well folks, we done finished aught five real good now, didn’t we? i’m back from a stupendous christmas with family and old friends in the midwest. if you’re ever hurting for something to do in chicago, by the way, check out kingston mines on halsted for an unbelievable live blues bar; i enjoyed that place more than any club-going experience i’ve had in ages… sitting around drinking beers and listening to old black guys wail on guitars and harmonicas. man, that was a night.

matched only, of course, by our fabulous new years excursion to SF for a little popscene new years with almost every good friend i have in california, and most importantly my lovely girl as well. the drinks were plenty and the dancing was continuous and i couldn’t have been happier transitioning into this year.

of course now we’re back to work, back to LA, and back to the blog, so let’s get down to the year in review, shall we? just humor me, it’s tradition. today it’s time to go over last year’s resolutions and see how i did, which ones to renew for this year, and hopefully tomorrow lay down some new ones for aught six.

— read more and talk more about it; i.e. don’t get dumber
this i think i’ve done for sure, if only because of my new job title which is very “research” heavy (translation: i read a lot of magazines and look at the web hours per day). number of books read this year is about the same as last, so at least i’m not dropping the ball there. could probably stand a little more discussion still, so i’ll have to keep pushing that one. it’s sort of a lifelong goal though, so it’s not like i could say, “okay, i’m complete now”.

— write more and better; i.e. don’t get lazy
well, this one i’m hoping i’ve done to some degree but not so sure. may need more work this year, cause i know there were some stagnant periods in there… and that other site section i put up died awfully quickly. still deciding on whether to take it back up or let it go.

— start more conversations; i.e. don’t get boring
definitely getting somewhere on this one, although it’s funny how this one changes once you’re not single any more. would love to get even better at talking to and learning interesting things from strangers though, since i at least have the girl situation well sorted out at the moment.

— get a raise, promotion, or just feel like i’m doing a better job at advancing my career; i.e. don’t get complacent
TOTALLY done. probably the accomplishment of the year, my late-spring horizontal job move has made my life much cooler, and should lead to further advancement too. in this area, i definitely believe i ruled in ’05.

— stay informed and participate somehow in the progressive political arena; i.e. don’t get apathetic
umm, does listening to more NPR count? yeah, haven’t done much here other than click on a larger number of online petitions by moveon, but i’m waiting for inspiration to strike on this one.

— go at least one place i’ve never been; i.e. don’t get settled
well, i went to tahoe snowboarding, and to sequoia national forest and death valley on camping trips, but those are all california places. this year i have to push it a little past the golden state i think.

— maintain or increase level of fitness; i.e. don’t get fat
i weighed myself for the first time in ages over thanksgiving and was surprised i could possibly weigh that much. i’m at an all time high but still looking totally hot (obviously), so i’m hoping it’s a bit muscle gain and a bit just not being as skinny. it’s mostly a matter of staying healthy and trim at this point, then, and so far, so good.

— enjoy, enjoy, enjoy; i.e. don’t get old
oh man, this was the most important one and easily the most fully followed through on this year. i started the year in vegas, ended it in san francisco, and in between had more barbeques, road trips, drinking parties, dance parties, bar-hopping, beach-vollyeballing, beer-ponging, football-watching, cigarrette-smoking, gambling, laughing, making out and other general fun-having than probably any year so far. i’d like to think we really hit our post-college stride this year in terms of making good times for ourselves, and my only wish is for it to continue.

happy new year, collapsing, let’s come back tomorrow and outline how we’ll continue to kick ass in ’06.