So I discovered via Melinite's Blog that I completely spaced this is the year of the TIGER according to my Chinese horoscope. How I could have flipping forgot this is beyond me. I suppose I was thinking of cheese. So it is my belief that this year, MY year, has to be flights and bounds better than my Ass-y 2009 and I resolve to try and look for the minutiae that make life grand and try to keep my optimism and general faith in human nature afloat. Unless it's Glen Beck or if I'm in my car during my commute. All bets are off then, sucka's.
It made me look back on where I was 12 years ago and trying to remember what made that a "good" year, so I dug into the archives (read: my planner/journal) to see what sort of place I was in at the time. Let's just say I was very...young. Okay:
-I was in what was to be my last year of college. It was my first full year as a single man after spending roughly the previous 7-8 years in one monogamous relationship after another. (Which meant I never spent too much time with my classmates, I hadn't really immersed myself in the program, and didn't know folks too well outside of acadamia) In other words, I wasn't running off from school to spend time with my giiiirlfriend.
-Subsequently, apppparently (the notes/journal gets fuzzy about this at times) I started dating within the program. I began working on my all-new old cheap moves, and went on many dates to the Riverside Perkins. World class charmer, I am.
-I saw a majority of my undergraduate buddies naked in "Hair". Again, very important as college was never really the bacchanalian orgy I had imagined from movies like "Animal House" or "Revenge of the Nerds".
-I got in my 1st show at TRP. Getting cast outside of school/way-off suburban community theatre made me feel like a big-kid. And put me on track for working my nuts off trying to start and get paid gigs.
-I purchased a big-kid bed. Queen sized mattress at an Uptown liquidator. I was so excited (after having slept on the couch for 3 months) that I heaved that thing up 3 flights all by my lonesome, throwing my back out in the process. I slept "sans" sheets for another 2 weeks.
- Apparently I started hanging with work co-workers a lot more as well. I was promoted to "Big-Balance" collections which meant a raise. I started hanging out at more Downtown bars and not dive/sports bars out in the 'burbs. I befriended Guiness, Gimlets, and red wine. One of them, dear old Ellen, was kind of like my personal fashionista...but worldly. My personal hipster teacher. Gave the dumb advice on things like how to pick wine. Making sure my belt and shoes were the same color. Cologne that worked with my body. (There's a reason I stopped coating my body with Preferred Stock) How to "not" talk about ex-girlfriends when taking a woman on a date. How to look like a million bucks by shopping at Opitz with only $20. Hair product s#it to use. She knew doormen at The Lounge and the old Pickled Parrot which would get us into VIP areas for free. We'd eat steamed mussels and sling back Manhatten's or Bloody Mary's at the Loring while listening to samba music. Seriously, she was one of the first female friends I had that I had chop down straight up platonic feelings for. And was cool. And it was helpful.
Especially when she would introduce me to her girlfriends. What? >: D
- I visited my friend in NYC for the 1st time. (NY, not my friend) I learned that getting recommendatios as to what Broadway show I should see can be a dicey game at best. (FYI- I thought "Hedwig" sucked my hedwig. I remember watching people walk out of the Jane Street theatre and envying them)
-I got my first Spider-Man costume. '98 was the year they actually started producing liscensed Marvel super-hero costumes, and even though the mask was a big doofy looking foam thing, it was the 1st Spider-Man costume I'd owned since I was 13.
-Dad retired. Before he did, and basing my rationale on things I learned in my Career Preparation for Actors class- I purchased a couple of suits. (We were advised that you should have suits to be able to wear to On-Camera auditions when needed. Okay?) The style and cut were actually the same as the suit my big brother owned so we ended up looking kind of like mannequins. I remember drinking Jameson straight up with my dad and teasing big brother about his Bailey's on the rocks. It felt amazing. Like big kids.
-This would be the first year I schlepped around my first Fringe Festival. There were, like, 4 venues. And about 30-40 theatre/dance groups. Funny thing, 12 years can do.
All told, it was a great year to be entering your "Quarter Life Crisis". I did the dumb, ego-centric things a single 24 year old can do. (Did I mention the young lady I went on a couple of dates with and would leave 5-7 minute rambly messages on my voicemail which I'd play for my friends to our amusement? Or supplying liquor to a couple of Luthern College minors at the behest of my ex-girlfriend only to have them get so loaded we needed to pull over 6 x's so they could heave all over the freeway? All decisions aren't the best decisions)
The year has a bit of a head start on me, but I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. You know? I landed a show up in Bemidji/Brainerd/Egypt. I'm driving a new vehicle. I've been steadily dating a really great gal. I have plans to start getting my hands dirty, really dirty again on the house. Shit that I know I've profrasstrinated on for too long. (Heck, I've even started the minor douche-y stuff around the lawn like cleaning debris.) I'm auditioning next week at the BNW for their performance class, something that I've always had in my periphery but never went after. (Oh, how dad...and Ry-Gonn for that matter used to pester me to do it.) I'm running a 10K then a 1/2 marathon. I've kiboshed (moooostly. Please don't begrudge a man for needing a beer after a really shite day) alcohol for Lent.
So maybe that's all the year of the Tiger is, right? The ability to actualize and create your own path by your own hand.
Shoot.
I might have to sit down with my copy of "The Path of Least Resistance" again...
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