Wow, 2005 seems a lot brighter...

...maybe that's because I just replaced some lightbulbs.

So, this is 2005 eh? Where's the flying cars and trips to the moon on PanAm, huh? I guess I need to give a year more than 20 minutes before I start judging it.

The evening was pleasant, if not what I had expected. Due to incomplete planning (a shining example of our planning: LouCdogg: i bet the swining dance party has ladies...) and some miscommunication I ended up being unable to join the AZN Brotherhood in Boston. Ah, well. I am warmer than they are, and I got to watch some good movies (This is Spinal Tap and Dodgeball) and eat some good food, especially that fudge pie. Mmmm....pie.

So, 2004, what a year? Graduated from high school and headed off to college. I can safely say that it was a change for the better, and surprisingly bereft of the kind of shock I felt changing from middle school to high school. I think the fresh start is just what I needed. While I have nothing against my friends from SHS, it's nice to be going to school with some new people, who are, as a rule, dedicated to their studies and 'nerdy.' I could not imagine being anywhere else; I've meet some awesome people, one person in particular (yes, you, nut!) and I've been having the time of my life so far.

I've been impressed throughout the year by my parent's trust in me. With stuff at the end of last year like Prom, grad parties and the infamous after-grad party, they were pretty much "Don't be stupid, and lock the door when you get home" which was very reassuring. My many years as 'the dependable one' have paid off. They have also yet to get flustered, at least in front of me, concerning my tuition payments which are more than double our monthly mortgage payments. Time for some student loans, I guess, especially with the bothers' collegee coming up.

The bothers remain bothers, as usual, but it's nice to see the older one apparently mature somewhat. He is a sophomore at HS now, for crying out loud. I'm glad he's really gotten into Drama/stage crew. I know he can handle responsabilities if he has to, and he and SHSTC will benefit from his involvement, I hope.

I'm saddened when I think of how the Ashcroft gang has been on somewhat of a sabbatical since the end of the summer. However, with three of us in colleges in three different states and the fourth on another continent, that was to be expected, I guess. Oh well, we'll have the summer. Twelve hour LotR marathon, here we come!

As for myself, hopefully I've grown as a person. I don't feel terribly different, well, except for happier. I did finally get my license so I'll be mobile this summer, especially important since 25% of the gang now lives in Hingham, and not 500ft down ashcroft and another 600ft up his driveway. Hopefully I'll be able to focus a bit more on classes and actually study. I'm not going to be so lucky in the future. That being said, my classes will likely only be getting awesomer. MechE will be very cool next semester and Vogel's teaching M&I2. I've heard astounding things about him.

Well, that's about it....

Actually, I was just informed by a reliable source of yet another HTWT reader, that makes, what a dozen now? How bout this, you can comment and wish the internet a happy new year and give me an idea of how many people actually read this....mebbe I'll start running ads on it. Perhaps it'll pay for like, half of my engineering text over the next for years. We shall see.

Have a happy and safe New Year, everyone!