Today, February 10th, 2004 marks five years of Daily Aggravations and Regrets. Does that make me old school? I don't need no fancy blogspot or eblog templates. Hummph! Anyway, though the entries are not so Daily as they once were, the increase in Regrets has more than made it an ample trade-off. On the surface, there have been dramatic changes in my life since then. Of course, looking at it another way, five years ago I was sitting in an office, dissatisfied with my job, bored, and writing about myself at length, thinking that might be a good idea. And here we are. Literally, "same shit, different day."
Again, though, it's a series of tradeoffs. A quick look:Changes since February, 1999:
1) Job Prospects/Career Satisfaction: In the toilet
Emotional Strength/Stability: At all-time high (in part due to sense of resignation, but largely due to company kept)2) Number of friends in social circle- Dwindling. Smallest since college.
Affect of having fewer friends on psyche: Negligible. If anything, a preferable situation.3) Yearly income: Higher than 1999
Hours worked/week: Higher than 1999
Education/Experience: Markedly increased
Debt accrued since 1999: Obscene4) Overall life quality: Overall, better than five years ago.
Ability to succumb to denial: unknown
Last night, I was having trouble sleeping. I've been having some pain troubles lately, so last night while tossing and turning I started to think that maybe the bed was the problem. It didn't feel that sturdy anymore. Then I started thinking about all the people who have slept in that bed. A lot more than I would've initially thought. Now that it's just me and Miss Charming Melodee, I like to think that it's everything we own is exclusively our stuff. But all sorts of things we own have all sorts of histories to them. The bed, for instance. A quick count of the number of people, that I know of, that have slept in the bed I currently sleep in: 15, with a plus or minus 2 margin of error. This is just sleeping, mind you. And for as long as months and years and as little as a few hours. The male/female breakdown, I would guess, would be around 1:5. The romantic interaction (or interaction, romantic or otherwise) ratio to non- is probably around 1:2. Sad, really. For some reason, I like to keep track of these things. Like, I like to know how many people were rent-paying residents of the Park Slope apartment during my tenure there (ten). Or the number of people who've spent the night on my futon (at least 30). Or how many people from my list of Frequently Used Nouns have hooked up with someone else on that list (ten, that I know of. Getting a bit twisted, really, given that there are only 13 individual entries of people). Number who've kissed more than 1 other person? 3, that I know of. Anyway, I just like to keep track of things. Hence, the journal.
To mark the five year..., um, mark, if you're interested, have a looksy at the previous five years, both of my sometimes embarrassing writing and my often embarrassing haircuts (and more recently, bad facial hair). And really, what is this all about if not egregious self-indulgence?
Crystal Cty, VA
February 10, 1999
Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY
February 10, 2000(No image. Probably a good thing)
February 11, 2001
Park Slope
February 10, 2002
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
February 10, 2003
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
February 10, 2004
Sporting the mop-top. Ain't had no haircut since October, I reckon, I reckon.