Ought Five has now come and gone. For my household, the year was full of twists and turns that would make any roller-coaster aficionado jealous, and I for one am quite glad we can now put it behind us and start 2006 with a blank slate.
Biggest news of the year of course was the birth of our son Nathaniel in June. The currently happy and healthy little scamper was a week late on his delivery, and did give us a bit of a scare during his birth due to a tight umbilical cord. But the very talented doctor dealt with that quickly, and there have been no complications since thankfully.
Health wise, Melanie and I were on the opposite ends than we usually are. During the pregnancy she began to suffer from gall bladder attacks, and was hospitalized twice for it. On the second event, shortly after Nathaniel arrived, we decided to have the rather unsportsmanlike gall bladder itself evicted. No complications since. For myself, my body is in the best shape it’s been in about four years. My gouty arthritis has been manageable, my shoulder is holding up, and I even find I can run up and down carpetted stairs without landing on my head.
Work wise, things were interesting. Melanie only worked the first four five months of 2005 before going on mat leave, so not much to report there. She likes her job, and because it’s in health care there are plenty of confidential issues that it would be rude and even possibly illegal to blog about – so I won’t. Myself….well, I lost a nice desk in the first week of January to be confined along with the rest of my new team in a training room. Promise given, one month. Well, the second week of December finally saw us moved out of that Orwellian habitat (I still look around frightened when I hear thought and police in the same sentence) and into nice new digs on the 5th floor with our own desks. Some people thought it would be nice as a team-building event to have us so close together. These same people say that we will miss being so close together now that we moved. These same people I hope choke on their Captain Crunch (it’s the simple pleasures in life I look forward to). Almost a year hearing really shitty music from Top-40 stations and hearing WAY too much about certain peoples sexual habits and how many curses they can fit into a short sentence (I’ve been in seedy bars and have heard less foul language used). Honestly, I’m not the most professional driven guy in the world, but I have some standards…which were crossed daily.
Education wise, I signed up for a correspondance writers course, expecting to have enough time to work on it even when our child arrived. Totally fooled myself there. I have it on hiatus for now, but plan to make arrangements with Melanie for boundaries during certain days so I can start it up again. More on that later in this entry. Second City has been fantastic. I have now finished levels A-E, and am currently in the Continuing Improv – Ensemble course. I am right now debating auditioning for the conservatory again vs taking some time off to study other things or taking a different improv course. This is the week to decide, and I’ll update on that once the decision is made.
Melanie had been taking Seneca courses, working towards a Social Services diploma, but is now on hiatus from that due to baby. Whether she starts up again this year is totally up to her. I support her no matter what.
In theatre…well, I did one show this year. The Man With The Plastic Sandwich was a personal triumph for me, and I even ended up winning a Best Actors award for the effort. I have worked on a few commercials and rock videos this year. Will 2006 see a return to stage for me? Read on.

My resolutions for this year. Feel free to smirk.

1/ Write something every single day. Whether it be a blog entry, a short story or even a one sentence edit on a story in progress. Doesn’t matter. Proof may not even get online…this is a personal thing.
2/ Exercise a little bit, 2 or 3 times a week. I’m looking into getting my family out to swimming certain nights so that may cover that. I do have an exercycle in my living room though so that may help. And when it gets warmer I would like to start walking again. While my body is in better shape then it was, might as well take advantage of that and try to get healthy.
3/ Start working towards a diploma in something. I’ve been reading course calendars in Seneca and Humber, and hope to take the plunge soon. I have very little post seconday school education, and no diplomas or degrees, so all of my vast practical knowledge of computers comes to a moot point when a potential employer looks at my resume or tries giving me a detailed theory test. I want something to fall back on. Acting jobs are slim. And though my job is currently secure by the sounds of it, all it would take would be a quick decision to re-org and I could get screwed. Thinking about going back into hardware since I prefer it to software. Possibly get my A+ or MCSE. Maybe Networking. Big choices to be made. Once I have gotten started on my writing course again, I’ll be able to judge how I handle the coursework along with my job and baby in house, and make further decisions from there.
4/ Time permitting, I’d like to get on stage at least once this year. I’m going to start watching for some good shows out there to audition for, and will probably only accept meaty roles as well. In the past I was always unselfish with my roles…I’d take on anything to help out. With my time being lesser though? I think I’m allowed to be the prick for once.

Well, that’s it. Only a light skeletal outline of the year, but if I was to write about every single event that occured I’d need a publisher. Plus my memory isn’t THAT good.
Here’s wishing you all had a great start to 2006…I sure did. Let’s see where the year takes us.

Ah, the great unknown. The mightiest challenge