Happy merry end-of-year time, OK!

Hello everyone - it's that time of year again. Time to vegetate, not go to work, overeat, and tolerate your families for a while. It's also the end of 2007, which kind of snuck up on me. It was a pretty good year overall, though I was only tangentially involved with most major events in my sphere this year (other people's weddings and babies, etc.).

I've started thinking a little about whether to come up with some kind of "Best of Somethingorother 2007" list, but I really can't come up with anything good.

Movies: I keep reading reviews of all these great movies that have come out this year, but it seems like most of them have either come out recently or have only been screened for critics. So I don't have a favorite movie of 2007. Also, my tolerance for cinematic violence has dramatically diminished in recent years, so I should probably just go watch "Superbad" again.

Music: it turns out that I didn't get into a tremendous amount of new music this year. Not that it was a bad year or anything. What does it say that the CD purchase I enjoyed most this year was "Highway 61 Revisited," which was released a full 11 years before I was even born?

I guess the best thing about this year was getting to see so many good friends. I appreciated the chances I got to hang out with many of you, and if I missed out on seeing you this year, I hope it didn't get you down. I've also noticed that I've only averaged about 3 posts a month on this site in '07, down from last year - but still, keeping up with me by seeing me in person is probably preferable to keeping up with my silly writings online. I do look forward to spending quality time with friends in 2008. All my best wishes.

The best elf since that punk Legolas

Rejoice! James Kochalka's super awesome diary comic American Elf is now free! Everyone can peruse the entire archives! Some stuff is still subscribers-only, but still, this is a great ongoing project and it gets my big thumbs up.