January 1st, 2002. Tuesday
I've actually yet to see it in print anywhere, but it is now 2002. I haven't seen it on tv or in a newspaper or anything. I've barely left the house all day. It looks weird. Anyway, I could go on and on about how weird it looks and how it's somehow more significant than 2001 was, but that would be a big waste of time and space. Not that either of those things is at a premium. So first, a review of New Year's Eve, 2001.Jed, roommate Josh, his friend Julie, and I went down to Matt's apartment on 6th Ave around 9 pm and had an assortment of intoxicants. Matt also go the Xbox for Christmas. We played a bit of a game called Dead or Alive 3. It's a fighting game. What was most interesting about the game was the little movies about the characters that you could play. Very adult-oriented, with lots of impressively rendered, 3-D boobs. The whole thing was pretty disturbing. Anyway, after a few drinks we walked down to Great Lakes. The walk seemed to take forever. Too goddam cold. At Great Lakes, we found rommate Dylan and his girlfriend Kelly. So we sat around and drank and talked and laughed and made merry. At a few seconds to midnight, party poppers were passed around, and a small black and white tv showed the countdown. Last year there wasn't any sort of official monitoring of the time. Just a countdown from 10. So this year was an improvement. Then made the customary call to the parents. By now there were all sorts of free drinks to be had. I took many pictures with the digital camera as well. Unfortunately, I left a vital cable at home in Pennsylvania, so I can't download any of them until said cable arrives in the mail. It was a pretty low-key evening in general. As I was leaving the bar I bid the bartender goodbye. There was some mix up with the handshaking, as I first offered the left hand, thought better of it, and switched to the right hand. But he had already reached out his left. So then I switched again, and he switched, and there was another series of mix ups. This ended when we finally shook left hands. Then he kissed me on the right hand. This struck me as a bit odd. He's told me before he had a crush on me, which doesn't bother me. He's easily my favorite bartender in my favorite bar. But sloppy kisses on my knuckles is a bit much. Still, he did give me several free drinks. So it was a good trade I guess. He was just being friendly. Still, I was already on high alert when I saw that creepy Asian guy who's accosted me in the past. Still, it was the closest thing I got to a New Year's kiss. And that's how I ran in the New Year.
I left the house today only to get food. I stayed home, played video games, played guitar, watched tv, and made some phone calls. I did a lot of just calling to talk. i haven't done that in a while it seems. these days I only call people to hang out or to make plans to hang out. With the exception of Caryn, whom I speak with daily, calling for conversation has somehow become a novelty.So let's look over the past year. Briefly...
A year ago on this day, I was not doing nearly as well as I am right now. Career-wise, I still had a lot more optimism than I have now, but at least right now I feel more content about things. Physically, I'd say I'm in better shape. Emotionally, I'm in a far better place than I was a year ago. It was a slow and grueling process, for me and for my friends who had to listen to all the shit. Generally, I'd say things are ok. Which I couldn't say at the beginning of the year. So I'd have to say, despite a lot of evidence to the contrary, that 2001 was, for me, a good year. Or at least that it ended ok. Well, it ended better than 2000 ended. That's it. And now we move on. slowly.
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