Did you enjoy any good sunsets? Yes. In late summer there were wildfires, and the horrible smoke that congested the area for weeks made for some spectacular sunsets.
Who did you meet and what did you like about them? I met some cool people through Noel, and through the LCE. Artists working under all sorts of circumstances, but getting stuff done.
What did you experience for the first time? Visiting my mom and her husband Emilio in their home in Bakersfield.
How do you know you are older? Nobody gets my references. I talked about the little green guy at the end of the Star Trek credits, which is usually a surefire laugh. Nothing. I broadened it out to mention that the alien, in the show, was a puppet operated by Clint Howard, and they still looked like puzzled kittens. I gave up.
How do you know you are wiser? I really don't think that I am.
What are your regrets about last year? I rallied and got two books drawn, but what was stopping me from drawing in the first six months of the year?
Where did you go that you have never been before? Bakersfield, and Long Beach
Did you have any meetings that you find memorable? A certain cartoonist, I won't namedrop, who we both revere, asked us if we needed a lift back to our hotel from the first day of LCE; so we went and found his car and drove back, all talking up a storm.
Did you walk in the park, or at the beach, or in the woods, or by a mountain stream? There's a river near where my mom lives, and we drove out there and went down to the shore. There was evidence of fresh water mussels, and up on the bank some wild gourds. We took pictures down by the water.
What would you do again? I'd go back to visit my mom in a heartbeat.
What would you do over? I'd be more of a Peaceful Perce. Being scrappy cost me a lot of good times this year.
Why is your life better? Life with Noel is very, very good.
Why is it not? Eh, the usual: money, worry, the feeling that the hammer is coming down on all of us
What unique opportunities did you miss? Because I don't pay attention to coming events, I don't see a lot of good music shows. The freaking Fleet Foxes played a home stand at the Paramount, and I only found out on the night they played -- sold out for weeks, naturally
If you met yourself for the first time this year would you strike up a friendship? Where would you have met? I'd probably run into me on QA Ave, on my way back from Trader Joe's, and we'd probably just nod in passing.
What flowers did you smell for the first time? What food tasted? What music danced to? This was the first year I really had fava beans. Noel grew fresh favas in the pea patch, and they were delicious.
What will make this year different from last year? We're going to be more focussed, more determined. The last two years we've been floating around at the whim of fate; this year we have to dig our feet into the sand and push ourselves.
Did you spend any time listening to yourself? What did you say? I try not to. The bad radio in my head asserts itself and I spend whole days on my back not doing what I need to.
If you put this year in a food grinder and made sausages out of it, what would they taste like? Oh, come on. Sausages?
In what respects was last year a pivotal year? The First Year Of Our Presidential Adversity, and we learned we can live through what has already happened. It bids well for the future.
If time and events flow like a river, what was your relationship with that river this year? We're walking on the banks of the river, kicking the mussel shells strewn around by the gulls, and I found a stick for my mom to lean on and she's standing next to my girlfriend and I get a really good picture of the two of them, smiling like happy kids.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned last year. It's not enough to have friends, you have to be friends. Also, I can take a punch!
Quote a song lyric or poem that sums up your year. Oh how could I dream of such a selfless and true love? Could I wash my hands of just looking out for me?
Add a question of your own and answer it. What's an event you remember from the first part of the year? The Womens' March. I'll be out there with them again this Jan. 20th, and I hope you can make it too.