From the moment the ball dropped marking 12:00:00 on January 1, 2001 – I did what I always do – I thanked God for the year that just passed – and prayed for the new year ahead to be the best year of my life. Luckily, God has blessed me with many good years since the year I was born – but this year – he answered my prayer and gave me exactly what I asked for – the best year of my life.

The year 2001 is four months from being over, and if today was the last day of my life – I would put this year down as the best year of my life. So much has happened to me in the last eight months. I got re-acquainted with more old friends then ever before; I went to Colorado and Alaska; I met the woman that will accompany me down the road of life – and I wrote one hundred columns in seventy-nine days.

When I first wrote this column, it was a weekly editorial in the newspaper that it was first published in. When I took it with me from The Brooklyn Baron to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, it became an almost daily. When I left the Eagle, it became a hobby. In 1999, it became an interest. Now – it has become what South Park is, what happiness is – and what Christine is – a daily part of my life.

That is why I have written more columns in the last seventy-nine days then in the same amount of time since the day I started this column back in 1997. From June 9, 2001 to August 26, 2001, I wrote one hundred columns. Compare that to the same seventy-nine days in 1997 when I wrote six; or June 9th to August 26th of 1998 when I wrote three; or those same seventy-nine days in 1999, when I wrote fourteen columns – or the same time in 2000 when I wrote thirty-three columns. And from January 1, 2001 to today, which is two hundred and thirty eight days – I wrote one hundred and eighty two columns.

There is an obvious reason for my increased penmanship – the fact that this year has been filled with a lifetime of happiness, enjoyment, events – and love more then any other year I have ever lived through. And considering the fact that in the year 2000, I began to view this column as a diary of some sorts – it is only natural that this “diary” document all of the good things in my life – which I why have written over forty-five percent of the columns I have ever written this year alone since I started this column in 1997 – because just as this year has had more columns then ever before – it has had more things to write about then any other.

But besides all of the wonderful things that have made me write so many columns this year – the most amazing reason why I have documented so much of my life this year is because more then any other year since the first column I wrote – I have had more inspiration then ever before. Now more then ever – I have so many people looking forward to the next column I write – and standing behind me with so much support. From Arthur, Sara, Susanna and so many others from the Digest that comment on the columns I write; to Montel that looks forward to hearing my latest – and who’s invitation to visit her not only gave me a great vacation – but made me write over fifteen columns in the time I was there; to a person that I have known for the past twenty-nine years that has become a recent reader of the columns on my website. The same person that is responsible for the author behind them all – and the subject of Penny number two hundred and thirty-eight, which is called The One True Lady In My Life – my mom; to the man that has taken the columns in my head and made them available for the world to see – and who has recently made it possible for me to post my own columns – making them available to those who enjoy reading them only minutes after I write them – my good friend Gabe; to the woman that walked into my life less then two months into this year – and has already taken her permanent seat at my side. The woman who has shown me the purest, most selfless, most unconditional – and greatest love I have ever experienced. The woman that has been the subject of more columns then anyone else I have ever written about. The woman who’s love has given me so much confidence – that my life is more enjoyable now then it has ever been – the woman who’s first name rhymes with the new last name she will hopefully have some day – Christine.

Through the inspiration of these wonderful people – who each take up so many different aspects of my life – but offer me the same common support – I have enjoyed this column more then ever – because besides the enjoyment, therapy – and happiness it gives me to write a column – the appreciation and irreplaceable feeling I get from knowing that other people enjoy them doubles the pleasure I get from writing them – and I thank them so much for that.

But if there is anyone I need to thank – it is the one who has blessed me with every single event that is documented in this book. The one who has given me so much joy this year through friends, family, events – and my soulmate – the one who has answered my prayer – the Lord above. Through His blessings, I have lived each and every moment described in the last one hundred columns I have written. Some were wonderful, some were interesting – and some were very hard to live through – but each word in this book has been what God has given me – and what I have experienced in the last seventy-nine days.

What I have lived for – and what I have lived is far from over. Still to come this year alone is my two year anniversary as South Park Booster Club Moderator, my start at the Taxi & Limousine Commission as Director of Public Information, my six year anniversary as a journalist – and Christine and my first Christmas together – so I take solace in the fact that as the rest of the best year of my life goes into it’s last quarter – there is so much more to experience and live – and plenty more to write about.