A lot of people are writing New Year’s Resolutions online, both sf people on their blogs and students on their xangas. While that might be a good idea for some people, assuming they really make an effort to carry them out, for others it is probably more fantasy than reality.

For myself, rather than look ahead, I prefer looking back at some of the things I will remember from 2005, both good and bad. This list is not intended to be definitive, nor in any priority order, just a bunch of things that are likely to stick in my mind in the future:

• Mark and Andy are both doing well in school. They make me proud of both of them, although I try not to brag about them too much at school.

• I know a lot of happily-married couples, but none of the husbands lucked out as much as I did, that’s for damned sure!

• There is no doubt that what warms me the most about teaching is the students. Hardly a year goes by in which I do not spend time in the Math Lab with at least a few special students that I will never forget long after they graduate. This year I have been very fortunate to know two students who will always be among the most special students of my career. I hope they both realize who they are.

• Life would be incredibly less exciting without books. While science fiction is my first love–and has been for 44 years now–I also enjoy historical fiction, historical nonfiction and travel books. My favorite books of last year were Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Last Light of the Sun and Jack McDevitt’s Polaris.

• Music is another joy in my life, and I am always discovering new music and new musicians that I particularly enjoy. I am so grateful that Andy got me started taking guitar lessons three years ago. My favorite albums this year were Green Day’s American Idiot and Richard Thompson’s Live From Austin, TX.

• Unfortunately, 2005 will always been remembered for those horrific events of August which traumatized my entire family. R.I.P. Dad.