In the past few days, I’ve become obsessed with getting a pet snail. I mean, look at it! It looks like an alien puppy! I need one.
I’m not sure where this obsession came from. And I don’t know if I could handle a giant snail. Half of me wants to pat it on the head and tell it about my day, and the other half wants to step on it and run away screaming. It delights me, yet terrifies me. Therefore, it fascinates me. I owned hermit crabs when I was a kid, so you’d think I wouldn’t have issues.* Maybe I will start with a tiny one.
I think it’s appropriate that I’ve been obsessed with snails, because if I could describe 2008 in one word, it would be “dragging”. I came into this year on such a great high from my Best Year Ever, but then my dad got sick, my heart was broken, I lost some great friends and life just felt impossible for a little while.
There’s something to be said when my favorite entry of the year is the one where I saw a vampire movie at the mall, right?
HOWEVER, while I credit 2007 for being the best because of new friendships, 2008 was a great year for that, too. People like Janet, Gage, the Courtneys, the Erins, Emily, Andy, Tony C. and Dan O. turned my boring days into adventures and sad days into happy ones, or at least ones I could survive. So in those terms, 2007 and 2008 were a tie.
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The last few days have been a turnaround, too. Tony had a birthday party at possibly the coolest home I have ever seen in my life. I was told we were going to a barn. Niki was told we were going to a mansion. We were both wrong – Tony’s mom’s place looks like Blueberry Hill. Vintage toys, cool guitars on the walls, totem poles around a fire pit and just crazy scenery all around. I saw a bunch of folks that I haven’t seen in forever, had a (I guess?) good conversation with Pat, and had to walk to Jen and Ron’s to get my car the next morning – always the sign of a great party.
The next night I went to karaoke with Andy. Andy was my Advanced Playwriting Workshop pal and is without a doubt the greatest writer I personally know. He and his friends are powerhouse karaoke all-stars, too. I was seriously intimidated even before they signed up to sing “One Sweet Day” by Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey. Some guys at the bar serenaded me with “867-5309” and we were all treated to the best Crash Test Dummies cover ever.**
After that, Andy crashed at my place and we stayed up til an ungodly hour bonding over cool books and stories and The Andy Rooney Game. He is such a blast! Why do so many fun people have to live so far away?
The NEEEEXT night, Ron and Nick DJed at The Royale and the whole crew came to show their support and rock out. I brought Dan and I think he had fun. Later I got to make The Rocket Queen laugh with a bunch of horrifically embarrassing tales that I can’t share here. I’ve discovered that bad experiences are worth it when I can make funny people crack up with the story.
Then FINALLY it was Monday and I could just go to work, go home and relax. And tonight it starts all over again. It’s exciting but exhausting.
Oh, here is something cool – this year Shortcake had more hits than the past 3 1/2 years combined. Almost twice as many, in fact. Also, you guys set a record for the most hits per month – this month! So you’re still setting the record right now! You’re all too nice to me. Thank you for reading. 🙂 I wrote a whole big section about my New Years Resolutions, but I think I will save that for tomorrow or Friday. PLEASE BE SAFE TONIGHT.
*I adored my hermit crabs but in hindsight they were pretty disgusting. Years later, I walked into my friend Rachael’s garage on a hot summer day and exclaimed, “YO, it smells like hermit crabs in here,” and she fell over laughing. That’s not a smell you forget.
** Some poor drunk boy was thrown to the front and forced by his friends to sing “Mmm Mmm Mmm.” He obviously didn’t know the song and performed most of the lyrics as spoken word. But when he got to the chorus, he looked at the screen with confusion and said, “Em Em Em Em? Em Em Em Em? Eeeeeeeeemmmm.” What. A treat.
Secretly Stephie 