Final Note 2011
Saturday, 31 December 2011 16:26![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a_bit_of_wit_2Continuing a tradition I began in high school (lovingly stolen from my 10th grade English teacher, Mr. Doug Austin), here's my annual recap, my Final Note. With 8 hours to go before 2012, here it is. Love you all, and enjoy the new year.
A final note...
Four hours into 2011, and the year had already started off quite different from the previous five. Ryan had beaten me in Monopoly. A 4+ hour battle of attrition, going head to head on that wonderful board, ended with my brother-in-law snapping my 5-game winning streak. It's the yearly tradition now, started back when I spent my first New Year's with April's family. Tonight's game will be the 8th, and the onus is back on me to reclaim bragging rights. It's a small thing in the larger scheme of life, but it's become a thing that both Ryan and I look forward to every December the 31st. It starts around 11:30 PM, then we break to see Dick Clark do his thing, I call and/or text family and friends, and then it's back to the battle.
I can say with certainty (or certitude, if you're Anthony Weiner) that on a personal level, this year has been worlds better than the last. If you've been living under a rock and not seen my Facebook, Twitter, or LiveJournal at all, I had Crohn's disease-related surgery last year, requiring me to take a year-long medical leave from college, two months off work, and having a device known as a seton in me for eight months, correcting the aberrant tunnel of tissue that my body decided to create. By the beginning of the year, though, I was on the mend, and things were looking up. The worst of it had passed. Our two Januarymas parties were all sorts of fun and amazing, seeing many of my friends. However, in my eagerness to get back to as much of a normal life as I could, I jumped the gun returning to school so quickly. Three weeks in, I realized that I couldn't work a full-time job and go to school four days a week. So, what was a one-semester's leave became a full year. I'm surprised that I still have the desire to finish school, given all the shit life has thrown at me since I started on this journey back in 2003. If it's not the outrageous cost of a college education, it's my own body failing me. Yet, I press on. Despite the setbacks, I have a support system. All of you. All of you help me emotionally more than you may know, and I am perpetually grateful.
Unfortunately, calamity would strike again—not to me, but to Ryan, when he became a victim of a car accident because the driver that hit him thought that red meant go. In the ensuing crash, Ryan ended up with a broken foot and a broken wrist. That sidelined him for four months, after healing and physical therapy all came to an end.
With this medical device implanted in my butt for the time being, it did limit my movements. I couldn't go too far away from home, due to the constant need for bandage changes (which were, at this point, daily). For most of the winter and spring, I didn't stray too far away, with the exception of Boston. I had gone to my first video game expo in March. I had gone to PAX East, a 3-day weekend of gaming bliss, accompanied with Wyatt, Alton, Jack, Jen, Ian, Ben, and his girlfriend, Rebecca. I hadn't played so much Super Smash Bros. Brawl in my life. I entered the tournament, but got my ass handed to me in Round 1. Fun, though. I loved the whole sense of camaraderie, friendship, and familiarity amongst gamers. Not to mention that was also my introduction to Video Game Orchestra, as well as the Resident Evil Deck Building Game, my new crack. It was a great weekend, even if I think I only got a net total of about 40 minutes of sleep (thanks, Wyatt).
Also during the winter, I began a project that will keep going into 2012—a bi-weekly podcast called Downloadable Content, in which I and guests talk about issues related to video games. I recorded 24 episodes this year, all of which can be found on iTunes. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm certainly looking forward to next year's season. While doing DLC, I also did my 13th Character Battle Contest, called Into the Legend, featuring characters from four long-running video game franchises. Ron won, becoming the first person to win 3 of these contests.
Jumping to May, two things of note had occurred. After regularly seeing the doctor and surgeon I call Dr. Hamfist (I call him that because he's a short, rotund man with sausage fingers, and doesn't warn you when he's about to shove said fingers up your ass), he had declared that the seton was ready to come out. So I went in to the operating room for round 2, and recovery time was a week instead of eight. Still, during both trips to the OR, I wasn't going to get much sympathy from my boss. My boss is a workaholic, the type of woman who works 18-hour days frequently because she's convinced that if she's not there, the Lottery will crumble. Never mind that she's had gastric bypass surgery and a broken foot she refuses to get healed because, you know, if she has to take time off to actually heal herself, the Lottery is doomed to failure. Reminds me of Danielle in that she refuses to see a doctor and actually takes the time to let the body heal. Frustrating. But I digress. Once the doc took the device out, now we could get on with the wound healing.
Also in May, we were all supposed to perish in flames or some such nonsense. That whole Rapture crap. However, April and I headed to Poughkeepsie that day to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra perform “Beethoven's Last Night.” Hell, if I was going to shuffle off this mortal coil, I was going to have some very good music to die by. Funnily enough, though, at the moment that it was supposed to begin, April and I were having dinner at a diner in Kingston. We looked out the window then, and we saw a rainbow. No lie. Harold Camping, however, suffered a stroke not too long after. The moral is simple, children: it's no fun being a false prophet. I'm not a religious man, but I have to wonder—did this God-worshipping man totally ignore the scriptures that tell us to beware false prophets? Ergo, I think that his stroke was God's version of a whack upside the head. Regardless, TSO put on a great show.
Heading into the summer, this meant that soon it would be time for Renaissance Faires and Tanglewood. April and I saw four shows at Tanglewood this year—A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor and company (it's always weird when I say that I went to go see a live radio show, but, eh), with Dan accompanying us; the second was James Taylor, always a guaranteed sell-out at Tanglewood. Alongside him for some of the concert were Vince Gill and Amy Grant, two artists of whom I never heard anything by. I didn't feel spiritually lifted, though, not knowing who they were. Nor were they carried away on angel's wings.
The third show was the annual Film Night at Tanglewood, with John Williams (yes, THAT John Williams) conducting the Boston Pops and God (Morgan Freeman) providing narration to a musical suite. With us for that concert was Sara C., Ryan, and Danielle C. Really, it should be called the “I'm John Williams and I'm fucking awesome” concert, since most of the wonderful works played were his own. One of the things that stuck out the most, though, was something Sara had said to April and I—seeing how Ryan and Danielle were obviously hitting it off together, Sara had asked us how long the two had been dating. So be proud, you two. The final show was attended by just April and I—a concert performance of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, something we had wanted to see for years. Even though it wasn't a staged show like an opera (which it is), I still enjoyed it.
With finances tight and much of my vacation time depleted due to me being in traction over the year, I didn't go to the New York Renaissance Faire as often as I wanted to—usually we try to go at least three weekends—opening, Labor Day, and closing, with other weekends decided on as spur-of-the-moment things. Jesse was going to be working at the Faire this year, something she was looking forward to. Ryan, Luc, April, and I took a hotel suite for opening weekend, which proved to be useful, considering that it poured on opening day. This would be a trend that would continue for nearly every single weekend of the Faire. Despite not going to Faire as often as I would've liked, I did see plenty of familiar faces—at times, it almost felt like a reunion of my Suffern High School and New Paltz friends; seeing Michelle, Teddi (who became my exclusive rose seller, it seemed), Annie—speaking of, that was the one thing that this summer had lacked. It's become a yearly thing now, since I live half an hour away from Saratoga, to go see the Dave Matthews Band. I'm always accompanied by Annie. This year, however, the band decided to take a year off, and we didn't get our weekend of DMB. Sad.
I had gone to Faire for part of Labor Day weekend—Sunday and Monday. It ended up being like this because, unfortunately, another tragedy hit. April's biological maternal grandmother (whom she had only recently discovered from her genealogy research and whom she'd only met for the first time very recently) had passed away, and so she was down on Long Island. Also, physically, I don't think I could've been able to handle three days of Faire, and money was also an issue. Upon April's return, I asked if she wanted to go, but she wanted to be left alone to recover and unwind. So I went with Luc, Ryan, and Danielle E. (I know WAY too many Danielles) Labor Day was spent entirely with Carolyn, in which we did proceed to get mildly drunk—watching Carolyn trying to guzzle down mead in the style of a mead virgin was hilarious. So after having probably a little too much to drink, we wandered the grounds, catching shows, and getting caught in downpours. Again. When we rejoined with Ryan and Luc toward the end of the day, we were caught in a downpour which led to a very shortened joust—I think it was only 30 seconds long. Despite it, it was a wonderful day, hanging out with a friend I hadn't seen in nearly two years.
Heading into fall, I was finally going to get to play Dungeons & Dragons, 4th edition, with Jesse as our DM, and having the party consist of myself, Wyatt, Daniel, and Jack. Funnily, we all chose short people for this game. We've had two sessions thus far, and I find myself enjoying it, even though I am the newbie. Also, in September, two of the finest people on the planet, Mary & James, got married. April was the matron of honor, and I was one of the groomsmen, along with Wyatt and Matt (James's brother). Julie and Jess also were Mary's ladies. The men, amusingly enough, looked like key lime pies—the color combination of a pastel lime-colored vest and bow tie over white dress shirts was a bit jarring at first to this photographer's eye, but I grew used to it. Wyatt and I had taken to calling the three of us the Key Lime Commandos. I should've brought my Nerf gun. Even so, it was a beautiful wedding, even if I did feel slightly odd being in a Catholic church.
I can count on one hand the number of times I've been in a church, and not being a religious man at all, I tend to make fun of religion. Case in point—during communion, I was feeling a bit peckish, and I entertained the thought of grabbing some communion wafers and snacking on them. To me, they're just unflavored bread discs. Could do with some peanut butter. I didn't act on said thought, in the interests of the married couple. Also, seeing Christ dangling from the ceiling looking sad and pathetic...not a particularly happy image. I mean, here you have these two wonderful people about to be married, and you have this figure hanging directly above them. Such a sad figure lording over the happy proceedings. I kept waiting for Jesus to utter a line ala Marvin the Paranoid Android: “I think you ought to know that I'm feeling very depressed.” If you're looking for confidence, seeing that certainly doesn't provide any. However, if you need a confidence booster, getting introduced at the wedding reception to the theme of the Imperial March from Star Wars is absolutely perfect. Also, I was amused at the friendly bit of ribbing I received and gave with Mary's dad over our allegiances between Canon and Nikon.
In October, April and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary (on time, even!), and we did so by seeing a live simulcast of the 25th Anniversary performance of The Phantom of the Opera, being beamed into the movie theater live from the Royal Albert Hall in London. Of all the people I've seen play the Phantom and Christine, I think I may have found my favorites. It was an absolutely beautiful show, and I still cried, despite knowing the story back and front. Afterwards, we dined at Reel Seafood. Just a pleasant way to spend an anniversary. It's been a very difficult two years, but being with April made it bearable. It made me know that everything was going to be okay.
Also in October, I finally got to do something I hadn't done in nearly a year—visit my parents. Being sidelined by Crohn's surgery, it made a lot of plans to go to Cape Cod fall through—this time, though, it wouldn't happen. With Danielle C. with us once more as well as Ryan, we visited my family, and also went to King Richard's Faire, which is usually the last Faire April and I go to. Toward the end of the month, Mary & James came up to visit, and we went apple picking, and then had a feast later that evening.
In November, April and I had come to the realization that we were going to leave our apartment when our current lease had run out. Why? Because in September 2012, I am leaving my job and going back to college full-time. I have 2, 2 ½ years left to get my Bachelor's degree, and, as already mentioned, I can't work and go to school at the same time. My body simply won't let me do that. Also, I don't feel like haggling with my boss every single time I have to adjust my hours to work around college—she makes it very difficult. Lastly, the apartment was going to become too expensive for April to shoulder the entire burden herself when I do go back to school. So we began to just look and get ideas for new places to live, places that were closer to her job, closer to Sage College, and closer to our doctors. We expected to find a place when our lease ends July 31, 2012. We did not expect a house to fall into our lap, though.
A friend of April's dad had mentioned that he had a house for sale or rent in Albany. Turns out the house for sale belonged to this friend's brother-in-law, and after having the house on the market for months with nothing to show for it, he decided he was going to rent it out. We looked at it and fell in love with the place. The house is a slightly Victorian-style place, built in 1913. It has character, and we were going to take it. In the long run, taking the house would be easier on April's wallet than the apartment. It also has four bedrooms, so if it comes down to the point where we need a friend as a roommate as a potential income source for when I do go back to school, that possibility is also open. So we expressed interest in renting the place, and we were told that a family wanted to look at the house for their college-bound kid (it's located right near the College of St. Rose, as well as Sage). We would have to wait a few weeks for the final decision, whether the family was going to buy it or not.
April and I were going on a 11-day vacation in late November—we would spend a week in the Berkshires, and then Thanksgiving weekend with my family on Cape Cod. So it was a wonderful surprise when the man who owned the house called us up and said that he was going to just blow off the family who wanted to look at the house and rent it to us. Luckily, we were allowed to sublet our apartment (meaning, we let someone else live in our apartment for the remaining time on the lease—in this case, until the end of July). Ryan decided to take our apartment, and then he had the task of telling his parents he was moving out.
Our vacation, incidentally, was wonderful. Got to spend my birthday seeing a really good student performance of Shakespeare's “Much Ado About Nothing” over at Shakespeare & Company, got to eat at a lot of really good local restaurants (although, the Berkshires apparently lacks diners, so we were forced to eat at a Friendly's just once for breakfast), got to explore some towns and took lots of pictures. Seeing my family for Thanksgiving was also nice, and I got to see the new family dog, Mariah 2.0. Mariah the First passed away earlier this year, and so my sister Heather organized and pooled up money to get Bob another Golden Retriever. You can bet your ass he was overjoyed.
December...the month's been a blur, really. We signed the lease on the new house right after Thanksgiving, so we've spent pretty much the entire month just moving stuff from the apartment to here. It was broken up in places by me finishing up recording Downloadable Content for the year, recording an episode of Geek Talk Radio with Chris and Dawn, and spending Christmas with April's family. Also, for the first time since I left the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 2004, I got to hang out with Doug, who came to Albany for a visit. We caught an Albany Devils hockey game, and it was fun catching up. I hope seven more years don't pass before I see him next. That's really been it.
So that's pretty much my year, everyone. As I look ahead to next year, I already have some things to look forward to—getting settled in this new house, and getting it ready for the Januarymas parties coming up very soon. I'm going to Boston in March to see Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds at Symphony Hall, my first major video game music concert. I'm also looking forward to seeing this surgical wound finally close up and become nothing more than a bad memory. It's on its way, as slow as this healing process has been. Hopefully it doesn't take a full year to close up the remaining depth. I'm looking forward to getting back to school full-time and going full speed ahead on my degree. I'm looking forward to spending more time with friends...as I get better and better, I hope to see more of you and more often. I'm looking forward to spending another year with my wife, my best friend, and the best partner-in-crime I could be with. It'll be 8 years in May. I hope that every single one of you has a good 2012, containing just a minimum of hardship. Even though we may not see each other a lot, just know that I love all of you.
At the moment, though, I'm looking forward to reclaiming my title back in Monopoly. The game awaits. Let's see how it plays out.
A final note...
Four hours into 2011, and the year had already started off quite different from the previous five. Ryan had beaten me in Monopoly. A 4+ hour battle of attrition, going head to head on that wonderful board, ended with my brother-in-law snapping my 5-game winning streak. It's the yearly tradition now, started back when I spent my first New Year's with April's family. Tonight's game will be the 8th, and the onus is back on me to reclaim bragging rights. It's a small thing in the larger scheme of life, but it's become a thing that both Ryan and I look forward to every December the 31st. It starts around 11:30 PM, then we break to see Dick Clark do his thing, I call and/or text family and friends, and then it's back to the battle.
I can say with certainty (or certitude, if you're Anthony Weiner) that on a personal level, this year has been worlds better than the last. If you've been living under a rock and not seen my Facebook, Twitter, or LiveJournal at all, I had Crohn's disease-related surgery last year, requiring me to take a year-long medical leave from college, two months off work, and having a device known as a seton in me for eight months, correcting the aberrant tunnel of tissue that my body decided to create. By the beginning of the year, though, I was on the mend, and things were looking up. The worst of it had passed. Our two Januarymas parties were all sorts of fun and amazing, seeing many of my friends. However, in my eagerness to get back to as much of a normal life as I could, I jumped the gun returning to school so quickly. Three weeks in, I realized that I couldn't work a full-time job and go to school four days a week. So, what was a one-semester's leave became a full year. I'm surprised that I still have the desire to finish school, given all the shit life has thrown at me since I started on this journey back in 2003. If it's not the outrageous cost of a college education, it's my own body failing me. Yet, I press on. Despite the setbacks, I have a support system. All of you. All of you help me emotionally more than you may know, and I am perpetually grateful.
Unfortunately, calamity would strike again—not to me, but to Ryan, when he became a victim of a car accident because the driver that hit him thought that red meant go. In the ensuing crash, Ryan ended up with a broken foot and a broken wrist. That sidelined him for four months, after healing and physical therapy all came to an end.
With this medical device implanted in my butt for the time being, it did limit my movements. I couldn't go too far away from home, due to the constant need for bandage changes (which were, at this point, daily). For most of the winter and spring, I didn't stray too far away, with the exception of Boston. I had gone to my first video game expo in March. I had gone to PAX East, a 3-day weekend of gaming bliss, accompanied with Wyatt, Alton, Jack, Jen, Ian, Ben, and his girlfriend, Rebecca. I hadn't played so much Super Smash Bros. Brawl in my life. I entered the tournament, but got my ass handed to me in Round 1. Fun, though. I loved the whole sense of camaraderie, friendship, and familiarity amongst gamers. Not to mention that was also my introduction to Video Game Orchestra, as well as the Resident Evil Deck Building Game, my new crack. It was a great weekend, even if I think I only got a net total of about 40 minutes of sleep (thanks, Wyatt).
Also during the winter, I began a project that will keep going into 2012—a bi-weekly podcast called Downloadable Content, in which I and guests talk about issues related to video games. I recorded 24 episodes this year, all of which can be found on iTunes. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm certainly looking forward to next year's season. While doing DLC, I also did my 13th Character Battle Contest, called Into the Legend, featuring characters from four long-running video game franchises. Ron won, becoming the first person to win 3 of these contests.
Jumping to May, two things of note had occurred. After regularly seeing the doctor and surgeon I call Dr. Hamfist (I call him that because he's a short, rotund man with sausage fingers, and doesn't warn you when he's about to shove said fingers up your ass), he had declared that the seton was ready to come out. So I went in to the operating room for round 2, and recovery time was a week instead of eight. Still, during both trips to the OR, I wasn't going to get much sympathy from my boss. My boss is a workaholic, the type of woman who works 18-hour days frequently because she's convinced that if she's not there, the Lottery will crumble. Never mind that she's had gastric bypass surgery and a broken foot she refuses to get healed because, you know, if she has to take time off to actually heal herself, the Lottery is doomed to failure. Reminds me of Danielle in that she refuses to see a doctor and actually takes the time to let the body heal. Frustrating. But I digress. Once the doc took the device out, now we could get on with the wound healing.
Also in May, we were all supposed to perish in flames or some such nonsense. That whole Rapture crap. However, April and I headed to Poughkeepsie that day to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra perform “Beethoven's Last Night.” Hell, if I was going to shuffle off this mortal coil, I was going to have some very good music to die by. Funnily enough, though, at the moment that it was supposed to begin, April and I were having dinner at a diner in Kingston. We looked out the window then, and we saw a rainbow. No lie. Harold Camping, however, suffered a stroke not too long after. The moral is simple, children: it's no fun being a false prophet. I'm not a religious man, but I have to wonder—did this God-worshipping man totally ignore the scriptures that tell us to beware false prophets? Ergo, I think that his stroke was God's version of a whack upside the head. Regardless, TSO put on a great show.
Heading into the summer, this meant that soon it would be time for Renaissance Faires and Tanglewood. April and I saw four shows at Tanglewood this year—A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor and company (it's always weird when I say that I went to go see a live radio show, but, eh), with Dan accompanying us; the second was James Taylor, always a guaranteed sell-out at Tanglewood. Alongside him for some of the concert were Vince Gill and Amy Grant, two artists of whom I never heard anything by. I didn't feel spiritually lifted, though, not knowing who they were. Nor were they carried away on angel's wings.
The third show was the annual Film Night at Tanglewood, with John Williams (yes, THAT John Williams) conducting the Boston Pops and God (Morgan Freeman) providing narration to a musical suite. With us for that concert was Sara C., Ryan, and Danielle C. Really, it should be called the “I'm John Williams and I'm fucking awesome” concert, since most of the wonderful works played were his own. One of the things that stuck out the most, though, was something Sara had said to April and I—seeing how Ryan and Danielle were obviously hitting it off together, Sara had asked us how long the two had been dating. So be proud, you two. The final show was attended by just April and I—a concert performance of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, something we had wanted to see for years. Even though it wasn't a staged show like an opera (which it is), I still enjoyed it.
With finances tight and much of my vacation time depleted due to me being in traction over the year, I didn't go to the New York Renaissance Faire as often as I wanted to—usually we try to go at least three weekends—opening, Labor Day, and closing, with other weekends decided on as spur-of-the-moment things. Jesse was going to be working at the Faire this year, something she was looking forward to. Ryan, Luc, April, and I took a hotel suite for opening weekend, which proved to be useful, considering that it poured on opening day. This would be a trend that would continue for nearly every single weekend of the Faire. Despite not going to Faire as often as I would've liked, I did see plenty of familiar faces—at times, it almost felt like a reunion of my Suffern High School and New Paltz friends; seeing Michelle, Teddi (who became my exclusive rose seller, it seemed), Annie—speaking of, that was the one thing that this summer had lacked. It's become a yearly thing now, since I live half an hour away from Saratoga, to go see the Dave Matthews Band. I'm always accompanied by Annie. This year, however, the band decided to take a year off, and we didn't get our weekend of DMB. Sad.
I had gone to Faire for part of Labor Day weekend—Sunday and Monday. It ended up being like this because, unfortunately, another tragedy hit. April's biological maternal grandmother (whom she had only recently discovered from her genealogy research and whom she'd only met for the first time very recently) had passed away, and so she was down on Long Island. Also, physically, I don't think I could've been able to handle three days of Faire, and money was also an issue. Upon April's return, I asked if she wanted to go, but she wanted to be left alone to recover and unwind. So I went with Luc, Ryan, and Danielle E. (I know WAY too many Danielles) Labor Day was spent entirely with Carolyn, in which we did proceed to get mildly drunk—watching Carolyn trying to guzzle down mead in the style of a mead virgin was hilarious. So after having probably a little too much to drink, we wandered the grounds, catching shows, and getting caught in downpours. Again. When we rejoined with Ryan and Luc toward the end of the day, we were caught in a downpour which led to a very shortened joust—I think it was only 30 seconds long. Despite it, it was a wonderful day, hanging out with a friend I hadn't seen in nearly two years.
Heading into fall, I was finally going to get to play Dungeons & Dragons, 4th edition, with Jesse as our DM, and having the party consist of myself, Wyatt, Daniel, and Jack. Funnily, we all chose short people for this game. We've had two sessions thus far, and I find myself enjoying it, even though I am the newbie. Also, in September, two of the finest people on the planet, Mary & James, got married. April was the matron of honor, and I was one of the groomsmen, along with Wyatt and Matt (James's brother). Julie and Jess also were Mary's ladies. The men, amusingly enough, looked like key lime pies—the color combination of a pastel lime-colored vest and bow tie over white dress shirts was a bit jarring at first to this photographer's eye, but I grew used to it. Wyatt and I had taken to calling the three of us the Key Lime Commandos. I should've brought my Nerf gun. Even so, it was a beautiful wedding, even if I did feel slightly odd being in a Catholic church.
I can count on one hand the number of times I've been in a church, and not being a religious man at all, I tend to make fun of religion. Case in point—during communion, I was feeling a bit peckish, and I entertained the thought of grabbing some communion wafers and snacking on them. To me, they're just unflavored bread discs. Could do with some peanut butter. I didn't act on said thought, in the interests of the married couple. Also, seeing Christ dangling from the ceiling looking sad and pathetic...not a particularly happy image. I mean, here you have these two wonderful people about to be married, and you have this figure hanging directly above them. Such a sad figure lording over the happy proceedings. I kept waiting for Jesus to utter a line ala Marvin the Paranoid Android: “I think you ought to know that I'm feeling very depressed.” If you're looking for confidence, seeing that certainly doesn't provide any. However, if you need a confidence booster, getting introduced at the wedding reception to the theme of the Imperial March from Star Wars is absolutely perfect. Also, I was amused at the friendly bit of ribbing I received and gave with Mary's dad over our allegiances between Canon and Nikon.
In October, April and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary (on time, even!), and we did so by seeing a live simulcast of the 25th Anniversary performance of The Phantom of the Opera, being beamed into the movie theater live from the Royal Albert Hall in London. Of all the people I've seen play the Phantom and Christine, I think I may have found my favorites. It was an absolutely beautiful show, and I still cried, despite knowing the story back and front. Afterwards, we dined at Reel Seafood. Just a pleasant way to spend an anniversary. It's been a very difficult two years, but being with April made it bearable. It made me know that everything was going to be okay.
Also in October, I finally got to do something I hadn't done in nearly a year—visit my parents. Being sidelined by Crohn's surgery, it made a lot of plans to go to Cape Cod fall through—this time, though, it wouldn't happen. With Danielle C. with us once more as well as Ryan, we visited my family, and also went to King Richard's Faire, which is usually the last Faire April and I go to. Toward the end of the month, Mary & James came up to visit, and we went apple picking, and then had a feast later that evening.
In November, April and I had come to the realization that we were going to leave our apartment when our current lease had run out. Why? Because in September 2012, I am leaving my job and going back to college full-time. I have 2, 2 ½ years left to get my Bachelor's degree, and, as already mentioned, I can't work and go to school at the same time. My body simply won't let me do that. Also, I don't feel like haggling with my boss every single time I have to adjust my hours to work around college—she makes it very difficult. Lastly, the apartment was going to become too expensive for April to shoulder the entire burden herself when I do go back to school. So we began to just look and get ideas for new places to live, places that were closer to her job, closer to Sage College, and closer to our doctors. We expected to find a place when our lease ends July 31, 2012. We did not expect a house to fall into our lap, though.
A friend of April's dad had mentioned that he had a house for sale or rent in Albany. Turns out the house for sale belonged to this friend's brother-in-law, and after having the house on the market for months with nothing to show for it, he decided he was going to rent it out. We looked at it and fell in love with the place. The house is a slightly Victorian-style place, built in 1913. It has character, and we were going to take it. In the long run, taking the house would be easier on April's wallet than the apartment. It also has four bedrooms, so if it comes down to the point where we need a friend as a roommate as a potential income source for when I do go back to school, that possibility is also open. So we expressed interest in renting the place, and we were told that a family wanted to look at the house for their college-bound kid (it's located right near the College of St. Rose, as well as Sage). We would have to wait a few weeks for the final decision, whether the family was going to buy it or not.
April and I were going on a 11-day vacation in late November—we would spend a week in the Berkshires, and then Thanksgiving weekend with my family on Cape Cod. So it was a wonderful surprise when the man who owned the house called us up and said that he was going to just blow off the family who wanted to look at the house and rent it to us. Luckily, we were allowed to sublet our apartment (meaning, we let someone else live in our apartment for the remaining time on the lease—in this case, until the end of July). Ryan decided to take our apartment, and then he had the task of telling his parents he was moving out.
Our vacation, incidentally, was wonderful. Got to spend my birthday seeing a really good student performance of Shakespeare's “Much Ado About Nothing” over at Shakespeare & Company, got to eat at a lot of really good local restaurants (although, the Berkshires apparently lacks diners, so we were forced to eat at a Friendly's just once for breakfast), got to explore some towns and took lots of pictures. Seeing my family for Thanksgiving was also nice, and I got to see the new family dog, Mariah 2.0. Mariah the First passed away earlier this year, and so my sister Heather organized and pooled up money to get Bob another Golden Retriever. You can bet your ass he was overjoyed.
December...the month's been a blur, really. We signed the lease on the new house right after Thanksgiving, so we've spent pretty much the entire month just moving stuff from the apartment to here. It was broken up in places by me finishing up recording Downloadable Content for the year, recording an episode of Geek Talk Radio with Chris and Dawn, and spending Christmas with April's family. Also, for the first time since I left the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 2004, I got to hang out with Doug, who came to Albany for a visit. We caught an Albany Devils hockey game, and it was fun catching up. I hope seven more years don't pass before I see him next. That's really been it.
So that's pretty much my year, everyone. As I look ahead to next year, I already have some things to look forward to—getting settled in this new house, and getting it ready for the Januarymas parties coming up very soon. I'm going to Boston in March to see Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds at Symphony Hall, my first major video game music concert. I'm also looking forward to seeing this surgical wound finally close up and become nothing more than a bad memory. It's on its way, as slow as this healing process has been. Hopefully it doesn't take a full year to close up the remaining depth. I'm looking forward to getting back to school full-time and going full speed ahead on my degree. I'm looking forward to spending more time with friends...as I get better and better, I hope to see more of you and more often. I'm looking forward to spending another year with my wife, my best friend, and the best partner-in-crime I could be with. It'll be 8 years in May. I hope that every single one of you has a good 2012, containing just a minimum of hardship. Even though we may not see each other a lot, just know that I love all of you.
At the moment, though, I'm looking forward to reclaiming my title back in Monopoly. The game awaits. Let's see how it plays out.
