Auld Lang Syne

As one year closes and the next comes upon us, I've decided to compose my own Big in 2005, in no particular order.

• Girl Friends. In the past year, my amazing comrades have given birth, gotten married, traveled all over Brazil while working on a thesis, made major life decisions, bought and sold houses, persevered through illness and, generally, made me darn proud to call them a friend. Most importantly, they have all continued to be the wise, strong, clever women that support me and brighten my life every day.
• Pink. Who knew this lovely little color would come back with a vengeance? Pink is no longer for little girls and Hello Kitty...even The Donald has embraced the pink power shirt. Can lime green be far behind?
• Jib Jab. Often the only political touchstone for my brothers (and the rest of a grateful nation), these funny little cartoons have made it cool to talk blue and red, dove and hawk again. And I'm all for anyone who takes on the big box store.
• Mother Nature. Tsunami, hurricane, earthquake, tornado...you name it, we had it. However, like a phoenix, we've risen from the ashes, shaken ourselves off and realized that we aren't so far away from one another after all.
• Books. From Oprah's book club to Harry Potter mania, at least we are all reading something. Some of my favorites from the last year: Kite Runner, Secret Life of Bees and Jon Stewart's America.
• Ipod. Who knew it would be so fun to carry around enough music to listen to for the next 67 days? Personally, I could listen to three weeks of 80s pop and 90s hip-hop alone.
• The Truth. After some nauseating years of ostrich-like behavior, we've finally started to demand the truth from our president and his posse. Now, come on, tell me Karl Rove doesn't look shifty just by looking at him?
• Celebrity Trash Magazines (my personal drug of choice). I admit it, I have a problem (isn't that the first step to recovery?). Sit a copy of US Weekly, Ok!, In Touch or People in front of me and I will devour it, cover to cover, without ceasing. I have a small problem with making the lives of celebrities enter into my own to the point where I know the details of Nick and Jessica's makeups and breakups more than I know important things like the plots and subplots of War and Peace. It seems this year has brought a rush of these mags to the bookstore and I've probably dropped some considerable cash just to look at pictures of stars (they're just like us! --us weekly) or even non-stars (Chloe what's-her-face). Maybe I will give up on crap literature next year...or maybe 2007 would be a better time to try cold turkey.