now it can be officially officially over.

although we so nicely stated 12 months ago that we considered 2006 over --

10. We have declared 2006 officially over after only a month based upon a series of actions showing lack of judgment on one of our parts (who shall remain nameless) and the sale of a friends nipple via ebay. Really. We're finished with this year.

time unfortunately did not heed our plan and '06 marched right on as scheduled. there were many ups and downs throughout the year, but on a whole it wasn't too shabby.

as we all know i've had this lingering, annoying, and - most importantly - award-winning! - allergy/cold type thing the past few months, so it wasn't too shocking that on my way out for last night's year-ending festivities i found myself in 7-11 purchasing a bag of cough drops and a packet of Benadryl along with bags of ice. thinking that was not nearly enough meds to get me through the evening/next afternoon, i also popped into CVS to procure a bottle of cough syrup. anyone peering into my car yesterday evening would have assumed that a drug overdose was my celebratory new year's activity of choice.

as i'm getting on line to wait at the register, i notice the man in front of me is completely eschewing society's norm of being somewhat dolled up for the Eve, and is instead decked out in a long navy bathrobe, a pair of plaid pajama pants, and a set of woolen tan slippers. as i snicker about his outfit, i immediately fall into one of my coughing fits. as i'm hacking away behind him, the man is called over to the next register, and as he goes to walk up to it he turns around, raises his prescription pill bottle towards me as though in toast, waggles it, and says "happy new year!"

really, i couldn't have imagined a more perfect ending to '06.