Much Madness is Divinest Sense

You know, all the comic strips I read when I was growing up are disappearing.  Calvin and Hobbes has been gone for some time now.  Bill Amend just decided not to do daily strips for Fox Trot — which makes me wonder if he is preparing himself to stop doing the strip altogether.  I just read online that For Better or For Worse is ending this year.  Now, I probably haven’t read that strip regularly since I was in high school in the late 1980’s, but it’s always been there, and I always thought it was interesting that the characters in that strip really aged.  I admit every once in a while I checked in to see what everyone was doing.  And Elly Patterson reminded me of my own mom.  When I checked the strip website just now, I learned that their birthdays are only eight days apart.

I’m not a huge one for memes, but I liked this one (found via Red Scharlach). Happy New Year, everyone!

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before?
   I learned how to use a SMARTBoard.
2. Did you keep your New Year’s Resolution(s), and will you make more for this year?
   I don’t recall that I made one last year, but I sort of made one this year: to do more cooking at home to save money.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
   No, that was last year. But I have friends who are expecting in 2007.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
   Most people might not consider a great-grandmother close, especially since I didn’t grow up living near her or visit her often, but yes, my great-grandmother Lucille Willis Thurman died.
5. What countries did you visit?
   Sadly, I didn’t have the opportunity to travel at all this year; I haven’t been to any foreign countries since I was 11.
6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
   Financial security.
7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched in your memory and why?
   I don’t know that specific dates will, but moments will — going to the Schools Attuned class in June, the new school building opening, the orange-leafed tree I saw on Azalea Dr. back in November.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
   I’m not sure. Maybe the fact that I stayed much more organized at work than I have been in the past.
9. What was your biggest failure?
   That’s tough. I need to think about that.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
    I was sick for the month of November, but not seriously — just a cough.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
    It’s a toss-up between my Jeff Buckley Grace CD and my Jim Burke Teacher’s Daybook.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
    I’m sure there are plenty of people I could think of, but the first bunch that came to mind is my senior English class, who created a great wiki for Kafka’s Metamorphosis.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
    Where to start? President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Kim Jong-il.
14. Where did most of your money go?
    Bills and food.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
    Using technology in education.
16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
    Probably none. I don’t listen to much new stuff, really.
17. Compared to this time last year are you: a) happier or sadder; b) thinner or fatter; c) richer or poorer?
    a) about the same; b) about the same; c) poorer.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
    Reading. Although nothing’s stopping me, I guess.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
    Eating fast food.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
    I went to my parents’ house in Macon.
21. “There is no question 21.”
    Yes there is — but it’s labeled 22.
22. Did you fall in love in 2006?
    No.
23. How many one-night stands?
    Given that I’ve never had one, period, it is safe to say there were none in 2006.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
    Jericho.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
    Hate’s a pretty strong word, but there is someone I dislike that I used to like OK.
26. What was the best book you read?
    The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
    Jeff Buckley. Was that this year or last?
28. What did you want and get?
    The director’s cut of Amadeus. A new van (woot!).
29. What did you want and not get?
    An iPod.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
    I guess Cars, as I didn’t see anything else that actually came out this year. I don’t get to go to the movies much.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
    I didn’t do anything, and I turned 35.
32. What one thing would have made your year measurably more satisfying?
    More money. Just enough not to worry.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
    The same as it has been for about 10 years now. I am not a fashion plate, I guess.
34. What kept you sane?
    Work.
35. Which celebrity or public figure did you fancy the most?
    I can’t think of one. I don’t really go in for celebrity crushes.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
    Eminent domain. Our school was threatened, and I think as a result, I will always vote against measures to expand eminent domain. If the government ever lets us vote against it, I will.
37. Whom did you miss?
    My grandparents. They are still living, but in Colorado.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
    Melody, our new English teacher who is also my department head. I love her!
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.
    When it comes right down to it, you have to depend on yourself.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
    I hate this sort of thing. I don’t have a proper answer. I don’t tend to apply song lyrics to my personal life. Just to be morbid, the line of poetry that comes to mind is “Do not go gentle into that good night / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” In other words, keep on truckin’.