Amanda has suggested a new title for my book: Weltschmerz: All the People I Used to Know. It's a catchy title, but I'm not ready to start writing my autobiography just yet. And since I suffer from weltschmerz, is it not apropos that on the eve of a new year I reflect on my life and the people I used to know? I've managed to remove people from my social circle in the past, usually for very good reasons (all the usual negative elements that ruin friendships), but what about the people who just slipped away? My best friend moved to Vancouver to attend law school in the fall of 2004 and I never heard from her again. We had worked together on a literary magazine before she left and by the end of 2004, I had left the magazine and distanced myself from the literary scene--to this day I still haven't attended a single reading.

So had my best friend and I simply lost interest in our friendship? Maybe she grew weary of my volatile nature or maybe she became so busy with school and living in a new city that our friendship was forgotten. I of course could have tried to communicate, to say a simple hello in a brief e-mail, but I've done nothing of the sort. I've since gone on to improve my quality of life, to enjoy the pleasures of the moment despite our hectic and chaotic world. I've fought my weltschmerz and tried to make a stable life without being committed to the psychiatric ward. For 2007 I can only hope I keep improving my life and strive to become a better person (forget those oh-so-boring New Year's resolutions like going on a diet or going to the gymn more often).

I can only wish my friend Natalie the best in her future in law and congratulate her on the publication of her first book of poetry. Maybe I'll even find the courage to email her congratulations in the new year.

2006 has been a trying year for me, but I remain optimistic that 2007 will be an important year in my well-being and development, whether I'm living in Calgary, Vancouver or Edmonton.