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My step-grandmother had surgery today, to remove a tumor in her lung that fortunately seems not to have spread anywhere else. The prognosis is as good as it can be, given the diagnosis.

She married my grandfather when I was just starting high school. Bonding over the piano helped us to hit it off right away. (She’s self-taught, and has written some of her own songs.) She comes from a small family, and it was a big adjustment to marry into a large one—there are nine of us in my generation of the Graves—but she fits right in. She’s got a good sense of humor, and a fairly thick skin, which seems to have come in handy from time to time when dealing with Grandpa. She’s a pretty straight shooter, unafraid to be honest. I admire that about her.

She’s in some pain, but she and Grandpa seem to be optimistic. They’re not sure how long she’ll need to stay at the hospital, but I expect she’ll want to go home as soon as possible. After all, someone needs to keep Grandpa in line.

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My number one resolution this year is to keep in better touch with my family. This is extremely similar to last year’s resolution, the main difference being that it’s vague enough to be easily attainable. Last year I made very specific goals, and then basically forgot all about it. Which brings me to my next topic: memory.

Visiting with my grandparents over Christmas, I listened to them telling stories of things they’d done years ago. Grandpa quoted a few lines from a speech he had given while taking the Dale Carnegie course. My grandma talked about the time they were flying back to Kansas in grandpa’s plane and had to make an emergency landing in an alfalfa field.

It occurred to me that I won’t have as many stories of this type when I’m their age, partly because my memory is kind of leaky. I don’t really understand the algorithm it uses to determine what’s forgettable (e.g. entire years of childhood, apparently) and what must be kept (e.g. names of members of the A-Team), but there’s got to be a misplaced decimal in there somewhere. So I’ve decided that I need to be posting here more often, just as a memory aid.

However, the other reason I won’t have as many good stories is because I don’t exactly generate a lot of good story material sitting at a computer all the time. So I’d also like to get out more and have more experiences that would actually have some meaning to someone else if I were to explain them. So hopefully, my posts won’t be as dull as they are frequent. I don’t think I’m off to much of a start on this one.

I’m usually kind of noncommital when New Years’ rolls around, but this year I’m considering these to be secondary resolutions. Wish me luck.

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Greetings, my excellent friends. I’ve missed you. I’ve been away in Missouri visiting my family, and my time there was so packed that I didn’t even sit down at the computer. I plan to get all caught up tomorrow, but in the meantime I want to wish you all a happy 2004.

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I don’t usually go in for these meme things, but this is a good one. Questions brought to you by mislih.

1. What’s your favorite part of Gigantic?
Tough call. I was smiling pretty much all the way through it, and laughed out loud a few times. I’d have to say my favorite moments were the Johns talking about each other. The studio footage was great too, I’d love to see more of that.

2. What’s your second-favorite band?
XTC, I can say without hesitation. I think that if I could see them perform live, the margin between the top two spots would be negligible.

3. Where do you work?
Since early last Summer, I’ve mainly been working from home. The company I work for is based in Maryland, and I travel up there every six weeks or so, depending on how badly I need to meet with people in person. It’s working well so far. Believe it or not, there are actually fewer distractions here at home than there are at my desk in the office.

Put simply, they make software and hardware that monitors computer networks. I write their user manuals and online help. It’s a good company, I really like working there.

4. How many CD-Rs do you have?
I don’t feel like rounding them all up for a total, but it’s probably around 30 or 40.

5. What’s the last book you read?
I’m nearly finished with issue 11 of McSweeney’s. Some might not consider that a book, though. The last single-author book that I’ve finished was Lord of the Rings.

6. How many TMBG shows have you been to?
14 if you count the one instore at Borders. I’m slowing way down, though; I peaked in 2001, when I saw them 5 times.

7. Have you seen Donnie Darko?
He never comes around anymore. How’s he doing?

Okay people, leave me a comment if you’d like me to come up with some interview questions for you.