1. How did you ring in the new year for 2007?
Ran around and shot fireworks with a bunch of strangers on a farm near New Orleans.

2. Who did you kiss at midnight/your first kiss in 2007?
I try to avoid the midnight kiss thing. I gave a girl a mohawk, so that's close.

3. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Fucking everything.

4. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Don't do that shit.

5. did anyone close to you give birth?
Probably not.

6. did anyone close to you die?
A French teacher from middle school.

7. what countries did you visit?
United States, Israel, Turkey, England, and whatever the fuck country Prague's in.

8. what would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
Maybe a dog... or a good pair of rock climbing shoes... or new boots. You know, the usual crap.

9. what dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Ha - I thought you meant dates like calendar dates, and then I remembered reading this article about how there were twice as many weddings scheduled for the Saturday, 7/7/07 as there were any other Saturday that year. But nah, I don't really do dates. Most of the ones etched into my memory are there because they involved a lot of close physical contact, which I tend to remember better than images or words.

10. what was your biggest achievement of the year?
I won't really have a good answer for this until 2009, but I find my writing and critical thinking skills have improved.

11. what was your biggest failure?
Again, I won't really have a good answer for this until at least 2009.

12. did you suffer illness or injury?
Fractured one of my fingers, fucked up one of my arms somehow, and got all hell beat out of my nose. Only sick once. Got older.

13. what was the best thing you bought?
Plane tickets?

14. whose events required celebration?
I don't need an excuse to celebrate.

15. whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Whose behavior didn't make me appalled and depressed? (James: RE: CrimethINC - I was actually reading one of their books this morning. It was well laid out, but that's about all I could say for it)

16. where did most of your money go?
Travel, food.

17. what did you get really, really, really excited about?
Travel, whiskey, books, people, trees, my cat.

18. what song will always remind you of 2007?
"Whitey on The Moon", by Gil Scott-Heron

19. what do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing, hanging out with my brother, sitting in trees.

20. What do you wish you'd done less of?
I'll tell you in a few years.

21. did you fall in love in 2007?
Once or twice.

22. how many one-night stands?
3 or 4? I dunno. I don't usually have one night stands - I have two week stands.

23. how many people did you kiss?
Lemme check my excel spreadsheet there real quick. Let's see... fiscal year '07... beings kissed... damn, I think this database hasn't been updated for a while, everything after "geckos petted" is listed as "tba".

24. what was your favourite tv program?
Motherfucking Survivorman.

25. do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Don't hate - participate.

26. what was the best book you read?
Probably Ulysses.

27. what was your greatest musical discovery?

Subliminal!  (Gimme a call or ask me in person and I'll explain the joke - it's a long story)


31. what did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 23, and writing my ass off in Oxford for my first paper due the next day.  I don't usually have birthday parties, because my birthday's always around finals.

32. what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A giant hamster ball I could use to run across oceans.

33. how would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Scarves.

34. what kept you sane?
Trees, clouds, whiskey.

35. which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I think I had a crush on Parker Posy for the first hour I spent watching Broken Flowers.  But that movie's ending was fucking horrible.

36. what political issue stirred you the most?
I'm still pissed off about the patriot act.  I don't see anything particularly satisfying in US or world politics.

37. who do you miss?
Oh, everyone.  Some parts of Turkey and Israel.  Friends in Chicago.  My brother.

38. who was the best new person you met?
Maybe Nicole or Jose or my Uncle Carl (I met him before, but it was so many years ago that I forgot him)

39. Who were your closest friends in 2007?
Probably Zack, Jeremy, Nicole, and Elizabeth.

40. What did you do to ring in 2008?
Fucking everything - I'll tell you in my next post.

41. Who did you kiss to ring in 2008?
I headbutted someone at the concert.

42. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:
Always say yes.

1. What does your livejournal headline mean?:
I forget.  OK, I checked; it says:  "Not My Real Name".  I put that disclaimer up top so that people would remember:  I AM NOT A SEVEN FOOT TALL KUNGFU KICKING BLACK MAN.

2. Elaborate on your icon:
My face, taken a few weeks after I got my favorite scar.  I'm thinking of switching to a new icon.

3. What's your middle name?
Vogel.  Means "bird" in German.

4. What is your current relationship status?
Apathetic?  Sleepy?  I'm not sure.  I WOULD enjoy waking up with naked gal/s next to me at some point in the future.  It makes the bed feel very cozy. 

I don't see a relationship happening any time over the next few days - but then again, I didn't predict this scar on my nose.

5. What EXACTLY are you wearing right now?
A pair of bleach splattered gray shorts.  Contacts.  A doodle I drew on my shoulder.

6. What is your current problem?
Don't got no money.  Don't got no bike.  Need someone to drive me to Superbad on Thursday.

7. What do you love most?
Trees.  The sun shining against things.  But mainly trees.

8. What makes you most happy?
Walking down streets I haven't seen before.

9. If you could go back in time, and change something, what would it be?
I'm pretty happy with the way things are.  If I had the chance, I'd probably try and convince my neighbors not to build such huge houses.  They block my view of the city.

10. If you MUST be an animal for ONE day- what would you be?
Maybe a winged or swimming animal.  Probably a swimming one - flying looks like a lot of work.  Did you ever read "The Once and Future King"?  I really liked the bit where Merlin transformed Arthur into different types of animals.  Was that "The Once and Future King"?  Maybe I'm thinking of a different book.

12. Ever have a near death experience?
I suppose I've been close to death a few times.  I've never had a "light at the end of a tunnel and angelic voices" type experience.  I fell off a mountain once, and I was in a pretty bad wreck without wearing a seatbelt, there's been a few times where heavy stuff fell at me and almost hit me, I often climb very high up rocks without equipment (which might be near-death, depending on your interpretation), and I've got an interesting story about the scar on back of my skull.  I've never thought about any of them (except falling off the mountain) as near death.  I would assume most near death experiences aren't noticed by the person they happen to.

13. Name an obvious quality you have?
I seem to give people the impression that I'm very clever, without ever doing noticeably clever things.  See previous answer for examples of Not Clever Things.

14. What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now?
I haven't had a song stuck in my head for a few days.  Been humming a lot.

15. Who did you cut and paste this from?:
paraphasia.