1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Got paid for something I wrote.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?
Sort of, and yes.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Depends what close means.
5. What countries did you visit?
In person--none.
6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
More weapons training.
7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
December 5th--that's when I officially became a published writer making taxable income.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
See #7
9. What was your biggest failure?
There ONLY being one paid publication in 2006.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I was out sick a couple of days.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
My 2GB video/mp3 player. I don't know how I ever got along with a 128MB music-only piece of crap. Oh well, it's still handy as a flash drive, I suppose.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My patient, long-suffering wife's.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I don't want to go into that here. It'd appall and depress me.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Action bills.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
See #7.
16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
"Feel" by Chicago
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? fatter
iii. richer or poorer? richer--there's actually a small pittance sitting in a savings account.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Developing my kung-fu style.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Struggling to find someplace similar to my beloved
Donkey to hang out.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent X-Mas with the mother-in-law.
21. Did you fall in love in 2006?
Well, duh.
22. How many one-night stands?
Hello--married here.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Tie between BOSTON LEGAL and MONARCH OF THE GLEN. Oh, I liked DOCTOR WHO of course, but it just wasn't the same as the last series.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I thoroughly detest someone I merely thought of with contempt last year. Does that count?
25. What was the best book you read?
Raymond Carver's collection, WHERE I'M CALLING FROM.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson
27. What did you want and get?
A job at the Big Red School on the Hill
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
JET LI'S FEARLESS
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Not much and XXXIII.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Finishing the three pieces I haven't finished yet.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
Metrosexual geek chic.
32. What kept you sane?
(a) The wife, (b) a full-time job with benefits, and (c) more or less liking said job.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Cassandra Wilson. But then, I say that all the time.
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Getting the country moved back toward the center.
35. Who did you miss?
Everyone I left in Ohio in 2005.
36. Who was the best new person you met?
All the folks I work with now.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:
The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless. Everything goes by the board: honor, pride, decency, security, happiness, all, to get the book written. If the writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the ODE TO A GRECIAN URN is worth any number of old ladies.
-William Falkner
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
'Cause I got great expectations
I've got family and friends
I got satisfying work
I got a back that bends
For every breath
For every day of living
This is my thanksgiving
-Don Henley, "My Thanksgiving"
Goals for 2007
The main goal (among many I haven't figured out yet): 20 new pieces in circulation by December 31, 2007.
See y'all next year!
