Apparently this week is the official "year-end retrospective" week online. Look for a hop on the meme bandwagon at this post's end.

Here's something I wrote in response to a recent post on Seth's LJ:
In looking at it, 2004 was a pretty formidable year in my life. We got married in July. I finally earned my Bachelor's degree in May. I worked a terrible temp job, was hired back by the university in February. Gained too much weight.
One thing, though, is that I've realized that life (in regards to the narrative thing) is less a series of events and more a flow of linked blocks, so to speak. That probably makes no sense, it's hard for me to explain. Anyway, for example, my graduation wasn't really a specific event but more just one step in a series of steps that shouldn't necessarily be recognized as anything but one path. I mean, I still have the same job I had before I graduated, and that job has nothing to do with my interests or field. Yet I've taken a definite step in the direction I'm going by getting that degree. Same with marriage...if it's genuine and right, then the wedding itself is just a manifestation and recognition of what's already there. Things change, but very little works under the "end/beginning/end/beginning (and so on)" way of looking at things. I'm a different person in many ways than I was a year ago but at the same time, I'm the same person I've always been, for good and for bad. Almost everything that happens in our lives is only a manifestation of what we are and what we've chosen to do with what we've been given. Even the things that happen out of our control are greatly shaped by what's already in place and our way of viewing things. 2004 felt a lot like 1995, and very little like 2000.


1. What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before?Marriage. Bachelor’s Degree. Missed my rehearsal dinner after some kid rear-ended the car my next-day-wife was sitting in. Had to deal with police more than momentarily/onetime situations.
2. Did you keep your New Years resolutions, and will you make more for next year?I purposefully didn’t make any. The ones I made in my head accidentally I didn’t keep.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?No, but my sister will in a couple months.
4. Did anyone close to you die?Not this year.
5. What countries did you visit?Hopelessly landlocked, sorry.
6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. (Ripping off both Andrew and Estey). I’d also like a job relative to my talents. Better discipline in various areas, especially weight control and writing.
7. What date from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?July 16, my wedding day.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?I don’t see getting married as an “achievement” in my case…probably getting my degree would stand out to some, though it hasn’t really changed my life one little bit. I think my biggest achievement was that I didn’t make any huge colossal mistakes.
9. What was your biggest failure?I didn’t really acquiesce and call anything failure. I constantly make mistakes, however.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?Nothing too long or serious. I mean, I got stitches in my finger and had a couple bouts of rough sickness but nothing debilitating in the long-run.
11. What was the best thing you bought?No idea. For all I know, it was some day’s lunch. Or a record.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?Stacey’s been really great…perfect wife for me.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?This is a long and involved list. Let’s go with the short one:
--ex-roommate J---, who made the month before the wedding and several months of my marriage much rougher because of not only his constant behavior but also his thieving.
--Both “major” candidates for the presidency and much of the public that voted.
--A (now former) friend of my wife and in-laws who treated his wife like crap, cheated on her and just left her to raise several adopted (formerly in foster care) kids alone.
--Sammy Sosa.
--the people running our government
--local city council members
--neighbors

I’m easily appalled and depressed, I guess.

14. Where did most of your money go?the regular bills & rent, that sort of thing.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?The wedding and honeymoon. Getting to see family & friends at the reception at the end of the honeymoon. The release of Smile.
16. What song will always remind you of 2004?I have no idea. My memory isn’t good enough to do that much.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:a) happier or sadder? I was in love, still am in love, but married…so happier on that end. On the other hand, last year I was unemployed with the hope of a fitting job. This year I’m employed and realize an English degree means absolutely jack shit.b) thinner or fatter? Fatter. Stupid trickle metabolism.c) richer or poorer? Richer in many ways, but probably poorer monetarily.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?Writing. Exercising. Praying. Reading. Pretty much everything I want to do that actually means something.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?Stupid piddly things I can’t remember. Worrying about everything. Eating bad food.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?Christmas Eve midnight mass and Christmas Day masses, otherwise alone at home with the old lady and our cat. It’d be nice to see the families this year, I love all of them, but this year keeping to ourselves is absolutely super.
21. What LJ users did you meet for the first time?Not sure.
22. Did you fall in love in 2004?With Stacey, constantly. With Chicago, renewed. The city not the band.
23. How many one-night stands?I can’t remember, you know?
24. What was your favorite TV program?Daily Show, Family Guy.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?I (work hard to) love everyone. I can’t pretend I don’t have a bit of a “shit-list” as some would call it but I work hard to love even those who I could justify hating.
26. What was the best book you read?I’m terrible about reading. The Brothers Karamazov and 100 Years of Solitude are the most recent. This fall has been all about the sweeping family epics, I guess.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?the new The Good Life, From Bubblegum to Sky, a few too many others.
28. What did you want and get?married to S., a decent place to live.
29. What did you want and not get?Two people I enjoy and admire (but have never actually met) replied “Serenity.” I can’t really rip that one off, though…I work too hard against attaining serenity to tell everyone that I wanted it.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?I didn’t really see enough of them to make this worthwhile thinking about.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?I hate birthdays, so I generally go to work, keep quiet and do as little as possible except maybe drink a little more. I know Stacey and I hung out but I don’t remember much else except that I had just started working at my current job and no one knew my birthday yet and I was very happy about that.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?A satisfying job. The discipline and circumstances to actually get some decent writing done. But that’s two things…or is it?
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?Same as the last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. Mostly just very basic, nondescript stuff I find around in thrift shops or Target. I like Pendletons, usually shirts or those things that are like a shirt but open like a jacket, as well.
34. What kept you sane?spirituality and faith, my wife and the cat, happy escapes into music, books, film and school.35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?I don’t really know. 36. What political issue stirred you the most?the horrible and stupid assumption that Christianity is represented at all by GW Bush & friends, the “Christian Right,” Jerry Falwell and so on. I’m probably horrid and legalistic and badly judgmental to say that but that’s what stirred me most.
37. Who did you miss?parts of myself that I’m not even sure I’ve met yet.

38. Who was the best new person you met?Our landlords, their family, our new priest and his wife. All amazingly beautiful people who have really been a good addition to our lives.
I don’t really meet too many people. I mean, I meet quite a few through my job, but none of them really have gone past the job state. Maybe Jeremy, this kid who DJs a good show twice a week and actually has good music knowledge and taste…he’s the only new person I can think of from these parts.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004.I seem to keep learning the same ones over and over.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year."Over and over the crow flies, cover the cornfield."