And, now, finally, we come to resolutions.

Last year, I resolved to record a little blurb about what I did, every single day of the year.

I did it.

I started out the year doing one or two days at a time, and doing it in private. By March or April, though, I did them semi-publically, and on a monthly basis. This has pros and cons. It's not near as personal or interesting to me, but it's a bit more FUN. I like the format it's evolved into, and it makes recapping the year, etc., easy. But i miss the personal. I'm not sure how I'm gonna solve it, but resolution #1 for this year is to keep recapping each day of my life, but to also capture more emotion and feeling in them somehow.

I also resolved to exercise more, and I did it, but only barely and not really. I have definitely fallen off the wagon on my treadmill desk, and it's time to get back in the saddle. So that is resolution #2 - at least 3 days of every week that I am in town on the treadmill desk.

And then we're on resolution #3. Resolution #3 is to the same as last year. I succeeded last year, and so again: take part in health month. Health month, for those who don't know, is something Keith and I started years ago. It basically means no smoking, drinking, or eating any bad food at all for a month. Including diet coke. and cheese. and fried foods. and everything awesome. You can read all the details on keith's vox blog. It's always kind of a pain but a good penance after the new year, and a good check on the diet or someone who is, shall we say, a bit of a bon vivant. Health month, by the by, starts on January 5th, so you new yorkers, come out with me on the 3rd and 4th for the last hurrah!

And now, though, we come to resolution #3. This is the big one. From the beginning of Health Month until May of 2007, I am not going to drink alcohol. Four months. My original plan was to then only drink for 10 days in the rest of 2007 - my birthday, judi's, the barbarian party, fourth of july, christmas eve and 5 others chosen based on circumstances. This may stick. I dunno. The point is, really, I wanna see what it's like to live as a non-drinker. I've been drinking heavily since I was 21, basically, and it's time to see what adulthood holds for the sober guy. I am hoping i get more done. I am hoping i still go out. I am hoping I don't go insane. I am hoping to add greater depths to my friendships. I am hoping I still dance a lot. I have been thinking about sending my bartenders care packages while I am gone so that when I start again I'll still get all the free drinks I do. I dunno. We'll see. It's gonna be an adventure, but I think one worth having.

Professionally and Digitally, I resolve to:

• Get RockTourist Running again
  
• Get my unified blog (a la bustermcleod.com) running
• Stick it to SAG
  
• Get interactive filmmakers into the AMPAS
  
• Get a media planner
  
• Get the curtains hung
  
• Reduce our phone bill by using the internet
  
• Get the holiday cards out earlier
  
• Not Sell out

Tags: 2006, recap, resolutions, year in review
Current Music: "Music By J. Spaceman" From Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard: Silent Sound

I can't even really comprehend everything I did in 2006. I even managed to take 3 different week-long restorative rests. Right now I haven't looked back yet at any journals or lists or anything about what I actually did last year, but the things that come to me are: my surgery, visiting my grandmother, my sister going back to Alaska, ATP, SXSW, Coachella, the Delta Shuttle, Amtrak, reconnecting with old friends and making amazing new ones. Life pretty much throwing a lot of weird shit at us all and me being vaguely surprised none of it tested my faith in how things work. Becoming slightly more politically cynical, but also way, way more politically intelligent, aware and moderately more engaged. The funny thing is, that I know there's so much that's happened, so much that I did that I don't remember right now. Experiences happen at such a quick pace it's all I can do to experience them in the moment, and then make sure I document them appropriately for future times of reflection. This is why, of course, a week like this week is so important. For all the archiving I do, for all the saving, documenting, recording - would there be any point if I didn't stop and reflect once in a while? I used to think it would be when I got old, that I would sit in a house, all alone with all my stuff, and I would pull out trinkets - a ticket stub from some long-ago seen movie, and images and memories would come flooding back to me like a flashback in a Dickensian blockbuster. But it's clear to me now this is folly - both because I don't know that I ever intend to stop, and because I look back on old talisens of the not-so-distant past now, and I don't even remember the details of them (the astute reader will note I did not say it was implausible because I won't be alone.) It's clear at some point I'm going to need to re-read my life in its entirety to have a clear picture of it. Luckily I'll be able to. Unluckily, it will, by then, number some 20,000 pages or more, and I doubt I'll be of stature enough to engage an editor to abridge the text for me.

But I digress.

( Looking through the journals, then, let's fill out some memes: )

Tags: 2006, recap, year in review
Current Music: "Shine a Light" by Spiritualized, From Lazer Guided Melodies

Books were a wash last year. It's the one new year's resolution from last year I really let go. I tried, I really did, but The Economist fucked up the beginning of the year, and the last two months have been killed by Thomas Pynchon's 1100 page "against the day," which I am nowhere near being finished with. Still, not completely shabby. Could have been worse.

Ironically, I complained about The Economist last year too. I did worse on books this year than last year, and that bums me out. 21 vs 33 last year. Of course last year, 12 of those were harry potter, narnia or douglas adams books which are all very quick reads. Still, nothing this year was really anything much to tackle.

• The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle by CS Lewis
  
• Motherless Brooklyn by Johnathan Letham
  
• How Soon is Never by Mark Spitz
  
• Kafka on the Shore by Murakami
  
• The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
  
• Culture Shock: Japan
  
• The Manual: How to Have a Number One The Easy Way by Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty (reread)
  
• How to Be an Artist by Bill Drummond
  
• Torn Apart, by Lindsay Reade and Mick Middles
  
• Laura: A Journey into the Crystal, by George Sand
  
• 33 1/2: Unknown Pleasures, by Chris Ott
  
• 33 1/3: In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, by Kim Cooper
  
• The Devil's Pool, by George Sand
  
• Elle Et Lui,by George Sand
  
• Gilliam on Gilliam, by Terry Gilliam
  
• The Futurist, by James Othmer
  
• Journey to Ixlan, By Carlos Castneda (I quit this three quarters through because it sucked.)
  
• Three Dog Nightmare, by Chuck Negron
  
• 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West, by Roger Crowley
  
• The Absolutely Worst Places to Live in America by Dave Gilmartin
  
• Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot, by Julian Dibbell

This, naturally, needs improvement, and so: a second year of resolutions to READ MORE BOOKS. I am shooting for 50 but will be happy with 40.

Tags: 2006, books, year in review
Current Music: "Misunderstood" by Wilco, From Being There

US:
New York (38 times)
Atlanta (6 times)
San Francisco (4 times)
Chicago, IL (2 times)
Los Angeles, CA
Milwaukee, WI
Warren, NJ
Paramus, NJ
Framingham, MA
Austin, TX
Portland, OR
Palm Springs, CA
Indio, CA
Hoboken, NJ
Newark, NJ
Philadelphia, PA (2 times)
Atlantic City, NJ
Nashua, NH
Leominster, MA
Columbus, OH
Pawling, NY
Anchorage, AK
Wasilla, AK
Eagle River, AK
Manchester, NH

International:
Tokyo, Japan
Ceret, France and several cities nearby
Barcelona, Spain
Figuerres, Spain
Andorra Ville, Andorra
Minehead, Somerset, UK
London, UK

Tags: 2006, travel, year in review
Current Music: "Playhouses" by TV On the Radio, From Untitled 2006 TVOTR Album

Okay, I'm *pretty* sure that I'm not seeing any more bands for the rest of the year, so here we go: my complete list of bands and artists I've seen this year. The total: 246 performances - or one band every 1.4 days. Figure an average of half hour per performance and we have 5 full days of music. I have no idea how I pulled this off, though the FIVE FESTIVALS helped - SXSW, Coachella, All Tomorrow's Parties, Touch & Go and Brainwaves.

Non-local band seen the most? Mogwai, at four times, in four cities.
Best performance of the year? Daft Punk, hands down.
Bands I missed that I'm upset about: Flipper, Nurse with Wound, The Editors, The Pet Shop Boys
Loudest band: Iggy & The Stooges

( The Full list, from !!! to Zero 7 )

Tags: 2006, gigs, recap, rock, year in review
Current Music: "Far, Far Away" by Wilco, From Being There