It's that time of year again. You know, the end part.

The part where everyone posts their lists of "Best Stuff of 2008 (That I Still Remember, Anyway)". I know that a huge part of my so-called brand involves being a "rebel" and an "iconoclast" as well as a "deep-thinking blatherer," but another, also huge part of me is a goofball who likes writing pithy bits and marching in lock-step with the rest of the world.

Don't believe me? Well, then, clearly you're no longtime reader of communicatrix-dot-com, as you're not familiar with a little annual tradition I've had in place since Year the First. In involves recalling what I can actually recall of my year, or piece together from old posts, calendar entries and marathon sessions with the "search" function in my gmail archives, here, in list fashion, with some mirth and many more self-links.

That's coming up soon. But it is a MAGNUM-FREAKING-OPUS, baby, and not to be rushed. Besides, I hate it when year-end reviews don't include the end of the year they're reviewing.

So in the meantime, I'd like to share a few sillier items to ramp up to those, the first of which should drop next week. ("Drop" being the technical term for "post" when I'm getting my journalist on.) Because I selfishly and transparently want to whet your appetite for my MAGNUM-FREAKING-OPUS so you'll actually maybe possibly swing around here and take a gander, rather than let it, or them, really (it's in two parts), molder away here, unloved and unread, as you par-tay down, holiday-style, away from the computer.

Also, I kinda-sorta think it would just be nice to start having a little more fun around these here parts. Not all the time: there will still be puh-lenty of deep probing and suchlike in the coming months. (Ahem.)

But in case you hadn't noticed, things are getting rather gnarly out there. More joy!, say I...and will say, throughout 2009.

For now, though, let me introduce you to The Six Days of Christmas, a Video Gift from me to you that is already three days underway.

These are tiny home movies of my family members from long ago: things you know as "commercials," since I come from an advertising family, not a home-movie-taking family. (Although I remember one holiday where some uncle screened what seemed like 14 hours of various family members streaming into and out of the parish church on their way to and from the First Holy Communions, Confirmations, and Other Various Sacraments that Lay People Can Indulge In Publicly. The first 7 hours were pretty hilarious. The last? Not so much.)

You can view them via...

...my Tumblr blog, which for those of you who don't know about it, contains most of the interesting video and photo ephemera I stumble upon on the web
...my YouTube channel, which also is home to the videos I create (more of those in 2009!) and the ones I find interesting, but not appropriate for my Tumblr blog
...the Facebook, if you happen to belong to that fine social networking community

Speaking of Facebook, as my new pal, Tim Walker, tagged me for a fun meme, the object of which was to share seven tidbits about oneself and I had just the other day been tagged for one on Facebook by my other new(ish) pal, Bryn Mooth, the object of which was to share 16 tidbits about myself, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone by liberating my words from behind Facebook's firewall AND be nice by playing along AND lighten things up around here.

And just so you don't think I'm a complete lazy-ass bum, I'm adding bonus linkage never before available in this version. (Facebook, in an effort to be as user-friendly as possible, I guess, is kind of weird with the linking, so screw 'em.)

So without further ado...

16 Random Things about Colleen Wainwright, a.k.a. "the communicatrix"

Lists are one of my favorite literary forms.
Don't believe me? Check it.
Road trips excepted, I loathe driving.
I could probably eat my weight in Houston's brussels sprouts.
And if they're out of those, the acorn squash.
The butternut? Not so much.
No one who meets me believes it, but I'm one of the world's biggest introverts.
Despite what my dear friend, Bryn, would have you believe, the Very Best Dog in the World is, in fact, Arno J. McScruff. I'd show you a picture, but then I'd have to kill you.
I was ineligible to give blood until four years after my Crohn's onset when I finally made the weight requirement...at which point I was on immunosuppressants and therefore ineligible to give blood.
I was once flown to Montreal, all expenses paid, to sing a song about my twat.
I am almost pathologically impatient.
My ex-husband and I had our 12th date on the Oprah show, where he was on a panel discussing "Pre-Marital Sex, Yes or No?" He came out strongly on the side of "yes," delivering up the unforgettable sound bite, "You wouldn't buy a car without test-driving it first," after which the woman sitting next to me in the studio audience said, "What a pig, who would go out with him?" 20 years later, I still remember the evil grin on my face as I sloooowly turned towards her to sh*t in her oatmeal. It was a PERFECT movie moment.
If I could have any superpower, it would be to sing like Ella Fitzgerald.
And to accompany myself on piano like Oscar Peterson.
I will go to my grave saying Jackie Brown is superior to Pulp Fiction.
Despite my legendary Internet prowess, until I got this @#*&! meme, I had no idea how to use the "Notes" feature on Facebook.

There is supposed to be some tagging here on my part, but my thought is to just put it out there and encourage YOU to take 15 minutes (or half an hour, or however long you'd like) to do it up if you feel like it. And then post in the comments with a link so everyone can see your own MAGNUM-FREAKIN'-OPUS and show you some love and...like that.

Keep on enjoying those holidays, and stay tuned for more excellent listage to come!

xxx
c

Image by thp365 via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

Yo! This post contains an Amazon affiliate link to the 2-Disc DVD edition of one of my all-time favorite flicks, Jackie Brown. Buy it through the link above (or this one, here) and I get a half of a half of a cent or something; don't, and I don't. But check out the film either way. It's THAT GOOD.