Oh, and I'd like a Romance. Or at least some action.

amen.

Oh, that's fine, Aurelia...may inspiration be faster next time. KO would love that joke, probably.

A year in which women like Erin and Vortex got no action is a year that should hang its head in shame. Lots of truly awful stuff happened to lots of people, and for all of that 2007 is already impressive for all the wrong reasons, but getting Erin and Vortex a little action should be a gimme. That's epic incompetence at even the most basic of basics, 2007, you total loser, you.

Woo! JZ's got ma back!!!

(now could you move your hands down and maybe give me buttocks a wee fondle? They're feeling unappreciated.)

2007 was interesting, for all that implies.

On the surface, not much has changed. G and I are still employed in the same places, still living in our wonderful townhouse, still happily married.

And yet...I once again show that I don't deal with stress well. The causes may be different than previous times(this go-around was a combination of work pressure, running a convention, an elderly sick cat and life changes) but I still ended up depressed, this time with anxiety on top of it.

I'm doing better now. It helps that some of the stressors are gone(the con was in June, Boots died in July), and modern medicine helped some as well. Now we have two insane, but cute kittens running around the house.

Ah, well....2008, I hope you're less interesting, but somehow I doubt it. Could you at least be interesting in a nicer way?

Erin are you from the UK? Or was the accent used just for effect? (asks the new girl who shyly creeps back into the corner)

Erin is cosmopolitanly Midwestern, as I recall.

Accents and dialects seem to waft worldwide around the board. Some of us are...peripatetic.

Hi, we've met. I seem to be queen of ellipses (one l or two? I never remember) today.

Hey, rookie. Gimme a quarter. Just kidding.

So, 2007. Looking back, all I can see is The Biggie, which was moving in with The Boy at the beginning of December. But that followed months of discussion and hard work on renovations, so it really feels like it took up almost half the year.

Moving hasn't been easy, and we're both still adjusting to it (and each other), and there are many, MANY renovations yet to be done, but I'm still unspeakably happy that I get to come home every day to this amazing man whom I love so much it's scary, who seems to love me back just as much.

I know more than just moving happened, but the move was so huge and life-changing, it's telescoped everything out of proportion.

I didn't make it to the F2F, but I did get to go to San Francisco at the end of the summer and see Buffistas there. I also got to see Liese when she was in town in November, and SA when she was here in early summer, and possibly other Buffistas who I'm forgetting in a shameful yet not surprising memory lapse.

2007 was good to me, and I hope 2008 will be the same way, for me AND for all my Buffistas.

2007 was a year of big changes.

I finally got a cell phone!!

Oh, yeah, and I changed careers and moved across the country. Leaving academia was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make, but it looks to have been a good one for a number of reasons:

--it has allowed me to finally live in San Francisco, which I have been dreaming about for years

--it gave me a career that I have more control over, with a higher probability of success and great co-workers to boot

--it forced me to end an unhealthy relationship that I had begun at the start of the year

--it got me that much further from my controlling sister and hopefully on the way to a more healthy relationship

--it affords me more free downtime so I’m finally able to read for pleasure again

--and, last but not least, it allows me to read and participate more regularly on b.org

In fact, it was the very existence of the buffistas that made this decision so much easier than it might have been. Not only did I know I would have a place where I could continue to intelligently discuss my areas of research and interest, film especially, but I also knew I was moving to an area with a multitude of blinvisible friends. To the astonishment of my new co-workers, my first weeks here were filled with brunches, lunches, and concerts with a variety of people. I can’t thank the SFistas enough for being so welcoming!

So, although the year is ending on a bit of a sad note with me being sick through much of December and continuing budget issues (unplanned hospital bills, discovering that my federal withholding was screwed up so the tax refund I thought I was getting evaporated), I look forward optimistically to 2008. In particular:
--holding an Oscar Party that doesn’t go past midnight
--participating in Buffista secret santa, finally!
--a vacation that doesn’t involve visiting family or friends
--getting in better shape
--actually having a date, or two

Happy New Year to all, and to all a good-night!