Goodbye and Good Riddance 2005: the Year of the Penguin
Every year we watch the Charlie Brown special, do the Snoopy dance, wish everybody a Merry Christmukkah, and thank our Secret Santas in the good riddance thread. Which is this one, in case you were wondering. Oh, and 2005? Don't think we've forgotten about you.
Thank you Seekrit Santa Beej! I'm looking forward to a cosy evening with all the ingredients you provided - book, chocolate, tea and candlelight! Just the thing to keep the cold at bay.
This year has been pretty eventful for me. I started this job a bit more than a year ago, so that doesn't really count, but I moved, wrote two actuarial exams, had a really scary time in the spring when my sister was in the hospital (she's posting here now, by the way) and went with her on a trip to Wales to visit our father (first time seeing him in five years) and meet our step-family. Oh, and my father had a heart attack in the spring as well.
It's been a good year overall, though, and I'm really happy with how my job is going - it's still a surprise to get positive feedback and to be working for a field that actually has money.
The main downside is that I haven't had a home computer set up all year (no grounded outlet). I hope to have that conquered soon, so that I can stop being ultra-grey.
Glee! I've been tapping the proverbial fingers, concerned that the mail minions would not get your package to you on time Ouise..."it IS another country you know" said the counter person. (sheesh) And I do hope you are keeping warm.
I need to look over my date book to see just what happened this year. So much in some quarters, so little in others. But I do feel like 2005 was much better than either Ot3 or Ot4. I started the decade feeling like I was living in the 'zeroes' in many more ways than one. Not so much now.
Ooh, my Secret Santa just arrived! Well, not in person, though that would be even better. Now I have to figure out whether to open it or wait for xmas. What to do, what to do.
OPEN IT!
Yes. I'm really that greedy. I don't simply want to know what I'm getting, I want to know what everyone else gets, too. NOW!
Or... you could wait.
Open It! Open It! (unless your santa indicated you shouldn't on the outside of the package, which would be mean)
Okay, when I finish my work thing that I've been stalling on finishing, I'm opening. Stay tuned.
Oh! And now my coffee from SIM Coffees (Stephanie - Dec 6, 2005 7:23:33 am PST #1997 of 2003 Mark Block ) just arrived! Wish we had a grinder in the office. But a two package day! Yippie!
Except my apology, but I received a whole list of these that I enjoyed and trimmed it to only 3 so you wouldn't mark my posts as spam.
Santa answers letters:
Dear Santa
I wud like a kool toy space ranjur fer Xmas. Iv ben a gud boy all yeer.
yer Frend,
JaKe
Dear Jake,
Nice spelling. You're on your way to a career in lawn care. How about I send you a friggin' book so you can learn to read and write? I'm giving your older brother the space ranger. At least HE can spell!
__________________________
Dear Santa,
I have been a good girl all year, and the only thing I ask for is peace and joy in the world for everybody!
Love,
Sarah
Dear Sarah,
Your parents smoked pot when they had you, didn't they?
Santa
______________________
Dearest Santa,
We don't have a chimney in our house. How do you get into our home?
Love,
Marky
Mark,
First, stop calling yourself "Marky." That's why you're getting beat up at school. Second, you don't live in a house, you live in a low-rent apartment complex. Third, I get inside your pad just like the boogeyman does, through your bedroom window.
Sweet Dreams,
Santa
Huh.
Like - I think it was Consuela - I feel I'm barely around enough to qualify, but hell, this is writing and that's where I live, and so, well, yeah.
Interesting year. Mostly thanking the cosmos for creativity, an upsurge thereof, specifically the sudden hole in the fabric of my memory that allowed me to begin writing the books I really needed to write, the Kinkaid Chronicles. I began the first one - Rock & Roll Never Forgets - at the end of May, and finished it a month later. While My Guitar Gently Weeps was done a month after that. Book three, London Calling, should be done by New Years. And I finished the fourth book in the current series for my publisher.
We've had a static year in a lot of ways, and a very good year in some ways. Mostly, I've hated the amount of grief that so many of the people I care about - and that includes many people reading this post - have gone through this year.
May 2006 bring a shift in the wind, things better and new to all of you, more joy, more calm, more movement of the best kind.
