2010
In the year 2010 I traveled more than I ever have before, I worked more than I ever have before, I wrote more than I ever have before, I slept more than I ever have before, I flew more than I ever have before, I donated, networked, and organized more than I ever have before, and entire long-held segments of my youth crumbled finally and inevitably into dust. Here I still am however, often busy, stressed, and missing the time I could once spend on art, sport, web, and theater attendance. My world is changed but I am not at all. I found some interesting moments of life though, and once again such complex and beautiful experiences were set that I was embarrassed to relate them to others for the stark inequity of those left bereft in their dark and mundane drudgeries. This journal omits so much of what I've read, seen, and learned... it's almost pathetic.
As penance I will attempt to list some of the most iconic things I've subsumed into my thoughts this year:
Song of 2010: "If I Knew You Were The One" by Richard Twice.
I identified with this song upon finding it because I've been literally counting rainbows and sitting before the ocean recently I guess.
Film of 2010: "Breaking the Waves" by Lars Von Trier.
I like to think that my ethical system is durable enough that were protagonists in stories to follow the way I live my life they would literally have no problems... but this film, a favorite of a friend of mine who loaned it to me a few months ago after hearing that I've never seen it, creates a hypothetical universe where the rules of conduct are warped ridiculously into a stylized metashadow hilariously congruent with "The Matrix". In tribute to the artistic quality of the cinematography my mind has of its own accord parodied the establishing shots beginning each "chapter" on more than one occasion around my city.
Short Story of 2010: "Magda Maria" by Joyce Carol Oates.
It would seem that someone on Oprah's Book Club list can actually write! I am shocked.
Image of 2010: One image this year stands above all others as a symbol of my ultimate triumph over human nature, though this translates not well at all to others, so here instead are three of the best "daily image search" finds:
Photograph (by Susannah Benjamin)
Abstract
Painting (built upon Gallarani)
Food of 2010: This is impossible. I tried easily more than one hundred new foods this year. Was the custard apple better than the amazing Rio sushi or the giant bowls of Acai with granola? Was the caqui better than the seared ahi tuna I tried in the U.S. or the new Pho in Des Moines or a midnight bowl of "Honey Bunches of Oats: Just Bunches"? Why do multigrain pringles and oyster stew taste so awesome? Why are yali pears so expensive? in years past I could have just said "water chestnuts", or "washington cherries", this year I don't know.
Random Wikipedia Article of 2010: Eustace the Monk
Black Magical Pirate Sandwich
President of 2010: James Buchanan.
The John Adams HBO series made him the American president of 2008 in my mind, similarly this story caught my attention just a couple weeks ago and humanizes J.B. past a boilerplate portraiture hanging above the desk of Mr. Dewey in my memories of sophomore high-school
Injury of 2010: Surfboard to the face
Game of 2010: Ticket to Ride
After years of missed chances I finally played TTR on two occassions and found it nice.
Brain Region of 2010: The Striatum
I ascribe my growing fondness for the striatum to my history with videogames and the high density of medium spiny neurons and metabotropic dopamine receptors
so now I go for a day of sledding, snowball fights, and a concert tonight in Ames featuring Nuclear Rodeo and The Mumfords.
I still remember New Years at the turn of the millennium as though it were yesterday- my younger sister and I were brought to the my grandparents' tiny farm just outside of Mechanicsville "...in case anything happens with Y2K". As a family we watched the ball drop in New York on a small television, and then suddenly it was announced that everyone had to go to bed, since the elders of the family were surely tired. I protested vehemently... everyone in the entire world was partying and I was being asked to spend the century's end alone in a dark room, lying quietly as though dead at the stroke of midnight? The adults all agreed on this unanimously. Dejectedly I laid watching the hour creep by on a very old digital clock in the deafening silence of the Iowa countryside, studying the small points of light cast from the curtained windows, across the plain white ceiling and headboard. However as midnight approached my imagination stirred, and suddenly in violent rebellion it created a facsimile as it never had before, a miraculous and flawless epiphany of psychocreative energy. Still awake I reposed in the warm arms of sweet delirium, staring into the eyes of an unspeakably beautiful madness, a secret smile frozen upon the timeless face of infinity. Now every holiday without fail I am transported for a time back to those few minutes that passed like days or weeks. I wondered once if these remembrances and syntheses were a result of an unacknowledged loneliness, but often I am surrounded by masses of people seeking my attention upon days of celebration, even good friends... instead I think it is my mind's true preference reflected, each holiday as I truly would like to spend it in the company of a dream. So if you see my eyes glaze over during part of a birthday song or my thoughts travel far away a few moments next midnight know that I'm not sick, just selectively affected by a pleasant memory.
Have a great new year!