Year End Review

1. Was 2006 a good year for you?
Yes. New job, not having to work the holidays. Holidays with family.

2. What was your favorite moment(s) of the year?

Christmas with my mother and sister.

3. What was your least favorite moment(s) of the year?

Having to tell my new boss, the one who insisted on hiring me, that he was in danger of losing his job.

4. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?

Aside from the afore mentioned conversation with my boss --- I never actually flirted with a straight boy, until yesterday.

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

I guess I did. I got a new job.

6. Where were you when 2006 began?

Probably asleep because I had to work on New Year's Day.

7. Who were you with?

Yeah, right.

8. Where will you be when 2006 ends?

I will probably be sitting on a sofa watching a movie.

9. Who will you be with when 2006 ends?

I'll be with my friends J&A.

10. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Sadly, we're not very close but one of the few people I have immense respect for had his second daughter. I need to send congratulations.

11. Did you lose anybody close to you in 2006?

No. I've had them all installed with Lojacks.

12. Who did you miss?

I've given up missing people. There are people who seem to drift in and out of my life, but I've spent to much time pining after people. If I want to talk to someone, I pick up the phone or dash off an e-mail.

13. Who was the best new person you met in 2006?

I have to say that the person I like the most is K. The person who inspires me the most is C. And the person I respect the most is the CEO at my new job.

14. What was your favorite month of 2006?

I'd have to say July because the first week of that month was my first paid vacation in more than three years!

15. Did you travel outside of the US in 2006?

No, but if all goes as planned there will be a different answer in 2007.

16. How many different states did you travel to in 2006?

Just one. Arizona.

17. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?

Lost weight. Between work, school, and the chorus, I just can't find the time to get to the gym. That has changed in the last two weeks. I also need to pay more attention to what I eat. More vegetation, and (sadly) less cheese.

18. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

February 9 is the only date that comes to mind. That's the day I started my new job.

19. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting an A- from a professor who I thought I despised.

20. What was your biggest failure?

I don’t believe in failure.

21. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No. I'm disgustingly healthy.

22. What was the best thing you bought?

The train ticket for my mother to travel to my sister's house for Christmas. The two of them had not seen each other in fifteen years.

23. Whose behavior merited celebration?

I can't think of anyone...

24. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

George W. Bush.

25. Where did most of your money go?

I think to White Hen, where I've been buying most of my lunches for the past year.

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

I don't get really, really, really excited about anything any more.

27. Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2006?

Probably not enough. I had a doctor tell me once that I needed to start drinking.

28. Did you do a lot of drugs in 2006?

I don't do drugs. It's an event if I take an aspirin.

29. Did you treat somebody badly in 2006?

Not exactly. There is a woman in my office who I don't particularly like. After a meeting she cornered me in my office and confronted me. She asked if she'd done anything to offend me and I said, "No." That answer offended her and she demanded more, so I turned the tables around on her and asked her why she was so confrontational. I don't like it when somebody realizes that I don't like them.

30. Did somebody treat you badly in 2006?

Oddly, there were moments when the CEO could have been more kind, but I now see that he was testing his management team to see how much stress they could take. I think I passed.

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

Compared to this time last year, I'm more gainfully employed and as a result I'm enjoying life more.

32. What do you wish you'd done more of in 2006?

Developed new friendships.

33. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Watched television. In college, a friend described television as the great time thief. He was right.

34. Did you fall in love in 2006?

Really, truly, madly, deeply in love? No. But every three or four weeks I develop a new crush.

And then, of course, there is RP.

35. What was your favorite TV program(s)?

I vowed not to get sucked into a new show, but (in no particular order) the top three were Dancing with the Stars, Project Runway, and Dexter.

36. What song will always remind you of 2006?

"Evening Prayer” from Englebert Humperdink's opera Hansel and Gretl.

37. How many concerts did you see in 2006?

None. However, I performed in three.

38. Did you have a favorite concert in 2006?

I'd have to say the Christmas concert for CGMC.

39. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Il Divo.

40. What was the best book you read?

Actually, I enjoyed Anna Karenina. I don't have enough time to read for pleasure.

41. What was your favorite film of this year?

Hands down, Little Miss Sunshine. It was like a modern morality play.

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

My birthday falls smack dab in the middle of the holidays. I slept. I turned Old.

43. What did you want and get?

I didn't want anything in particular. I wanted to be happy and I think I got a lot closer to that.

44. What did you want and not get?

There was this pair of boots on e-Bay...

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

Falling really, truly, madly, deeply in love.

46. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?

Finding sleeves that are long enough.

47. What kept you sane?

When I get there, I'll let you know.

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

I'll have to cast my vote for the most unoriginal of answers and go with Jake Gyllenhaal; although I have to say that the bloom is coming off the rose as he loses weight.

49. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.

Winners never quit and quitters never win.

50. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

All by myself...
Don't want to be
All by myself
Anymore...