George Washington Boyfriend and I spent the waning hours of 2005 and the first 36 or so of 2006 in the best way I know how: among good friends at the Chateau Fergusberg. The Fergusbergs, Marielle and Bugsy, really know how to live--but more importantly, they know how to entertain. Our numbers were smaller this year than last, but the good times rolled all the same, with course after fabulous course, too many glasses of wine to count, and some of my favorite people in the world.

We all rang in the new year and then stayed overnight, the next morning brunching on food nearly as good as the previous night's. Afterwards we lazed around for hours playing Mah Jongg and Taboo, watching football and reading the Sunday Times, and continuing the previous day's conversations. Everyone else left around 4 p.m., but GWB and I stayed on and the four of us went to see The Constant Gardner and then ordered in sushi. We took the train back after lunch the following day.

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And now it's a few days into 2006, and I suppose that I'm due the introspection that seems to be seizing everyone in the blogosphere. So herewith my thoughts on the year just past and the one just begun:

2005
A good year, on balance. I turned 30, finished my dissertation and my Ph.D., got my first full-time job, and unexpectedly got to stay in Major Eastern City (than which there's really nowhere I'd rather be). GWB got a book contract and his parents are in improving health and spirits. I started this blog, saw my first two articles in print, and gave a keynote talk in a crazy foreign city.

Negatives: I think I read exactly four books not related to my research or my teaching all year; I missed a ton of movies; I owe probably every single one of my friends three email messages and two meals.

2006
Hopefully this will be an even better year than the last, but its major elements--whether I get a tenure-track job; where I'll be living; if GWB and I wind up closer together or further apart--aren't really under my control, and don't make for good resolutions. My goals, then, for 2006 are as follow:

Professional

• Revise and submit one of the two articles I've had kicking around my brain for over a year now
• Revise the material from diss chapter #1
• Start research for a full-fledged book introduction to replace the half-assed diss intro
• Get to the U.K. again this summer, for pleasure if not for research
  
• Use my two new classes this semester as scholarly opportunities, reading or dipping into some major works of criticism as I prep my lesson plans

Personal

• Be happy wherever I wind up, geographically and professionally
• Rein in some of my debt
• See as much of my friends as I can, while I remain in MEC
• Start eating a somewhat more healthy and/or interesting diet
• Do a better job of keeping on top of cultural events