I think the last time I did this meme was back in 2004. I don’t make it a tradition to fill it out every year, and I don’t intend to start now. I’m just putting up filler while I go on my forced vacation.

  1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before?

    Record my own singing and develop my own Firefox plugin. The latter was less disasterous than the former. Oh, and I bought a violin.

  2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

    My 2007 resolution. It’s already sidelined by a pinched nerve.

  3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

    Yes.

  4. Did anyone close to you die?

    No.

  5. What countries did you visit?.

    None. Still too damn poor for my Tokyo trip.

  6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?

    Sex.

  7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

    July 14. The first time I’ve ever had surgery outside of Honolulu.

  8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

    Probably going back through songs I wrote 20 years ago and, if I do say so myself, improving them. My NaSoAlMo album might qualify.

  9. What was your biggest failure?

    The love life, but that’s pretty much every year.

  10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

    The gall bladder it was removed.

  11. What was the best thing you bought?

    TiVo!

  12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

    Mine.

  13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

    The American voting public, for waiting six years to grow a set of balls.

  14. Where did most of your money go?

    I don’t recall receiving any money.

  15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

    Oddly enough, my surgery. I had been wanting a long break from work for a while, and when I learned I had to go under the knife, I rejoiced over the prospect of burning a lot of sick time and getting the vacation I’ve been needing. Thankfully, the recovery process itself wasn’t too burdensome as to interfere with the hours of television watching that resulted.

  16. What song will always remind you of 2006?

    Anything off of Utada Hikaru’s Ultra Blue, Sloth Love Chunks’ Shikakui Vision or Dylan Rice’s Wandering Eyes.

  17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

    a. happier or sadder

    b. thinner or fatter

    c. richer or poorer?

    Probably fatter. I don’t like checking.

  18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

    Sex.

  19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

    Being lazy about getting laid.

  20. How will you be spending/did you spend Christmas?

    I had dinner over at Double-A’s house, and before the pinched nerve sidelined me, I did a bit of recording for my Japanese rock cover album.

  21. Did you fall in love in 2006?

    You have to be human to do that.

  22. How many one-night stands?

    Zero.

  23. What was your favorite TV program?

    The Closer, hands down. I was also enamoured of Psych, Eureka, Ugly Betty and Friday Night Lights. I still have the Battlestar Galactica love, and I’ve recently added Veronica Mars to the Season Pass manager.

  24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

    My neighbors, downstairs and next to me. I hate them so much, I’m willing to drop N-bombs and C-bombs to describe them. Trash, all of them.

  25. What was the best book you read?

    I’m in the middle of Rob Thurman’s Nightlife, which Double-A lent to me. She said after reading a few pages, she thought I might like it. Then half-way through the book, she was convinced I wrote it. I read the first few pages and experienced an odd deja vu — yeah, that was my writing, but I didn’t write it. I have a writing twin out there somewhere.

  26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

    Dylan Rice. Great voice + great songs + hot = My groupie fantasy.

  27. What did you want and get?

    TiVo! Sony Sound Forge and CD Architect as well.

  28. What did you want and not get?

    Sex.

  29. What was your favorite film of this year?

    I don’t think anything came out this year on the level of Kung-Fu Hustle, Serenity or Brokeback Mountain.

  30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

    I turned 34, and I called in sick.

  31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

    Sex.

  32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?

    Fruit of the Loom solid color t-shirts.

  33. What kept you sane?

    Irrelevant.

  34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

    Tim Gunn.

  35. What political issue stirred you the most?

    Digital rights management.

  36. Who did you miss?

    Ryan and Jen. Especially now that the Transmission is kaput.

  37. Who was the best new person you met?

    No one, really.

  38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.

    More fruits and vegetables, please.

  39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

    She said I heard you and you cannot sing

    I said that’s nothing you should hear me play piano