Well, it’s the end to another interesting year. Goodbye, 2004. I don’t know if any of you have had a similar thing happen to you lately, but a little while ago I was thinking to myself, “gee, it seems like this year has just flown by.” Every year after, like, 12 has seemed to fly by. But then I got to thinking about everything that happened to me this year and all of these events in my life seem like they happened eons ago. Has this happened to anyone else? It’s getting almost so bad as to be in the “wait, that happened YESTERDAY?” stage.

So what did happen to me this year? Well, I got a job. That’s a pretty big deal. My first big full-time job where I have no plans for when I’m leaving and there’s nowhere else to go. That’s both liberating and scary at the same time.

I got my first speeding ticket this year for something that never should have happened. La-de-da, just speeding through town, oh look, there’s a cop, oh shit, there’s a cop. At the “oh look, there’s a cop” stage you’re suppose to slow down. I didn’t. Oh well.

Got into my first car accident this year too. (OK, I got into technically TWO car accidents this year, but the first one is so minor we’re not counting it. “No, dad, I have no idea where that dent came from.”) Extra bonus points for almost killing another person for the first time. Hopefully the last time. That was not good. Found out for the first time that I could drive under the influence. Also found out that driving under the influence is VERY BAD. Luckily part one of this paragraph and part two are in no way connected.

Went to a party of someone I didn’t know and I then proceeded to get both drunk and stoned in ways I never have before. I swear, for a little while at least it was kind of Fear and Loathing there.

I got a weird/bad phone call from some friends. I then proceeded to somehow make matters worse by alienating all of my friends. That was a fun little event in my life.

I made a trip down to Bard in the Spring. That was fun. Saw the Ex while I was there. That, not so much.

Made another trip down to the Bard area in the fall to see Sara. We went to go see Shawn of the Dead at the mall, got horribly, horribly lost, but still got there in time for one of my best movie going experiences. New zombie movie + Sara = blast. Come to think of it, we saw the remake of Dawn of the Dead in the spring too. Then we went to her sister’s art opening in Hudson, which was both surreal and good.

Clancy made it up to my house. We got lost in Albany. We got beers in Bennington. We watched a muy fucked up movie. We got some awesome Angus burgers. And along the way I found out a whole lot of stuff that I would have never found out had I not had the chance to chat with him. We should do this more, Mr. Clancy.

I’ve almost put in a whole year at Bose and it’s been pretty crazy. I’ve gotten in a feud with my Assistant Manager, watched way too many people leave the store, worked overtime with only four people on staff (including myself) all summer long. Of course I made lots of money and now have like one of everything from the store. And the job doesn’t suck yet, which is always a good thing.

Went to my first strip club. God, almost forgot to write that down. Now there was a surreal experience. Thank God for Harry Moore. If it weren’t for that goofy bastard, well, I’d have no one to hang out with when I’m not working. Now that’s a depressing thought.

All and all it’s been a pretty good year. Lots of other great stuff happened that I just forgot to write down. Oh well, here’s hoping to an even better 2005.

Now, for the statistics. I know you all secretly want to know how far my madness has spread. This section is just for you:

Total # of movies I saw 2004: 352
Total # of movies I saw 2003: 362

Total # of movies I saw in the theater, 2004: 59
Total # of movies I saw in the theater, 2003: 57

Total # of movies I saw for the first time, 2004: 291
Total # of movies I saw for the first time, 2003: 246

Damn, just missed 60 movies at the theater, and I was only 9 new movies away from seeing 300 new movies this year. Now that’s a damn dirty shame.

Total # of CDs I bought 2004: 211

Total # of DVDs I bought 2004: 286+
Total # of DVDs I own: 576

I’m not quite sure on the total number of DVDs I bought this year, since I think I started the tally after the New Year started. For those of you doing the math though, that’s right. I roughly doubled my DVD collection this year. Also kind of frightening is how close the number of DVDs bought is to the number of movies seen.

Well, that’s me in a nutshell. So long 2004. Happy New Year’s everybody!