Last week I had dinner with an old friend. There's nothing like summing up the last year of your life over dinner to make you re-examine your priorities. Where would you begin? I'm into brevity. The best brief biography I've ever heard was for a mayfly: "Born. Eat. Shag. Die."

Sum up the last year of your life in twenty words or less.

John [sporadica]:

Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Ad Infinitum.

Blau [opensky]:

assembling new iteration. assembling new iteration. assembling new iteration. reiterate. assembling new iteration. assembling new iteration. assembling new iteration. reiterate.

Dayna [ballpoint blog]:

Only child. Few friends. One best friend. She's gone. Webpages - growth, improvement. High school pressures. Lots of writing, thinking, waiting.

Sness [sness.net]:

sweatlodge. weed. new job. yoga. om. quit weed! expand. shave head. mouse genome. om. my god, it's full of stars!

Achren [spiraling]:

sadness. writing. coping. nintendo. chai. drinking. crazy friends. crazy summer. unrequited crushes. trying new things. new roommates. new job. better.

Mud [sasquatch forever]:

first love. first job. first time. graduated. love lost. depression. suicide. friends. laughter. burnt tv. self-dependence. alive. silver lining.

Nico [my 2p]:

New house, dog & job. Going to be a father. Not going to be a father. Try to become a father again?

Bryan [enmai.com]:

confusing. beautiful. sad. perplexing. football. surprising. family. digital. dreams. experience. expression. progressing.

Penny [torn.org]:

worked. wrote too much, wrote too little. watched myself grow. watched my daughter grow. realised i'm truly happy.

Ray [hotsy totsy club]:

Do what I'm told. Do what I think of. Do what I feel like. Do what I can. Don't.

Michael [cabin pressure]:

Work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work die.

Jenna [stealing fire]:

came out of the closet. girl meets girl. cross country relocation. life in the big city. midwest for the holidays.

RWB7210@aol.com [no url]:

graduated, flew lots, wrote little, grew/stayed bored, got depressed, got drunk, started college, lost friends, no hope for future

Wisdom [wisdom]:

hippie loving. fired hired surfing. freelance webbing. resumes sending. hatemail receiving. photos taking. Pitchfork meeting. Romania drinking. weed smoking. hired.

David [davidgagne.net]:

Gainesville, football, holidays, gloria, basketball, India, LA, graduation, house, commuting, quit, Tampa, ICQ, contract, awakening, drove west, LA, lost, won

Naz [aftertaste]:

Alone, not alone, love, amazing. Sibling marriage, congratulations. Freelance web gigs. Graduating. Money is evil. Decisions. Love pulls me through.

Dana [southern.gurl]:

Romance followed by a diamond ring. Months of blissful wedding chaos. A beautiful ceremony and the perfect honeymoon. Then reality.

Nick [if.only]:

I've grown over-accustomed to check-in desks, departure gate glances, long flights, empty arrivals halls. It's time to break that habit.

Jo [regularjo]:

grief and betrayal...death in many forms. tears, love, happiness and sun. so much lost...and some gained. two more!

Lexi [a blank slate]:

in love. heartbreak. depression. blogging. graduate. fights from hell. eat. sleep. work. happy.

D [waferbaby]:

time flew. quit job. did freelance. new job with a new hope. love lost. sore lungs. looking at renting. still.

Peta [peapod]:

sex. sick. big tummy. bigger tummy. pop. pain. baby fingers. baby toes. baby poop (lots). sleepless nights. family. love. happy.

Raza [highindustrial]:

This year has been about paring things down, sharpening myself. The future is a birthday cake studded with roman candles.

Jonathan [no url]:

Almost Died - Rekindled New/Old Flame - Resolved Issues - Created new ones - Happy - Healthy - Love - Lust - Work - Eat - Sleep - Love again

Mat [playingwithcobras]:

i can't remember. i don't want to remember. i can't wait for it to end. (for all the right reasons)

Alasdair [roadkill diaries]:

Resolutions in a ghost year. Start points to build on. Changes moving thick and fast. Looking forward to the future.

Koen [no url]:

A life of words, to write, talk, entertain, seduce, hide behind. Love, too: Eric, Amsterdam, skies, life. Be of good cheer!

Dreama [thoughts@random]:

Change - Restructure - Family - Travel - Music and Writing - Creative Outlets - Reclaimed Passion - Action - Satisfaction - Insomnia - Work - JournalCon - Relaxation - Refocused Energy - Happiness

Nanette [amplified to rock]:

Girl meets boy. Girl loves boy. Boy is hung up on ex. Ouch! Repeat. Girl never learns, does she? Nope.

Heather [destructive escapism]:

suspended. institutionalized. stoned. medicated. engaged. obsessed. almost jailed. depressed. suicidal. peaceful. political. awoke. liberated. dropped out. wrote. created. destroyed. fulfilled.

Stephen [i just type]:

Stress. Responsibility. Escape. Trek. Segue. Return. Stress. Turmoil. Quit. Liberation. Odyssey. Gameplay. Deja vu. Turmoil. Quit. Freedom. Freelance. Typing, alone.

Bryan [time is the enemy]:

Moved to New York. Found friends, loft, love and nightclubs. Still need job, my dog and a decent haircut.

Allye [no url]:

Had sex at 15. Got pregnant at 16. Three kids later, in college, have a life. Some growing up to do.

Fraser [no url]:

Spending 19 hours on a ferry off Dover with a hundred 14-year-olds from Driffield .... argggggg!

Joe [foaf]:

Dreamt of leaving and starting anew. When I arrived I picked up where I left off.

Anne [no url]:

born into shitty family, survival, humiliated, ego grew, met love, marriage, infertility, strength, courage, bad drugs, hate job, need job.

Bryan [razorlab.com]:

Moved. Stressed. Worked. Hated. Loved Lost. Depression. Photography. Took time to smell the flowers. People watched. Found my passion again.

Spring [breakable.org]:

move, new job, move again, another new job. bitch about new job, old car, look for another new job.

Tracey [no url]:

quit. moved on up like Jefferson's. sea turtles. new job. visitors. jays. cozy with best friend. hamster. everyone quits. floundering.

AJ [commented code]:

Sega. My name, 8 games. Two sell over 1 million. Wrestle VP. Bye Sega. House Fire. Game Over. Insert Coin.

Amy [teammonkey]:

i came to realize i'm in charge of my own destiny. but i can't get the damn thing off autopilot.

Even [espence@enmax.com]:

We played hockey on the pond outside of Mat's house on New Year's Eve day. I worked some, too.

Karen [karenika]:

misery, desperation, Japan, awakening, green card, bliss, Turkey, twin nephews, back home, new job, part time, possibilities, volunteer, love, happiness

Sam [autopoesis]:

3hree hundred 6ixty 5ive daze, 3hree hundred 6ixty degrees; 1ne long season.

Michael [cannibal.cx]:

Healthy, happy with who I am (finally), some issues resolved and some new ones that popped up. Pretty damn good.

Suzie [ooooner.com]:

I came to the conclusion that I don't think I'd realize happiness if it bit me dead in the ass.

John [terminal.annex]:

I loved, hated, createded, destroyed, matured, decayed, laughed, cried, bled, hurt, healed, danced, limped, alienated, associated; yet nothing really changed.

Shauna [what's new pussycat]:

bad job, breakdown, bye bye bathurst, bonking, broken heart, breaking hearts, brilliant job, buying books, bouncing puppydog, bobby, blogging, birthday!

Adam [adamford@eisa.net.au]:

Start: Roadside puking in Canberra. Middle: Travelling around Australia for poetry and friendship. End: Quitting job and flying to NYC.

Tracey [11140489@student.macarthur.uws.edu.au]:

Changes, stress, confusion, frustration, moments of insanity, no sleep, academic success, acceptance, bravery, holidays, disappointment, budgeting, happiness?

Judy [mmm skyscraper...]:

Got pregnant, dumped, kicked out. Got down to business. Got act together. Moved to France. Much love. Had daughter. Eska.

James [jimmynet]:

Growing up, living alone, finding love, all far from home, all for the first time. New me. Lots of fun...

Natalie [dinette.org]:

brown hair bleached blonde. excuses. starbucks. chapstick. trying to "write". moving. sleeping. too late for sunrise. caffeine. seagulls. friends. enemies.

Ernie [littleyellowdifferent]:

Played out dotcom cliche: Wake late, work later, sleep latest. But Paris was nice... wrote some funny shit too, yo.

Ki [iistix]:

Worked on II stix. Got Married. Worked on II stix. Visited Korea. Work on II stix. Got a new job. Did I mention that I worked on II stix?

Jodinand [jodinand]:

lost. graduate. travel. alone. booze. drugs. sex. broke. vanity. strip. smile. booze. drugs. sex. suicide. home. alive. recover. laugh. found.

Chris [not enough of me]:

Shaved head, turned legal, graduated high school, saw Europe, moved to New York, started college, started blog.

Samantha [antiHERO]:

cold, surge, capuccino, inspiration, euphoria, redundancy, empathetic, anger, mocha-cream, fitzgeralism dead deer syndrome, spark, pseudo-rejecktion, relationism, pulchritude, phantasmagoria

Charlie [bang]:

marriage. mortgage. dangerouselectrics. rewiring. carbonmonoxiderisk. newboiler. leakyroof. olliematthewsthebestfuckingrooferintheworldandtheformerworldbmxvertchampion. diy. arguments. letsgetafuckingdecoratorinbeforeweendupgettingdivorced. losangeles. scared. lasvegas. skint. grandcanyon. openmouthed. newjob. payrise. sleep. [think this is cheating slightly....m]

Grim [tears before bedtime]:

Heart broken again, hallucinating Christmas, money, no money, lose job. And then I met a girl, and fell in love.

Heather [harrumph]:

montreal, freezing, boredom, austin, coup de foudre, new love, big move, san franciso, e.coli, depression, heal, write, photograph, hope

Reid [exploding fist]:

November London, December January ill, February March NYC, April showers, May SW16, June Party, July August, September sex October love?

David [thisboyistoast]:

Montreal. Still feel alien. Miss compadres. Hate job. New job. Love job. Vacation - NYC. Procrastination. Broken record complaints. Must change!

acb [dev.null.org]:

just another false alarm; university; dole; music; new job; blogging; Sydney; Northcote; remixing; postmodernism; indeed, many things come to pass.

Chris [raettig.org]:

(corporate webshop. quit.)x2. defocused. loved. lost. me-time. reassessment. novel completed. new server. new career. new flat. mental peace. aubergine.

Joe [joeclark.org]:

Nose pressed to glass watching every online poseur, twit, charlatan, and salesman thrive. Successful people stay successful. Then there's me.

Hannah [imagine explore]:

graduated, employed - terrified. sister home - happy. dumped - heartbroken. bought house - madness. quit smoking started blogging still painting often sad.

SJ Green [the nutlog]:

Y2K. Mississippi love. Rows, split. Tokyo Zen. Visitors. Cotswold capers. Parents split! Healing the needy. Healing myself. Much surfing. Storm!

Owen [human lint]:

No novel. New colleague from Hell. Web. Death at sea. HumanLint. Incubation. Fancy dress! Spain. Inquest. Work. No novel.

Bonnie [stumble over words]:

breakup, funeral, lackluster 2000, friends, graduation, fall in love, unrequited, party, opportunity, unemployed, still in love, unrequited, new job, contentment.

Carol [wandering mind]:

Single, San Jose still. New apartment, books, more books, work too much, Fray Day, car dead. Miss family, Seattle.

Jason [freakho]:

Academic probation. First job. Lose first job. Several vacations. Sit on ass. No money. Panic. Sit on ass. Panic.

Graham [virulent memes]:

sydney, poms, kiwis, beer, heartbreak, passed uni, no job, broke, got fat temporarily, got old Albury job back, bought records.

Matt [haughey.com]:

LA boredom. cool award. fun in Austin. quit boredom. San Francisco. Pyra. Blogger. work. fun. proposal. work. marriage. future. content.

John [underbaal]:

Back to uni, new computer, course slow then fast, stress, create website, more stress, loved for 5 years, brilliant birthday.

Johanna [blogging the line]:

leather onstage, naked offstage, sent to a faraway land, discovered money, and came back. bonus: the dirty three.

Jena [guilty by design]:

lost myself, found blogger. lost marriage, found love. lost freedom, found friends in abundance, still searching for self.

Nikolai [fairvue central]:

Trains, 2000 moment, TaleSpin, warm winter, Fairvue grows, South/Southwest, Spectrum, SpotSM returns, music camp, open windows, North, freelance, senior.

Elizabeth [retro hippy]:

failed school. hired. miserable. quit. boy encounter. just friends. boy moves. smirnoff. lost friends. depression. infertility. meet soul mate. happiness.

Peter [crushing krisis]:

Start college. Find (real?) friends. Her. Crashing. New Years (& lips). Stage; hair & be-ins. Summer (broken & blogging). Happy.

Tom [tomcosgrave.com]:

freelance, broke, love, hired, disillusioned, angry, quit, hired again, success, excitement, happiness, pay rise, san francisco, politics, anxiety, optimism

Graybo [grayblog]:

woke up. ate. cursed connex. worked. ate. worked some more. cursed connex again. colleged. blogged. ate. slept. and loved, thankfully.

Carl [piginc]:

bought domain. moved site. son born. bored at work. resigned. new job. fell in love. travelled. happy at work. decisions.

Jack [heavy messing]:

crap. more crap.

Mark [marxidad]:

Got fired. Got hired. Fired again. Met a girl. Just friends. Hired. Fired. Burning Man! Hired. Wesley Willis! Fired.

Caite [caite.net]:

It was meant to be a new beginning. It wasn't. Things should have happened. They didn't. There's always next year.

Jess [most of the time, out of sight]:

travel, visit, heal, celebrate, tattoo, hope, worry, work, slack,work, slack, Paris, volleyball, Benedicts, sleep-overs, photography, slack, work, visit, planning.

Katy [kitschbitch]:

leave home, florida, manchester, new job, london, whirlwind, guardian, new experiences, blog, crete, travel, america, oxford, fresher, friends, party

rekkit@total.net [no url]:

Left girlfriend, found drugz. Quit piss-poor job, found piss-poor job (with benefits). Fantastic summer of debauchery. Rockunroll. Chaos. Montréal!

Erica [sugar + brine]:

heal heart from love. fall in love. bust. new friends. bye old friends. virginia. madison. new york. major big decisions.

Pix [pixelbaby]:

Sick. Convalescing in Canada. Engaged. Happy. Leave Canada. Sad. New job. Dis-engaged. New friends. New love. Happy.

Nick [naked pope - the movie]:

Found a better job. Found a better apartment. Still in love with Wendy, beer, and Rumi. I miss old friends.

Caroline [prolific]:

amsterdam. hope. dublin. despair. flying pig. happy. shock. horror. dublin. joy. new job. depression. quit job. mid. life. crisis. dublin?

Jen [threadnaught]:

Corporate apathy. Blog, Prague, GBlogs, quit job. Started goofing off & haven't stopped yet despite being re-employed, hee hee.

Vaughan [wherever you are]:

Flu. Departures. Work. Friends. Out. Where is my mind? Weird nights. Work. Anger. Walk in park again. Creativity. Be there.

Tom [plasticbag]:

Max. No Max. Assistant Editor. Kerry. Christmas. Max? No Max. Homeless. W9. LA. Production Editor. New York. Max? No Max.

Paul [digitaltrickery]:

bored. bird. drink. single. drink (more). bedford. flat. job. PDA. blog. london. drink (even more). reading festival. poland.

Catherine [bloglet]:

Move to London, live in Abbey. Lose job, get another, bedsit. Get flat, hate job, crap men, no money. Woe.

Dave-o [cortex]:

all good things must come to an end ... pack up, pick up, drill hole through Earth, end up in London.

Dan [extenuating circumstances]:

Blog. Uni. Broke up. Fell to bits. Uni. House. Drink. Friends. Fun. Exams. Work. Blog died. London. Blog reborn.

Tom [blue lines]:

Holding operations and consolidations, punctuated by crushes/crises/collapses as usual. But writing improving, new friends, happy end in prospect.

Darren [linkmachinego]:

2000: work. eat. sleep. shit. piss. surf. blog. work. repeat.

Bill [billyjoeblog]:

quit drinking, found blogging. met thekate. homeless now, but have great job and more cash. so far, so good.

Paul [cuckoo kid]:

Single. Uni. Poor. Dropping out. Sleeping till four. Job. Getting robbed. New job. Resigning. Going home. Looking for work. Single.

Luke [captain fez]

Moved to London, loved in Canada. Richer in music, poorer in finances. Started blogging, saw Tom Waits, discovered my patriotism.

Meg [notsosoft]:

Quit. Returned. Work. Blogging. Greece. More work. Canada. Hepatitis. Work (freelance too). Friends. Just Friends. Frustration. Work. Words. Itchy feet.

Submit your twenty words.