Life in the Big City

BIG CITY YEAR IN REVIEW:

Best movie I've seen this year: Sexy Beast

Sweetest movie I’ve seen this year: It Could Be Worse

Hottest movie I’ve seen this year: Time Code

Worst movie I've seen this year: It's a toss up between Vanilla Sky and Kiss of the Dragon. Bridget Fonda needs help.

Best book I read this year (fiction): Oranges are not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Witherspoon

Best book I read this year (non fiction): Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey (make that the only non fiction book I read this year).

Best book I read this year (poetry): The Splinter Factory, Jeff McDaniel. And hey, I went to college with the guy too! But I don't really remember him. But I have his picture in my yearbook and stuff.

Best CDs I bought this year: Radiohead, Amnesiac; Lucinda Williams, Essence; Jonathan Richman, Action Packed: The Best of Jonathan Richman.

Song that never failed to make me tear up, all year long: "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds. It's our song, and everything. Awwww.

TV Shows worth setting the VCR for: The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Mind of the Married Man, 24, and, surprisingly enough, ER.

Proudest Moment: Well, that would have to be giving birth to the 9 pound, 4 ounce, 21 and a half inches long Javier Sebastian Vela in the comfort of my own bedroom. Did I mention yet that he weighs 17 POUNDS as of this morning? At 8 WEEKS? Astonishing.

Second Proudest Moment: Jack, while we are on our way to preschool, calls to me from the back seat: "Mama, can you put on Radiohead?" Melt my heart.

Happy New Year, and all that. The big plans for the evening are to mix up a batch of margaritas and put together something yummy to eat, dig out a DVD or two, and have a big smooch at midnight. Perhaps we'll meet the neighbors in the driveway with sparklers so we can pop corks and celebrate together right at the stroke of midnight. That's life in the big city, folks.