As the prophet Bob Mould once howled, "Now I'm a little bit older... and I'm not a hell of a lot wiser."
Nevertheless, a few things I learned over the course of year 36:
* Two-year old girls can be extremely cute. Then you notice the bony protrusions from their foreheads, remember they're demons, and move on.
* I love my 42" plasma TV. Sweet god, I do. I can't even remember what my life was like without it. Did we even have a TV? Was the world in color? It's all a blur up until last January.
* I love my snowblower. Which is now fully repaired and safely back in my garage, waiting to be unleashed at an unsuspecting, date-TBD winter storm. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers on this matter.
* Going to see live music is fun. Which I'd kind of forgotten, given that I was so busy procreating and dealing with the results thereof that I hadn't been to a concert in something like an eon (give or take). Which makes it even cooler that while I was just starting to type this (on company time! gasp!) my friend and colleague Koko walked up to my desk, said, "Happy birthday!" and handed me the gift of two tickets to see Bob Mould (who not only did I mention above, but in fact am listening to on iTunes right now) next month. Which is a pretty neat bit of synchronicity.
* On a less-savory work note, it really sucks when someone you work with/manage starts to lose their mind... and you have to deal with the fallout. More to come on this later.
* Sports suck. Except when sports rule.
* Some problems just don't go away, no matter how hard you work or however many sacrifices you make to whatever god you believe in. Honestly, it's just fucking exhausting sometimes. This isn't a new lesson, but it's something I find myself learning over and over again.
* I'm so far beyond lucky to have a hot, funny, charming, elegant and sophisticated wife that it just defies description. It's a very rare event when she isn't the most beautiful woman in any given room, and the fact that she's hanging out with a jackass like me makes absolutely no sense at all. (Which is also not a new lesson, but one that I'm delighted to find myself learning over and over again.)
* Having a job worth enjoying is a rare thing. Which makes me very lucky.
* I spend too much time being angry. I need to be better about this.
* I need to find ways for my wife and I to spend more time together as real people -- independent of the stresses, hassles, logistics and ongoing headaches and nightmares that tend to define our daily lives. We've lost entire years doing just that, and it's not healthy. So: this year, we're actually going to take a family vacation. And take more hooky days off from work together. And get out to dinner together (and by that, I mean dinner at places with tablecloths and linen napkins and candlelight and no talking animals on the walls) more than quarterly.
* I need to find more time to be a real person on my own. I'm learning that if I go out once a month for a couple of beers or dinner or a movie with a friend, it's okay -- my kids will survive, my wife can deal, and the world won't end. And it actually makes me feel good. Which is nice.
* Did I mention how much I missed my snowblower? Welcome home, baby. I'm so glad you're feeling better.
* I'm actually quite grateful to you - yes, you - for periodically checking out this online exercise in futility. Honestly, I probably enjoy whatever back-and-forth I have with imaginary web people like you more than I should... but there you go.
So. Onwards. Bring it on, 37.
