Hey, true-believers! Happy 2014 to the three of you followers! I know I say I'm going to write more, and I have a plan (more in a tick), but the weather has been legendarily cold the last 10 days or so. When it dips down to "historical low's" and gets a nickname like "Polar Vortex" (which sounds to me like a s#itty plot contrivance on "Doctor Who" or "Star Trek"), the tendency is to hunker down. Stay inside. And episode-gorge on past episodes of "The X-Files".
Anyway, my fingers were too cold to type- what with getting up periodically in the middle of the night to start my car as temps dipped down into the 20's below zero (40's-50 below windchills) for a few nights, then waited behind the wheel as Jack Burton slowly warmed to life. (Thank you for starting for me, Jack.) Also, I was trying to keep positive and toss my normal goofy bon mot's out into the social media-sphere, being that a lot of people were putting up the same meme's left and right.
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| "Going to the store"? Nope, I went to Cub BEFORE the predicted low's got too dangerous. |
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| When the real meme's shoulda been this. I'd come in my house, flex my fingers a little and swear I saw little Ugnaught's running round. That also could have been the wine. |
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| More accurate than I care to comment on. Let's just say that my biggest gripe about the recent weather was with insensitive people who forget that griping about the weather is our right as Minnesotan's. |
As a reminder, I don't think "best of" lists are official until after the year actually comes to a close. I'm not begrudging people who send out "this is what happened" Christmas Cards, but I think that they make them and send them before the end of November, and December is a big frassy month for things to happen (ex: My s.o.'s car accident), so I've put together a brief list of my 2013 highlights!
(ps- We're experiencing Vortex the second this week. Instead of a freak-out, most Minnesotan's are sort of "meh. You're boring winter. Go home.")
BRIEF LIST OF 2013 HIGHLIGHTS (Not the magazine)
Theater:
1st time at the
Paul Bunyan Playhouse ("Guys on Ice") and Mu Performing Arts ("Kung Fu Zombies vs. Cannibals". Tommy Gun Trouble and some Improv shows at the
Caves. The world premiere web series "
Theater People".
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Differences from 2012) Sadly, I missed doing Halloween Tours, performed in zero Fringe shows and lastly- secured zeeeeero industrial/print/commercial work in 2013. Financially, that sucks balls. You win that round, 2012.
The Home Front:
Replace the hot water line running upstairs from my basement. (This was huge. We'd be showering with barely a trickle of hot water from the tap until they replaced the line entirely with PEX. Smart move, that. Next step? New bathroom.)
Electricity went out during Fringe (IOW- Thank the Gods I wasn't in a show, however I missed almost the entirety of Fringe.)
The Garden was pretty much status quo. A great abundance of green peppers, beautiful eggplants, potatoes, and an overabundance (per normal) of Zukes. The tomatoes were meager and mealy and indicated that 2014 will require a garden turnover/aeration-tilling, newspaper mulching, compost, and prayer. As well as a scaling back the volume I plant to give the roots plenty of room to breathe. Also? I'm only planting one effing zucchini. Those selfish bastards.
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Differences from 2012) Last year we replaced the central A/C as the annual"big project". (2 major projects trump a comfort project, even if one was very low-cost) I also hit the Farmer's Market a few more times and went a grand total of "Zero" in 2013. (Although we happened upon a street fair in Bemidji)
The Health and Family Front
So this year was challenging. There were some bouts of sickness with my niece and nephews that were scary as well as some extended family needing hospital stays. On the personal front, my mom got into a fight with the big "C" and after a forced diet of having her kidney removed, spent the rest of the year convalescing but is currently still on the up and up. And sadly, we lost my Uncle Jim (Dad's older brother) in March.
As to my narcissistic/dysmorphic bent- I neither lost significant weight (In spite of starting "MyFitnessPal") but started to gain significant weight toward the end of the year. My running tapered off significantly (we had a hella long winter that made training outside almost impossible and I injured myself in May), I only ran in 4 races (The Undie Run, Get Lucky, Red/White/Boom, and a return to the fracking Mud Run...which I PR'ed, strangely) HOWEVER I did:
-Get my Brown Belt...finally. (In fact, all year my commitment was primarily to karate when I wasn't gigging. Which meant I didn't get injured when the Mu show came around.)
-Quit drinking soda/avoiding aspartame. That's right. We're trying a lifestyle that is unprocessed and containing few to no chemicals. That means no more "Fat-Free" or "Lite" will be passing these lips. You heard it here.
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Differences from 2012) Some illnesses in the immediate family, the only death was a dear friend in my theater world, I ran more and in more races...but I think I was more well rounded. So "2013" wins.
The last- LAST few big announcements of 2013:
-We finally shuffled off our old cabin (technically it happened this year) and established our newest family "
compound" in Prior Lake. Here's to many more years of memories, and to fond rememberance of the old shack in Quamba.
-I got to TRAVEL! That's right, my first honest-to-goodness vacation with Ranch to the sunny Southwest. (AZ and NV) 80 degrees in November? I'll take it.
-20 YEARS, MAN!!! Yup. Celebrated my 20 year high school reunion. I made it through without really embarrassing myself or throwing up.
-A surplus of various events, including The State Fair, Ren Fest, NE Mpls Parade, Art-A-Whirl, Basilica Block Party, visiting the S.O's cabin in Wisconsin, boat trips/lake floats, fireworks, and one of the best "Christmas Orphan/Birthday" I'd had in years.
My biggest take away from 2013? It went so. Stinking. Fast. The year snoooowballed past at such an alarming rate that I'm hoping to be better about savoring moments day by day in 2014.
I mean, I'll be turning (hrrmbphfortyhrrrmph) this year. F#ck. I'll try and surprise you with material and annual commitments as they occur.
NEXT BLOG!!! TIME TRAVEL AND EMBARRASSMENT!!!
