Challenge!

I'll say it, my blog has been useless lately. Sure, I've taken a few pictures, but even that has tapered in the new year. Should I feel better that so far 2009 has robbed me of time to sit and ponder the shallow philosophies afforded us by our elastic Western lifestyle? I guess. So I thought, hey, eight readers (up from six in '08!), let me do you a service and get you involved. I'm an improvisor, I should invite audience participation. So I'm unveiling my first ever NerdTrueStory Scavenger Hunt (trademark)! Feel free to comment/email/text (depending on the depth of our friendship) and let me know how it goes for you.

Task List (loosely based on the events of my '09 so far)

1. Go to a restaurant that has a specific food in the title, but DO NOT get that food (ex: get something other than bagels at Einstein's or go to Chicago's Pizza and Oven Grinder, but get neither a pizza nor an oven grinder)

2. Listen to music that reminds you of high school (or some significant era in your life). For me, this means I have a playlist featuring Dave Matthews and Matchbox 20. It's great for office background.

3. Call your parents and ask them what they did today. I tend to only call my parents to report on my life...which is generally what my mother wants. But yesterday my dad passed an important HR certification test, which is his equivalent of getting a TourCo put-in. We're all still delighted over approval, even as grown-ups.

4. Tell someone exactly what you think of them. This doesn't apply to people you don't enjoy...but think of someone you really like or appreciate (even an acquaintance) and just say, "Hey, you're funny/doing great/wearing a cute scarf/etc."

5. Change the picture on your computer desktop. At home or work, make your desktop picture something totally different. It sounds dumb, but it changes things just enough.

6. Do something you don't want to do. This sounds super vague and not fun. But really, next time you think, "Ugh, I do NOT want to do dishes/take out trash/return this phone call" just do it without thinking about it. It can be small. You'll feel like Master of the Universe after.

7. Leave your phone at home. Natalie, I'm an actor/server/super f-ing important person! I can't leave my phone! What if someone needs me??? What if I get an email?? Yeah, I know. Everyone who knows me knows I'm glued to my stupid Centro (just kidding, baby, I love you and your Facebook app). But just see what happens if you go to the grocery store without it. Or a diner. Or the gym. I'm not talking the whole day. Just one hour. It's amazing. And think of how fun it will be to check it when you get back, just like an old-timey answering machine!

Well, there it is. Go.

Epiphany

This means I'm back at work.

I'm back in the office, not full time but the closest to it that I've been in three months. I realized yesterday that I'm coming up on my two year anniversary here, give or take three tours of duty. Our location has changed since February '07, my desk is different, but my job is roughly the same and so is my coffee mug. I complete the same ritual at home in the morning, watching MSNBC while I make my travel-friendly coffee and put together my lunch, which has been the same since the day I started: tuna, red peppers, plain yogurt. As I revisited these motions yesterday morning, I had strange flashbacks from the past two years all associated with whatever goings-on coincided with them. Hard-boiling eggs shouldn't come along with emotional baggage...but what can I do.

So it's Epiphany, the official end of the holiday season, but also the official launch into a new season of preparation on the liturgical calendar, from Advent to Christmas to Lent. That Catholic Church...it's always a party. I've put a lot of weight on the calendar this year, carefully observing mile-markers and symbolic numbers. I'd very much like to let that go, but I can't look at a date or a time without putting it in the context of some preceding event or commemoration. I'm using today, the Epiphany (I recognize the irony), to try to see things in front of me as new and unassociated. I need new memories.

Time is Never Time at All...

2009 huh.

I spent the New Year exactly as intended, with some good friends and food and the small adventure of walking through Rogers Park for 30 minutes looking for a cab. Alright, it wasn't all intended, but it all worked out. I didn't want the big party this year, and so instead Timmy benevolently allowed us to crash a grown up party with him. We started at a place called Anteprimo in Andersonville. Please have dinner here...it's amazing.

John is Spiderman.

Timmy, you've uh...got something...on your glasses.

Abby's sister Ann was in from Seattle. And thank God for her, or I would've been dateless.

Yes, it was Couplesville, USA, but these girls are the best.

Welcome to a decade of these pics.

As is my tradition, I went back and looked at my blog from the beginning of 08. My life is unrecognizable now...or at least my surroundings are. I've been saying how 2008 was awful and I hope 2009 can be better. But really, I'd just like it to be different. Some parts of 08 were the best parts of my life thus far. No need for regrets. The bad parts are over, the good ones hold steady and all in all I'm just glad for those people who stay my friends no matter what. I got to spend my New Year's Eve with several of those people. What's better than that?