Next installment in the Blog-A-Week Series
I know there's important stuff I'm going to forget about (and perhaps write about later), so consider this a work in progress.
I started out the year with a National Association of the Teachers of Singing conference at the Millennium Biltmore. I taught the wintercession at LACC. At the end of January, I got to visit with an old friend when M came to LA from Boston for work. We had a great time. In March I attended a fan convention for the TV show Supernatural. I met some lovely people, saw some really fun stuff (I even asked Jensen Ackles a question!), and got my picture taken with the boys from the show. I also got definitive proof that Jared and Jensen like Shiner Bock, my new favorite American beer. Bonus: running into an old high school friend at the con; he's the head photographer for the convention organization.
When I got home from the con--that very same night--I got an email from someone at the Aspen Music School. They were asking if I was interested in the position of Program Book Editor. I said yes and thus began one of the craziest periods in my life. By the third week of April, I was on my way to Aspen, CO for the wall meeting. The folks at Aspen were extremely hospitable, putting me up in a nice hotel, and renting me a car. It snowed when I got there and was generally beautiful in every way. The job, however, was a bear. By the time May rolled around, I was already pulling all-nighters to stay on top. One of the hardest jobs I've ever done. Maybe the hardest. It's also one of the things I'm most proud of.
All the while, we were apartment-hunting. The old place had changed owners and City Heights was going to hell in a handbasket. We ended up choosing this place in Highland Park. I fought for it because it was reasonably priced, had hardwood floors, and had its own washer/dryer in the apartment. I love this place, I really do. Moving in was a two-week ordeal. I was working like a dog for Aspen most of the time, not to mention it was the end-of-semester hoo-hah at school. On the very last day of May, we ended up packing by candlelight until dawn (the power was already shut off). My birthday was kind of a bust, what with the work and moving. I turned 34. Something else from May: the church choir put on a concert featuring the music of ABBA, Gershwin, and selections from Wicked. Even though I was completely unprepared for the show, it was a great time.
The summer continued with me working for Aspen, teaching a summer class at LACC, and writing program notes for LACO and the SPCO. I barely slept. It was nuts. As part of my LACC duties, I took on three independent study students who came for private lessons during the summer. I also began working with T, writing down his compositions. I visited Aspen again in May, and this time I had company. I worked in the office while I was there, and it was great fun. I like Aspen a lot. It's different from a lot of other places I've been. In addition to all of this madness, I was preparing for the Singapore tour with the church. I had a lot of rehearsals and it made home life a little tense. So did all of my jobs.
At the end of July, we went home for a visit. That's where and when the break-up happened. I returned to Los Angeles early and stayed with friends to give J time to find another place to live. My folks came to help out for a few days after that. Two weeks later, I was in Singapore. The whole trip was a beautiful experience: singing, sharing the culture, getting to know the staff and the boys of Boystown (for whom we did our benefit concerts), and eating, eating, eating. It was a good time for me to get away, and I couldn't have gone much further from L.A. without getting closer to it. In other words, it was about as far away as I could've gotten, and that was just fine by me. When I returned, I eventually moved back into my apartment.
School started up again and work became the rock of my life. I didn't feel very social, but I tried to get out now and then. I started therapy. I decided I despised living alone and got a roommate. With his help, I redecorated my apartment. I bought an XBox and Rock Band and declared my apartment to be the nexus of fun. T and I started a band in the world of that game called Monkey Deathcar. I continued to work my butt off for SPCO and to work on other publications to (hopefully) ensure that I get tenure next year. A colleague at work and I started an Opera Club for the students interested in singing that repertoire. That took up far too many hours of my life, but it ended up being a great experience.
Over the summer, I interviewed for the position of Self-Study Editor for the Accreditation Committee for LACC. I got the job and spent the better part of the fall semester editing my fool head off. I guess I missed doing that when the Aspen job ended in August (or I'm certifiably insane, you decide). The semester went off without a hitch. All of my tenure evaluations went fine. The only question the committee had for me was: "When do you sleep?" To which I should have answered: "Is that what lazy people do when they close their eyes at night?" (Credit Jon Lee for that one.) I sang a bunch of student compositions in a concert at the end of the semester, and I also performed in a benefit with Bunnies and Kitties. I went to a MACCC conference in San Diego in November, and got to visit my friend Di as part of the fun. I became better friends with Monica, Cat's cousin because of a couple of fun visits. I hosted my very first Thanksgiving with T cooking one of the best turkeys ever made. And believe me, I would know; I eat a lot of turkey.
Which brings me to some general year stuff: 2008 was the year I started singing with Bunnies and Kitties (the anti-folk duo consisting of Rafa and me), the year I joined Facebook and reconnected with a million old friends from everywhere, the year Monkey Deathcar became HUGE in Amsterdam, the year I ate beef and pork for the first time in 16 years, the year I started watching Psych and Six Feet Under, the year I became single for the first time in nine and a half years, the year I reconnected with my oldest friend from high school, the year I bought a leather couch, the year I got serious about blogging, the year I really started to learn how to get places, the year April and Cooper were born, the year that everything changed.
If life is change, 2008 proved that I am vibrantly alive. So fare-thee-well, 2008. You were full of surprises, laughter, and tears. And even with all that upheaval, I wouldn't change a single moment.
~Hero
P.S. the DecaAwesome list will return next week. Stay tuned!
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