Decade in Review

The first decade of the new millenium seemed to fly by for me, but I'm in a very different place now than I was when I was partying like it was 1999.

Because I feel the need to reflect, remind, and regurgitate, here are my most significant, life-changing events of the past ten years, in chronological order:

• Moving out on my own and going roommate-free in 2001
• Winning a game show (VH1's Name That Video) in 2001
• Watching the towers fall on TV and then hearing my mother say "I love you" over the phone, the last time I ever heard it from her and one of the only times I think she actually may have meant it.
  
• Saying goodbye to Atlantic Records in 2001
  
• Buying my first computer in 2002
  
• Losing 30 pounds in 2003 for a high school reunion that was only attended by less than 20 people out of a 300+ graduating class
• Blackout of 2003. Best. Night. Ever.
  
• Finding Easy Rock soulmates and discovering new reasons to love deep Queens in 2003 (and the resulting underwear wrestling matches, topless dance parties and other mayhem that continued in the following years)
  
• The emergence of my favorite weekend of the year, Open House New York, in 2003, sparking my interest in historic preservation and urban exploration
• Sending flowers to my dreamy eye doctor on Valentine's Day 2004 and going on one date with him, only for him to freak out and fade away afterwards, like all the other guys in New York City
  
• Buying my first couch in 2004
• Becoming friends with Edith in 2004 after letting her ignore me for two years
  
• Discovering that I wasn't the girlfriend, I was the other woman - again - thereby ending the relationship with only the second (and now last) person I ever considered actually my boyfriend. I haven't gone beyond three dates with anyone since 2004.
• Joining Naked Angels for Tuesdays @ 9 in 2005
  
• Starting to blog in 2006 thanks to MySpace
• Singing backup vocals on Twisted Sister's A Twisted Christmas in 2006
• Not sleeping alone all the time, August 2006-May 2008
  
• Marshall Stack, born Fall 2006
• Cutting all ties with my parents in early 2007
  
• Playing the role of private investigator-meets-attorney to seize money from the bank account of a record company that owed me back pay in 2007
• Being debt-free August 2007-January 2009. It was nice while it lasted.
  
• Discovering deserts in 2008, starting with a trip to Death Valley that sparked my persistent existential crisis
  
• Learning to love dogs in 2008
• Facing betrayal, cowardice, abandonment and retaliation in 2008 and coming out on the other side a stronger person
  
• Beginning my home shopping hosting career in 2008
• Meeting Stevie Nicks in 2009
• The Desert Lily Artist Residency, 2009
  
• Hiking my way to enlightenment in 2009
• Restoring the terrazzo floor of the New York State Pavilion in 2009
  
• Every concert by Justin Timberlake, Stevie Nicks, Billy Idol, Nicole Atkins and Vic Thrill I could catch
• Learning Masala Bhangra - a continuing process!
• Slowly being absorbed into a new family, learning how to be a daughter and a sister to people who actually want me there....
  

Upon reflection, I'm glad to see that only a handful of these game-changers have anything to do with work. From 1997-2001, my life was monopolized by work, clocking in 10 hour days, going to the gym, going out and getting drunk, sleeping and then starting all over again. In fact, I don't even remember the year 2000 at all. I retain glimpses of dancing to 80s music at Tribe (RIP) and getting a tiny raise that didn't even cover the increase in the cost of living, but there are basically no distinct memories. I know that I was fat, sad, hung over, and lonely, and could not comprehend where my life would be in ten years. I hoped I would be married. That I would have a bigger apartment. That I would finally have a cat.

Ten years later, I'm still workin' on it.


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