And happy Leap Year as well. The calendar is going to be a bit different this year with that extra day tacked on the end of February. Not a big deal really, unlike the way it's been tampered with in the past.
For instance Julius and Augustus Caesar each named a month after themselves, immodestly enough. Name your very own month, now THAT'S power. Your face on money, the populace shouting, "Hail!" and rendering things unto you all about. That sort of thing could really go to your head, if being a living god wasn't ego boosting enough. They even forced these months into summer when the weather was nice and sunny. That's why December, which means "tenth-month" in Latin, is the 12th month these days.
Imagine if this sort of calendar fiddling business was still being done by the lord high mucketymucks of our time, say for instance by American Presidents. In that case, New Year's would be on Georgeuary 1st. Groundhog day would fall on Billuary 2nd. Then we'd have another Georgeuary in which spring would spring. The first day of the next month would be Ronpril Fool's day. After that come the flowers of Jimmay, grads and dads of Jerrune. Happy Fourth of Dickly, everyone.
Some French Revolutionaries dreamed up a decimal calendar to replace the current one. (They can also be credited with, or blamed for, the metric system.) Of course 365 days doesn't exactly divide by 10 very neatly, but that sort of untidiness wouldn't trouble folks who squelched dissent by removing the offending tongue, head and all. So the extra days were for one long New Year's party. You've got to hand it to them for that, unless they're handing you your head on a plate.
Forget all that. I'm satisfied with the calendar as it is. So happy New Year and all that this January 1st, 2008. And happy Leap Day this coming February 29th. I'll see you in Thermador. If I can figure out when that is.
2007 in Review
I can't say the past 365 days were all that terribly eventful, but depending on whether you're a glass half full or glass half empty sort that's a blessing or a curse. After all, getting hit by a Mack truck is eventful. By the same token, so is winning the lottery. In any event, neither event or anything of that nature happened. I didn't get rich quick, or slow, or at all. On the other hand, I didn't get unrich either.
I did a book and a smattering of web and magazine illustrations including a few covers. So that's all good. Didn't win any major or minor awards, but drawn.ca gave me a mention. That's kinda neat.
Some folks expect to see charts and graphs and such in an annual review, so I'll not disappoint. Here is a breakdown of everything you never needed to know about my personal 2007 in handy visual form. Since a picture is worth a thousand words it saves me a lot of bother, considering I'm not a writer.
As you can see, all in all, a pretty fair year, and about what I expected. What I deserved is not for me to say. Nevertheless, hope we all get what we deserve this year. Whether that's ominous or promising, only you would have an inkling. But since 2008 is a leap year we all have one more day to get while the getting is good.
