Friday, December 31, 2010

A year in review

Is this thing on?  Is anyone still reading?

 

Yes, I’m very bad about writing on this thing.  I tend to post a bit more often to my twitter feed (see the right column).  I just tend not to have the time or the motivation to post longer posts, because when I actually do post, I want it to be quality and of some degree of substance.  Twitter allows me to just do a quick thought upload, whereas my blog requires more thought.

 

An early new years resolution is to at least be consistently posting once a month.  I figure that’s a reasonable and achievable goal.  On to the meat of the post. 

 

2010, what a year; what a decade.  It feels like I’ve just been going non-stop this year.

 

It started off with a trip to L.A. to visit with Colin and Kristin.  I had a fantastic, almost two weeks out there.  It’s always a great time visiting them and I’m already looking forward to October 2011 when I next visit them.

 

In March I had the pleasure of being the officiant for the marriage of two good friends of mine.  It was a lovely trip to Florida for the wedding and I thank my good friend Paul for keeping watch over me as I slowly succumbed to the fun of a major chest/head cold.  The show must go on so I had a bottle of Robitussin on hand the entire weekend and managed to keep going strong until about the start of the reception when I finally felt the brunt of being sick and got very tired and eventually left slightly early.  Flying home while sick is not a fun experience.

 

In April, I had to say good-bye to my dear Grammy.  She was an incredible woman, who was always quick with a smile and had a strength of personality that just couldn’t be denied.  She will be missed.

 

Also in April

  • I had a joint birthday party with my friend Dani – my 31st and her 32nd.  It was a theme party: Greek Gods.  I went as Dionysus and she and her husband went as Persephone and Hades.  It was a great time.
  • I went to see Matt Doyle in concert and it was an incredible time with my friend KK.  This is a song from the actual concert I went to:
  • My fraternity had it’s 45th anniversary.

 

In May I finally got into high gear with my weight loss goals.  I started eating better, I started kickboxing and consistently ran.  By July 1 I had lost almost 25 pounds.  Since then I kept up with the kickboxing, but now have switched to doing some martial arts, specifically Wing Chun.  I really enjoy it, but it’s not quite the cardio work out so I have to get back to the running again.

 

At the end of the month I took a fun trip to Vermont with Dani and her family for the Memorial Day weekend.  It was a lot of fun.

 

In June, not much happened.  In July, I had my 3rd of July party and went down to NYC again to see Matt Doyle in concert again. Amazing.  He has a CD coming out in the very near future.  You must get it.

 

In August it was a lot of prep work for the start of the school year as well as the start of Guys and Dolls.  This year I was back on the stage as Nathan Detroit and I had a blast! 

 

September was all Guys and Dolls all the time. The other big thing at this time was that my friend Dani announced she was having a baby :)  She’s gonna have such a cute daughter and be a great mom.

 

October I went to NYC for Missa Gaia. I also had the incredible opportunity to see A Little Night Music with Bernadette Peters and Eileen Stritch from the second row.  It was breathtaking and a moment I can always say, I was there to see it.

 

In November I spent another weekend in NYC with my friend Pace for the second year of what has become an annual tradition of heading to NYC to see a couple of shows.  The way it works is that we choose at least one show that we must see, and then we grab a matinee of something else playing at the time.  This year we saw Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake which was spellbinding and moving.  If you ever have the chance to see it, do so.

 

In December I participated in the annual Alpha Psi Omega Show in 24 hours.  For those unfamiliar with the concept we cast, write, build, learn and perform 4-5 shows in a 24 hour period of time.  For me this year, it was quite a challenge.  I played 4 characters.  With four different voices/accents.  With 13 pages of lines.  That I had to learn in 11 hours. And two of the characters were puppets.   Thank you Kelly for your help learning lines!

 

I then had my tree trimming.  It was a fun time with some good friends.

 

Christmas was a great time seeing all the family.

 

Finally, I will end the new year tonight with my 10th annual New Year’s Eve party.  This year I decided to go all out and I’m catering it and it’s a Black Tie event.  I’m really looking forward to it.  So many of my friends are pumped about dressing up that I can’t wait to see everyone get here and what they are wearing.

 

Overall it’s been a great year, and I’m looking forward to 2011.