Right then

[tetsab]

Well since I didn't get to that review of 'Nice Life-y things I've done over the last year just so that they're captured for Posterity' at NaDruWriNi time this seems like a pretty good time to get that done. They'll probably be a bunch of things missing since I'm going to do it as a calendar review and I don't capture everything I do there.

Before I start, though, I will note that I've had a night and day difference on New Years this year and New Years the last. Last year was so unpleasant I still remember it: like being sunk up to my chin in muck and knowing it was still rising. This year I think I only had some muck on my shoes (the sad impact of the happy experience of seeing folks you haven't seen in a while is that you have to walk them through this a bit if you want to get them to the today that is better than the before). Yeesh, even walking through this little paragraph is dragging me down so !

January

• Went to Banff for the 1st time ever (for work) & drove myself & a coworker back to Calgary airport in a rental without a hitch having not driven for about 9 months by then
• Went to Stratford (also actually for the 1st time ever) with my parents to see Loreena McKennitt perform in a small church.
  • In a bit of serendipitous fluke, spent the afternoon before sitting next to her and other members of her performing party at afternoon tea
• Hung out in the party space of the Toronto Reference Library (at a party, even!)

February

• Local brew-pub meet-up with my old boss and a co-worker (super yummy Hefeweizen!)

March

• Tried out my 1st ever Choir!Choir!Choir!
• Birdman twice in a row at the local theatre. Had to go back the 2nd night as their was a powercut 30 minutes before the end the first night! It was surreal but pleasant walking up Queen in the dark and snow to the bus home. Everyone else seemed to magically vanish and it was very still and excessively quiet
• 1st ever ridiculous product unveiling (for work again) event (speaking of surreal!) but the food was good!
• Up for spring

April

• S&M catch-up pints at the Bristol
• Draft performance of new play with co-workers
• Tafelmusik with my Mum at the TO Centre for the Arts

May

• Finally, finally! TCAF!
• Fancy crepes and then Inside Out at the movies with my Mum and sister
• 2 weeks in England

June

• Got up the courage to go to the crappy karaoke bar down the street on my lonesome and had fun :)
• Went to my old favourite karaoke night on my lonesome (even while wearing a surprise heart monitor [doctor wanted me in one for 36hrs -- all fine])
• Axel B-day party (where I stayed 'till the end) ^_^
• Dinner with highschool friend

July

• Karaoke with old University friend
• Bought Steph's old bike!
• Rode said bike 2 days later with almost all my coworkers from Parkdale to the Toronto Island Ferry, spent the evening there, and then rode almost all the way home (from the Ferry to the foot of Woodbine where I hitched a bus ride up the hill but then finished the rest from there)
• Catch-up with favourite old coworker
• Started swimming every few weeks at the local pool
• Drinks out with nice new boss and other coworkers

August

• First ever Shakespeare in the Park (Comedy of Errors)
• MacBeth in a different park with puppets (both with uni friend)
• Carted self to a far off goth night (good music, listened to it while sketching to ward off Other People)
• Lunch and prepping for Iceland next June with highschool friend
• Craft Beer day at the Ex with my Mum (plus Beaver Tail!)

September

• First ever trip to Hamilton (where uni friend now lives) for their art/music festival w/ Hayden and Daniel Lanois
• 2nd year in a row doing a shoreline clean-up
• Headed out to Yet More Tafelmusik with my Mum later that day

October

• First time acting as a tech coach for other NFPs
• 45th anniversary dinner with my aunt and uncle, in town from the UK
• Aunt and uncle farewell BBQ
• Biked from my house all the way around the Don river to the top of the Leslie Street Spit and home again (no bus this time!)
• Mountsberg conservation area to see owls+! (would result in thoughtful Xmas donation from uni friend now more to an owl this Xmas) ^_^
• Rented my 1st ever car and drove my butt the whole way to Providence, RI and back to hang out with a couple of net friends (no Boston since this seemed enough for a maiden solo voyage after not driving since Jan.)
• Went to Tafelmusik food tasting at the Gladstone (but this time the drawing ward attracted rather than repelled!)
• Bata Shoe museum and Ethiopian food with highschool friend
• Vietnamese dinner out with old boss
• Ye Olde Goth night at the Old Laurel with some of the usual suspects :)
• Halloween party at uni friend's brother's (also some kinda goth!) place

November

• NaDruWriNi
• Dinner out with aunt up from California
• Cumberbatch Hamlet theatre showing (with standard Shakespearian partner in crime) ^_^
• Started going to semi-regular 'classical' reading nights at Charlotte's (Hesiod & Herodotus so far!)
• Buddhist temple for Remembrance Day
• Back to Hamilton to see Shakespearian partner in crime sing renaissance+
• Potluck dinner with coworkers

December

• Goodbye pub night with parents (headed to Florida for 3 months)
• More Hamilton criminal singing
• More catch-up with lovely former co-worker
• Drive to Niagara airport with my sister to spend surreal Christmas in Florida (sunburn, swimming, and mosquito bites from the Everglades. Ha).
• Off to the Gin Palace for New Years

Comments

[the_siobhan]

That's a lot of firsts. I'm impressed.

[tetsab]

Funny thing is, it took my writing it all out to be struck by noticing that same thing. At the time I was living it all (with a few exceptions like renting the car) I wasn't thinking of it that way.