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***H*A*P*P*Y**N*E*W**Y*E*A*R***

You’d have no way to know this, of course, but I feel like I should tell you that I just sat here watching my cursor blink for a good long while. Blink blink. Blink. It’s New Year’s Day 2013…and I find myself with not much to say.

Or too much to say… Endings & Firsts. There’s often a lot to say about endings or firsts, and I’ve seen my fair share of both this year. I’m not sure I know what to do with it all yet. Surely 365 whole days haven’t passed since I wrote about 2011?

I’m reminded of Dr Seuss:

How did it get so late so soon?
It’s night before it’s afternoon.
December’s here before it’s June.
My goodness, how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?

…2013.

This is the year I turn 30. (Chances are good I’ll mention that again, once or twice, before July gets here.)

I’ve done a Top 10 year-in-review list for the last two years, but this year feels funny for some reason. Maybe it’s just been a heavy year. 2012 was a heavy year for a lot of people…so I feel a little silly being all “yay me 2012!”…but maybe it’s even more important to focus on the good things that happened last year. Yay, dammit! Yay if it kills me! Yay til I’m blue in the face!

YAY CONFETTI NOISEMAKERS CHAMPAGNE FIREWORKS YAY !!!

So.

Top 10 for ’12

10) A good year for comedy: I saw (You guys!) John Mulaney, Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry, Louis C.K., Mike Birbiglia.

9) Got a record player for Valentine’s Day. The relationship didn’t last, but my newfound obsession with vinyl will.

8) Returned to True/False Film Fest and was incidentally in the same room with an Oscar — for last year’s documentary win, Undefeated.

7) Got to be a part of The Mystery Hour. I wrote things that were on TV. That’s nuts.

6) Jennie & Sean got married in Memphis. I can’t say enough about how wonderful that weekend was. So I’ll just say that.

5) New job!

4) My brother got engaged!

3) New glasses! So excited about the things!

2) I (seriously) got (for real) an iPhone.

1) I drive a Prius now. (And I love it.)

Those are all in chronological order, btw. I didn’t mean to count down to my new material possessions, necessarily…though they are all pretty nifty. They’re also easy things to remember…one day I’m driving a 10-year-old two-door with windows that don’t roll down, and the next day I drive a spaceship. (It feels that way, anyway. The thing has a start button, for crying out loud.)

But I am blessed with lots of good things that aren’t things. Some of you are probably reading this right now, in fact. (You are, aren’t you!)

So all the shitty moments of 2012 can now officially suck it. I’ll try to remember the good things.

I hope you remember your good things, too. And maybe 2013 can be a little lighter, for all of us.

Meanwhile, check out this obnoxiously joyous Joanie Sommers song I discovered on Spotify — so full of 60s spunkiness. Here’s to a new musical mantra. Here’s to a new year. (Yay, dammit!)

And now for something completely different.

“You are the product. You feeling something. That’s what sells.”

– Don Draper, to Peggy, Mad Men Season 2

P & D

So it begins…

“It” being my new job.
“It” being my A.D. (after-Drury) period.
“It” being my even-deeper obsession with Mad Men.
“It” being The Rest of My Life.
(Nope! Too scary. Way too much pressure. It’s just one day. Chill out. Cool.)

Still, “It” is a pretty big deal.

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt so much like the New Kid in an already-established world. I spent a lot time breaking into new groups during my first 22-or-so years of life. School… theatre things… nerd camp… ReaLife @ James River (there’s a blast from the past)… college… my first improv class… But most of my “big girl” work experiences after college have been in somewhat familiar worlds. And Drury’s been a familiar world to me for 10+ years.

This time, it’s all new.

And it’s all good.

first day of school

Well friends, summer is coming to an end, and so is my month-long blog vacation. (I like to imagine the blog on a literal vacation. Went on a little blog cruise, ate way too much blog buffet, then one night at the karaoke bar, met a nice little blog from Phoenix and had itself a fling…so much long-distance commenting now. It’s sweet; they’re trying to make it work…)

There’s no excuse that good. I’ve just been disconnected. And I’ve let this group challenge slip. Hard. But the latest group question (mine, incidentally) feels appropriate for this week:

:::  Since this is the season of bouquets of sharpened pencils (You’ve Got Mail, obv), tell about a favorite school supply memory. This could be “I always loved markers!” or a specific anecdote about a particular item you remember (which, for me, might be my Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper. pink. cats on it. the best.)

There was no question mark involved in there, I know. But…you get it.  :::

So… to answer my own question: I think 4th grade was the year when we were first allowed to have Trapper Keepers. (That’s right, because I once inhabited a universe in which one was not allowed to have a Trapper Keeper. The 90s. A simpler time.) A lot of elementary school is a blur now, but I do remember the excitement of brand new school supplies. Roaming the bright and shiny aisles of Wal-Mart, official supply list in hand, I was free to decide what kind of person I wanted to be that year. I had a lot on my mind: When am I too old for kitten photo folders? Am I still a Tweety Bird person? Or is this more a Magic Eye kind of year?

Big decisions.

But when it came to my first Trapper Keeper, there was no contest y’all. (Ladies, I think you feel me…) It had to be Lisa Frank.

And this Trapper Keeper, you guys. It was everything a nerdy girl could want. Bright pink, happy kitties (of course), and ample space to store all my folders and doodles. Bellissimo.

I still feel like smiling when it’s school supply season in the land of retail. Few things in life hold the simple promise of a brand new 8-count box of Crayola markers…

Yesterday was the first day of school in Springfield. And tomorrow is move-in day at ol’ Drury U. My first day of college was 10 years ago. Let’s digest that for a second.

♥ The first of just so many roomie photos ♥

It was a muggy, rainy August day in Springfield — not unlike today. Perfectly imperfect for hauling boxes of belongings up two flights of stairs in already under-air-conditioned conditions. I had a lot on my mind: What happens if my computer gets wet? Will my hair withstand the humidity? Am I still a Spongebob person?

And I’m pretty sure I had no idea what I was doing. Just none. But at least my cluelessness was carefully organized. Orientation and freshman seminar classes and a campus full of peers all figuring themselves out, too. Sweet, sweet institutions of higher learning…move-in day to graduation, it’s clear where the whole thing is headed. (Even if it isn’t so clear where exactly you are headed…majoring in English and creative writing just because you want to follow your dreams, for example…)

Back to school. August-to-May. That’s how I measured my life for 17 years.

In adult life, beginnings and endings are rarely so clearly defined. And even when they are, nobody gives you a supply list for, say, ending a relationship or starting a new life plan. (But if they did, curiously some items would remain the same: kleenex, snacks, something to write with, and, of course, new shoes.)