Another year and another series of circumstances to which I willingly sacrficed myself. Always being willing to let myself be victimized by Fate has served me well thus far--at least insofar as it hasn't gotten me killed. (Actually, upon examining my relationship with Fate I begin to wonder just who is victim and who is victimized...)
So what in two-double-aught-eight is worth talking about?
Plenty.
Turned my back on Prince George, BC permanently. Not out of ill will or lack of respect but because I failed to embrace it and I saw no way to rectify that situation. Once a year feels wasted, it's hard to get over. Double that and tack on a few more months and you've got issues that can only be resolved by swift and immediate withdrawal. I try not to think of it as a retreat--and since I also try not to tell myself lies, I try not to think about it at all.
So leaving PG was a catalyst (to understate matters a little) to a whole lot of other shit (both good and bad). First it ended a thoroughly rewarding--albeit increasingly troubled--relationship. It set up a lengthy correspondence with a girl who reignited my passion for writing, lead to love's doorstep, and then lost it's way from the mailbox to the doorbell. (Maybe love is blind--at very least it occasionally has a poor sense of direction.)
To be fair, it was distracted by another very charming girl and her even more charming child. Then there was love again--love which cost me dearly. Not that the price was one I was unwilling to pay, I just feel sometimes like I wish I'd been able to get the senior's discount or something.
Apparently thirteen years isn't quite long enough to qualify me.
Maybe it's time to step away from the metaphors and whimsical bullshit and start talking about things less personal in a more concrete way before your faithful guide (that'd be me) gets us all lost while he smells the roses. (And there he goes again... FUCK!)
Highlights:
Cursed III is an amazing record, seeing them at the Whippet in April with Stephanie was fucking nuts and a hell of a way to start off a relationship. My ears still ring whenever I hear the duelling bass guitars of Friends in the Music Business.
Having Pike come to the rescue and give me a guitar amp when I was at the lowest point of my creative cycle was precisely the jump I needed to get working again. Playing a lot more guitar now, pushing myself to try playing in ways I've never thought to before.
Making a decision and ploughing ahead with the as-yet-unnamed Epic Dystopia is daunting but feels right. I'm still feeling it out, researching and note-taking but I'm not slowing down and I don't find myself trying to think up excuses.
Finding Steph and Gwenyth in this fucked-up mess of a world was a relief on par with finding your underwear clean after a particularly damp-sounding fart. No, better than that--but I'm saving all my good metaphors for the book. Sorry.
Lowlights:
Cursed braking up was a disappointment. At least I got a chance to see 'em--thought Steph and I were hoping they'd play the wedding...
Finding myself unable to come up with a short story idea to keep my fingers busy in between bouts of guitar playing and novel researching. It's not as though it has to be a good idea, any idea would do. Alas, I am blank.
Making too little money, doing too little work. Not that money and work make a life full, but they do make it easier.
Watching things fall apart for friends and family in various ways. Sure, it happens every year, but this year seemed especially hard on the people I care about.
Looking ahead:
The band should start coming together in the next few weeks (provided our bassist comes through). I have three or four songs set, a couple more vaguely planned in my head. CDep by year's end? We're not doing the demo thing and I kinda wanted to start with a self-released EP so it is possible.
This is the year one of my stories appears in a repuatble journal/magazine/anthology. If that sounds like too much pressure to put on onesself... let me know because I'm scared shitless that someone's gonna hold me to this one.
Gettin' hitched. I'm hoping more and more for something small, quiet and chill. I suspect that Steph is thinking more in the opposite direction. Which is fine, it's not about the wedding--it's about the marriage.
Watching Gwenyth get a little older, a little wiser, a lot cuter and a lot more expensive.
University in September, if all goes as planned. Sick and tired of wishing I'd gone earlier. Gonna make it happen now.
Global recession, economic anxiety. Underexperienced President in the US (hey, at least he's black--or he was before the election, now I guess his level of blackness is unsatisfactory for some). Unsettling orc-like person in charge of Russia. Middle East as unstable as ever. Shock after shock--both political an natural. Catagenesis on the way.
So come ahead, 2009. Your gaping black maw doesn't worry me in the least. Bring it on, motherfucker.
So what in two-double-aught-eight is worth talking about?
Plenty.
Turned my back on Prince George, BC permanently. Not out of ill will or lack of respect but because I failed to embrace it and I saw no way to rectify that situation. Once a year feels wasted, it's hard to get over. Double that and tack on a few more months and you've got issues that can only be resolved by swift and immediate withdrawal. I try not to think of it as a retreat--and since I also try not to tell myself lies, I try not to think about it at all.
So leaving PG was a catalyst (to understate matters a little) to a whole lot of other shit (both good and bad). First it ended a thoroughly rewarding--albeit increasingly troubled--relationship. It set up a lengthy correspondence with a girl who reignited my passion for writing, lead to love's doorstep, and then lost it's way from the mailbox to the doorbell. (Maybe love is blind--at very least it occasionally has a poor sense of direction.)
To be fair, it was distracted by another very charming girl and her even more charming child. Then there was love again--love which cost me dearly. Not that the price was one I was unwilling to pay, I just feel sometimes like I wish I'd been able to get the senior's discount or something.
Apparently thirteen years isn't quite long enough to qualify me.
Maybe it's time to step away from the metaphors and whimsical bullshit and start talking about things less personal in a more concrete way before your faithful guide (that'd be me) gets us all lost while he smells the roses. (And there he goes again... FUCK!)
Highlights:
Cursed III is an amazing record, seeing them at the Whippet in April with Stephanie was fucking nuts and a hell of a way to start off a relationship. My ears still ring whenever I hear the duelling bass guitars of Friends in the Music Business.
Having Pike come to the rescue and give me a guitar amp when I was at the lowest point of my creative cycle was precisely the jump I needed to get working again. Playing a lot more guitar now, pushing myself to try playing in ways I've never thought to before.
Making a decision and ploughing ahead with the as-yet-unnamed Epic Dystopia is daunting but feels right. I'm still feeling it out, researching and note-taking but I'm not slowing down and I don't find myself trying to think up excuses.
Finding Steph and Gwenyth in this fucked-up mess of a world was a relief on par with finding your underwear clean after a particularly damp-sounding fart. No, better than that--but I'm saving all my good metaphors for the book. Sorry.
Lowlights:
Cursed braking up was a disappointment. At least I got a chance to see 'em--thought Steph and I were hoping they'd play the wedding...
Finding myself unable to come up with a short story idea to keep my fingers busy in between bouts of guitar playing and novel researching. It's not as though it has to be a good idea, any idea would do. Alas, I am blank.
Making too little money, doing too little work. Not that money and work make a life full, but they do make it easier.
Watching things fall apart for friends and family in various ways. Sure, it happens every year, but this year seemed especially hard on the people I care about.
Looking ahead:
The band should start coming together in the next few weeks (provided our bassist comes through). I have three or four songs set, a couple more vaguely planned in my head. CDep by year's end? We're not doing the demo thing and I kinda wanted to start with a self-released EP so it is possible.
This is the year one of my stories appears in a repuatble journal/magazine/anthology. If that sounds like too much pressure to put on onesself... let me know because I'm scared shitless that someone's gonna hold me to this one.
Gettin' hitched. I'm hoping more and more for something small, quiet and chill. I suspect that Steph is thinking more in the opposite direction. Which is fine, it's not about the wedding--it's about the marriage.
Watching Gwenyth get a little older, a little wiser, a lot cuter and a lot more expensive.
University in September, if all goes as planned. Sick and tired of wishing I'd gone earlier. Gonna make it happen now.
Global recession, economic anxiety. Underexperienced President in the US (hey, at least he's black--or he was before the election, now I guess his level of blackness is unsatisfactory for some). Unsettling orc-like person in charge of Russia. Middle East as unstable as ever. Shock after shock--both political an natural. Catagenesis on the way.
So come ahead, 2009. Your gaping black maw doesn't worry me in the least. Bring it on, motherfucker.
