When I had an active livejournal, I used to recap the previous year on or about January 1. I’ve missed that deadline, but I don’t feel like it’s too late to take a brief look back.
For reference, 2004 was the year of the highway, 2005 was the year of the random-ass job, 2006 was the year of awakening, and 2007-2009 were the years I didn’t keep a livejournal. 2010? Let’s see…
The Year of the Girlfriend
For the first time in my whole life, I dated the same person explicitly from January 1 to December 31 without interruption. It didn’t feel like a year, which seems like a good thing. I don’t mean to slight my relationship by not writing a lot about it here, but the internets doesn’t seem like the best place to share all of those details. Also, I don’t want to get accused of being mushy on a personal blog again. We’ll just say that things are going well.
The Year of World of Warcraft
I leveled 2 separate characters from 1 to 80, and completed most of the “What a Long Strange Trip” achievement on one of them. Oddly enough, neither of those characters were the one I leveled to 85 in December. Was playing this much World of Warcraft a waste of time? Maybe. My two biggest problems with WoW are 1) it gives me a sense of accomplishment even though I’m not really accomplishing anything; and 2) I’m not playing with real life friends, which was my main reason for starting in the first place. 3 people do not a guild make. I should probably have spent a lot of that time playing music.
The Year of the Big Stage
In 2010, Business Time played both Buster’s and Cheapside Pavilion, two of the largest stages I have played on in my life. Whether those gigs were profitable (or even well attended) is another matter, but at least it was fun to seem like a big deal. To our credit, we played both stages multiple times, and will (in theory) be invited back this year.
The Year I Bought a Taylor
I bought a new guitar this year. Just noting that for posterity’s sake.
The Year I Lost 15 Pounds Again
I started 2010 at around 175 and ended at a slimmer 160. I’m now down to 155, which was my weight when I started college. I still want to lose a little more weight (or move it around, at least), but I’m not exactly sure how to do that. Also, I like ice cream!
The Year I Went Gluten Free
The 30 day experiment I wrote about earlier was a huge success, so I have decided to eat a gluten free diet for the foreseeable future. I already miss beer, but my digestive system feels a lot better. I’m not sure what I’ll do if I end up at Oktoberfest, but that’s a long ways off in the distance.
The Year I Stopped Living With My Family
Probably the most significant change in 2010 was that I no longer live with members of my family. I spent 28 years living with parents and siblings (minus some time in college). Though we definitely had some good times together, I think being away from my siblings will actually allow my relationships with (some of) them to get better. It’s hard to balance roommate issues with family issues. Also, living with Ryan and Leanna has given me a new perspective on how other people live, and it’s also caused my to take greater responsibility for how I choose to live. I think it was a positive decision.
The Year Practice Died
For the first time in 28 years, people complained about my bands and I making too much noise. Now that I see how common that is, I am actually surprised I didn’t have the cops called on me earlier in my life. For years I took practicing for granted. Now, I miss it. Like Joni Mitchell sang, “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.” I don’t know what my long term plans are, but I know they have to include a place to play drum set and practice with a band.
2011
What will 2011 bring? How will I remember this year? I can’t say for sure in January, but I feel like things are coming to a head on multiple fronts. I’m currently treading water in almost every area of my life, and my arms are getting tired. It’s time to get on a boat. I will not be surprised if my January 1, 2012 is so different from January 1, 2011 that I can’t even see it from here. We’ll see.
