Happy New Year!

(I remember Flax writing "Happy New Year" at, like, 12:04 on January 1. That was the coolest thing anyone has ever done. I only mention Flax specifically as a way to draw comments, by the way.)

I just thought I'd write here, because I like writing here.

Here's my news:
I finished one application. I completed it, submitted it, and paid the application fee. As of 10:36 p.m., I am a business school applicant. To be honest, I don't think this possibility would have even been on my radar one year ago. (The only "where was I a year ago and what do I wish to accomplish this year?" reference you'll get in this ponderous post, I promise.)

I have two more to finish. One is due a week from Wednesday, and the other a week from Friday. Chicago is due Wednesday. There's lots to do on that one. NU is due Friday. I've written my essays, so there's less to do on that one. Chicago requires longer essays, which I've found are more difficult. With Michigan, you make your point, give an example, use too many commas and contractions, and finish with something witty or encapsulating. Or, at least, I do.

Chicago also requires an open-ended PowerPoint submission. I've worked in PowerPoint once. (And, mostly, I think my group partners did the work. I was the primary speaker for the presentation, as I recall.) As such, I'm putting this off as long as I can. I've probably put it off as long as I can, actually.

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I'm really, really, really excited for January 11. In fact, I'll probably submit my application on Thursday, January 10, so I'm really, really, really excited for January 11.

I think I've become pretty boring, say, over the last two months. Maybe the last four months. (I bought my GMAT book and started blowing off friends on Labor Day.)

I'm really looking forward to returning four-months-old phone messages, starting Tuesday, January 15.

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On Saturday, I met a friend of a friend of a friend who has been accepted to Kellogg and might not go. I told her she was crazy. In retrospect, I should have told her to decline the offer as soon as possible - it only increases my chances, right? But she seemed nice enough, so maybe she'd be a good classmate.

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I vaguely recall writing in, say, June, about how I had people to drink with, but not great friends, up here. And this is natural, probably, but is also changing. I had a pretty good time at the New Year's thing I went to last night, which is nice. Good people, and, perhaps, nobody who I had met by this time last year. (Oops, there it goes again.) In fact, only one coworker, and that's because I brought him along. This is nice.

Also, I got shot by a marshmallow, fired out of some makeshift, bike pump-powered cannon. (Cool people, too, you see.) I was outside, obviously, and had taken my shirt off, stupidly. (I was one of three to do the whole "no-shirt" thing.) To be honest, I was hardly drunk by that point (though, as I consider it, I was probably five drinks deep, so I guess I probably was - lots of liquor last night, it seems).

I learned as an 11-year-old soccer player forming a wall in front of a free kick that "you must protect your wee-wee." I was served very, very well by this advice while standing in the line of fire, as the small welt on the back of my right hand can attest.

Also, I'm never running for political office, clearly.

Also, I spoke with my parents at about 11:30 today - I wanted to make sure my dad was watching the complete bust of a Cotton Bowl. Somehow, my New Year's party story stopped at, "It was a good time."

Despite my apparent debauchery, I was up by 10 this morning, and had put in a three-mile, well-paced run by 11:30. And I finished that freakin' application. So it was a pretty good 24-hour stretch, really.

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I do wonder when WhatGoddamnYearIsIt.com is going to get updated. This is important. Get on it, Dude Tangentially Associated With Nemo.

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For the record, even when I have no rooting interest, I can really get lost in a day of college football. (Though, when it's a blowout, as Hawaii-Georgia was when I turned it off, it's more difficult.) But, man, I kind of...just...sat for much of the day. I really was happy to see Lloyd Carr end with such a nice upset, and I felt no pangs watching Illinois get smoked. I do wish Wisconsin beat Tennessee - I think they run as close to a "clean" athletic program as any school in the Big Ten, though probably not. After all, their players signed footballs for free shoes.

Florida-Michigan was obviously the most enjoyable game. I saw the closing moments of Texas Tech-Virginia, which was pretty good. Wisconsin-Tennessee got tense late. In fact, Michigan-Florida was the only good game, actually, but I was pretty content to watch large young men run into each other all day anyway. Hmm.

I'm pretty sure I'm not interested in the game that Kansas is playing in. That one's Thursday. I can't think who West Virginia is playing. That's Wednesday. I'll watch it after the Cats are done with Penn State - yeah, Big Ten hoops on ESPN2!

(This year, the "cut your losses" ESPN airing of NU conference play comes in the conference season opener, in the same time slot as a BCS bowl game. That's probably their most effective "cut your losses" mandatory airing of NU hoops ever. Last year, they stupidly aired NU against Illinois, hoping that NU would be good enough to compete. Stupid, stupid ESPN. They should only ever schedule NU-Penn State, and the conference opener against a BCS bowl game is a pretty good time to do it.)

(Kevin Coble's back. It's at home. I'm stupidly optimistic that the only Northwestern hoops game I can watch at home all season long will be a win. Stupid, stupid me.)

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I'm morally obligated to write about Christmas. Between Saturday morning, December 22, when I ran four miles in the winter chill, and Saturday, December 29, when I was three days back in The Ring Fingernail, I had put on ten pounds. That's how awesome my Christmas was.

Good things about Christmas:
- I did not eat a single meal without the company of a family member or friend. This includes lunch with Didi and two separate lunches with high school folks.

- Jenny called midday Saturday, and we made it happen Saturday night. Gosh, I'm so happy she called. That girl's movin' on up, people.

- I mentioned to my mom that I had after-dinner plans to see Jenny on Saturday. My mom said, "Which one's Jenny?" I said, "She's my white female friend from college." My mom said, "Is she the one who lives in San Francisco now?" I said, "Nope." She said, "Oh, she must be the one with the brother then." I said, "Yup." The internet is a-ma-zing.

- My brother's dog ran away, but then came back.

- I'm 27, and I still get lots and lots of gifts for Christmas. This is stupid, but also results in a digital camera, Dirt Devil, and that awesome baby blue bootleg Cubs t-shirt that replaces the stars in the Chicago flag with the Cubs "bear head" logo. The camera takes in-focus pictures. The Cubs t-shirt got a strong response. And I probably won't be able to confirm whether the Dirt Devil works for a few weeks.

- The online vendor that I used will replace my brother's broken shot glass, no questions asked. Folks, if you want to buy shot glasses online, just tell the online vendor that you purchase them from that one or two were broken during shipping. You'll get them replaced, no questions asked. Also, shot glasses are probably a pretty crappy gift. As are skateboarding books and books about the 1908 baseball season. Coffee and beer are good gifts.

- Thanks to my older brother, I have the necessary supplies to host a Super Bowl party in which I serve chili.

- Thanks to my younger brother, I have an oven mitt that can confirm that The Ring Fingernail is, in fact, The Ring Fingernail. God, that's amazing.

- The Glenview House is kickin'.

Bad things about Christmas:

- It's never long enough. I'm such a sap.

- My sister wasn't there. If I didn't suck so much, we could have bumped Christmas back three weeks, probably.

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My sister gets back to the CHI on Friday. I think that's great for her. I'm hoping that I'll see her within a month of her return.

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In an effort to stall on Sunday afternoon, I went to Borders and bought The National's Boxer. It's one of the most acclaimed releases of the year, I think, and I liked the two CDs that I had gotten of theirs from the library and, crap, I had only bought two CDs in the last two-plus months.

Jeez, it's great.

When I update my Best of 2007 list next December, I'm pretty confident that The National and Lupe Fiasco will both appear in the top ten. Maybe the top half of the top ten.

Seriously, The National's "Mistaken for Strangers" and "Slow Show" (You know I dreamed about you / for 29 years before I met you) are pretty amazing. And Lupe's "Hip Hop Saved My Life" and "Paris, Tokyo" are really, truly fantastic.

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I've probably covered all I can cover here. Happy New Year. Back in two weeks, or maybe Sunday, but nothing will have happened worth reporting by Sunday. But maybe on Sunday.