Goings On and What Have Yous
Enough one sentence Facebook status updates! Here's the real digs, yo, and let's go back a year just for fun.
This time last year we were knee deep in bank forms, fax machines, inspections etc. On September 23, 2009, Zoe and I became homeowners. In December we used some of the Obama money (thanks, taxpayers!) to put in a new furnace, and it was installed during the coldest week of the year, so we had to crank the space heater in our bedroom just to dethaw. My blues band broke up. I joined a new one.
I ran 6.6 miles on New Year's Day, thus achieving two resolutions at once (run a 5k, run a 10k). My co-worker told me in early January that he'd been diagnosed with brain cancer over the Christmas holiday. Zoe and I ate at Beast for our 6 year anniversary and made two new friends as a result. My grandma died in April; she was 87. My mom was planning on coming to Portland to help me build a backyard garden, but had to be in Arizona for all the unpleasantness that comes with end of life care. We bought a truck off Craigslist. I rototilled the backyard five times and planted lots of vegetables.
I went to Joshua Tree for a friend's wedding. Zoe got mono the same day. I rode 60 miles (a new distance record) with my dad on Memorial Day. Our basement got lots of water in it because I was lazy about storm drainage. My cat got pinkeye. I went to Minnesota for my grandma's second service and burial and at one point, my ex-Marine grandpa grabbed my mom's hand so hard his knuckles turned white. I cried, but later made comforting Lebowski jokes to myself regarding modest receptacles. I met the man who married my parents.
I pulled a rhomboid muscle in my back that still hurts now and then. Saw Trek in the Park. In August we went to Ohio and Minnesota; the first for a cousin's wedding, the second to show Zoe where I grew up. I got a new tattoo, the first in five years. The guys came up for a bachelor party weekend and I drank too much and dry heaved for 8 hours. We grilled lots of food all summer long.
Current Goings On
My band(s) have been very active. The main one, which is a four-dude, not-totally-indie-but-left-of-mainstream-pop-rock endeavor, plays its first gig at Ash Street, on Labor day, at 11:30pm. Expectations are not high, but we need to practice playing shows. We practice three nights a week for about 2.5 hours each, and I've taken to riding my bike the 6 miles there and back (summers dude, they're made for that). We've been doing photoshoots to build an electronic press kit, with the eventual goal of playing MusicfestNW next year.
I'm involved in a side project with one of our guitar players; a pit band for a neo-burlesque show. I'm not sure what makes it neo-burlesque, as the dancers haven't really been visible yet. As I understand it, this is the crowd that spells "circus" "cyrkus" and they're all at Burningman right now. The music is all late 50s doo-wop and 60s Motown, which is music I absolutely love. If nothing else, it'll be a cover band that'll have some paying gigs now and then.
We go to the coast in a few weeks, and I'm looking forward to grey skies, salt air, crab and beer. I'm going to run on the beach. I also have about 7 or 8 days of vacation to use before February (not including the week between Christmas and New Year), which I may use to do house projects or just vegetate. I'm going to California in three weeks for a friend's wedding, and then again two weeks after that for another friend's wedding, and then in December for the holidays, most likely. I'm close to a promotion.
This time last year we were knee deep in bank forms, fax machines, inspections etc. On September 23, 2009, Zoe and I became homeowners. In December we used some of the Obama money (thanks, taxpayers!) to put in a new furnace, and it was installed during the coldest week of the year, so we had to crank the space heater in our bedroom just to dethaw. My blues band broke up. I joined a new one.
I ran 6.6 miles on New Year's Day, thus achieving two resolutions at once (run a 5k, run a 10k). My co-worker told me in early January that he'd been diagnosed with brain cancer over the Christmas holiday. Zoe and I ate at Beast for our 6 year anniversary and made two new friends as a result. My grandma died in April; she was 87. My mom was planning on coming to Portland to help me build a backyard garden, but had to be in Arizona for all the unpleasantness that comes with end of life care. We bought a truck off Craigslist. I rototilled the backyard five times and planted lots of vegetables.
I went to Joshua Tree for a friend's wedding. Zoe got mono the same day. I rode 60 miles (a new distance record) with my dad on Memorial Day. Our basement got lots of water in it because I was lazy about storm drainage. My cat got pinkeye. I went to Minnesota for my grandma's second service and burial and at one point, my ex-Marine grandpa grabbed my mom's hand so hard his knuckles turned white. I cried, but later made comforting Lebowski jokes to myself regarding modest receptacles. I met the man who married my parents.
I pulled a rhomboid muscle in my back that still hurts now and then. Saw Trek in the Park. In August we went to Ohio and Minnesota; the first for a cousin's wedding, the second to show Zoe where I grew up. I got a new tattoo, the first in five years. The guys came up for a bachelor party weekend and I drank too much and dry heaved for 8 hours. We grilled lots of food all summer long.
Current Goings On
My band(s) have been very active. The main one, which is a four-dude, not-totally-indie-but-left-of-mainstream-pop-rock endeavor, plays its first gig at Ash Street, on Labor day, at 11:30pm. Expectations are not high, but we need to practice playing shows. We practice three nights a week for about 2.5 hours each, and I've taken to riding my bike the 6 miles there and back (summers dude, they're made for that). We've been doing photoshoots to build an electronic press kit, with the eventual goal of playing MusicfestNW next year.
I'm involved in a side project with one of our guitar players; a pit band for a neo-burlesque show. I'm not sure what makes it neo-burlesque, as the dancers haven't really been visible yet. As I understand it, this is the crowd that spells "circus" "cyrkus" and they're all at Burningman right now. The music is all late 50s doo-wop and 60s Motown, which is music I absolutely love. If nothing else, it'll be a cover band that'll have some paying gigs now and then.
We go to the coast in a few weeks, and I'm looking forward to grey skies, salt air, crab and beer. I'm going to run on the beach. I also have about 7 or 8 days of vacation to use before February (not including the week between Christmas and New Year), which I may use to do house projects or just vegetate. I'm going to California in three weeks for a friend's wedding, and then again two weeks after that for another friend's wedding, and then in December for the holidays, most likely. I'm close to a promotion.