“You can’t carry it with you if you want to survive. ” Florence and the Machine

This year, was definitely a year. Yenta said it would be my best year,  definitely a transitional one.  Moments were good, moments were bad, and some moments were down right craptastical.  Other than my family and friends, my only other survival tactic was too keep moving and not look back.  I probably lost some stuff along the way.  There were probably a few people that I didn’t keep in touch with.  I was probably less thoughtful than usual.

Last night I sat in bed thinking about what I was going to write as a recap of my year.  I had to mentally recap the stuff that I have chosen not to discuss on the interwebs.  That’s when the tears started.  I am not sure I am ready to write about the dog days of summer (some good, some really bad, all of it extremely emotional).

For those of you who have been reading along, you know I had a plan:

1) Sell my house before the end of summer. 2) Live irresponsibly in someone else’s property (aka apartment) somewhere in the numbered streets. 3) Leave the country.

Well, that didn’t quite happen as I planned. This is what happened as I flew by the seat of my pants.  1)There are people living in my house but I didn’t sell it.  2)I moved (twice).  I live near some numbered streets in the ’04. 3) My friends’ took me to Mexico for their wedding.

Ok, that’s as far as I am going to go now.  Here’s my year in lists.

This year in live music: SXSW 2010 ( City Riots, Best Coast, the DJs from the Hood Internet, Le Loup,  Typefighter, Sondre Lerche, Vivian Girls, Death Set,  :papercutz,  Oh Snap!, Rogue Wave, Miike Snow, Fucked Up, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings,  Hole,  Frightened Rabbit, Minor Mishap Marching Band , Mayer Hawthorn & the Country, Passion Pit (DJ set) , The Pains of Being Pure at Heart,  Broken Bells, Ezra Furman and the Harpoons ,Everybody was in the French Resistance…Now!, and  Diplo.) Miike Snow, Middle East, Mumford and Sons, Passion Pit, Tokyo Police Club, Hood Internet, Flosstradamus, Pixies, Ratatat, Amanda Blank, Sleigh Bells, Interpol, Fun^3 Fest 2010 (Royal Forest (Formerly Loxsly), League of Extraordinary Gz, Butcher Bear and Charlie, Invincible, Devin the Dude, Slick Rick, Dominique Young Unique, Big Freedia, Man Man, Dirty Projectors, RJD2, Magic Kids, Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos, Black Nasty, Toro Y Moi, Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich and Fussible,Jean Grae, Pharoahe Monch, P.O.S., Washed Out, Deerhunter, The Hold Steady, and The Descendants)

This year in non-live music: Here’s to this year’s new albums: Forgiveness Rock Record-Broken Social Scene Miike Snow-Miike Snow, Broken Bells, Wake Up!-John Legend and the Roots, The Suburbs-Arcade Fire, Sidewalks-Matt and Kim, All Day-Girl Talk, Halcyon Digest-Deerhunter, Rubber Factory-Black Keys, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Entanglements-Parenthetical Girls, Mixtape vol 4 and Anatomy Magazine x The Hood Internet- Hood Internet, LP4-Ratatat, Treats-Sleigh Bells, xx-The xx, The Satanic Satanist [Deluxe Edition]-Portugal the Man, The Mountain-Heartless Bastards, Together-New Pornographers.

This year in Sewing: Treasure City Thrift Fashion Show

This year on the interwebs: I got a smart phone.  Here’s to more Twitter updates and Gowalla check-ins.

This year in Movies: This year I watched a lot on Hulu and other peoples Netflix.  I meant to go out but that requires $$. (theater) SXSW (The Runaways, Tiny Furniture, Canal Street Madam, Barry Munday, the Freebie, Kick Ass) the Social Network, Exit Through the Gift Shop.

This year in Books: Sadly not much time for reading this year… Goodreads Tropic of Capricorn, The Tipping Point, Middlesex, Kafka on the Shore.

This year in kicking ass- (New category because I realized I rocked it out this year): SXSW Crew Chief, Volunteer Coordinator for BluesShout!, Natural Disaster Planner, Refashionista, Fun^3 Fest Blogger, and Wedding Stylist.

Plans for 2011 (in no particular order):

1. Leave the continent
2. Quit my job (10 years of state employment is more than a person should endure)
3. Take on a massive design project
4. Read more
5. Spend less money/time on home repair
6. Master Indian Cuisine

Here’s to 2011 and the hopes that the Dog Days really in fact are over.

Everyone needs a little adventure in their life.

M, The Jew, and I had planned a trip to Chicago back in May (I think).  When I say planned, I mean M and the Jew were drunk and bought tickets using M’s leftover Southwest credits.  The real plan was to stay at M’s Parents place for a week and eat, drink, and sleep to our heart’s content.

As the date for the trip drew near we were no more prepared than we were in May.  Seriously, things have been a bit of a train wreck lately (more on that some other time).  We recklessly packed our things (including some dirty laundry) and managed to get to the plane on time (we also managed to squeeze in shots of bourbon before hopping in the cab).

The flight was horrible. Turbulence and poorly behaved children.  We hoped that it wasn’t foreshadowing of things to come.  I had planned to sleep through the entire flight (It’s been a rough week).  No such luck.  After 20 minutes I woke up.  I put in earplugs but they weren’t enough to drown out the voices of the kids behind me.

When we landed in Chicago it was pouring.  The luggage coming in at baggage claim was soaked.  Then yet another delay,  the ramp was closed due to lightening.  They were holding our luggage hostage.  Then M’s dad was stuck in traffic and wouldn’t be able to pick us up.  Three sad faces.  We were tired and needed a snack.

Things eventually came together.  Our luggage and our ride showed up.  We arrived at M’s parents place safely.  We were fed and put to bed.

Day 1:
We woke up rather early. There are routines at the Parents’ house that interfere with sleeping in.  The “plan” for today was to go to the Korea street festival and go out for indian food on Devon Ave. Done and done.  Bonus: a cool picture of M with a 40 of Sake and a straw hat.

We roamed around the mall after our food crawl.  The Jew needed sunglasses.  No sunglasses, but people watching and heckling was in full effect.  When we got home I went swimming in the sweet “R” shaped pool.  Then it was a quick LAN party to upload pictures from our adventure on to the FB.

After dinner we wanted to go out and see some Chicago nightlife. It was fairly uneventful.  Apparently Chicago’s version of Hipstertown had been overrun by yuppies.  We plan on going back to the last bar of the evening.[get name from M]. Since M was driving, the Jew and I were drinking.  I came home drunk.  The Jew was somewhere in between drunk and tipsy.  Needless to say we needed food.  The Jew wanted White Castle for some strange reason.  Thanks to the iPhone we made that dream come true.  I had indian leftovers at the house (Excuse me, why can’t more places serve veggie hashbrowns?).

Day 2:
Up at 11am.  Yes, we got to sleep in.  I don’t know what time we came home and passed out. The menu for today was Chinese and Thai.  M and the Jew actually went running this morning.  I do not run <strike> (I will probably swim later)</strike>.  We got a late start leaving the house. Today’s menu was Chinatown.  We went to lunch at Joy Yee’s (4pm is now lunch time).  Then we roamed around.  Sunday night is “family” dinner at M’s parents so we ended up making a small feast in their kitchen (I love the accessibility and granite counter tops).  We stayed in the rest of the night eating and drinking.  Needless to say, we slept well once again.

Day 3:
Today I was up at 8:30 for some strange reason.  We made it out of the house by 11.  We hit the field museum.  DINOSAURS! Then it was off to fancy dinner at Custom House.  The food was ok.  It was well thought out but poorly executed. The textures were off.   We ended the night dancing at Fizz.

Day 4:

Today was a full day.  After our usual breakfast of leftovers we headed to the Art institute.   We split up to cover more ground and I ended up seeing the whole thing (I could spend days in there). We made plans to go out to for tapas at Emilio’s with M’s family.  Yet another feast.  I was tired.  I passed out after dinner.  M and the Jew went out for drinks.  I didn’t even hear them come home.

Day 5:
The Jew’s last day in down.   Not so much food grazing today.  We had a low key day.  Chicago Safari.  Frank lloyd wright houses, Oz park, and   Licoln park.  M and I have dinner with an old friend.  Surprisingly decent indian food for the suburbs.

Day 6:
Lazy day.  M and I slept in.  I had to scan some paperwork to refinance my house.  we hit the Costco and the H&M. Then it was Green Zebra for dinner.  My favorite fancy dinner so far (there will be pictures).  We drank A LOT at dinner. Then we met some friends for drinks later.  Chilling out before driving home was a must

Day 7:
We went back to Uru Swathi for brunch.  We got to go orders of samosas and aloo gobi before leaving Devon ave.  We had planned to lounge by the pool before leaving but it was looking pretty dreary.  We ended up packing and chilling out.

Overall it was a great vacation.  I spent more money than I intended but at the end of the day, you can’t take it with you when you go.

So I finally went on vacation.  I took a week away from the heat and allergens to hang out with my old roommate and look for a new pair of boots.  Seattle has always been on my “to visit” list but even after Kitten moved there 2 years ago I hadn’t managed to fit in a trip.

Thanks to the magic of Travelocity I scored uber cheap air fare and a direct flight. (more…)

Thursday I had the opportunity to spend 11 hours in planes and airports to go to a meeting and come right back home.  I left the house at 5:25am and was back around 9pm.  This is pretty standard when work sends me on a trip via airplane.  I can’t complain.  I would have spent 14 hours driving myself to the meeting and back.  Instead I read two books and had nap time.

Anyways, I was a little jealous when I hit DFW.  The last time I went on vacation was in 2005.   I had planned to go on a 2 week drive to Seattle in August.  Due to extreme scheduling complications, the trip cannot happen until September at the earliest. In the meantime I have a week of vacation that has entered use-it-or-lose-it status.

I have a mini vacay scheduled with M to go to the Free Press Summer Fest in Houston.  But that is only a weekend event.  I have a crap ton of work to accomplish along with getting my PMP certification (my class has been rescheduled 3 times now and I have the privilege of taking the class in Frisco, TX now).

If anyone can think of a good place to escape to between August 26 (after my test ends at 5) and September 1, let me know.  So far the only offer is to drive 13 hours to help friends unpack the boxes that I packed a week ago.

This was year 5 of volunteering my way to platinum. I have been on vacation for the past week and a half.  I didn’t even think about the day job until today when I was trying to figure out if I had to go back tomorrow (sadly, I do.  It keeps the lights on.).

This year I blogged my way through the event, thanks to my MSI Wind Netbook (full review later), so I am just going to write up a quick summary (You should go back and read the daily recaps.  I put this stuff out on the internet for you, little readers)

Total # of bands: ~35 (Flosstradamus, Asobi Seksu, Titus Andronicus, Chairlift, the DJs from the Hood Internet, Kanye West, Big Sean, GLC Consequence, Really Do, Tony Williams, Mr. Hudson, Kid Cudi, Common, Erykah Badu, Buck65, B.Dolan, Sleep, Sage Francis, the Obits, Handsome Furs, American Analog Set, the Rosebuds, Bishop Allen, Au Revoir Simone, These Arms are Snakes, Cursive,  Passion Pit,  the Soft Pack, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Matt and Kim, Amplive, Franki Chan and Curt from Flosstradamus, and Echo and the Bunnymen.)

Total # of movies: 7 (RIP: A Remix Manifesto,  500 days of Summer,  Died Young, Stayed Pretty, The Time of Their Lives, Yes Men Fix the World,  Alexander the Last, and  I Love You, Man.)

Total $ spent: ~$21.25. In comparison to last year, I spent less money but came home with less loot.

Things that vastly improved the SXSW experience:

• Being a shiftleader: (Thanks to the Real Jew) You get time and a half for a little added responsibility.  I only had to volunteer from Thursday night – Tuesday evening. The downside was that I didn’t get to see as many panels as I had in the past.  I had many rooms to look after.
• Living in Mexico-  I could save on gas and cabs by riding my bike or walking.  M and I bought groceries to save $$.
• New bike- super light.  I didn’t have to walk any hills this year.  Everything is bolt on so I didn’t have to pop off a tire to lock it up. Thanks once again to the dudes at The Peddler.
• MSI Wind Netbook: just a good thing to have around as a blogger and it helps to stay on top of all the social networking business.  Mexico has wireless internet now so there were more reasons to have a computer.
• sched.org-  for all of my sxsw scheduling needs (and Showlist Austin for making the .pdf version of the day party schedule.)

How did I end up with 208 hours of vacation time??

1. I work for the government and I get 9 hours a month of annual leave.
2. I once had a boyfriend that promised that we’d travel and we never did.
3. I had a tennant do $1800 worth of damage to my home last year and I didn’t get paid for it (hence, extreme depletion of my vacation fund).
4. I am a little scared of travelling somewhere totally alone, and group travel packages are a little pricey.

So what am I doing about it? I got back into dancing again. Partly because I missed it and partly because it is a good way to get back into travelling. The lindy exchange is one of the best ways for a person travelling alone to get to know other cities.

My first destination: San Francisco. That will shave off about 32 hours.

I will keep you posted on what I will do with the rest of the time. I am leaning towards Belize. I need to go sea kayaking again.