A Year In Review

2006 was a pretty momentous year for me, both good and bad. And even the bad had some positives associated with it.

I ended 2005 on a pretty low note, having gotten a DUI in November. Most of my friends can attest to the fact that I'm a guy who enjoys a drink, and though it's only a few times a year I get drunk, I'd never really put the necessary thought into being responsible and making arrangements for a taxi or whatever. San Diego is not that organized and friendly when it comes to those arrangements and programs, not that that's an excuse. Anyway, it took several months for that to wind its way through the legal system, and I didn't start my actual court-mandated DUI program until mid-October of this year. I was amazed and humbled right away that me, a 37-year-old guy, was carrying quite a bit of misinformation and just a pretty stupid attitude about alcohol and impairment. It's a twelve week program that consists of twelve group sessions (rotating cast of others in the same boat, their stories and discussion with the counselor), six education classes (group activities, films) and three self-help meetings (you have to arrange your own and they can be AA or SmartRecovery or others). I'm almost done--just one self-help and one group session left, plus I think I need to attend a MADD class as well--and I've gotten a lot out of it. It's eaten up my Tuesdays and Wednesdays the past three months, but it's not that much to ask. Once that's over, well, it's not really over, as you're on probation for five to seven years (I'm not sure what it says on my court assessment), so during that time the police have the right to pull you over for any reason, even if you're driving fine, and test you, and you would violate your probation with any measurable amount of alcohol. That is, you could be well under the legal limit, but still be in violation, if you had as little as a .01 BAC.

Anyway, that's been one of those things that's negative but has some positive aspects. I mean, I realize that if it didn't happen when it did, I'd get a DUI eventually with my pretty cavalier attitude about having a few and the driving home. So now I've learned a costly lesson. One tip for those who may get in the same trouble: don't get a lawyer. In very few cases will a lawyer do anything for you but take your money. A public defender is fine. One thing a lawyer can help in is getting your license back faster and making you a better deal so you don't get community service, but mostly you want to take your chances with the public defender and save your money.

On a positive note, I bought a 2006 Toyota Prius and have been really happy with it. And yes, I bought it after my license was suspended, but that's a story for another time. I have to think I saved at least a few hundred dollars so far on gas. My only regret is it looks dirty quickly, as I got it in black--my first black vehicle. But it looks pretty cool and is fun to drive.

I've been through my first through third iPods in the past couple years. The second was a 60GB and it was stolen by my movers, though I didn't realize it for a few weeks. I'd been on a laptop since I moved out and had constant difficulty using my iPod and iTunes with Windows. When I bought the new 80GB Video iPod a few months ago, I also bought my first Mac, and love it. It has its hiccups as well with some applications freezing up--if I download a lot of music to iTunes it will often freeze--but overall it's great. I have Office and Final Cut and a bunch of stuff on there I haven't really used much yet.

I had been living in an apartment for over a year-and-a-half when my friend Lisa got her realtor's license and gave me a much-needed push to buy something. We found a great condo not any farther from my kids with three bedrooms, three baths and an office. I bought it in June but was in my lease until October; luckily the tenant who was staying her was all too happy to stay until then. So I've been in here almost three months. It's really a great difference. My apartment was small and got little sun; now I can spread out and so can my kids, each with their own bedroom. Their rooms were the first things I really worked on, buying new furniture, and then I had my handyman friend Danny paint the whole place (except my bedroom because I'm not sure about that yet), which made it much warmer and homier. I also got office furniture, so now I can write again, and have a place for the creme of my books. Becoming a solo homeowner has probably been the big accomplishment of my year.

On the work front, I got a promotion and additional responsibilities in my job as a Workers Compensation underwriter, and I learned how to handle visiting clients, despite not being a small-talk kind of guy. Our busy times are the financial quarters, so this past month has been the most demanding and draining I've ever experienced, in any job, and I've worked harder than I ever have. Which is rewarding and I feel pretty good about it, now that it's almost over aside from wrapping things up when we're back at work on Tuesday. I haven't had my annual review yet but I did get a nice holiday bonus, so I think I'm doing pretty well.

On the creative side, I finally finished a six issue miniseries I wrote, based on a cocreation of mine and my friend Joe's. We still hope to do something with it, hopefully this year. It ended up being a very personal project and at times was so depressing that I had to put it aside, as it reflected my own pain through the main character. Actually, I don't know if I can write any other way. I also put together a proposal for the Wu-Tang graphic novel project from Hachette Book Group that I mentioned before. I haven't heard much on that lately, so while I will follow up again, I think I'm out of that one, but I'm glad I tried and got pretty close, and at least I have a good proposal piece out of it.

On the romantic side, I had one relationship, an odd but very intense one, that I just ended last Friday (after many attempts on both sides). I started dating a coworker in a different department about seven months ago. It wasn't until a couple dates before I learned that this woman, who is only 24, was still in a relationship with a guy with whom she was still living. This was the only real problem in our relationship, but obviously it was a huge one, and eventually it ended it. It was a weird experience, being sort of an 8-5 boyfriend, where you emailed and talked to this person all day long, and made out with them before they went home, and sometimes at lunch, and yet we had very few actual dates, or times where we were together outside of work. Those times were pretty good, though. It did make me feel very attractive and we really did have, and probably will continue to have, a strong personal connection beyond just the physical, though the physical part was really incredible. Writing has always been my best way to express myself, and I really took to text messaging with a passion! One thing I did that I'm kind of proud of was that for Xmas, rather than just shower her with expensive gifts, I decided to give her a real piece of myself, and so, despite the demands of work, I managed to write a 75 page book for her on a handmade journal I bought, all anecdotes and thoughts and meanderings from myself. She was appreciative of it. When I told a female friend what I did, she was visibly stunned, saying it was the most romantic gift she'd ever heard of, which was cool to hear. I guess I have that in me. Anyway, this woman is a sweet person despite the situation she put herself in, and I don't have any bad feelings for her. To be honest, I love her, but it's just not something that is going to work out, at least until she figures out what she wants. We did have one last, amazing time together--breakup sex, I guess--which I'd never had before.

And that's about it. Now it's New Year's Eve, and rather than going off to a party and wondering how I'll get my drunk ass home, I'm just hanging out. I cleaned my bathroom, I broke down the many Xmas boxes that were lying around, and I did grocery shopping since the store will be closed tomorrow. I also rented some movies. I'm going to have fun and will probably stay up past midnight, though I refuse to acknowledge it by watching one of those stupid specials, and I'll sleep in. Tomorrow I'll hang out some more and do some reading. Happy New Year.