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A decade in review - 2007
Jan. 10th, 2010 02:23 pmSorry if this is starting to get tedious, but this decade-in-review assignment I've given myself is an exercise in dedication and follow-through. I figure if I can push through and complete a project in spite of my tendency toward avoidance and procrastination, I can figure out how to apply the same approach to novel-writing endeavors. After this I only have the 2008 entry to go, so you can rest assured I won't be subjecting you to my navel-gazing much longer!
Without further adieu, here's what I remember most from the year 2007.
The year started off a little chaotic. We were continuing our moving preparations for most of the month of January, and I was also scrambling to get the last few ducks in a row in order to ensure mortgage approval. Lots of cleaning and purging....lots of anxiety as it came to light that I'd have to jump through more hoops than anticipated to secure a fixed-rate loan. One of those hoops required that I sell my beloved orange Dodge Neon, (the one I purchased after Mike took over responsibility for the green one) so that I did not have a monthly car payment on my credit report. I did this through CarMax. The process was simple, but I lost my shit in the parking lot after I closed Nessie Jr.'s trunk for the final time. I don't think of myself as that much of a car person, but for whatever reason I was super attached to that vehicle.
Fortunately I did have a few bits of light to keep me sane while all of this was going on. I launched my reading series, Tamale Hut Cafe Presents: at none other than the Tamale Hut Cafe in North Riverside. The first reading was in January, featured my friend Germania, and was a big success. I've been bringing writers there to strut their stuff about once a month ever since, and while my format may not be all that innovative or as cool as the ones used by some of my Chicago-based counterparts, I feel really good about being able to offer quality literary programming to an audience that might not otherwise have it. Speaking of which I should insert a quick plug: the first 2010 installment of Tamale Hut Cafe Presents is being held on Saturday March 6th at 7:00. John McNally is the special guest and will have copies of his new novel, After the Workshop. Save the date and please come!!!! :)
On top of this, it was my turn to pick our vacation destination, and I chose Las Vegas. We were only there for a long weekend rather than our usual full week, because we figured that was about all we could handle before overstimulation set in. Also, I was trying to be budget conscious since I was anticipating home-owner expenses and also expenses associated with Dawn's upcoming wedding. We stretched our dollars by getting a comped room (thanks Mike's step mom's cousin for your help with that!) at the Aladdin, which is now known as Planet Hollywood. To date it's one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at, and the luxurious tub in our room's bathroom made me want to move in permanently. As with New Orleans, it was unseasonably cold when we were in Vegas, which defeated the purpose of traveling to the desert in the middle of winter. We didn't let this keep up from shivering our way up The Strip though. As far as entertainment, we only gambled a tiny bit, caught a topless show that featured vampire chicks dancing to 80's hair metal, and visited Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. Also ate at our first-ever sushi buffet, and another buffet that featured cuisines from all corners of the Globe. Aside from the cold, it was a pretty fun trip.
When we got back my next order of business was Dawn's bachelorette party. She requested that things not get too crazy, so I coordinated a day full of activities that included pottery painting, dinner, a limo ride to a show called That Awesome 80's Prom and a Michael Anthony's afterparty. At the Prom, I had an amusing encounter with the actor who embodied the John Hughes rebel archetype (his name was Fender). I might have to dedicate a separate entry to that some other time. And aside from pre-party jitters about whether everyone was going to get along and whether Dawn was going to enjoy herself, this night was full of win.
So then there was January 30, my closing date. It was a blur of documents and signatures, ending in me being handed a pair of keys and driving to the little condo that was deemed mine, mine, all mine. It was such an emotional experience, knowing I endured all the struggles it had taken to make this happen, knowing that I had taken one of the biggest steps an adult takes without anyone's help (well, at least without anyone's financial help), knowing that somehow without every really intending to I had joined the world of the grown-ups. I didn't lose my shit like I did with the car, not until I unlocked the door and stepped into the newly vacated unit.
With that out of the way we began the process of actually getting settled in our new place. First on the agenda was making everything spotless, since the condo's previous owners left the joint in quite a state. We had to scrub out the cabinets, and all the removable parts of the fridge and the stove. One moment I will never forget is sitting on the soon-to-be ripped-out carpet in my living room, on what was one of the coldest nights of that winter, scouring one of my oven racks whilst the Super Bowl played on a small TV we had brought over to provide entertainment and background noise. The only reason we were watching football is because the Bears were in the game. But as is usually the case with Chicago sports, we lost. And it was an embarrassing loss. Makes me kind of glad I'm not much of a football fan.
Not long after this my new bed was delivered, and we started sleeping at the new place even though we hadn't started transporting our larger stuff. Before we could do that I wanted to get new carpet installed and get the walls patched and painted. By the time this was all done there was a huge blizzard that delayed things further. It took until the end of February to bring over the remainder of our stuff and by the time it was all over I vowed that I would never move in the middle of winter again if I could help it. Also decided that a move with an open-ended deadline should be avoided in the future.
There was a road trip to Ohio for a UFC event. Randy Couture beat Tim Sylvia for the heavyweight championship. It was glorious.
I stood up in Dawn's wedding, my first time ever as a bridesmaid. It was fun and exhausting and a good way to spend St. Patrick's Day.
I was still freelancing for NewCity and Centerstagechicago, but I scaled back my efforts considerably. In fact, the last piece I would publish for the year was in July. It was a bit of creative nonfiction about a personal experience.
The reason for the writing stoppage? Well for one, I wanted to recommit to my fiction writing, especially since some friends and I started a writing group toward the end of 2006. Also, I was job-hunting really aggressively. I wasn't completely unhappy in my copywriting gig but I was starting to get bored and sensed that I should get ready to move on. The fact that I was now commuting via train from Forest Park to Rosemont, a trip that usually took about an hour-and-a-half each way, also influenced this decision.
When I wasn't job-hunting, I was helping Mike and his Mom get our old place in shape so she could sell it. Lots more cleaning and purging. It changed the relationship I have with personal possessions. I don't think I'll ever be as concerned with accumulating stuff as a result.
In late April, the aggressive job-hunting efforts paid off. What started as me being obsessed with getting hired at the Illinois Humanities Council ended in a completely unrelated job offer at the University of Chicago. There was a considerable salary hike on the table, and I loved the people I interviewed with so it was pretty much a no-brainer.
Hit the ground running at my new job after that. The first couple months were a whirlwind of training and moving, since we relocated our office from Hyde Park to our current downtown location. I spent so much time pinching myself to make sure my life was real.
I started taking yoga classes. Fell in love with it for what it did for me physically and mentally. It wasn't quite as good as when I was training in mixed martial arts, but it was a very close second.
There was another trip to Philly for a comic book convention. This time out a made a couple of friends in Artist's Alley when I was making the rounds on my own, and Mike and I also visited the Rocky statue. This was probably my favorite of all of my Philly trips.
There was also a road trip to Milwaukee with my friend Clarise. This kicked off my annual tradition of attending Summerfest for at least one of its ten days. I discovered Romantica. We also saw an amazing performance by Live. All in all, a good weekend.
There was the Chris Benoit incident. Granted, this did not affect me directly, but I felt it's impact as someone who appreciated his work, and as a wrestling fan in general.
I took a workshop on erotic writing. Haven't done much with what I've learned since, but it was nice to see that I was capable of holding my own in this genre. There was even a moment where, after reading back something I drafted on the spot as part of an exercise, the instructor told me, "That's hot." It was great to be encouraged and validated, even if I don't see myself making my name by telling dirty stories.
I saw my interest in indy wrestling continue to diminish. I wasn't completely removed from that scene, but my show-going had dwindled to almost nothing thanks to Mike having lost his desire to watch IWA (though we did attend the second night of T.P.I. 2007 and witnessed Quack win the tournament) and me only attending AAW sporadically. Matter of fact, I think I may have gone to more AAW after-parties than actual shows in 2007, because I was more concerned with studying all the interactions there as novel research. UFC filled the void in the meantime.
Still wasn't putting as much time into my novel as I would have liked, especially once the new job started, but I slowly started finding my way back to storytelling. Writing group kept me from falling away from it entirely.
In November I met my friend Drew, who we hired at my workplace as a grad assistant. Little did I know he'd end up becoming one of my closest pals. To this day, he still is.
I saw Against Me! two nights in a row right around my birthday. So much fun to see them in general, and even better to get to resume my annual tradition of catching a rock show as a way to celebrate another year of being alive.
Work got real busy at the end of the year, keeping me from focusing too much on the holiday season. But we ended 2007 at our friend Emily and Jeff's house, where there was a Guitar Hero bonanza. This came hot on the heels of another great party Em and Jeff threw, that being a karaoke outing at a traditional Korean karaoke place for Jeff and his twin's 30th birthday. I made note and vowed that I would do the same when I turned 30 the following year.
Alright, that closes out this very epic year! Not sure if I'll bite the bullet and recap 2008 later today, or if I'd rather finish reading The Lovely Bones. Only 100 pages to go so I think that's on tap after I take care of a couple things.
Without further adieu, here's what I remember most from the year 2007.
The year started off a little chaotic. We were continuing our moving preparations for most of the month of January, and I was also scrambling to get the last few ducks in a row in order to ensure mortgage approval. Lots of cleaning and purging....lots of anxiety as it came to light that I'd have to jump through more hoops than anticipated to secure a fixed-rate loan. One of those hoops required that I sell my beloved orange Dodge Neon, (the one I purchased after Mike took over responsibility for the green one) so that I did not have a monthly car payment on my credit report. I did this through CarMax. The process was simple, but I lost my shit in the parking lot after I closed Nessie Jr.'s trunk for the final time. I don't think of myself as that much of a car person, but for whatever reason I was super attached to that vehicle.
Fortunately I did have a few bits of light to keep me sane while all of this was going on. I launched my reading series, Tamale Hut Cafe Presents: at none other than the Tamale Hut Cafe in North Riverside. The first reading was in January, featured my friend Germania, and was a big success. I've been bringing writers there to strut their stuff about once a month ever since, and while my format may not be all that innovative or as cool as the ones used by some of my Chicago-based counterparts, I feel really good about being able to offer quality literary programming to an audience that might not otherwise have it. Speaking of which I should insert a quick plug: the first 2010 installment of Tamale Hut Cafe Presents is being held on Saturday March 6th at 7:00. John McNally is the special guest and will have copies of his new novel, After the Workshop. Save the date and please come!!!! :)
On top of this, it was my turn to pick our vacation destination, and I chose Las Vegas. We were only there for a long weekend rather than our usual full week, because we figured that was about all we could handle before overstimulation set in. Also, I was trying to be budget conscious since I was anticipating home-owner expenses and also expenses associated with Dawn's upcoming wedding. We stretched our dollars by getting a comped room (thanks Mike's step mom's cousin for your help with that!) at the Aladdin, which is now known as Planet Hollywood. To date it's one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at, and the luxurious tub in our room's bathroom made me want to move in permanently. As with New Orleans, it was unseasonably cold when we were in Vegas, which defeated the purpose of traveling to the desert in the middle of winter. We didn't let this keep up from shivering our way up The Strip though. As far as entertainment, we only gambled a tiny bit, caught a topless show that featured vampire chicks dancing to 80's hair metal, and visited Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. Also ate at our first-ever sushi buffet, and another buffet that featured cuisines from all corners of the Globe. Aside from the cold, it was a pretty fun trip.
When we got back my next order of business was Dawn's bachelorette party. She requested that things not get too crazy, so I coordinated a day full of activities that included pottery painting, dinner, a limo ride to a show called That Awesome 80's Prom and a Michael Anthony's afterparty. At the Prom, I had an amusing encounter with the actor who embodied the John Hughes rebel archetype (his name was Fender). I might have to dedicate a separate entry to that some other time. And aside from pre-party jitters about whether everyone was going to get along and whether Dawn was going to enjoy herself, this night was full of win.
So then there was January 30, my closing date. It was a blur of documents and signatures, ending in me being handed a pair of keys and driving to the little condo that was deemed mine, mine, all mine. It was such an emotional experience, knowing I endured all the struggles it had taken to make this happen, knowing that I had taken one of the biggest steps an adult takes without anyone's help (well, at least without anyone's financial help), knowing that somehow without every really intending to I had joined the world of the grown-ups. I didn't lose my shit like I did with the car, not until I unlocked the door and stepped into the newly vacated unit.
With that out of the way we began the process of actually getting settled in our new place. First on the agenda was making everything spotless, since the condo's previous owners left the joint in quite a state. We had to scrub out the cabinets, and all the removable parts of the fridge and the stove. One moment I will never forget is sitting on the soon-to-be ripped-out carpet in my living room, on what was one of the coldest nights of that winter, scouring one of my oven racks whilst the Super Bowl played on a small TV we had brought over to provide entertainment and background noise. The only reason we were watching football is because the Bears were in the game. But as is usually the case with Chicago sports, we lost. And it was an embarrassing loss. Makes me kind of glad I'm not much of a football fan.
Not long after this my new bed was delivered, and we started sleeping at the new place even though we hadn't started transporting our larger stuff. Before we could do that I wanted to get new carpet installed and get the walls patched and painted. By the time this was all done there was a huge blizzard that delayed things further. It took until the end of February to bring over the remainder of our stuff and by the time it was all over I vowed that I would never move in the middle of winter again if I could help it. Also decided that a move with an open-ended deadline should be avoided in the future.
There was a road trip to Ohio for a UFC event. Randy Couture beat Tim Sylvia for the heavyweight championship. It was glorious.
I stood up in Dawn's wedding, my first time ever as a bridesmaid. It was fun and exhausting and a good way to spend St. Patrick's Day.
I was still freelancing for NewCity and Centerstagechicago, but I scaled back my efforts considerably. In fact, the last piece I would publish for the year was in July. It was a bit of creative nonfiction about a personal experience.
The reason for the writing stoppage? Well for one, I wanted to recommit to my fiction writing, especially since some friends and I started a writing group toward the end of 2006. Also, I was job-hunting really aggressively. I wasn't completely unhappy in my copywriting gig but I was starting to get bored and sensed that I should get ready to move on. The fact that I was now commuting via train from Forest Park to Rosemont, a trip that usually took about an hour-and-a-half each way, also influenced this decision.
When I wasn't job-hunting, I was helping Mike and his Mom get our old place in shape so she could sell it. Lots more cleaning and purging. It changed the relationship I have with personal possessions. I don't think I'll ever be as concerned with accumulating stuff as a result.
In late April, the aggressive job-hunting efforts paid off. What started as me being obsessed with getting hired at the Illinois Humanities Council ended in a completely unrelated job offer at the University of Chicago. There was a considerable salary hike on the table, and I loved the people I interviewed with so it was pretty much a no-brainer.
Hit the ground running at my new job after that. The first couple months were a whirlwind of training and moving, since we relocated our office from Hyde Park to our current downtown location. I spent so much time pinching myself to make sure my life was real.
I started taking yoga classes. Fell in love with it for what it did for me physically and mentally. It wasn't quite as good as when I was training in mixed martial arts, but it was a very close second.
There was another trip to Philly for a comic book convention. This time out a made a couple of friends in Artist's Alley when I was making the rounds on my own, and Mike and I also visited the Rocky statue. This was probably my favorite of all of my Philly trips.
There was also a road trip to Milwaukee with my friend Clarise. This kicked off my annual tradition of attending Summerfest for at least one of its ten days. I discovered Romantica. We also saw an amazing performance by Live. All in all, a good weekend.
There was the Chris Benoit incident. Granted, this did not affect me directly, but I felt it's impact as someone who appreciated his work, and as a wrestling fan in general.
I took a workshop on erotic writing. Haven't done much with what I've learned since, but it was nice to see that I was capable of holding my own in this genre. There was even a moment where, after reading back something I drafted on the spot as part of an exercise, the instructor told me, "That's hot." It was great to be encouraged and validated, even if I don't see myself making my name by telling dirty stories.
I saw my interest in indy wrestling continue to diminish. I wasn't completely removed from that scene, but my show-going had dwindled to almost nothing thanks to Mike having lost his desire to watch IWA (though we did attend the second night of T.P.I. 2007 and witnessed Quack win the tournament) and me only attending AAW sporadically. Matter of fact, I think I may have gone to more AAW after-parties than actual shows in 2007, because I was more concerned with studying all the interactions there as novel research. UFC filled the void in the meantime.
Still wasn't putting as much time into my novel as I would have liked, especially once the new job started, but I slowly started finding my way back to storytelling. Writing group kept me from falling away from it entirely.
In November I met my friend Drew, who we hired at my workplace as a grad assistant. Little did I know he'd end up becoming one of my closest pals. To this day, he still is.
I saw Against Me! two nights in a row right around my birthday. So much fun to see them in general, and even better to get to resume my annual tradition of catching a rock show as a way to celebrate another year of being alive.
Work got real busy at the end of the year, keeping me from focusing too much on the holiday season. But we ended 2007 at our friend Emily and Jeff's house, where there was a Guitar Hero bonanza. This came hot on the heels of another great party Em and Jeff threw, that being a karaoke outing at a traditional Korean karaoke place for Jeff and his twin's 30th birthday. I made note and vowed that I would do the same when I turned 30 the following year.
Alright, that closes out this very epic year! Not sure if I'll bite the bullet and recap 2008 later today, or if I'd rather finish reading The Lovely Bones. Only 100 pages to go so I think that's on tap after I take care of a couple things.
