Guitar Resumes

Add this to the resolutions.

My sister and I both have Guitars that we never really learned how to play. She stated that every year she puts 'learn to play guitar' on her list of new years resolutions and every year we fall short.

So we decided we would encourage each other to learn by learning together.

Working at a Music/Video/Book store is helpful, and I picked up a lesson book on how to teach yourself guitar. We watched the video yesterday (the beginning was a bit redundant) and got A Major, D and E chords to learn. So that is our assignment for this week. Play about twenty minutes a day, dip fingers in rubbing alcohol, and try to get those chords down. Then we need to learn to transition between them.

Nothing like saying "hey, stop the song for a bit, I need to find D."

The mountain is calling my name. Though the fog has still not lifted. Got to head back up and take advantage of the day.

Snowboarding Status

So, what have I been up to?

So far this year, despite having a season pass, I've been on the mountain a grand total of tree times, counting right now. Which means that I will never buy a season pass again because circumstances outside of my control (accidents, car rentals, weather, bad tires) somehow prevent me from going up to the mountain like I want to. I knew I should have purchased a Toyota.

Last week I came up and got all my gear together when I noticed there was something strange in my ski goggles. On closer inspection, it proved to be Ferret Vomit.

Damn Ferrets.

I have also discovered I'm not in the shape I want to be, though I have gotten better. I own Four (yes, four) snowboard, though one, which is my first, is actually a cheap snowboard that I never really liked. Its a little to short for me for one. I hang onto it in case I have somebody who's a beginner that wants to learn, like some nieces of mine.

The second board is a little longer, but still short, that isn't that good for just riding but is great for working on my airborne stunts. I'm really starting to get some air, now I have to work some nose grabs and other things into that mix and actually landing afterwards.

The third board is my dragon board, which has step in bindings that is great for riding but I always face plant on it if I try to get any air. When I ride and almost biff it on this board, I usually recover almost immediately.

THe fourth board is my latest, the yellow one, though I don't like it because the bindings don't fit. Its probably my nicest board, so when the season ending sales hit, I'll look at getting those replaced for next year.

So the ones I generally take are the second and third ones. I was riding the dragon board earlier, didn't attempt anything other then to ride switch for a while (for how long I've been riding, I honestly should be better) and a brief jump that ended disastrously on my butt, and currently I'm in the lodge hoping that the this fog will clear up so I can try a few more runs for a bit. I think I'm going to ride the other board and hit the terrain park for a few more hours and head home.

Sister's got a toyota. I've got the ski pass. We're heading up again Friday for the ski free day. I think that's the other thing keeping me off the mountain. I like riding with others.

Blogging, Myspace and the Military

Oh how nice, I'm glad to see that the entire freakin' hospital in Kosovo was doing this and they were cracking down on me for having a tradtional blog. . .

And for the same reasons too. . .

My idiot NCOIC didn't bother enforcing the blog rule with the other two soldiers in the section, who both had active myspace acccounts. But me, well, because I had a fairly well known blog (not so much now) I was the exception to the rule.

The hypocracy kills me.

I mentioned a long time ago that MySpace fell under the same jurisdiction as blogs, I even mentioned this to several people in the chain because I felt I was being unfairly singled out. Not only that, people were accessing their Myspace accounts all the time and posting pictures on them all the while doing this on government computers.

But no, I was the one singled out.

And people wonder why I came back from my deployment rather sour and grumpy.

Been home for just over a year now and I still look back on lessons learned from that experience.

Homework Status

So, I'm ending my second week of this quarter and so far everything seems to be going fairly smoothly.

So far.

My first real assignment in 3d Modeling was making a robot. This is the rough work-in-progress. I decided to do something along the lines of a dinosaur bird type thing.

View Robot HERE on Devart.

I get to fine tune it this week.

Meanwhile, in my character development and design class, I had this assignment that I ended up doing backward. Once upon a time I used to not draw humans at all. I've gotten a lot better, but now I need to learn how to color.

I took a basic character design and had to give them traits of a character type (ie Villain, hero, side kick, comic relief, etc) that you find in a story. Then you had to take that character and modify them so that they fit another role. I ended up making a girl and giving her five character roles. The last one is my favorite. I think this is obvious.

No, just because she's blonde and a chick, this is NOT me.

Character Types

It was actually fun to do, but now I have to go back and actually do the assignment properly. Which is going to have to happen tomorrow.

Faces

Look! Imbedded Videos!

Blogger is cooperating now!

I have posted a link to this before, but now you can see it in full imbedded goodness courtesy of YouTube.

This was filmed in 2000, I was just 19, and I was very fascinated with my webcam.

NOTE- THis was imbedded via the YouTube option, it is ANOTHER faces video I did later.

I will now forego the YouTube download and use their imbedding option since apparently it takes them about a day to upload. . . *grumble*

Video Blogging with a Military Humvee

These are some old videos, taken around Summer of 2003 in fact.

Since they are incriminating, I'll have you know that 1) I wasn't driving and 2) I would NEVER do this to a Humvee now.

That said, they are kind of cool.



Mud Boggin'



For further news, click the Video's tab. All of my former videos are now imbedded via YouTube! Yay!

iPods are Stupid

Let Me Explain.

I had a ton of songs on an external harddrive that went capoot right about when I got home from Yellowstone. That in itself was infuriating. However, it wasn't a complete and total loss because I had about 20 gigs of songs stored on my iPod.

And there they sat, waiting for me to figure out how to get them off of there and back onto my harddrive. I wasn't sure about how to go about this so I just kept them there.

Well, with nothing really to do, I decided to get my computers all updated and running (including my new and improved Desktop which I only use for school at the moment, and not for surfing the net as that's what my little laptop is for).

My mind went back on my music dilemma, and how I can get those 20 gigs of songs off of the iPod and onto another harddrive. So I just plugged it in to see what would happen and low and behold, iTunes came up, hooked up Fuji the iPod, and the proceeded to DELETE MY ENTIER LIBRARY OFF OF IT! Further more, it stated that my updates were complete, even though there was nothing to update onto it.

???

What is the matter with Apple? I had a couple of songs that will be impossible to replace on that thing that I was grateful I still had, when it turns out that once I plugged my iPod in, I would have lost them anyway. I don't get it? What's the point of the freakin' iPod? Why do people think these things are so awesome? I hate them! They're rediculously Expensive and they Suck! GARRR!!!!!

Well, now I have to find a way to replace my iTunes Library that I lost, and I think the best method to do this is not entirely legal.

MP3s are now officially a pain in the butt.

Ferret Update

I think I need to update on the ferrets, since I haven't posted any pictures of them recently.

They are alive and well, and continue to amuse us. If we aren't sure where the ferrets are when we let them out of the cage, it never fails to check the pajama drawer and find them curled up in a pair of my pants. Feisty littl ferrets, they have become quite enduring.


My nephew Cody loves the ferrets. He often times will get on his hands and knees and pretend to be one, including the curling up in a ball under a pile of blankets or what not. The ferrets put up with him, which is one of the reasons why I find them so loveable. You can just pester them and they go about their business without a care in the world. We have come to an understanding with the ferrets. You pick them up, pet them and cuddle them for about a minute or two and put them back on the ground where they will bound on their merry way. A few minutes later they'll be back again to see what you're up to and you can pick them up and pester them again.


This was Blaine a few weeks ago, right after I picked him up from the vet for ear plug removal. The look on my face translates to "I just spent close to $500 bailing this little furball out of the vet". Yes, I have learned the financial burdons of the ferret the hard way. It put quite a damper on my bank account. Good news is, Blaine is recovering very well.

I've had dogs and I've never spent as much money on them as I've done on this little fuzzbutt.


Abby is currently really fluffy, fat and cute. Blaine's been kind of scruffy and skinny on account of not being able to digest anything (though since he's been recovering his been catching up). I've been wanting to take them out into the snow to see what they would do, however the previous snow falls Blaine hasn't been well enough to go out and play. Since his fur has finally regrown on his belly, I thought this last snow would be ok to take them out.

I took them out one at a time, as two ferrets outside, even in harnesses is a handful. Abby didn't want to play. She hunkered next to the door shivering as if to say "let me back in!" So I didn't make her play for very long.


Blaine, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of the powdery white stuff. He immediately started bounding through it and trying to burrow in it, just checking it out and having a fun ferret time. I walked him around a bit and just observed him explore in the snow. He does a lot better in the harness then Abby does, I let him go where he wants to go for the most part, but when he starts heading in a direction where I don't like him heading, I only have to apply a little force to the lead and he'll come bounding back.


Pipe cleaner tail!

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One of the funny things about Abby is her thieving skills, right under your nose. Her favorite things to steal seem to be pens with rubber grips. For the most part, I don't mind, as she generally hides them under my dresser or in the bottom drawer of my bed. I think its a game of wills between me and her.


Specifically with my Wacom Drawing Tablet Stylus. If I think I've misplaced it, I just have to let her sniff it out and sure enough, she'll find it. To her its not an expensive tool, its another Ferret toy. And she'll try to steal it right out of my hands. This is bar none her favorite thing to steal.


I call Abby the Slinky Rat, because she actually has rat like features for a ferret. She's the more active and playful one, and she's also the one that dooks more. She tends to give ferret kisses too. She'll lick your ear, your nose, your eyebrow or whatever.


Blaine's pretty silent, he doesn't say a whole lot (but he does snore!). Blaine's the ankle biter (literally!). He will nip at your bare feet if you have them available, which is why I've learned to always wear socks when the ferret is out. He'll tunnel up my pantleg sometimes and if he reaches bare skin, he'll nip my calf. I've also had him rub up against my bare back and latch onto a piece of skin showing. It doesn't feel very good when he does that. When he does play, he likes to playbite.

He also eats earplugs. So I consider earplugs to be forbidden anywhere a ferret can get to them. I'm not going to have another one of those removed from a ferret gut if I can help it.

Cars and Snow

It Snowed. Again.

I was actually at my sister's house helping her out when it started snowing, and my concern for how my rental car would fare in it was rightfully grave. I made my way home and found out unless I go about ten miles an hour, I have zero control in turns, which was proven when I smacked into the curb while I tried to make a gradual turn and my car just kept going straight. I hope they don't notice the dent in the wheel. Or maybe I should complain that driving this car is a safety hazard. I for one, had freakin' studless snow tires on my car and those things are freakin' great! I have purposely tried to slide in them just to test them and they are awesome. I was going to hit the mountain tomorrow (er, today) but there is no way that rental will make it up the mountain.

So once I planted myself back at home, I decided to make a vow to stay there for the rest of the night. And of course, here I am.

Fortunately I don't have to work tomorrow (er, today), however it's my sister's birthday and we're going to go over there and give her a cake and sing Happy Birthday where she will be blessed with my vocal talents. And I say that with only the most blatant sarcasm. I have no singing talents.

I upgraded Internet Explorer and it seems to have downed a few notches when it comes to uploading things online. Grr. . .

Best and Worst - Movies 2006

I don't really see this as becoming a movie blog, honestly I don't, but because I work in a movie rental place, I have a tendency to see a lot of movies, especially recently, when before I was barely watching them at all.

Funny, I still haven't seen a ton of movies, so I'm going to leave it the top and bottom 5 movies I saw this year.

Top Five (in no particular order)

1) Little Miss Sunshine - I think what won me over in this film is the VW Bus, as I could totally picture my family in those circumstances. We had a car much like that, an '81 Dodge Ram Minivan we called the Blue Bomber. That aside, there is a disclaimer I meant to add to my previous review of this film is that the humor is kind of dark and its not for everybody. My parents rented this on reading my recommendation and were more then a little disturbed at the heroin snorting grandfather. This movie felt a lot like a snowball to me. I was snickering at the beginning and as the movie progressed, I found it funnier and funnier.

2) Thank You for Smoking - I don't know why, maybe its the dry humor or the Libertarian Subject Matter of 'stop letting politicians make all your decisions and learn about it yourself' mentality, this movie is excellent. And I hate smoking.

3) Fearless - I've discovered that the subtitled foreign film doesn't bother me. This was the product of a date with a guy that I think wants something more and I am more then content to remain just friends. That said, I think I enjoyed the movie more then he did. Mostly because being subtitled, you have to keep your attention on the film to understand what's going on. Which might be why I liked it so much.

4) World Trade Center - I kind of avoided the whole 9/11 themed movies when they came out, mostly because I sometimes find it all drilled into my head and I'm a bit weary of it. However, I finally did see this film despite my initial weariness of it being an Oliver Stone flick and I was impressed. He focused on two Port Authority Police Officers and you experience the towers fall from their standpoint, and the knowledge that this is a true story makes it especially poignant. I hear United 93 is excellent as well, which I haven't seen yet.

5) Hard Candy - Call me strange, demented, or disturbing, but I really liked this film. And its definitely one I wouldn't recommend to just anybody (so don't go rent it mom and dad), but then again, I really LIKE films like this. A 13 year old girl meets up with a photographer in his thirties that she met in an online chat and it is soon revealed that she's been stalking him, and goes out to teach him a lesson. Throughout the movie you're wondering who really is the bad guy in this movie, and there are more then a few twists and turns. I would call it a thriller to an extent, but I watched it after having it reviewed in my Critical Thinking class and it really does make you think.

Others worthy of consideration :
Click - the running gag with the humping dog really killed it for me, but otherwise I really liked this film. So sue me if you agree with all the people who landed it in their 'worst of 2006' list. And I like Adam Sandler flicks, they make me laugh.
V for Vendetta - I just liked it, ok?
Devil Wears Prada - I love Meryl Streep, so much that I really hate her in this movie.
Invincible - A feel good 'Rudy' flick, problem is it was over just when it was getting really good.
Cars - Pixar animated it. Enough said.
Art School Confidential - Definitely not for everybody, but as a former art student that used to have talent that was successfully killed by art school, I can say that I can understand the subtle humor in this comedy/drama/suspense type movie. And I laughed at a few scenes most non-former art students probably wouldn't get.
Over The Hedge - Best animated picture about talking animals this year (unless Ice Age 2 beat it, and for some reason I douht this. As a loyal listener of Glenn Beck, I refuse to watch Happy Feet)

Movies that may have made this list had I seen them (in other words, on my to see list): Casino Royale (not a Bond fan, but I keep hearing good things), The Departed (Lot's of buzz on this one, and the premise intrigues me), The Pursuit of Happyness (Have gotten a lot of good feedback from people on this), Stranger then Fiction (I don't know why, but I really want to see this film), Snakes on a Plane (so bad its good? Actually, from what I hear its not bad at all), For Your Consideration (Christopher Guest is God of the Mockumentary)

5 films to avoid at all costs

1) Date Movie - I was intrigued to see this film for one reason and one reason only. Alyson Hannigan. Can I say wasted talent? This was by far the worst movie I had seen all year. And further more, it's garage sale fodder because I bought the blasted thing! Fortunately, I got it on sale used so I'm not out more then I have to be. I vow to never see a "(enter word here) Movie" again. Which makes me ashamed to admit I actually laughed at the trailer for Epic Movie. Why, Willow, WHY????

2/3) Open Season & The Wild - Ok, so I lumped the two together, I've been in an Animation Bid Lately. Is it just me or was the talking animal fare out in force last year? I was unfortunate enough to actually pay to see Open Season in the theater, and it was so bad my four year old nephew begged his parents to take him home. Fresh from a summer in Yellowstone, I found the whole thing about a ranger taking in a grizzly bear a little more unbelievable then necessary, like what is a deer doing partnering up with a grizzly anyway? (oh, wait, that's right, this IS an Animated Feature) but the ending was corny and cheeky, "Even though under normal circumstances we have to eat each other to survive, can't we all join forces to stop the BIG BAD HUNTERS???" Also, anybody say the word 'stereotype?' In regards to The Wild, I found the animation to look awesome, but the story was blah and what's with the Wildebeast trying to ascend to a higher level in the food chain? I would hope for more from Disney, part of me felt like they were trying to make Lion King again. And the thing had way to many plotholes (how could those animals survive at sea without anything to eat?) For a more superior look at Animated Talking Animals, give Over the Hedge a shot instead.

4) My Super Ex-Girlfriend - We recently rented this. I cringed. It was bad. So horribly bad. And way to much sex. I don't see how that could even be enjoyable.

5) Underworld: Evolution - I would think that this movie would be the type I like, as I did like the first, but I found it to be grossly underwhelming, and confusing, and somewhat of a mess. The opening sequence was horrendously difficult to make out, it was like the cameraman was having a siezure while filming it. I guess the 'avoid it at all costs' title may be a bit misleading, but then again I have a tendency to not try to see movies I think will suck so filling this list is somewhat difficult.

Movies that would likely make this list which is why I haven't seen them: Barnyard (hermaphrodite cows creep me out), Big Momma's House 2 (the first one was bad enough), Little Man (White Chicks and made by part of the team responsible for the (adjective)- Movie franchise, 'nough said), Santa Clause 3 (honestly, I didn't like the first one when I saw it and found the second one to be retarded so why would I bother thinking they got it right the third time around? These things deplete in quality unless you're talking Lord of the Rings Trilogy)

List of All Movies that Came Out in 2006

Car's in the Shop

You would think that after a month, I could get two fender benders worked out with the respected insurance companies, right?

Wrong. I'm still finaggling with this, with one insurance company sending me a check without telling me they sent one (and I never recalled getting the first check, so they had to stop payment on it and send me another one).

But all in all, I have my car finally in the shop and they have issued me a rental. . .

It's fire engine red. And a chevy.

Actually, by all accounts its kind of a cute car. Except for being an automatic where I'm used to driving a manual transmission, I've caught myself several times trying to step on the phantom clutch, though I have tried to shift it once or twice too. Doesn't work. And I have a sneaky suspicioun that the last person (or two or three) smoked in it because it reeks. Actually, that's enough to make me want to take it back and get a different car, but I shouldn't be spending many hours in it so I think I can survive.

I might take it up a mountain perhaps. I haven't been boarding nearly as much as I've wanted to this season.

Thoughts on School

I've had a lot of thought about school and where I'm going with it. In such a way that I made a decision to really try out this course I'm in to make sure its what I want to do, and the education i'm recieving is worth it to go through the classes that I don't particularly care for. See, there are some General Ed classes that I have no desire to take but are required, and to get the degree, I have to take those.

Usually, i take 1 Core class which is essential to my Degree and two general ed classes. The core classes are seven credits and the general ed classes are usually 3. The thing is, a lot of my general ed classes transferred, but there are still some that I have to take. But for my degree, which is primarily art based, my concern is why do I have to take all of these General Education classes when I already have an AA degree and most of those should have been out of the way. By all rights I should be a Junior and focusing on my degree. The pains of being a transfer student I guess.

So I decided that this quarter, I'm going to take 2 core classes to make sure that this is even the route I want to go and that I'll get the education I need out of it. I'll hopefully know midway through this quarter if this is doable or not.

See, my further concern is the fact that I seemed to have gotten my As perhaps a little to easily. Sometimes I ran out of time and totally shammed some of my projects and still got full credit for it. This is kind of a red flag to me. I did my best in some work, but not all of it. I would like to say I'm a total genius and these assignments came easily enough to me, but I have no idea what kind of grades other people recieved. Just a bit of a cause for concern.

Meanwhile, online education is expensive. I'm thinking of other options, and maybe if I can get the education I want, I can try to negotiate through some of these other core classes. I mean, I require a certain amount of credits in Science and social sciences, but because I have those credits from another school in classes that aren't offered at this one, why can't those credits transfer as well? What's wrong with that?

I think I'll talk to my advisor about this as it will continue to be an area that will affect my further education with Westwood. I'm going to try to negotiate with it.

Anyway, I am looking forward to this particular Quarter. 3d Modeling and Animation and Character Development and Design. I'm hoping to have a lot of fun this quarter. But anyway, this quarter will be the deciding factor on whether or not I stick with this program.

New Years Resolutions 2006/2007

It's a new Year! Let's see how I did on Resolutions for 2006.

• Run Bloomsday
  Yep! Ran Bloomsday this year and am actually wearing the t-shirt I got for completing it. Unfortunately, I can't do it this year due to the conflict with Drill Sergeant School.
  
• Find a Dojo and get back into some kind of Martial Art.
  Karate Kenpo. . . however, see next resolution. . .
  -Stick with said martial art unless I get an acceptable reason to get out.
  Stuck with it all right. . . for a whole two weeks.
  
  I was actually doing very well until I slapped my chin into a tree snowboarding, and then I had to take a break. . . and with Yellowstone and life, I never went back.
  
• Buy a car (guaranteed to get this resolution done)
  I got home from the military on a Friday and bought a new car the next day.
  -Make it a dependable, economical, inexpensive car.
  2003 Mazda Protege. I think it fits the bill. . .
  
• Make a final decision with the army. Stay in? Get out? New MOS? ???
  Made a decision. Found a unit I love, a job I love and reenlisted in September. Leave for school in March.
  
• Get back into Painting.
  Grr. . . this is a repeat resolution I'll do this year, becuase I REALLY want to get back into Painting.
  
• Get Creature up and running again.
  Its up and running again, yes, but kind of in an on again off again state. . . *sighs*
  
• Go to school.
  :D
  -Make a decision on a major.
  Currently, it's animation. I'm not sure if I'm going to stick to this school or not. . . more for this year's resolutions.
  
• Look through these current prospects and make a decision if there is anything there or not.
  -If there is, explore it more.
  -If there isn't, work on new prospects.
  -Work on that dating issue altogether.
  This one was kind of hit and miss. I did pretty good at the beginning of the year, but a part of me is thinking that I'm destined to remain perpetually single. . .
  
• New Zealand/Australia. Somehow, someway. I hope.
  This was kind of a minion thing, my Minions at Silent Running were trying to get me to go down under and I really wanted to go but a few things came up.
  I didn't have anybody to go with me and I didn't want to travel to meet what are undoubtedly nice but still strangers in a strange land by myself.
  My trip to Yellowstone took care of my summer plans.
  Availability and funds didn't allow for it.
  I would love to someday make it down there, but I think I've kind of lost my Patron Goddess status (and haven't heard from Murray in a long time) and I don't have the minion force I once did. And I can't afford to make a trip down under at this time. Unless I do it work study or something, which I am considering.
  
• Pilgrimage to Utah to visit friends and family and check out famous Utah powder conditions for Snowboarding Purposes.
  Never made it. . . *sighs* Other then coming back from Kosovo and going to Yellowstone, my traveling was very negligable this year.
  
• NanoWrimo in November. Maybe.
  HAH! I do better just leaving this one off from now on. I write novels on my own time all the time. And school doesn't allow for me to do this.
  
• Website. Just, well, it needs something else. Facelift maybe? Who knows?
  It's kind of part way there. . . I need to finish it.
  -More in line of a webserver change.
  Went from Yahoo to Bluehost in February or March I think. I do like my current webserver quite a bit.
  

So, I accomplished Ten, I failed at four, and I'm kind of on the border of two. I would say that this year was pretty successful with the resolution type thingees!

And now what do I want to get done for 2007?

• Earn My Hat
  -Have all six modules down before I leave for Drill Sergeant School.
  -Better be in better shape then current over the next two and a half months.
  
• Make E6/ Staff Sergeant (I wasn't ready in 2005, I've felt ready for a while now though)
  
• Make a decision with School. (stay with current school? Find a new one?)
  
• Get Back Into Painting (repeat resolution)
  
• Pay off all current debt (car, best buy card main ones) with an exception of student loans.
  
• Roadtrip. California and Utah primary destination.
  
• Get a better sleep schedule (one where I'm not as prone to sleeping in so late.)
  
• Keep ferrets from having to go to the vet for Earplug removals and things of that nature.
  

this list is prone to being added to as I think about other resolutions I would like to accomplish this year.

2006 Year in Review

01. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Not as much as last year, but working in Yellowstone is probably the main item of note.

02. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I did fairly well, accomplished about ten or so. Yes, I'll make more, they're just something that I like to look back on at the end of the year.

03. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not this year that I can think of really, other then a few of my cousins whom I haven't seen in a while.

04. Did anyone close to you die?
Not this year.

05. What countries did you visit?
Kosovo, Iceland and the United States. My traveling was done primarily last year.

06. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
More motivation and sleep discipline. Should get that in Drill Sergeant School.

07. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Not so many that really stand out this year. December 3rd, because I got hit by two people on the same day.

08. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I guess getting back to school was.

09. What was your biggest failure?
I regret not sticking it out in Yellowstone. But I wouldn't have had the opportunity to spend the rest of the summer at home with my sister and her family who I *never* get to see. I hadn't really got to bond with her kids before and I got quite attached to them so it's kind of a wash.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Does the headfirst crash into a tree via snowboard that required 14 stitches count?

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My car and my ferrets. :) Go a year without a means of transportation and you tell me how important a car is in America?

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
I hate this question. . .

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
A couple of people's did, one would be roommate comes to mind.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Where didn't it go? Car, TV, New Bed, Computer, a lot of things.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Yellowstone. I was so pumped for this.

16. What songs will always remind you of 2006?
A lot of songs did, though a lot of them were also throwbacks of 2005 that I hadn't heard until 2006. But I don't listen to the radio much so I can't say any particular song does. I actually followed American Idol this year, maybe one of those songs might make me think of 2006?

I work in the music department regularly and I have no idea of how to answer this question. *sigh*

17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
The whole year, happier. This time compared to last year, sadder.

ii. Thinner or fatter?
About the same, though a little thinner. I REALLY need to get into better shape and be more active.

iii. Richer or poorer?
Poorer. I came off a deployment last year where I had nothing to spend money on. Now I have bills and rent and I'm in school again.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Painted, been more active, yadda yadda yadda.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Slept less.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Very lowkey, with family. It was very nice.

22. Did you fall in love in 2006?
I don't think the word 'love' can be applied to me. I love people like my family and friends, but I don't think I'll ever get this 'love of another human being in that intimate kind of way' down.

23. How many one night stands?
*grumbles* Why does this question have to be here? It is stricken from all future surveys of this nature. 0.

24. What were your favourite TV programs?
Last year this time, I didn't watch TV. I watch it a lot more now. But rather more on DVD then actual TV. So, let's list them off, shall we?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Smallville, Avatar the Last Airbender, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Disney programs from the late 80's early 90's as well as numerous cartoons, The Glenn Beck Program. . .

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I didn't have anybody to hate this year. I did loathe a couple of people while I was at Yellowstone for a bit at first, but I got over it.

26. What was the best book you read?
I'm trying to think of anything I read this year. Which is kind of sad, because that must mean that nothing stood out in my mind so nothing I guess.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
*sighs* I guess I'm not hip enough or with it in this arena because I honestly don't have any clue what band I discovered this year that really stands out to me.

28. What did you want and get?
A new TV, Computer (had to get it for school) and Car big ones.

29. What did you want and not get?
A horse. I almost bought one a couple months ago but wisely refrained. Good job.

I also wanted to get a Wii and a new camera. Again, wisely refrained at this time. I'm using these as rewards for myself this year when I accomplish certain goals, like Drill Sergeant School.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
Little Miss Sunshine was probably my favorite.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Lowkey, had to work and do homework first, and then I spent the next day *thanksgiving* with the family and celebrated my day as Kamacka. My birthday as well as two of my inlaws are one after another and so we have come to be known as one entity at this time of year as we celebrate all of our birthdays at the same time.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I'm not exactly sure. I was kind of mellow and low key this year. I guess if I could have gone to Drill Sergeant school earlier and gotten it out of the way.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
T-shirt and jeans, though I'm better this year then years past as I actually wear T-shirts that fit me now.

34. What kept you sane?
Having my own place, and my own space helps. Living under the parent's roof was a little grating at times because I didn't have my own area and I couldn't get to anything for the first part of this year. *GAARRRR!*

Yes, very frustrating.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Ok, next year, the word 'fancy' will be stricken from this particular question.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Hmm, none really. I didn't really get stirred by much of anything politically this year. Did I? *thinks* I guess the war did.

37. Who did you miss?
My grandmother. . .

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Probably some of the people I met in Yellowstone.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.
Don't dwell on the past, its done. Learn from it and move on.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
*has to think abou this, never been good with song lyrics.*