two zero zero six

Time on the X-Axis, Fortune on the Y-Axis

Before we all go panties-on-our-head about what's going to be in this post, let me sum it up like this:

January-May: Don't remember.
June-August 25: Bored.
August 25-26: Dis-O!
August 27-September 16: Happy!
September 17-December 21: Fuck!
December 22-December 31: Not So Fuck!

There should be something really, really awful about summing my year up in six lines. After all: I'm a complex human being with feelings. But the gist of it is true. I actually don't remember much before the summer, except that it was the second semester at Rice and it was probably fun. And there was Beer Bike, which it just an enormous positive blur in my head. I remember the summer, because I spent a good amount of it doing circles in a nice office chair while working diligently for the US Government. I remember coming back to Rice, and how fun that was. And then it seemed like things just sort of went downhill from there.

The positive thing is that I'm ending this year on an upbeat feeling. My grades are better than they've ever been, my life feels like it's headed in the right direction, and I finally feel like I've earned (or re-earned) the respect of everyone around me. Go me. HAPPY FEELINGS.

Enough about me. Let's break down a few Top 10's.

Top Ten New Artists of Kyle's Life in 2006
Not necessarily music that came out in 2006, but music that came (or rather, came back in the case of Muse) to me in 2006.

1. Muse
2. Explosions in the Sky
3. Gang of Four
4. Editors
5. Spoon
   
6. She Wants Revenge
7. Gnarls Barkley
8. Massive Attack
9. The National
   
10. Hard-fi

Top 10 Songs of 2006
Self-explanatory.

1. Beck - Elevator Music
2. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
3. Muse - Knights of Cydonia
4. Jurassic 5 - Work It Out
5. The Killers - Sam's Town
6. Muse - Starlight
7. Elefant - Sirens
8. T.I. - What You Know
9. OK Go - Here It Goes Again
10. Tool - 10,000 Days

Best movie I saw this year: The Fountain
I almost cried. Yeah, it was moving. And I'm man enough to admit it. Let's see if you're man enough to call me a pussy over the Internet, uhuhuhuhuh. Runner-ups: The Departed, Casino Royale.

Favorite Party: Beer Bike
Come on. It's an all-day drunkfest from 7ish in the morning until pass-out time around 4 or 5 in the morning the next day. Beer Bike is also my best memory of the Long Hall seniors and running crew. Nothing like starting with a box of Franzia and ending by watching Happiness. Runner-up: Festivus Party 2006, because we got everyone laid.

Person of the Year: Me
Like every year. Runner-ups: Louis Warner, because he's the badass-est.

Pet of the Year: Lil Turrl
The resident snapping turtle of the WRC 90's. He's fucking boss.

New Years Resolution: No Smoking
Okay, that might be an embellishment. Like I've said before, there's hardly ever anything besides my willpower and concern for my own will and respect for my mommy that keeps me from smoking. I might allow myself the weekly slip, but smoking on the weekdays is over.

If This Year Could Talk, It Would Say:
"I hope you were paying attention."

And I Would Say:
"Don't worry, I was."

YAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAY!!!!

Subject	Course					Course Title	Final Grade	GPA Hours
ECON	211					PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS I	P	0.000
ELEC	241					FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING I	B	4.000
ELEC	261					ELECTRONIC MATERIALS AND QUANTUM DEVICES	B	3.000
MATH	212					MULTIVARIABLE CALCULUS	B+	3.000
SOCI	321					CRIMINOLOGY	A	3.000

First semester I haven't gotten a C.

HAHAHAHAA! I GOT A B IN 241! A B+ IN MULTI! TAKE THAT MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!

Again, it's too late for this shit

Before I pass the fuck out:

• Finished Bright Lights, Big City. Best book I've read in quite a long time
• Facebook won't import posts that are bigger than your mama's caboose. Good to know.
• I'm busy writing a lengthy year-in-review post, but it's hard to discern what should be written about on the Internet and what shouldn't. The entire year, beginning and end, has been quite a big one for me. Some of the more profound events in my life probably shouldn't be danced around on the Internet but, fuck, it's my journal! Oy, vey.

Top 10 Tracks since I got Last.fm:

Makes sense to me.

Adam Adam West West.

I'll find yooooooouuuuuu!

Hola, Caped Crusader!

This is great! The place is already decorated!

First things first:

• Doom House
• Ransom
• Muse - Starlight
• ...he was delicious (apologies to Gerald Ford)
• And speaking of Muse, ...bleh.
  

Now, let's talk about how much I'm enjoying this break. I woke up at 3PM today but only because my mommy made me. Without a doubt, I am seriously pissing off the rest of my family that has to get up and be places by 9AM every day. I could reverse my sleep schedule completely at this point if anyone was willing to let me try. It's really great that I did one productive things today-- filling my car with washer fluid-- and yet I feel like the most accomplished person on the planet Earth.

Oh, you know what? I don't suppose I posted anything about what I got for Christmas. See, usually I'm in the boat that everyone else is in. You know the boat: no Christmas list, 20 gift cards under the tree, none of them ever spent by the time the next Christmas rolls around. I seriously have roughly $50 in Starbucks money that's been building up over the past three years. I guess people buy me Starbucks because they figure I'm trendy and I like chai tea lattes, in which case they would be right. But gift cards are about as practical for me as leaving your wallet on Jupiter. I just don't use them, or I forget, or I leave them in the asscrack of my desk for six months.

This year, I had a dream. And a list. A Christmas list. And because I think I floored my family with the gesture of even making a list, it was fulfilled as follows:

Figure (a)Figure (b)Figure (c)Figure (d)

As you can see, I did all right. There are a few semantic issues, though. I'm going to have to de-loft my bed back at Rice to put those two awesome prints up. I was planning on doing that anyway, especially since Louie said I could take the desk that's in there for my own use and throw out the other one.

But where will Louie put his computer? And where will my STUFF go? It's a quandary is what it is. Maybe me and Louie will push our beds together and do something extremely homo with our room. It's the only way I can put up my new favorite things.

Brent got my that there Wonder Showzen on DVD, as noted in (c). You know, that was a big item on this year's list because I've found that Wonder Showzen isn't really all that useful if it isn't portable and easy to use. Hooking my laptop up to the big TV every time I want to watch it is time consuming and not spontaneous and generally very, very difficult to do.

Yes, by the way, that IS Pokemon Emerald and a Game Boy Micro. The way I figure it, I forfeited all of my cool points somewhere months ago and I really have nothing to lose. So hey, why not play some daggum video games? The GBM is tiny, and will take the place of the cigarette packs I used to carry in my pocket come Jan. 1. Yeah, I'm trying to quit, but I'm not going to be all uppity about it.

Yes, I also got a fedora and some sweaters. Anyone who would peer into my wardrobe would comment that I have way too many shirts and not enough sweaters, but not anymore. Let's pray it dips below 80 in Houston sometime before the winter is over.

Pez is a staple of any holiday, if you ask me. They put heroin in it.