I know... I could... I SHOULD do a "Busly Saturday" post and catch everyone up... but if you scroll down you'll see that I kinda did that yesterday... so in an epic moment of originality failure sorry, I mean to say in lieu of doing something actually worthy on the blog no, that's not right... AH! In an inspired moments thanks to my new blogger friend at exhausticated.com, here is...

THE
2007 SURVEY

...which may or may not be flying around FaceBook.

Now, the wonderful lass at exhausticated.com and her friends are no doubt a touch younger than Sue and I at the advanced and crippling age of forty, so this may seem a little stilted... and I apologise in advance.

So without further adieu, as I know you're waiting on pins and needles, here's the SURVEY!

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DRINKING BUDDY OF THE YEAR

Geez, I'm (mostly) a teetotaler... so this is difficult. I 'spose I could qualify coffee... but I only drink one cup in the morning... that's it.

So, all things considered equal, I have to pick the person I most like spending time with... which, and it sounds like a cop-out, but it's true, is Sue!

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LIFETIME SERVICE AWARD (longest friend)

Part of me wants to poke a little fun and say it's either my old buddy Nancy N., another old and dear friend Jennifer S. because they are both rather "long" friends being over six-foot tall... but I have a feeling this is NOT what is being looked for as an answer here...

Using Sue again would be a cop-out for sure... but really, she is my closest friend (amongst many other things) and we've known each other for a long time...

Life has tossed many curve balls at me and for various reasons, I am not the best person at "old friendships" and keeping up with folks... and in some cases that's very sad... in other's, it's probably a big blessing... so I'm going to list someone who, oddly enough, I haven't seen in a couple of years... mostly because, I know that WHEN we do see each other, we both "bounce" off each other and our dynamic is funny, happy, and mirthful! So, I'm going to say a chap named Wolfgang B. wins.

Anyone who hasn't seen me in two years that is GUARANTEED to refer to me as leipschen and I to him as dahling has to win.

...that, and I will always admire him for coming up with THE BEST pen name ever... "Vandura Schpankwagon".

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NEWCOMER AWARD

It's been more than a year, and he probably doesn't know how much I appreciate his counsel and efforts, but Chris L. by his efforts has been a true friend to both Sue and myself...

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HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR?

Da new job. Back in my field with a better income!

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LOW POINT OF THE YEAR?

Probably anytime we had to re-do a budget in the early parts of the year...

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BEST HOLIDAY?

I really enjoyed Halloween... and for all the weirdest reasons. Basically, it's a family thing.

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YOUR SONG FOR 2007?

Oooo... tough one... possibly the theme to Dexter... or The Ghosts of Motley Hall... but because it was stuck in Sue's head for much of the year, Blue Oyster Cult's Godzilla wins.

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MOVIE FOR 2007?

NOT a new release (shocking, I know...) but a purchase we made EARLY THIS YEAR from the local "Bargain DVD Bin"... The Court Jester... because, as we all know, the pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!

...or was it the pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon, the vessel with the pestle had the brew that was true?

How about "Biggest Let Down" movie...

Hearing that a re-make of "The Omega Man" was done with Will Smith, I got purdy excited... I mean, Mathias and Lisa legitimately frightened me and yeah, I admit... I like Will Smith...

Well, we raced out and watched I Am Legend and it started off cool... and then fell off a cliff.

Instead of a cult of bizarre flesh-eating psychopathic zombies, we got "Night of the Living Dumb" zombies in poor CG with all the psychological fear that one gets from todays torture-porn horror flicks... yawn.

The ending of the original was so cheesey, it was fabulous... the ending of this one was just cheese. Not even good cheese. I was very let down... and I missed Mathias and his followers outside Chuck Heston's window calling to Lisa.

...oh, and speaking of Chuck... if you didn't know already, Soylent Green is made of people.

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WHO DID YOU SPEND VALENTINES WITH?

SUE!

...and our assorted animals and the kidollo.

Romantic, no... loving, yes.

I owe Sue SEVERAL romantic getaways... and mean to pay that debt with glee!

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BEST RELATIONSHIP?

MAX AND KIPLING!

...kidding, of course it's Sue.

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WHAT WERE YOU FOR HALLOWEEN?

A tired, broken-down, media-weary paranormal researcher/investigator and computer technician.

The crying shame is, as a War of 1812 re-enactor, I have SEVERAL sets of period clothing that would be a superb costume... but as the kidollo does NOT like being upstaged, these are usually left at home.

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RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR?

Gosh, I can hear the gentle strains of Nat King Cole telling me that we Don't Get Around Much, Anymore... but that is changing.

For various reasons, I'm going to pick St. Louis Bar and Grill on Bloor in Toronto.

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BOOK OF THE YEAR?

I could tell a VERY funny and at the time, seemingly tragic tale of Christmas Book Woe... but I won't... instead, I'm going RETRO and saying that THE best book I picked up this year was THE ORIGINAL (hardcover, first-edition from 1976) BOOK OF LISTS which I bought for ONE DOLLAR at a very cool used book store on Bathurst just South of Bloor. They have a "jumbled basement" that Sue and I picked through where all books found in it are a buck. We were in heaven!

The real downer for me this year was after THOROUGHLY enjoying reading the first two Dexter books (which, if you're a fan of the show, you SHOULD read,) I read the third one, and in my eyes, it blew... it REALLY blew... it REALLY BLEW chunks. It sucked.

I believe the words I would use would be "dreadful", "wretched", and "horrible"... and for all the WRONG reasons.

I honestly believe that Jeff Lindsay purposely sabotaged the character in this book to spite the TV show...

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BEST DECISION MADE THIS YEAR?

We quit smoking in September and have stayed "weed free".

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WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR?

Romantic vacation(s) with Sue. Clear debts. Acquire and Fix bus.

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MOST STUPID IDEA WHEN DRUNK?

Well, again... I'm a teetotaler... but I still had my share of really DUMB ideas...

...in many ways, I regret this blog.

Frightening, eh?

When I really got rockin' with my paranormal research and investigation in 1997, I had a person ask me if I REALLY wanted to be remembered as the "whacko" who looked into "spooks and goblins"... because, and he was right, probably 75% of the general population laugh at these things as being imaginary or stuff to scare little children. I go into this in detail in this rather oddly popular post according to my stats...

Basically, I now have to accept that I'm known as the goofy guy with the ghost thing... and now, in some circles, the "cyberbegger" at worst, the "dreamer" at best. The former is honestly much less personally stigmatizing than the two latters in some ways.

Still, I do know I really only had two choices... maintain my dignity and guarantee failure letting down Sue and kid with the "C'mon now! That's only a pipe dream!" logic... or swallow a bit of pride and try and have a chance for success... obviously, I chose the latter... but because of that stigma, I do often regret this rather blatant dropping of my drawers in the blog here.

Realistically, I do like the outlet, and probably would "blog" regardless... but every so often, something bites me on the butt about this venture... and yeah, I occasionally feel ashamed.

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TV SHOW OF THE YEAR?

Dexter Season II didn't fail to impressed... but we also got in the "care package" of British documentaries... including some David Starkey, Tony Robinson, and James Burke things... all of which were EXCELLENT!!!!!!!

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MOST LOYAL FRIEND?

Sorry if you think it's a cop-out, but Sue hands down.

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BIGGEST CHANGE OF THE YEAR?

New Employment!

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BIGGEST PAIN IN THE NECK AWARD?

Toss up... but related... The media with our studies... and the person who LOVES the media who thinks he's in our studies... and is pretty obviously to us a little... um... well...

No... that's not right... when a train is wrecked, it doesn't charge people money to do dumb things and it doesn't make people laugh at other, more secure and "proper" trains.

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KISS OF THE YEAR?

Anytime with Sue.

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BIGGEST D****BAG AWARD?

See BIGGEST PAIN IN THE NECK AWARD above and the related link on the words "The Media".

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NEW YEARS RESOLUTION?

Spend WAY more loving and quality time with Sue.

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There were another FORTY-ONE things to comment on... but I'll stop here.

I believe, like most people, the year had it's ups and downs... but honestly, mostly ups... and that made 2007 a good year that will be remembered by this weirdo as being a pretty damned good year, all things considered equal...

Now, off to the great unknown... what will 2008 hold??? Will it hold the bus? Will I get over my inferiority complex about the quest? Will Sue wise up and run away with a cabana boy? Will the return of John Cena to the WWE mix be all it should? Will Kipling stop peeing on my dirty clothes when he's angry? Will the kidollo learn that Apple products really AREN'T the best???

It all remains to be seen!

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