Monday, January 01, 2007

Auld Lang Syne – Looking Back at the Blog in 2006

There was a meme going around for a while where you posted the first sentence that you wrote on your blog each month for the past year. Today seemed a rather appropriate day to do so . . .

January: Happy New Year, everyone! Tomorrow the vacation is over, we jump into the fray again. Today I had lunch with my friend, J, at an Afghan place nearby. J, if you are reading this, I send a cheery wave hello!

(side note: we’re going to lunch today, too – a rather nice tradition of sorts. I send another cheery wave hello, J!)

February: I've been swamped with work and other stuff this week, so I haven't been able to post much. I have been thinking of you all, though . . .

(side note: This seems to be a common theme throughout the year – I actually posted less this year than last year. One of my goals this year is to write more often and write more thoughtfully.)

March: . . . Tonight, 10 PM ET on Discovery Health, the show "Rebuilt" - if you watch you may see Mr. Random, he's on the subject's coed soccer team, they are all wearing orange team shirts. We haven't seen the show yet, but if you think you can pick out who Mr. Random is let me know and I'll tell you if you've guessed right. He would probably be very distinctive . . . the hint is the color of his socks . . .

(side note: He was on, but it was hard to tell – you could see the flash of his red socks, though . . .)

April: For Day 1 of "30 Days of Poetry," you're supposed to do Concrete Poetry - using words and their physical formation to create poetry. However, I don't have a scanner here, so there's no way I could draw a picture sufficient to demonstrate this type of poetry, so I've gone to the old standby - Haiku - to start the first day of Poetry Month.

(side note: Man, the poems that month really sucked. I really need to do better about that this year. I should probably read a lot more poetry before I attempt this again . . .)

May: I have not forgotten about you all . . . It’s just been super busy these days and I have not much time to write. I’m glad to see that Virginia Gal is back, wanted to say “Hi” to Merci and Justrose, and give a shout out to Tree of Knowledge who wandered over from Cheese and Responsibility (which needs to go on the blogroll as soon as I have time.)

(side note: Love the shout outs! Also want to say hi to Dean Dad and Eric, who also come over from time to time . . .)

June: This morning I forgot to take my allergy pill, which meant that by lunchtime I was a stuffy, sneezing mess. I keep an over-the-counter allergy pill in my desk for just such an emergency, but the pill always makes my extremely sleepy within a half-hour of taking it. I have to be incredibly desperate to want to take it, and with all of the conference preparations going on, I had to weigh whether or not I’d rather be sleepy or sneezy. I picked “sleepy” and hoped for the best.

(side note: This past year at work was such as mixed bag, heading on a downhill slope of satisfaction, and next year looks to be just as stormy for me unless I can change a few things . . .)

July: Question of the day, relating to the past Fourth of July holiday. I’m borrowing from Marginal Revolution – sue me, I have a thing for economists . . . (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2006/07/would_i_have_su.html) Let’s pretend that we are all living around 1773 or so. The American Revolution is fermenting here in the colonies. You are just a normal person, like you are today. You do not have the benefit of hindsight or can see into the future at all. Would you have supported the revolution, or sided with the British?

(side note: Ooooh! I actually liked this question!)

August: The Random Mother-in-law is in residence this week. The Random Household is tidier than it has been in . . . well, years. The new paint in the bathroom has been touched up, new shower curtains purchased, matching towels adorning the towel racks, and my sea of random lotions and sprays has been taken off of the counters and put neatly into shelves and cabinets.

(side note: Thus began my week from Hell – the hottest, most humid week of the year, stuck in the small condo with my husband and mother-in-law. I want my week of vacation back!)

September: I finished Until I Find You last night – the last fourth of the book was just torture to me, I could barely make myself read the last 20 pages. It was going so well, and I was getting so much out of it, but the ending just seemed so lame and predictable and disappointing. I do recommend the book for most of it, just skip the last section – trust me, you’ll feel better for it . . . unless you really need to see everything resolved, then you probably will finish it, but be forewarned . . .

(side note: I didn’t get as many books read as I had hoped, and that is a big goal for me this year.)

October: Yesterday, Mr. Random and I went to the final Washington Nationals baseball game of the season. I love going to baseball games – they are so much fun to watch in person, especially when you have really involved fans around you. It was Frank Robinson’s last game managing the Nats, temporarily ending his 51st year in baseball – His farewell was quite moving and I was so happy to have been there to see it. I do hope he gets some sort of front office position, because who can imagine him just sitting at home when the new season starts . . .

(side note: That was one of the highlights of my year, being at that game . . .)

November: Ladies and gentlemen, It’s that time of year again! National Novel Writing Month begins today.

(side note: See December)

December: NaNoWriMo is now over and I only wrote less than 5,000 words out of 50,000 for the month of November. Actually, that’s pretty good news, since it was the most writing I have ever been able to finish in a month, outside of this blog. In fact, I will credit the blog for helping me a great deal with this year’s project, since now I am at least posting once or twice a week. While I cannot put a winner sticker on my blog, I am proud to have the participant icon and seeing it will mean a great deal to me now. Let’s aim for at least 10,000 words in 2007!

(Side note: Ending in optimism! Awesome! That’s what I need to remember to keep doing for all of this year – being less cranky and more hopeful . . .)

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