2006 in Retrospect (Part II)
When exactly does the new year end; when is it no longer appropriate to wish another person 'happy new year'? According to one of my slovak students as late as March is fine, if you havent seen someone until then, that is. So against that standard I know I'm in no danger of wallowing unduly in new yearness.
Most people do their year reflections before the close of the year. But maybe its better done in the dawn of the new, where clearer perspective can be found after the final expiration, as thought and focus adjusts slumberingly to the hung over sobriety that is January. Actually I wrote this just before xmas but never mind. It still stands.
Where did you ring in 2006? In Suffolk, on the banks of the River Brett, with Rachel, Nicola and Lee.
What was your status by Valentine's Day? Single. To Slovaks single often means just unmarried, which tells you little. To me single means single. Once again I decided not to go to a restaurant and sit in front of an enormous mirror.
Were you in school (anytime this year)? Studying, no, teaching, no, organizing teaching for next year, yes. To me, unlike Americans and Slovaks, school is strictly education for children and teenagers.
How did you earn your keep? Teaching English language.
Did you ever have to go to the hospital? Yes, to get my frenulum cut, because of a troubling phimosis problem which has since healed rather well.
Have you encountered the police? Yes. One of my best friends is a bored, underpaid Slovak policeman, weltering in the world of paper, but glad as well not to be on the streets, hanging in only to get a pension..
Where did you go on vacation? Biarritz (France), Bucharest, Japan, and Bosnia.
What did you purchase that was over $500? A plane ticket to Japan
Did you know anybody who got married? Yes, but I went to no weddings. I expect to be a best man in America next year (Minneapolis).
Did you know anybody who passed away? Yes, my Dad..Michael James Lever Tillotson (1933-2006) peacefully at home on Januray 9th. R.I.P.
Have you run into anybody you graduated high school with? An old friend contacted me through myspace recently, which was nice, and weird, as I’d only been thinking about him for the first time in years, a few days earlier.
Did you move anywhere? I moved about 100 metres up the road from a small, dingy, basement flat to a second floor much larger, much more charming place.
What sporting events did you go to? In July, I watched half a football match between two Slovak teams and drank a beer there too. Good that. But by half-time I was bored and then left. Then there was rioting.
What concerts did you go to? None. I considered going to Kings Lynn or Budapest to see Morrissey but didn’t.
Are you registered to vote? I don’t think so. The Tories always win in deepest Suffolk anyway. The voting system needs reform and I don’t believe in political parties too much in any case.
Describe your birthday? I got a day older. It began in the International bar in Fukuoka, Japan, where I drank many tequila’s with Shanti. The rest of the day I think I just ate and went to the cinema and wallowed in onsens.
What's the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2006?
Grow my hair long, answer questionnaires like this one, and ‘publish’ them.
What is one thing you regretted this year? Maybe I should have climbed mount Fuji after all.
What's something you learned about yourself? That life is more interesting when I share my thoughts with strangers. That the relationship between meat and anti-depressant consumption, and my size, is fairly close.
Any new additions to your family? No, but I have a plant now.
What was your best month? April.
What from pop culture will you remember 2006 by?
Morrisseys new album, Casino Royale and Borat.
How would you rate this year with a scale from 1 to 10 (the best ever)? 9.
How would you rate this year with a scale from 1 to 10 (the best ever)? 9.
4 comments:
so it's still ok to wish you a healthy and prosperous 2007-which i just did.
now that you've got a plant you might consider a couple of cats. :)
much more fun to talk to than plants, i find.
Best wishes to you too, for 2007.
My relationships with cats is weird. We had a cat, Jessy, when I was about 15. All was well, but then maybe she gave me some virus or something as since then I have been mildly allergic to some cats when they get too close. Yes, it only seems to be some cats not all, and weirder than that the same cat which affects me badly one day might not another. I lived in a house with a cat nr Durham, however, with no problems, so its clearly not that bad a scenario for me. I remain cautious about them clambering over me, however, even though I like them too.
..maybe Susie, our late dog, oversahdowed me with some anti-cat vibe, so that I wouldn't abandon my canine loyalties..maybe she was jealous...
You gave 2006 a fucking 9 out of ten! Man, are you living the life! I give 2006 The Bird, even though i don't subscribe to your bourgeois calandar - i have made my own based on the growth of my toe nails.
It gets 9 out of 10 because it was in the top best seven years of my life, though maybe not in the top 3.5
Since I'm 35 each number 1 to 10 represents 3.5 years (thats how I reason). Actually, maybe, maybe it should get a ten (along with 1992, which included my trip to America, and 1972, when i was perpetually chilled out and attended to in my every need by a large and loving female- my Mother. Not that I remember this of course).
I dont understand, sir, what you mean by 2006 The Bird. Is that beacsue I'm bourgeois? Am I borgeois?
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