So 2006. That was an interesting year, huh?

Actually, after 2005, when I lost both of my remaining grandparents, I was just sort of happy not to have anyone close to me die this year. And, with the exception of Bert Tilley — a capper I’d always liked but didn’t know well at all — and my sister’s guinea pig, Rembrandt — who’d become more my parents’ pet when my sister moved to Maryland, but who’d been with our family for close to a decade — that’s been the case, knock on wood. There are friends I haven’t been good about keeping in touch with, but they’re all healthy. And, at the same time, there are friends I’ve re-connected with, and new friends I’ve made. So 2006 was good in that respect.

In late February, one of the two editors I assisted at my job quit, and the company subsequently decided to move my position to the Florida office, out of which her replacement would work, rather than keep me on or find an additional editor in New York for me to assist. So, basically, I was fired; I was told on a Tuesday that Friday of that week would be my last day. (This, of course, all happened while the other of the two editors was on vacation out of the country and all but unreachable.) On the Wednesday of that week, however, another position became available with the company and I interviewed for it. Which is how I came to stay at my old job for a couple of weeks, to help with the transition, and how I then moved downstairs to a different cubicle and a different team. Since then, I’ve been promoted, received two raises, and grown to genuinely like the people I work with. But late February/early March was a bit of a rollercoaster.

My proudest achievement of 2006 was Kaleidotrope, my semi-annual zine of original writing and artwork. Sam Tomaino of SFRevu called the October issue “a very good inaugural issue,” and I received a lot of great feedback from contributors and subscribers alike. I’m going to do my best to promote the upcoming April issue even more. I’ve had some really terrific submissions, and it’s shaping up to be a very strong issue, which I’m looking forward to finalizing in the upcoming weeks. If you haven’t already subscribed, please consider doing so. You’ll help keep my contributors happy and paid, and you’ll get some great fiction, poetry and artwork in exchange. (I also still have a few copies of the first issue lying around, if you’d like one of those…)

Beyond that, 2006 also saw my first real professional writing sales. My short-short “At Uncle Ogden’s House” appears in issue #18 of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, while my poem “Weather Report” appears in the Spring issue of Flashquake. There is little in this world better than being paid for something you’ve written and seeing those words in print. (I also included a short story of mine, “Little Green Men,” in the first issue of Kaleidotrope, but unfortunately I didn’t pay myself anything for that, and I can be a real pain as a self-editor.)

In 2006, I also took over as moderator for a local movie group, but that involves very little actual work. I try to let that and its sister activity group run themselves as much as possible. I mention it only because…well, that was 2006.

Other than that, not a whole lot happened on a personal level this year. At least not much that I remember. I can finally counter Sharon‘s story of how she met Neil Gaiman with my own…although, admittedly, my story doesn’t involve much more than me mumbling, “Um, yeah,” when, looking at the Post-It note in my book, Gaiman asked me, “And are you Fred?”

I think that was the closest I came to a brush with fame this year…

1. Mothers & Other Monsters by Maureen F. McHugh
2. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
3. The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
4. Heat by Bill Buford
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
6. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
7. Runaways, Vol. 1 by Brian K Vaughan, Adrian Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa
8. The Ruins by Scott Smith
9. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
10. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

And, of course, all the books I read in 2006.

My favorite movies of 2006:

1. Little Miss Sunshine
2. The 40-Year Old Virgin
3. Brick
4. Kairo (Pulse)
5. Hustle & Flow
6. The Aristocrats
7. Friends With Money
8. Thank You for Smoking
9. Sahara
10. The Constant Gardener

My favorite music of 2006:

I’m not even going to try to create a top 10 list for this. I wanted to create a year-in-review mix, but I wasn’t able to narrow it down to fewer than 60 songs. I’m hoping that next year, if my mix-CD-a-month project is a success, I’ll be better equiped to narrow it down into a more manageable list next December. I listened to a lot of great new music, however — thanks in large part to the following sources:

• Radio Paradise
• NPR’s All Soungs Considered
• Salon Audiofile
• Womenfolk
• Copy, Right?
• Coverville
• Zoe’s Radio Show

Plus lots of great mix CDs from past mix exchange participants.

On a purely personal level, this was an interesting but very good year, and I’m genuinely looking forward to 2007. I plan to continue with the resolutions I set last year, of setting small but achievable goals — of exercising more, writing every day, keeping in touch with the people I know.

I could be completely wrong on this, and only time will tell, but I think 2007 is going to be a really good year.

Now if I only it didn’t also have to be the year I turn 30…

Happy New Year, everyone!