Erika--didn't you get several pieces published this year? I think that totally counts. I meant to finish my play this year, yet still stalled in Act One.

There were a couple this year, at that. No disrespect to Corwood and his bunkies at the Hat. I just feel like wallpaper right now.

What have you done in the last year while Matilda went from born to one?

Got married. Moved in with Boy Next Door. Got MSc. Lived in Tipperary. Lived in Northern Ireland. Lived in Edinburgh (for a month) Lived in Cork. Had three jobs. Travelled to Boston (twice).

It's exactly the same as the people medicine, except for the dosing, apparently, but anyway, he only tasted a little, and said it was NAST.

I wouldn't worry much about nasty-tasting meds when the patient at issue will eat garbage and poop and would happily lap up antifreeze if allowed to.

The spam filter from my office's previous ISP would sometimes flag messages as spam from the two people in the company who can pink slip me, while recognizing e-mails from all my other co-workers (and various penile enlargement services). I've joked about the fax machine hating me, but at least it never actively tried to arrange a new user for itself.

As for my Matilda Year, I had too many things happen, like getting laid off, having a leisurely summer off wherein I traveled to interesting places like Wisconsin, Atlanta and Maine, then ended it in a big way by becoming a college student. And yesterday I bought a whizbang of a computer.

Didn't do anything terribly exciting in my Matilda Year; but that's not a bad. Just living is all. Got my mental health stuff kind of under control. Went to Scotland twice.

(I'm a skipper- is Matilda's birthday on the 14th or do we share a birthday today?)

Oh! Hippo Birdies, Nora!

I guess Matilda Years and Nora Years start and end nearly the same!

OK, I went back, I see where the Matilda markers are (the 26th). Now I feel guilty for pimping my birthday!

Oh! Also in my Nora/Matilda Year, I have: joined the Y, taken belly dancing classes, started swimming again, started fencing classes (that last one is just under the wire, because I just started that), lost 30 pounds, and got 20% closer to finishing my graduate degree. I also did a shitload of research that almost killed me, but I eventually conquered.

Those are the specifics of Just Livin', I suppose.

The Family MoonBone is in Montauk for the weekend. DH and I realized we hadn't been out of the city all summer (all 2007, I'm pretty sure!) and I was jonesing for a non-Coney Island ocean beach.

It's cool and rainy right now, but that's just fine. I can see the ocean from our motel window, and there are few things that make me feel as at peace than rain over large bodies of water. It's good for the soul.

I have a wee cold, but it seems to be responding to Tylenol. And D slept almost through the night - his first night ever away from home! After he wakes up from his nap I think we'll go for a walk on the beach.

You know, sometimes you get 'credit' just for getting through a year being happy, or at least reasonably happy given your circumstances. I mean, the overall thing I'm most proud about this year is how I've handled being laid off, taking time to enjoy my jobfree status, thinking hard about my choices, and keeping an upbeat and reasonably happy attitude through all this. The school thing is exciting as all hell to me, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it, (if you hadn't noticed me mentioning it about every other post here -- school likes carrots!) but a) it's still new and b) of course I enjoy it and it's exciting, so it's a slam-dunk. Realistically, long-term speaking and overcoming-adversity speaking, handling the layoff gracefully is really much more of a Triumph.