most of your money go? Uh, the mortgage, maybe? Barring that, I’d have to say my hair, which is possibly the most annoying thing I’ve ever said.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Work, for the first time in 10 years.

16. What song will always remind you of 2006? SexyBack.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Happier, happier, happier. So freaking happy. Fatter! Oh yes, we are fatter, as I was at my thinnest-ever this time last year. We are also poorer, but happier, because I took a paycut.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Written my book. I’ve started working more on it recently, and when I re-read the stuff I’ve done, I actually like it. I wish I’d been more consistent. I also should have worked on more freelance projects, and I wish I’d read more.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Staring into space, idly surfing the Internet. Puttering around doing nothing.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? We spent it with my family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2006? Oh yes. With a small pug.

22. How many one-night stands? How about none?

23. What was your favorite TV program? I became sickeningly enthralled with Heroes.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? My strong dislike for Sarah Jessica Parker has been reignited. Someone, for the love of God, tell me why she’s so revered. She’s a truly terrible actress.

25. What was the best book you read? Oh God, I can’t remember. I can tell you the last book I finished: Alice Hoffman’s Here on Earth, and hoo boy, I did not like it at all. Overwritten, trite and painfully predictable. It was a real disappointment, because I usually like her a lot. The River King is one of my favorite books, and I keep wanting her other novels to measure up and to date, none have come close, with the exception of Turtle Moon.

The book I’m currently reading is shockingly good. I’m a huge fan of magical realism (hence the Hoffman attraction), and I’ve read Salman Rushdie before and figured if I was going to continue, I should pick up The Satanic Verses to get to the bottom of this fatwa shit. I can say with total certainty, given my piss-poor knowledge of Islam and Indian-Muslim culture, that I am fully comprehending approximately 1/200th of the book, but holy hell on a ski slope, who cares? It’s magically good, and I’m getting a kick out of it. It’s one of the most wildly enjoyable rides I’ve been on in a long, long time, and I highly recommend it.

Other than that, I do remember reading and really loving The Time Traveler’s Wife. And I finally read To Kill A Mockingbird.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Ack! I don’ t know again with the memory shit, but I’ll tell you, I recently whipped out my old copies of Book of Love, which was a blast. If you’ve never heard of them before, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is on heavy rotation on Encore right now, and “Modigliani: Lost in Your Eyes” is featured prominently throughout.

27. What did you want and get? A dog.

28. What did you want and not get? An agent and maybe a book deal. Again, that pesky fact that I need to finish the book first keeps coming up. Shut up, I know.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? Oh hell, I don’t know. I’d seen it before, but I spent a lot of time in 2006 re-watching Harold and Maude, and I think it’s reached the pinnacle as my all-time favorite movie.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 31 a few days ago, and I ate enough Indian food to kill me, hence the fat pants.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Friends nearby. More progress on my non-day job writing projects.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006? Flip flops for everyone!

33. What kept you sane? My friends. My husband. My job. Writing a whole lot.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I have an unreasonable crush on Milo Ventimiglia from Heroes, followed closely by Sendhil Ramamurthy. And Masi Oka. Basically, I would like to make out with the entire cast of Heroes, and that definitely includes Ali Larter.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? Oh hell, I don’t know. Lots of them. I’m really uncomfortable talking about politics, as it’s so divisive.

36. Who did you miss? My friends and my mother.

37. Who was the best new person you met? Oh that’s easy.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006. Shut the hell up and relax? Also: being happy is basically a choice you have to make, every day.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. Oh crikey, I can’t. Lyrics give me hives.

Happy New Year!

*Pet Shop Boys

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