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tris mccall - 2005-12-31 12:20:17
this was the most fun year yet, but it was mostly fun because i (mostly) avoided doing emotionally painful activist stuff like working on political campaigns in my community, and instead just performed and traveled to places i hadn't been to yet. after a year where every show i did was for a cause, or on the steps of city hall or something, it was nice to get back to the rock and forget about elections and development politics for a while. some of those shows -- especially the ones at maxwell's -- were real high points. the low point was when my city councilman ripped a photo off of my website and used it, unauthorized, in his slimy attack ads, thereby torpedoing a candidate i liked very much, and making it look like i was supporting him. when i saw that image in tv ads between innings of yankee games, i knew things had gotten out of balance. i also knew (as if i didn't know already) that politics sucks, and that getting onstage and rocking is just so much more worthwhile.
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Michael - 2005-12-31 14:56:41
I don't know about the rest of you, but this year for me, until the past week or so, was basically a blur. And I certainly wasn't doing any drugs or even drinking any alcohol to speak of.

Hey, that'd make a hell of a title for an autobiography that no one would buy: "Blur".
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Sharps - 2006-01-01 17:44:43
Definitely the highlight of my year was eloping to Niagra Falls, Canada with my beloved Alice. (Photos at www.flickr.com/photos/sharplesdietz/sets/837731/) An old friend once told me "Marriage is a blessing if you choose well" and I know this all too well. I was married to the wrong person once upon a time, and now I'm with a really delightful person who gets me and is endlessly kind and loving. I can't believe my good fortune. I'm also happy we decided to elope - although it ruffled a couple of feathers along the way, nothing too severe thankfully, neither of us really yearned for the big to-do, and our wedding trip was relaxed, intimate, and romantic.
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2fs - 2006-01-02 01:12:38
I think my favorite moment of 2005 was, collectively, the time I got to spend with a bunch of our friends who somehow managed to assemble all in the same place at the same time: our "harmonic convergence" this past summer. And my least favorite aspect of that favorite moment was that our two NYC friends - you, Paula, and John - were unable to be there with the rest of us. Maybe this year, somewhere.
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Bad Meow - 2006-01-02 01:45:27
Yay, it's 2006! I can come out of the bunker now! Hello nice people! Are you going get your cat?
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Michael - 2006-01-02 12:22:42
By the way, I had my tongue firmly in my cheek in my curmudgeon guise when I was coming down on cats, but upon looking back at what I said, that was in no way apparent. They're beautiful animals, of course, each with his or her own distinct personality, and I've known some fantastic ones (as well as a couple of real clunkers, of course). Paula, getting a cat would be fine for the company (provided you aren't travelling too much to care for it, the standard caveat for any plant or pet: I've never had a pet in the city as an adult, and always had a dog back in the mountains that could forage for itself if it felt like it). I don't think cats are the best answer for getting rid of mice for the myriad reasons discussed here earlier (it might be as natural as a hurricane, as 2fs said, and superficially convenient, but it's the most hellish fate for a mouse in too many instances: practically any trap anyone can devise is more humane). So that in itself is a poor reason to get one, but having one to keep you company is another story if you're up for caring for it and around often enough to do so consistently. It's done so often by single women that it's a cliche, but as with most cliches, there are reasons behind it.

I think I once told you that I lived in a house in my late teens in which a roommate kept a squirrel monkey: a wild entity zipping through the house delightedly wreaking havoc. When he got annoyed with me, he would defecate in my desk drawer, then cling to a spot in the ceiling and intently watch my reaction out of the corner of his eye (practically whistling innocently until my very predictable and, for him, exquisitely amusing response) before scuttling away in exultant triumph, knowing I couldn't catch the goddammed beast no matter what I did (he was faster than lightning). That was one very bad monkey, and I wouldn't recommend having HIM around for company. But a cat, that's bound to be quite a different thing, one would hope.

Or you could go the Frida Kahlo route and opt for a monkey yourself to see how it goes: that particular monkey I was talking about must be long dead by now, I guess, so you wouldn't somehow wind up with him, thank god.
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Sharps - 2006-01-02 13:09:46
a roommate kept a squirrel monkey: a wild entity zipping through the house delightedly wreaking havoc. When he got annoyed with me, he would defecate in my desk drawer The roommate or the monkey?
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Dan - 2006-01-02 14:18:09
In a year marked by death, loss, and withdrawal, I wound up confronting my geeky moviegoing persona, and realizing at great length that it was probably the best part of me, the most joyous and most intense. So I feel okay about 2005. It was the year of the Naruse festival at Film Forum.
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Michael - 2006-01-02 15:01:26
The Naruse festival at Film Forum. That one got by me. I remember seeing every single film in their Chaplin retrospective back in '97 and actually dreaming very, very vividly one night that I WAS Chaplin as a result. That's when I knew it was good that the retrospective was about to end, but that was a hellacious one. Some friends recently returned from several months in China, by the way, and told me that you can change the channels on any television at any time of the day or night anywhere in the country and see Chaplin in something!

(I think I've told both the last two stories on this same blog, or at least somewhere recently; if so, I apologize. Perhaps I should just make any future entry I might happen to offer into a reference to the date and time of the salient previous entry instead of repeating myself endlessly like the most monotonous tape loop ever. I'll begin a meticulous concordance right now.)
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Paula - 2006-01-02 16:57:41
These are all great reminiscences, people. Although I'm surprised no one's mentioned Coke Zero. That pretty much defined 2005 for me.
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Michael - 2006-01-02 22:13:11
Sharps, I thought I was clear about that: the roommmate.
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Bad Meow - 2006-01-04 23:50:31
Coke Zero makes my face itch.
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