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DEC

31

2006

in what may be my last night of restful sleep for the next few weeks (provided that client N hands me that project as scheduled), i tried to savor as much of it as possible this morning (and by morning you know i mean the afternoon, because that's how i roll). when i finally did wake up, i turned on the television to catch the last regular season patriots game (victory!) and in between commercial breaks cleaned out the guest bedroom in preparation for an tao's arrival tomorrow night. during the half time i got dressed and walked down to ace hardware in porter square to get a new set of keys made. coming back, i was surprised to see that the gap store within the porter exchange mall was gone, relocating to harvard square. so where are the lesley students going to go shop now for off-the-rack clothes? i wonder who's going to move into that space? it'd be cool to have an art store there, to coincide with lesley university's plan to expand its art department.

i had punjabi dhaba indian takeout for dinner at my place with my parents in the evening. we clumsily ordered since nobody knew very much about indian cuisine. what's a tikka, what's a paratha, what's a chole? but it's like when people who don't know very much about asian cuisine order in a chinese restaurant, i can imagine it to be pretty daunting as well and a hurdle which prevents more people from enjoying asian food. there's always a learning curve, but the advantage of understanding the specific ethnic food code means access to more delicious things to eat! my parents were surprised that punjabi dhaba didn't seem very busy, even though every time we drive by that place it's packed with people. their theory is new year's eve is traditionally a night of chinese food takeout (it's the busiest night of the year for chinese restaurants), so indian food takes the backseat for a night.

did anyone else glimpse the new year's eve coverage on television? ABC is the traditional network to watch, even though ryan seacrest now replaces the old emcee dick clark, who sits back in the studio. over at CBS, it was local first night coverage down in boston. how about NBC? our local carrier (WHDH) opted instead to broadcast a late sunday night sports show debating the minutiae of patriots' first postseason game next weekend, with the countdown to the new year apparently a trivial matter compared to another potential superbowl win for the new england team. NBC did have coverage though, but you had to switch to MSNBC to see it, where carson daly was the host in time square (wonder if it was awkward for him, so close to the MTV studio, where he formerly served out his indentured servitude before finally getting his own show that didn't involve an artful acronym). ryan or carson, that's the big question! i'm a carson man myself, i will sometimes watch his show after conan if he has a cool guest on. seacrest is just too saccharine, and will apparently kiss anyone's ass provided s/he's a celebrity. daly at least seems to have a slight alt edge even though he's a product of the MTV overlords. another thought popped into my head: do people on the west coast watch the ball drop in time square as well? do they watch it live (at 9pm PST) or is it rebroadcasted at midnight?

so this is the last post for 2006. what a year, right? i'm trying to write this amazing retrospective, but honestly, i can't remember most of what happened the first half of this year. like 2005, in 2006 i still consider myself "unemployed" even though i managed to work on some freelance projects that were lucrative enough to support my lavish player president lifestyle. it goes without saying that i remember 2006 as the year of my 3-month-long southwestern china trip. it's changed me in ways i can't articulate, i see the world with a different perspective now (especially china). i totally have the traveling bug and not a day goes by where i don't itch to go someplace remote and exotic. still, i try not to dwell on it too much, the two ingredients for a successful vacation is time and money; i have plenty of time, but money's a different problem.