I decided at the beginning of the year to keep track of all the books I read in 2006. The results can be found here: http://nforget.com/blog/books/

According to my record keeping I read thirty-four books, but that’s not entirely correct. There are a couple books on the list which could be accurately described as reference materials and which I did not read cover-to-cover:

• The C++ Programming Language (Special 3rd Edition)
• The C Programming Language (2nd Edition) (Actually, I did read this one cover-to-cover. It’s that good.)
• Macromedia Flash MX Game Design Demystified

Additionally, there are several books on the list which I have not yet finished:

• A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• A Clockwork Orange

There are a couple of recurring authors. I read three Tom Robbins books:

• Villa Incognito
• Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
• Jitterbug Perfume

And three Joel Spolsky books:

• Joel on Software: And on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest to Software Developers…
• User Interface Design for Programmers
• The Best Software Writing I: Selected and Introduced by Joel Spolsky

Most thought-provoking: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

Most entertaining: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell : A Novel

Most surprisingly good: Villa Incognito

Most disappointing: To Kill a Mockingbird

Recommended, but not mentioned elsewhere in this post:
If you like history and soccer: How Soccer Explains the World : An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
If you like games: Theory of Fun for Game Design
If you like stories or movies: The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers

One year ago I wrote, “When I’m fifty or sixty or seventy I’ll be looking back and I’ll probably think of 2005 as one of the most influential years of my life.” If 2005 was a pivotal year in my life, 2006 was even more pivotal. A year ago I was getting a raise at my job as a web developer and spending most of time sitting in a cubicle daydreaming about being a game developer. Doing the web development thing for a while taught me many things, but the most important was that I don’t want to be a web developer.

Around the end of February I finally finished my application for FIEA. While I nervously awaited word of my acceptance things were getting strange at my job. The company was splitting in two, which created all kinds of intra-office politics.

In April I got word of my acceptance to FIEA. I began making preparations to quit my job and move to Florida.

The summer was dominated by the World Cup, which totally engrossed me for the duration. It was an excellent tournament, during which the best of the sport was on display.

I visited Orlando with Gillian to look at apartments in the early part of the summer. The trip was somewhat discouraging, because most of the apartments sucked and were too expensive. Fortunately, FIEA was able to place me in a rental house with a couple other students.

Around the end of July I put in my notice and quit my job. Shortly thereafter I hopped in a Uhaul and drove to Florida. Just before the beginning of the semester I was lucky enough to be invited to go for an amazing vacation in Key West. When I got back, the semester began. To be continued…

One thing I forgot to mention in the first half: during my summer downtime I also worked for the Tim Kaine for Governor campaign making phone calls and doing surveys.

After moving to Norfolk we sold the old house quite quickly to some friends of ours. Work was going really well for me, though the amount of actual work I was receiving began to taper off to almost nothing. Unfortunately, my mother’s work was not going very well at all. For several years she had been growing more and more disgruntled with the administrator of the school she worked for, who had been working hard to change the nature of the school. My mother had been working at the school since the seventies and had been the headmistress at one point. The current administration of the school, perhaps perceiving her as a threat, decided to fire her this fall. After consulting a lawyer, she was able to obtain a decent severance package; it’s not as if we’re out on the street or anything. The decision came as a shock to everyone in the school community; though in hindsight it does not seem totally unpredictable.

In a terrible twist of events, while on the way to sign her severance papers, my mother got in a car accident. It was ruled entirely the other driver’s fault (they had pulled out in front of her); but my mom’s 2000 Volvo V40 was ruled totaled when they discovered that the frame had bent in the collision. She was provided with a rental for a few weeks and a fairly hefty chunk of bills with which to buy a new car.

Around the beginning of December I completed my months-long search for a car when I settled on a Silver 2002 VW Jetta. I won’t say how much it cost, but suffice it to say it’s the most expensive thing I’ve ever purchased by a factor of five. (And that includes a trip to Europe.) So far she’s been treating me right. I recently decided her name is Rosalyn.

My girlfriend came to visit me for two weeks over the holy-days. It was wonderful and I miss her terribly now that she’s gone back home. I look forward to a time when I can always be near her.

My mother’s search for a car was much shorter than my own. She bought herself a brand-new Prius for Christmas. It’s black and sleek and futuristic like it was delivered by space aliens. I love the way the engine shuts off at stop signs. Very sexy.

That just about concludes the short version of my 2005. When I’m fifty or sixty or seventy I’ll be looking back and I’ll probably think of 2005 as one of the most influential years of my life. Obviously I didn’t mention everything, but these posts are long enough as is. Stay tuned for 2006: The Year in Preview.

2005 was probably the most eventful of my approximately 22 years. I started the year off in a funk, having not done as well as I might have liked in school last fall. I also was dealing with the issues typical of a second-semester college senior. I had senioritis. Most of my friends had already graduated. I felt like I had outgrown college generally and my social scene specifically. I was very eager to graduate in May.

Graduation could not have been better. My family and friends visited from all over the country. It was nice to see everyone in one place. On the other hand, it was sad to leave some friends behind who have not yet graduated. One month later my brother graduated from high school, which gave me another chance to see my family and friends.

The beginning of the summer was simultaneously very stressful and very relaxing. It was nice to have some time off to just relax; but it was also very stressful to have the burden of an uncertain future. The bank account ran dry and I was living off credit cards for a while. I did get a chance to spend some time in Miami with my girlfriend, which was a lovely diversion, but I soon had to return to Virginia. It is during this period of too much downtime that I launched my website.

I had been searching intently for jobs since graduation; but the one branch I hadn’t yet shaken was personal connections. (Which, everyone knows, is the only way anyone gets a job.) To extend my poor metaphor for a moment, that branch contained some of the proverbial low-hanging fruit. A friend of mine was able to quickly introduce me to a friend of hers who got me an interview. Everything went swimmingly and I started my new job as a professional web developer on July 18th.

The next few months went by in a blur; I have found that doing the same thing every day causes this phenomenon. I have been learning some skills on the job; but most of what I do is not very challenging. It is in these first few months of my job that I worked on Diplomacy in my spare time. I eventually got sort of burned out on Diplomacy, and decided I needed to give it a break.

Also during August I was helping my mom and my brother to clean out our house, which we have lived in for thirteen years, so that we could move. Four bedrooms seemed like an awful lot, considering I will be moving out within the next year and my brother will be going away to college next fall. My mom does not need a four bedroom house to herself. We decided to take the opportunity to move downtown to Norfolk, specifically the Ghent area. Ghent is a perfect neighborhood within walking distance of everything in Norfolk worth doing. We have a three story townhouse that is more than spacious enough for the three of us. (The fourth being my best friend, with whom I share a room.)

To be continued… Part Two (Cars, Holidays, Norfolk, and Jobs + Predictions, Resolutions, and Aspirations)