Earlier this week I was looking back at my calendar for this year. I don't remember what I was looking for, but I know what I found. A year filled with way more good than bad. Believe me when I say, there was plenty of bad, but wow....the good far out-weighed the bad.
So here it is...my year in a nutshell:
(This might get all '12 Days of Christmas' on you....)
Twelve trips to the theater:
I managed to average one trip to the theater a month. Pretty darn good. Between my usher gigs in South Bend and Grand Rapids, I only paid for one of those performances. Score! The best of the bunch: has to be a tie between Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Chess. It was my first experience with both, they were both performed by a local GR theater company, and I fell in love with them. Worst of the bunch: This is a tie, though one may edge out the other slightly. Bring It On: The Musical was absolutely horrible. I saw a Broadway Theater League production which means it should have been a top notch touring performance, but it was definitely far from top notch. Not that the performances where bad, they might have been top notch, but the story and music where the worst. This is coming from someone who actually loves the movies (mock me all you want, I don't care.). There was no real cheer leading, the songs were not good and it crammed all 4 movies into 2.5 hours of bad musical. It might have definitely replaced Cats as worst musical ever. That being said, the performance of Chess that I saw was very hard to watch. I had never seen the show before and was only familiar with one song from it. The actors who played the leads were great...believable in their roles and with very solid voices, but the chorus....oh, the chorus. The chorus was distractingly bad. I groaned a little every time they walked on stage. Their voices didn't mesh, their movements were stiff and unsure, and the choreography was very weak. I have since listened to several of the cast recordings and come to the conclusion that I was right to love this Cold War Era Casablanca and would love to see it performed by a more professional cast. But don't think I'm bashing the company that performed the show. I'm not. I have seen many things by them and this was the first time I was disappointed by one of their performances. Upside, I didn't have to way for it.
Eleven rockin' concerts:
From the symphony to country to rock, I have spent almost one night a month at a concert. I love concerts. Seeing a band/musician live is a huge high for me. I get completely engrossed in the music and energy, I often forget the people around me which is why I see a lot of concerts on my own. This year was no exception. Best of the bunch? Barenaked Ladies. Let me just say, I saw a LOT of really great shows, but BNL was hands down the most entertaining. From the venue, to the set list, to the friends who joined me....it was just a great experience. But I also saw 4 other bands I love for the first time ever so that was awesome as well. Easily, the worst show I saw was Ray LaMontagne. The energy sucked, the crowd sucked and he threw a fit in the middle of the show and stormed off stage for 20 minutes. I will say, when he returned to stage, everything improved drastically, but I don't think I'll ever waste money to see him live again. And these were just the musical performances I paid to see. I didn't count all the local musicians I saw for free.
Ten nerd excursions:
I have a weakness for comic conventions and renaissance festivals. It's a new found weakness that I discovered last year and embraced this year. I traveled as far as Seattle for comic conventions and Louisiana for renaissance festivals (though I was sick and skipped going to the festival while in Louisiana). I purchased some renaissance garb that didn't come in a costume bag for the festivals this year and definitely plan on increasing my ren wardrobe for 2015. And while I have yet to come up with the perfect cosplay for comic conventions, I am definitely honing in on an idea which will maybe premiere when I go to my first convention of the year. No...I won't be dressed up as a sexy anything. Not my style. But I promise it'll be good, original and allow me to be fully clothed and completely comfortable while walking around a convention center for 8-10 hours. And I got to meet some of my favorite people to watch on screen...Bruce Campbell, Nicholas Brendan, Jason Momoa, John Barrowman, and Mark Sheppard. Oh...and Karl Urban. There were a few others I exchanged a couple words and handshakes with, but those were the highlights.
Nine fantastic movies:
I didn't get to the theater to see as many movies as I normally do in a year so I know I missed out on some amazing movie going experiences this year, but I did have nine trips to the theater that had me leaving the theater with a smile on my face and more often than not saying something along the lines of "That was AMAZING!" In order of release: The Lego Movie, Veronica Mars, The Muppets Most Wanted, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Chef, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Guardians of the Galaxy, Gone Girl, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. As you can see, most of those appeal to the nerd in me, but the one on that list that I loved the most? Jon Favreau's Chef. I adored everything about it and I walked out of the theater wanting to buy another ticket and watch it all over again. See it. It'll make you happy.
Eight.... I got nothing. In fact, I think this is the point the "12 Days of Christmas" idea fails....
Stand up comedians (Aziz Ansari and Eddie Izzard), burlesque, and the the amazing event that is Alton Brown Live wrapped up my year of stage shows. I squeezed in a couple vacations as well this year. A trip to Seattle in March to see the best friend and attend the Emerald City Comic Con started the year and New Orleans in November ended the year. In between I spent a great weekend in Saugatuck with my mom and a weekend further north in MI than I've ever been with an old high school friend...that weekend included my first visit to the Upper Peninsula. I managed to drive myself across the Mackinac Bridge without freaking out too much so that was fantastic. I definitely plan on heading back up there in 2015. I'd like to see more of the UP than the first town across the Bridge. I love to take solo road trips and I think the UP might be my new favorite destination.
And to wrap this up (would you believe I've been working on this for several weeks?), I have to include all the amazing people I've been lucky enough to meet and/or renew friendships with over the course of the year. For a person who works a job in which I spend most of my time alone (or in the company of two kids), meeting people can be difficult. So I forced myself to learn the art of small talk and become more comfortable with talking to the strangers around me. In doing so, I met some great people I'm happy to now call friend. I met other people who have yet to reach friend status, but I hope end up there. And I reconnected with people from my past that I hadn't seen or talked to in some time, but am now enjoying getting to know all over again.
Mostly, 2014 made me very thankful for the people in my life. This post is all about the good things that happened this year and it wouldn't have been such a fantastic year without them. Friends, family...I love you. Thank you for a great 2014 and what will, hopefully, be an even better 2015.
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