Good Morning, 2012!

I am a fan of round numbers (like zeros and eights with their lovely shapes). I am also a fan of even numbers (2,4,6,8 who do we appreciate? Even numbers!) Maybe this is why (along with a Mayan predicted Apocalypse) I have been so looking forward to the start of 2012. It's one of those years that stands out in the progression of time. Like 1994 (high school graduation) and 1998 (college). 2000 was another such year with all its pretty zeros and the pending doom of Y2K.

It was in the fall of 2000 I went to Guatemala for two weeks. While I was there I visited the Mayan Ruins at Tikal and learned, for the first time about the Mayan calendar. I was fascinated. I spent a few years doing bits of research here and there, but was surprised that there wasn't more mainstream attention/interest. A few years later, that all changed and before I knew it I was seeing book displays for 2012 and movies and horrible documentaries. Has anyone written a song yet? We really should party like it's 2012...and now that I've got my ukulele (and maybe 3-4 chords nailed) I'll get on that.

I'm happy right now. What a lucky place to be. I am looking forward to this year...personally, professionally, hopefully. I started out this day with what I'm thinking will be a new annual tradition (this was year two). David Levithan (editor, writer, inspire-er) takes a photograph every day and then on New Year's he sets the photos to music and puts together a lovely video slideshow (viewed here). I could watch it over and over again. It inspires me.

I've never been one to keep a list of books I've read. I guess I've always felt like that's what my library is for (but then again, I do borrow ever so many books from work). Over the past month, I've been contemplating starting a list of books for 2012, but thinking about the photo diary that David Levithan keeps, I think, instead, I will photograph each book I read and then at the end of the year, I will put together some kind of photo collage/video to celebrate it. What fun! And way cooler than a boring old list...

This past week, I finally had a day (and a half) off. I spent it catching up on life's business (cleaning, laundry, bills, groceries) and I savored it reading and editing. I read an absolutely brilliant book by Portlander Laini Taylor called Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It is honestly, one of the most thrilling (for its language, its characters, its plot) that I have read in a really long time. Though classified by its publishers as Teen/Young Adult, the book transcends such labels (for a variety of reasons). I fell head over heels in love with this book.

"For the way loneliness is worse when you return to it after a reprieve--like the soul's version of putting on a wet bathing suit, clammy and miserable."

The book is just filled with these wonderful thoughts, ideas, feelings, phrasings. I didn't want it to end! And because it literally ends with "To be continued..." it hasn't. Warning: Next book isn't out until the fall of 2012.

2011 wasn't so bad, looking back. Three highlights I saw/did/loved from various categories:

Live Music: Neil Gaiman/Amanda Palmer, TMBG, Josh Ritter
Bookish Events: Neil Gaiman/Amanda Palmer, Josh Ritter, David Levithan
Television: Doctor Who (seriously, what took me so long!), Downton Abbey, Glee
Books: Domestic Violets, The Night Circus, Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Albums: Iron & Wine's Kiss Each Other Clean, My Morning Jacket's Circuital and The Decemberists The King is Dead

Lucky for me, 2012 has some things I'm very much looking forward to and fortunately, I don't have to wait long for them...January is already filled with such wonderful things! What I'm looking forward to most? My extended weekend (in one week!) to my most favorite place on the Oregon Coast, John Green's new book on the 10th (officially) The Fault in Our Stars, Thanksgiving in January, and getting to see John Green on the 29th!

More than anything though, what I'm appreciating most about this new month in this new year, is time. 2011 taught me a very important lesson in how much can be done with the time you have. In 2012 I hope to put that lesson into practice. I am looking forward to seeing all that I can accomplish.

The first book I will finish in 2012

NaNoWriMo 2011: Influences (Day 9, 15,222 Words)

Apparently it doesn't matter if I go to bed at 10pm or 1am, I can't sleep past The New 6am.

It's painful and it's going to make this an even longer day...though the possibility of a nap exists in my peripheral view...I just need to get some words out first and spend time with a good friend and her beautiful new daughter.

Yesterday was definitely one of those exceptional days, one of those days that don't come often. It is an evening, short of a mental disorder, that I will never, ever forget.

I'm not certain if I'm yet equipped with words to describe what made the night so exceptional, what made the morning such a brilliant prelude, but I feel the pull to at least attempt something.

There was one point I was standing in the Body Worlds exhibit, observing this library of our physicality, our humanity, and I literally read the writing on the wall. It was an explanation of some of the ways music affects the brain. This is something that has always fascinated me, having always been drawn so completely into the world of music.

Music has saved my life, my sanity, my hope, so many times and in so many ways. It assures and comforts me, knowing there is a scientific explanation for this, though I'm not certain why.

To say there was an unhappy period of my childhood, does not really do it justice. When I was young, to drown out the sounds of adults fighting, I would crawl under the covers with my Walkman and put on my headphones, turning the volume dial up until I could no longer hear the shouting.

Last night Amanda Palmer talked about Influences. It's a question musicians (and writers and other artists) get asked often during interviews. She talked about how she had recently realized there was someone she had left out of her list, Judy Blume. She sang us a song she had written about Judy Blume that sent shivers through my body and welled tears in my eyes.

I would not be the person, the writer I am today, without the influences of Madonna and Amy Grant. I know that those two don't often end up often listed together, but there it is. It's who I am.

I have been influenced as much by music as I have by books and it's always fascinating for me when one artist crosses over from one side to the other...like Josh Ritter writing a novel or Neil Gaiman singing (and writing) songs.

When I was a senior in college, I was approached by a student in a Music Composition class, asking if they could use a poem I had published in the Literary Arts magazine the year before. I said yes, feeling quite proud. When I went to the recital to hear it performed I was quite surprised to find there was another student who had also chosen the same poem to write music for. Having never possessed the ability to compose myself, I was fascinated to hear how two different people interpreted my words.

As a child, I always felt drawn to the piano keyboard, even though I played the violin and sang in choirs. By the time I reached high school, I had abandoned both the violin and singing, but I still felt drawn to the piano. It wasn't until college that I fully realized that the keyboard I was meant to play was a QWERTY one.

I adore the rhythm, the tapping of my fingers on the keys, as I attempt to write my own music. It feels like home.

"I want you and I want you to want me to want you. But I don't need you, don't need you to need me to need you. That's just me, so take me or leave me, but please don't need me, don't need me to need you to need me. 'Cause we're here one minute, the next we're dead, so love me and leave me, but try not to need me, enough said. I want you, but I don't need you."

                      from I Want You, But I Don't Need You, Amanda Palmer (cover of song by Momus)

Amanda Palmer and (a faceless) Neil Gaiman at The Aladdin, November 8th, 2011