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The season's Top 5:

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I'm generally a latecomer to media of all kinds, which will be obvious enough reading this list. I've had this recommended to me by various sources, and I finally saw it this Saturday. I found it genuinely affecting, almost profound. That Charlie Kauffman!

2. American Idiot, Greenday. See above. I wouldn't say this is "genuinely affecting," but it's literate enough, and it rocks hard when it wants to. Favorite tracks include "Jesus of Suburbia," "St. Jimmy," "Homecoming" and "Whatsername." Bonus points for overt nods to both Queen and Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69."

3. Hot chocolate. Rick and I are going through 6-8 packets a day of hot cocoa at work. It feels good in my belly.

4. Apartment-hunting. This is real serious fun when you've got all the time in the world to move. If all goes well, I'll be installed in a 2d- or 3d-story apartment with a fireplace and about 900 square feet of room starting in April. It'll be expensive, but I don't care. I'm looking forward to having my own place, and to having folks over for grub. You know you'll want to be there!

5. The 7" Granton-edged Santoku by Wuesthof. Seven inches of drop-forged high carbon stainless steel, the blade hollow-ground and sharp enough to cut a piece of paper in half with nothing but gravity doing the pushing. Its bolster is just right and provides nice balance, and the handle cleans easily and fits my hand well. With it, I can dice an onion while (not recommended) talking on the phone quickly enough to avoid tearing up. Drop-chops and rock-chops with equal facility. Will look real pretty on the magnetic strip I plan on installing in my new kitchen. In short, this knife makes me want to cook just so I can use it. Fun.

The Laws of Shadows:

1. A Shadow may not pass through an opaque object

2. If light does not fall on an object, a Shadow may not be cast by that object

And now, a list of some of my favorite words:

taco
vampire
juggernaut
abyss
labra-doodle
gemutlichkeit
journey
sputnik
fella
goatsmeat
smut
stallion
crurifragium
sturdy
Jewish
pookie
poultry
chiffonade
powerdrive
brilliant
cancer

Here's a poem for everybody:

I feel lucky to feel the way I do
And priveliged is not too strong a word
In fact, its strength dwarfs my weakness
And inadequacy to describe this thing
Called "the life of me"
In detail rich enough for others to truly savor
But the best we can do is all anyone can ask

My realizations are strong!
And make me feel that way, too
And they are unique, but not special
and I'm ok with that, and with overuse
Of the word and
Far be it from me
To discourage self-analysis or obsession

Or the sharing of my portion of
Life's Rich Pageant
And will this reference
Illustrate as I'd like it to
The universality of self-expression

We are all alone together
A galaxy of stars
Shining towards and over and for each other
And you can buy a star now,
Or at least the name to one
But you can never really own it
Just as I can never own or understand
Anybody else, really

I could go either way with this
But I'll happily remember
The palm-reader from that movie
That Laura hates but I didn't mind
Who said it, along with with Hoagy Carmichael
and Ziggy and the Spiders (kinda)
We're all stardust
And should treat each other accordingly

------

Happily, I've lately been able to express myself more freely and openly (in print)than I've ever been able to before. So I feel like the above gives a pretty clear picture of my state of mind these days. If you don't like it, that's too bad, but I freely acknowledge my limited appeal.

Look: it was December, there were holidays and birthdays and many cold, snowy days. And now I'm just starting to get back in the swing of things, so we're going to take baby steps.

1. Christmas was fun. My gifts were well-received, and I got a bunch of cool stuff, too. Mostly media, which is how I like it these days. I got enough data to keep me busy for months. Months, I tell you!

2. New Year's was even more fun. I traveled to a remote (but lushly appointed) cabin in Michigan with Laura, Rick, Kate, Mia, Rob, Bill, Dayna, Julie and Adam. We had an absolute blast playing ping-pong and pool, listening to tunes, watching flicks, and generally enjoying each other's company. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is one of the funniest movies I've seen recently. Neat-o, gang! Neat-o!

3. I've been feeling more creative lately, so maybe some of that will spill over to this page, for good or ill. You've been warned.

4. I hope everyone is doing well. I am trying to get better about communicating, if anybody's reading this.