Okay, so I suppose I'm a bit overdue for the promised New Years reflections/observations/whatever post...it's alright though, I needed to be in the proper mood. So without further delay, here are some thoughts assembles as I go back through my 2005 entries...and some other random ones thrown in for good measure:

- It really is amazing to realize how much has changed in one year's time. Glad I extracted myself from the weekly drama that was enveloping me around last New Years...

- Here's a potential New Years resolution for myself, if I believed in such things: Don't let yourself get so worked up about things you can do next to nothing about!

- For those of you scoring at home, mark 2005 as the year it began...babies everywhere!

- I *giant puffy heart* Russ Feingold. It's true. Sorry Smacca ;-)

- You know what sucks? When people you know, that are your own age, die suddenly for no reason. Unfortunately, that happened a couple times this year. I think about Dan occasionally, and Mark more often (mostly because having lived together for a year there are more "triggers"...songs, etc), but along with feeling for their families and girlfriends, etc, it really makes you have to stop and deal with your own mortality for a moment. But not too long, because f*ck it, we're still young and invincible, right? Right?

- I've gotten a lot older this year...or at least my liver has.

- Proud of myself for not freaking out completely when my computer asploded this spring, shortly before trivia...but do you think i've learned my "back stuff up" lesson?? Hmmm...now THAT might be worth a New Years resolution...

- I still don't know why I cared as much as I did about the Pope stuff.

- Trivia was a big success this year...I seriously can't, even now, explain the feeling of walking into the bar at 12:30am or so after having already been awake for 60-some hours, and getting an amazing ovation/congrats/chanting from the whole place as we made our way to the bar was...I dunno. Just icing on the whole experiance. Defiantely makes one want to work hard to get there again. Not to mention a little bet I had with someone that ended up working out pretty darn well. 'Cept I think I bought most of the beer that night, if I remember correctly :-P

- I love my friends dearly, but sometimes they get drunk and do very, very stupid things.

- One thing about life...it never fails to surprize me. Some things I never saw coming. Maybe I'm just a little dense, I dunno.

- Record season for tornadoes in Wisconsin. Did I manage to find any? Hellz no. It's this "having to work 'til 5pm" bullcrap...how am I supposed to catch storms when they go by before I can get started?? Still a good chase season though...and now that I have a decent camera, I'll hopefully be able to post some good pics this spring...2006 season could be my last chance for a while...

- Wow, I really do blog a lot about politics. Oh well, deal with it, it's what's on my mind.

- I can't wait to be able to have a dog. Seriously.

Okay, this is getting long...hard to edit one's self when just going back and looking at posts from a year, but I did my best, I promise. 2005 really turned into one heck of a year, most importantly, of course, in the realm of, oh you know, getting engaged and stuff. Really, this was the first year I can really remember when I haven't thought to myself, at least once on New Years Eve, "good riddance"...or hearing "A Long December" by Counting Crows and hoping some of the words were true, etc. I dunno. 2005 was good, and 2006 has potential. I'll take it.

More later if/when I realize I've forgotten something, as well as maybe a point or two looking ahead to 2006...