Day 96: 2006 Retrospective

Since we're at the end of the first week of the year, it seems like "now or never" time for compiling random personal statistics from 2006. One year ago, I said that "2005 was a hard year, but not necessarily a bad one" and "I can be sure that 2006 will be very different from 2005." This turned out to be both true and not true. Certainly the events of 2006 were quite different than those of 2005, give that cheshcat and I expatriated. However, I think that I can still describe 2006 in much the same way: It was a hard year at many points, but it was a good year. Unlike 2005, not many bad things happened in 2006... except for the last week of October, when all fit hit the shan. However, adapting to life as a foreigner in a new county -- and the pressure that comes with a job at one of the top three universities in the world! -- carries with it some inherent difficulty. Luckily, as one of my cellmates once described me, I am still "the biggest mother-f**king optimist"!

That said, here are some relevant statistics for the year that just ended. Last year, I said that it would be interesting to come back in a year's time and compare the relevant stats from these two years, thus I have done so. I doubt that anyone but me will care about such details... but I do care, and that is reason enough. Beisdes, as everybody knows, with great geekiness comes great urge to count things! So here they are:

1. Number of days spent away from home: 2005 = 195 ; 2006 = ???[*]
   
2. Percentage of year spent away from home: 2005 = 53.4% ; 2006 = ???[*]
   
3. Number of commercial flights: 2005 = 33 ; 2006 = 29
   
4. Miles flew: 2005 = ~81,000 ; 2006 = ~43,500
   
5. Average airspeed: 2005 = 9.25 miles/hour ; 2006 = 4.97 miles/hour
   
6. International trips: 2005 = 5 ; 2006 = 6[**]
   
7. Countries I spent time in: 2005 = 4 (USA, Argentina, India, Canada) ; 2006 = 6 (USA, UK, Italy, Ireland, France, Vatican)
   
8. States I spent time in: 2005 = 17 ; 2006 = ( 7 )
   
   
9. Number of long road trips (long == between 800 and 2000 miles): 2005 = 5 ; 2006 = 2
   
10. Sci-Fi conventions attended: 2005 = [sorta] 1 (Congenial) ; 2006 = 1 (Capricon)
    
11. Number of times skydiving: 2005 = 1 ; 2006 = 1
    
12. Number of Pagan gatherings: 2005 = 3 ; 2006 = 1
    

---

[*] Not sure what "away from home" means since the move to Oxford. If I am at the Event Horizon, does that count as "away from home"? Hard to say...
[**] Similarly, it is harder to define an "international trip" than it used to be. Until 2006, I defined one "international trip" as the span between leaving the United States and returning, no matter how many countries I visited. My new working definition, while I live in the UK, is this: one "international trip" is the span of time between leaving the superspace formed by the US and the UK and returning to that superspace.

---

Adding a new category, for theatre, here are more statistics with which to amaze and astound (or simply bore the helavic out of) you:

• Musicals: 4 (Rent and Wicked on Broadway, The Producers in the West End, The Gondoliers in Oxford)
  
• Shakespearean plays: 7 (Othello, Winter's Tale, The Tempest (x2), Taming of the Shrew, Comedy of Errors, Troilus & Cressida)
  
• Oscar Wilde plays: 3 (The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance)
  
• Pantomimes: 1 (Dick Whittington)
  
• Other: 9 (The Shape of Things, Lola, Wolves in the Walls, Revelations, A Night at the Grand-Guignol, Wyrd Sisters, My Name is Rachel Corrie, Three Tall Women, The Glass Menagerie)

Which makes for a total of twenty-four trips to the theatre in 2006. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!

And, with that, I can't think of anything more to count for 2006, so I shall leave this subject alone for another year.

Day 96: 2006 Retrospective

Since we're at the end of the first week of the year, it seems like "now or never" time for compiling random personal statistics from 2006. One year ago, I said that "2005 was a hard year, but not necessarily a bad one" and "I can be sure that 2006 will be very different from 2005." This turned out to be both true and not true. Certainly the events of 2006 were quite different than those of 2005, give that cheshcat and I expatriated. However, I think that I can still describe 2006 in much the same way: It was a hard year at many points, but it was a good year. Unlike 2005, not many bad things happened in 2006... except for the last week of October, when all fit hit the shan. However, adapting to life as a foreigner in a new county -- and the pressure that comes with a job at one of the top three universities in the world! -- carries with it some inherent difficulty. Luckily, as one of my cellmates once described me, I am still "the biggest mother-f**king optimist"!

That said, here are some relevant statistics for the year that just ended. Last year, I said that it would be interesting to come back in a year's time and compare the relevant stats from these two years, thus I have done so. I doubt that anyone but me will care about such details... but I do care, and that is reason enough. Beisdes, as everybody knows, with great geekiness comes great urge to count things! So here they are:

1. Number of days spent away from home: 2005 = 195 ; 2006 = ???[*]
   
2. Percentage of year spent away from home: 2005 = 53.4% ; 2006 = ???[*]
   
3. Number of commercial flights: 2005 = 33 ; 2006 = 29
   
4. Miles flew: 2005 = ~81,000 ; 2006 = ~43,500
   
5. Average airspeed: 2005 = 9.25 miles/hour ; 2006 = 4.97 miles/hour
   
6. International trips: 2005 = 5 ; 2006 = 6[**]
   
7. Countries I spent time in: 2005 = 4 (USA, Argentina, India, Canada) ; 2006 = 6 (USA, UK, Italy, Ireland, France, Vatican)
   
8. States I spent time in: 2005 = 17 ; 2006 = ( 7 )
   
   
9. Number of long road trips (long == between 800 and 2000 miles): 2005 = 5 ; 2006 = 2
   
10. Sci-Fi conventions attended: 2005 = [sorta] 1 (Congenial) ; 2006 = 1 (Capricon)
    
11. Number of times skydiving: 2005 = 1 ; 2006 = 1
    
12. Number of Pagan gatherings: 2005 = 3 ; 2006 = 1
    

---

[*] Not sure what "away from home" means since the move to Oxford. If I am at the Event Horizon, does that count as "away from home"? Hard to say...
[**] Similarly, it is harder to define an "international trip" than it used to be. Until 2006, I defined one "international trip" as the span between leaving the United States and returning, no matter how many countries I visited. My new working definition, while I live in the UK, is this: one "international trip" is the span of time between leaving the superspace formed by the US and the UK and returning to that superspace.

---

Adding a new category, for theatre, here are more statistics with which to amaze and astound (or simply bore the helavic out of) you:

• Musicals: 4 (Rent and Wicked on Broadway, The Producers in the West End, The Gondoliers in Oxford)
  
• Shakespearean plays: 7 (Othello, Winter's Tale, The Tempest (x2), Taming of the Shrew, Comedy of Errors, Troilus & Cressida)
  
• Oscar Wilde plays: 3 (The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance)
  
• Pantomimes: 1 (Dick Whittington)
  
• Other: 9 (The Shape of Things, Lola, Wolves in the Walls, Revelations, A Night at the Grand-Guignol, Wyrd Sisters, My Name is Rachel Corrie, Three Tall Women, The Glass Menagerie)

Which makes for a total of twenty-four trips to the theatre in 2006. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!

And, with that, I can't think of anything more to count for 2006, so I shall leave this subject alone for another year.