Resolutions & Reviews

So everyone's all like 2008 can suck it, so I thought I'd review my year to see if that was so with me as well. Let's go back in time to...
January '08: I finally shook my persistent bronchitis, got strep throat, and after some searching on Craigslist, also got a fairly shitty retail job, which I took in desperation because I was B-R-O-K-E.
February '08: I celebrated 10 wonderful years with my sweetie, slowly recovered from laryngitis, drudged at the kite store, had 2 weeks alone as Jon worked in Whistler. I sound sad but hopeful in most of my posts this month.
March '08: I was still sick all the time, I made it through midterms, got a job MD-ing a musical revue in Kamloops (money! money! money!) and had a party to celebrate J's and my first decade together.
April '08: I got to the airport in the middle of the night with various other family members to fly to Mexico for my brother's wedding! We came from Ontario, England, Kelowna and Vancouver and somehow, it was just the perfect combination of people. Even my parents got along famously. Other, less successful travels included a 1-week Zeellia tour in BC's interior, where I spent pretty much all 7 days in a serious funk.
May '08: I spent 3 wonderful weeks in isolated Wells and Barkerville, working on a show about the BC gold rush. Running every morning, smoking every afternoon; living with 20 year-olds in a ramshackle wooden house, seeing grizzly bears along the side of the highway... life in the country.
June '08: I rehearsed Back Kitchen again, procrastinated a lot while working on music for the next show, had the usual ups and downs...
July '08: I continued procrastinating as I got ready to do "Letters from Lithuania", saw the fabulous Lyle Lovett in concert, enjoyed my solo evenings as Jon performed in "Back Kitchen" all month.
August '08: One of the best casts I've ever worked with. One of the most, um, trying productions. 30% of the shows were rained out. Let's leave it at that, shall we? Rushed to Kelowna to spend 2 days of family time, as my stepmom decided to cut out her radiation treatment and wanted to see us all while she was still in good shape. I would only see her one more time after this, but I didn't know it then.
September '08: I flew to Edmonton for a wedding, bought a whole buncha shoes, went kayaking, ground my teeth in boredom at the kite store...
October '08: Pumpkin Patch, for the 5th time! Still fun, still hard, still great money. Went on the Atkins Diet and you could practically see me lose weight. Started writing music for "Medea". Started writing music for "Merchant of Venice" as well. Squeezed in "Merchant" rehearsals at night after doing the Pumpkin Patch all day.
November '08: I was super-nervous about "Medea", especially because I got behind on my composing, so I buckled down for some hard work. I also played hard and got to visit some great friends out of town. My stepmom's condition got worse, and we all knew things were past the point of getting better. Oh, and the world economy tanked.
December '08: I started rehearsals for Medea- what a relief to finally be doing it instead of worrying about it! And how great to actually be on stage again. Christmas holidays came really fast, and with them, the shopping craze. My mom returned from the icy prairies, where she's been touring for the last 3 months. And my stepmom died after fighting cancer tooth and nail for 2 years.

Re-reading my posts over the last 12 months, I realize how sick I was a lot of the time last winter, and how up-and-down my mood was. Reading other blogs, it seems that 2008 was a pretty intense year for a lot of people. Jon and I had a serious brainstorming session yesterday and we have a lot of ideas and hopes for this year. It's always hard to keep going with those plans after the first flush wears off, but I feel confident that we're going to make some big changes, and I'm going to do my best to keep on the right path. If there's one thing a funeral can teach you, it's that you never know how much time you have left. I know that's a total cliche, but it's so true. By the time we scatter June's ashes this spring, I want to be able to measure some real changes. Here's what I'd like be able to say by then:
Hi June,
Sometimes you drove me nuts, but I really admired your organization and your enthusiasm. You've inspired me to get my life in better order, and I've finally been saving some money for when I'm older. You were always eager to hear about my career, even though you probably didn't understand why I had to be so poor; well I realized that being an artist is no excuse for being clueless about money. I've also learned to market myself better and not just drift from job to job. And although I will never get up as early as you liked to, I'm not snoozing 'til 10am every day! Someone described you at your funeral as a domestic genius, and while that's certainly not something I'll ever be, I've finally learned to keep my little apartment tidy and, more importantly, clean. I even laundered the quilt you made for us, before it got up off the bed and walked itself over to the laundromat!

Let's see if I can make all this (and lots more) come true in 2009.