End of the Year Survey for 2005…

1. What did you do in 2005 that you’d never done before?

– Never changed jobs the entire year.

– Finished my movie script.I’ve always started scripts here and there, it’s not to actually finish one.

– Saw the great mountains of Tennessee with my own eyes.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

My only resolution was to finish my script… and I did. It took the entire year, but it looks amazing. I’m sure it’s going to require a crapload of revisions and editing, it’s just nice to have the entire thing on paper.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

I guess my wife would count as someone close, eh? Leah and I had our second child, another son… Jonathan Sebastian.

4. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?

A winning lottery ticket.

5. What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Obviously December 19th, when our son was born.

6. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Refer to previous answer.

7. What was your biggest failure?

I don’t think I really did anything last year that would qualify as a ‘big’ failure. One thing that was a disappointment was the fact that I never got to eat the monster burger during my trip to Tennessee.

8. Did you suffer illness or injury?

The reason why I couldn’t eat the monster burger is because I got the stomach flu the day I flew down to TN. It was the worst flight of my life. I needed oxygen to make it to toronto. I made it to TN in one piece, but it was a rough trip.

9. What was the best thing you bought?

I bought a new computer in February. It was a sweet machine and an offer I couldn’t refuse. Leah is usually very tight with our finances, but when I told her about it… even she couldn’t turn down what was an offer we couldn’t refuse. It was a huge upgrade as well… a fantastic purchase.

10. Whose behavior merited celebration?

So far Ethan’s behavior has been unbelievable since the baby was born. He’s not jealous, and has even showed signs of affection towards his little brother. I couldn’t be more proud of my boy right now.

11.Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

I have a few canidates, but I don’t want to go into any rants. Not right now anyway… I’ll save that for another entry.

12.Where did most of your money go?

Rent, bills and the tax man. What else is new?

13.What did you get really, really, really excited about?

I was excited about having another child. For me it was a win, win situation. If it was a girl, I had a perfect one of each family and if it was boy (which it was) I would have two guys to hang out with Dad at the ball game. That was very exciting.

There were a few movies that I was excited about this year that I got in line for on the first night. Some of them lived up and exceeded expectations (Batman Begins, Serenity) while others managed to do all right.

14.What song will always remind you of 2005? How about an album?

The songs that I will remember came from the summer during the season of reality show ‘Rockstar INXS’. The song presented a slate of talented singers who wrote some kickass songs over the summer, the most popular being Marty’s ‘Trees’ and JD’s ‘Pretty Vegas’. The new INXS album was the only CD I bought this year.

15.Compared to this time last year, are you:

Happier or sadder? Happier.

Older or wiser: A little of both… I’m getting better at this parenting thing and the grey hairs are definitely showing.

Thinner or fatter: I can’t tell the difference, though some people are telling me that I have shed a few pounds I think any change has been minimal.

Richer or poorer: Money wise I’m poorer, but when it comes to other aspects of life, I’m a lot richer this year.

16.What do you wish you’d done more of?

I wish I had spent more time with my Dad. fourteen days (Two weeks) just isn’t enough. I’m sure he’d agree with me on that one.

17.What do you wish you’d done less of?

I wish I had made less trips to that amazing chinese buffet that’s here in town. I didn’t make too many, but I need to cut out a lot of fast food too… eat a little heathlier.

18.How will you be spending Christmas?

The Xmas that just passed was at my place, but I’m not sure about this year… still in the planning stages.

19.How will you be spending New Years Eve?

This year’s new year celebration was at home with the wife and kids. I reckon it will be the same, which was all right. It’s always cool to ring in the new year with family.

20.Did you fall in love in 2005?

Many times…

21.How many one-night stands?

Nope, can’t say that I did.

22.What was your favorite TV program?

This year I watched House, Medium, West Wing and 24 religiously. I’ve also got hooked on My Name Is Earl… but how could you not? Jason Lee is amazing, have loved that guy’s work since Chasing Amy.

23.Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Nope… this year the enemy list is pretty much the same.

24.What was the best book you read?

I’m in the middle of reading ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ and that is turning out to be a real page turner. Also, Nelson Demille’s ‘Up Country” was amazing too, as was the new Harry Potter.

25.What was your greatest musical discovery?

This year I discovered some new country acts that I never listened to before. The cool thing was I was introduced to them live in person during the CMA Fan Fare Festival. Was really cool.

26.What did you want and get?

No one every gets what they want all the time, and I’m not naive enough to think that I can.

27.What did you want and not get?

I got quite a bit this year, I’m am thankful for what I have, not what I didn’t get.

28.What was your favorite film(s) of this year?

Refer to previous entry for all the messy details…

29.What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned the big 30 this year, and has a small shin-dig at my place where we watched a DVD (Batman Begins) and also played a lot of violent games on P2 that a friend brought over. We had friends, political debates and other fun stuff. Was nice, and I might do that again this year.

30.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Winning the lottery. If I don’t win it this year, I won’t be because I didn’t try.

31.How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?

Regular. Average. I really didn’t do anything new or radical this year. I was just… me.

32.What kept you sane this year?

Hanging out with my family, friends and being able to gripe about everything on Open Diary. This place is worth every penny I toss into it.

33.Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

At the moment, no one springs to mind. I’m starting to get real tired of the latest celebrity worshipping that’s been going on. To me, that crap is boring.

34.What political issue stirred you the most?

There’s many to pick from, but the Schaivo case was the one that disturbed me the most. When 9/11 occurred, Predisent Dumbass (aka Pres. Bush) couldn’t peel himelf away from “my pet goat” to do his job. he preferred to hang out with people his own age. Then late last year when Quarter of a million people die in south east asia cause of a tital wave, it took three days for that moron to sstick his head out a window and extend his condolences. Then after the Hurricaine Katrina that hit the Southern states, they had a 3 day warning to get ready, and still gave one of the slowest disaster responses ever. Bush was on Vacation then as well, and he didn’t leave his ranch until after the Hurricaine hit.

Then we have one white woman who has been in a coma for over a decade being unplugged and you can’t stop the Republicans from running back to Washington and do their job. This is actually the only time that Bush actually cut short a vacation to actually go back to work at the Whitehouse, something he didn’t even do for Katrina. We all know that the Repubs and Pres. Dumbass were pandering to the relgious right who were having a shit fit about this case, but the Supreme Court and the other courts gunned down their attempt to move the case to a federal court. The courts made the right decision, it was a state matter and should have remained that way. The hypocrisy they showed last year was seen by all, and I personally hope it comes back and bites the repubs big time next November.

In all, this story was a true tragedy and my heart goes out to both families who lost someone. Yet their sarrow was exploited by those who don’t care about them and that is the root of my disgust…

35.Who did (do) you miss?

My Dad, would like to spend more time with him this year. My brother and I want to take him and Ethan to a ball game this summer. I hope we can make it happen…

36.Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005:

I learned that writing 48 diary entries over the span of 24 hours for a charity event isn’t that easy. By the time I finished my blogathan in August, I was exhausted and slept all day long. Later on I learned someone in Korea who was playing video games for 40 hours straight died of a heart attack. I also learned that I might need to be more careful next time.

I did however raise a good bit of money for Amnesty International. I think I’m going to use my next blogathan to raise money for the Hospital For Sick Kids in Toronto in 06.

37. What advice would you give people for 2006?

Apparently according to some really crazy religious freaks, the world is going to end on June 6th of this year (06/06/06). So my advice would be to cherish every moment as if it was going to be your last… make every “I love you” and hug that comes after it count, even if all those morons are full of it.

Happy new year everyone, and take care…

Peter