Well, considering the facts:
I came very close this year to losing my mother to cancer (is it bad that she was sick, or good that she recovered?)
My professional year was anticlimactic, after an apparent drive toward promotion, I was passed over not once, not twice, but four times for the same position.. apparently after they fired the other three within four months, they still didn't seem to feel that I could do the job. (which I was actually doing in their absence... fucking assholes)
I broke up with my girlfriend in June, haven't been the same since... (next year had better be good!)
The Space Shuttle exploded on re-entry due to damage to the protective underside incurred uopn take-off. I remember that I woke up that morning with a tumultuous migraine, and proceeded to the kitchen to find my medication. Upon turning on the television, I learned about the tragedy, and sat crying; forgetting about the medicine, and no longer caring about my slight headache.
We lost more famous names than I can ever remember in a year in my lifetime:
Bo Kolinsky, Herb Brooks, Conrad L. Hall, Will McDonough, Durwood Merrill, Maurice Gibb, Richard Crenna, Nedra Volz, Al Hirschfeld, Nell Carter, Stan Martin, Haywood Sullivan, Alvin Penn, Steve Bechler, Jim Gordon, Johnny Paycheck, Tom Glazer, Fred Rogers, Mario Perillo, Hank Ballard, Adam Faith, Lynne Thigpen, Al Gionfriddo, Joe Buzas, Jess Dow, Dan "Grumpy" Robinson, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Michael Jeter, Edwin Starr, Michael Kelly, David Bloom, Ken McKenzie, Eva Boyd, John Butler, Leonard Tose, Robert Atkins, Nina Simone, Felice Bryant, Ari Tsingerliotis, Sam Lacy, Dave DeBusschere, Robert Stack, June Carter Cash and then Johnny Cash, Mark McCormack, Don Padgett, Mac Colville, Oleg Makarov, Donald Regan, David Brinkley, Gregory Peck, Patrick Dennehy, Tony Roma, Hume Cronyn, Larry Doby,
Roger Neilson, Magnus Von Braun, Leonard Koppett, Peter Carlesimo,
Marc-Vivien Foe, Strom Thurmond, David Newman, Gary Lane, Katharine Hepburn, Diane Geppi-Aikens, Brandon Brei,(a family friend, but a celebrity in his own right) Buddy Hackett, Barry White, Roman Lyashenko, Buddy Ebsen, Tex Schramm, James Davis, James P. Shenton, Bob Hope, Sam Phillips, Mickey McDermott, Gregory Hines, Tony Jackson, Bobby Bonds, Charles Bronson, Claude Passeau, Warren Zevon, Sean Kimerling, Edward Teller, John Ritter, Frank O'Bannon, Sheb Wooley, Gordon Jump, George Plimpton, Robert Palmer, Doris Bauer (from Rego Park), Sam Somers (Steve's dad, who was just as much of a
WFAN personality as Steve), Althea Gibson, Elia Kazan, Robert Kardashian, Bill Cayton, Dan Snyder, Bill Shoemaker, Fred Berry, Rod Roddy, Dernell Stenson, Bobby Hatfield, Art Carney, Lloyd Pettit, Penny Singleton, Jonathan Brandis, Laurence Tisch, Arthur Conley (spotlight on Arthur Conley now), Michael Kamen, Ken Brett, Teddy Randazzo, Warren Spahn, Bert Templeton, Norm Sloan, Paul Simon (the ex-Senator), Keith Magnuson, Otto Graham, Paul Owens, Ivan Calderon and Earl Hindman. I'm sure there are others that I have missed.
Not only was our nation at war all year, but we had stupid fucking pacifist retards who can't seem to remember what happened to us in 2001. I'm sick of hearing about "give peace a chance" while my friends and relations are being slaughtered by the people they're trying to protect. Bomb the offenders and to Hell with anyone who disagrees. You were all happy when we were bombing people in the 1940s... because the war was in your backyard, but now that we're dying, it's "wrong" to use force? I disagree. Let's end the war, but let's end it on OUR terms. There's a few thousand souls who deserve a little retribution.
On a good note, both the Yankees AND the Red Sox lost, so the year wasn't all bad. And the Cubs also lost thanks to Mr. Bartman, thus making the Universe as it should be. Saddam was captured - alive. May he realize the evil which he has brought to the world, and reflect on it, thus living a long, tortured remainder of his life.
Anyway, for me, 2003 really, really sucked. I welcome 2004 with arms akimbo, and accept it readily, for good or for bad.
(singing) When I was twenty-five, I had a very bad year......