Category: Datin’

*whimper*

Reasons Why 2012 Was Great, Even Though I Hated It

My friend/coach ATD recently wrote a blog post called 10 Reasons Why 2012 Was Great. When I saw the title but before I read the post, I was like, “OH HELL NO 2012 SUCKED AND I’M SO GLAD IT’S ALMOST OVER PHFTHTHPT.” But I thought about my tendency toward the negative and my attempts to cultivate gratitude, and I figured I’d give it a try. I didn’t think I could come up with 10 things, but maybe five, you know? I jotted down 11 in a matter of minutes.

1. Working with people that I like. If you let me, I’ll bitch all day about my job, but truth is, I’ve never had a better teaching situation, so I’m gonna try to STFU with the complaints.

2. Time with the Scott clan. Particularly my nieces and nephews.

They are hilarious.
They are hilarious.

(The eldest/scribe was concerned that Santa might get his fingers snapped in one of various rodent traps that were… necessary at my dad’s house this year. The cheese in the fridge was fair game, but Mr. Claus seemed to be OK with the pretzel treats and whatnot.)

3. Tubing down the Dan River with my friends. I don’t have any photos because nobody has a waterproof camera. That’s probably a good thing.

4. Doing the Tough Mudder. So great. Also, really, really terrible.

5. The Monti. Hosting, putting my name in the hat, just sitting and listening. I enjoyed it all, and I learned so much each time.

6. Fostering Buffy and Tulip. Buffy’s mommies fostered a male dog after they adopted Buffy and ended up adopting him. Talk about paying it forward! And Tulip’s mommy is—well, I’ll put it this way: I can’t imagine a better situation for her. (Go to Tulip’s Facebook page, and scroll down to her status update for December 7. Tulip’s mommy and I wrote it together.)

7. Wire-Watching Zombie Squad. Four friends and I get together most Sundays and throw ourselves into a big pile on the couch and watch an unhealthy number of episodes of The Wire. And I love it. I just fucking love it.

8. Seeing Reggie Watts live with my buddy Kyle.

Do it if you get the chance.
Do it if you get the chance. It’s an experience like no other.

9. When Margo came to visit. I love Margo.

10. Being a CrossFit Durham athlete. I’m not “in shape” by any standard, but I’m definitely in the best shape of my life, and I’ve made so many new friends there.

Also the fact that Dave lets us go rogue and do ridiculous things. Exhibit A: the enTire Mile, an event conceived of by Shiv, during which six of us, taking turns in pairs, flipped a tractor tire an entire mile. Just for the hell of it.

Six of us flipped a tractor tire an entire mile.
That’s me on the left and Shiv on the right.

11. Costa Motherfucking Rica.

Being me, I also wrote down things that sucked about 2012, and I was startled how few I could come up with:

  • having a career that’s not my calling;
  • being thwarted at our first attempt at the Tough Mudder;
  • suffering from depression;
  • taking two big risks that didn’t end the way I wanted them to; and as a result,
  • still being single.

And, with the exception of the Mudder (which we got to do later), those are Big Things. I’m not going to say they’re not, or that they didn’t suck real, real, real bad. But you know what? There are a lot worse problems than not having your career dreams fulfilled, and my depression is probably a lifetime affliction that I’ll just have to manage, and I learned a lot about myself in the face of failure/rejection.

Moreover, I’m not really single right now, am I? It seems I have a Dutch boyfriend.

Retrobruxist Friday 12/28/12

Hope all you Avid Bruxistists are having a lovely holiday or two or eight nights or however many days Kwanzaa is. Seven, right? Seven. Pretty sure it’s seven.

I just looked it up. It’s seven. Is it me or does the Official Kwanzaa Website need a graphic designer like whoa?

Three years ago… well, I figured out how to turn off the IM function shortly thereafter.

Me, Dad, last-minute shopping at Walgreen’s. Terrible consequences. Two years ago.

I can’t believe it was a year ago that I found this guy. I still get sad about him sometimes. But he meant two 2012 miracles for me. One step back, two steps forward.

Happy Retrobruxist Friday, y’all.

Retrobruxist Friday 12/21/12

Happy End of the World!

Three years ago, I was—shock!—dating. Go to that link, read it, and pay close attention to #3. I may have a real interesting update in the near future. Like, tomorrow night.

Two years ago, I was watching boys at the gym. The funny thing is I’ve gotten to know all three of the dudes I mention in this post, and I can’t imagine them now as anything other than my bros. Which is good because they’re all taken. As is every other worthwhile dude on the planet. What.

P.S. Look at my dogs! Oh my god, they are so cute.

I was contemplating impermanence this time last year. Still am, of course. The events in Newtown have kind of forced the issue, haven’t they? Six years old. Six. Three hundred weeks. Two thousand days. That’s all they got.

It’s weird how we chronicle our unknown number of days, or what makes us aware of their passing. A lot of people cross boxes off a calendar. Some people write in a journal. Me, I’ve been acutely aware of my life ticking away since I started using a

giant, geriatric pill box.
giant, geriatric pill box.

I empty compartments four times a day, and at the end of the week, when I shake the box and it doesn’t rattle, I know another week of my life is gone. Another week. One week as the numerator, and yet there’s absolutely no way to know the value of the fraction because the denominator is and always will be—whether because of the End of Days or America’s boner for the freedom to own assault weapons or cervical cancer or whatever—incalculable. Best live as one whole, I guess.