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captainsblogThe other day, I chronicled five events, or series of events, that were important, but not especially me-centric, in our lookback at this Mostly Dead calendar year. For this final day of the year, I add the top five memories of things that are mostly about moi. Again, in roughly chronological order:
* Conference! Right before the last weekend in April, I headed south and east from here to the neighborhood of my upbringing, to attend and present at most of a three-day event that had been 50 years in the making and more than two in the planning: a formal academic conference to recognize the 50th anniversary of the debut of the New York Mets. Months before, I'd proposed, and had accepted, a paper for the event, and for those brief shining days when the team was still in contention, I shared my presentation and presence with a group of fellow fans spanning states and recollections and generations, from Polo Grounds denizens to the age-of-my-daughter daughter of the conference's beloved and now-deceased founder. Despite computers that tried to place me in a Vermont hotel for the two overnight nights, these nights and days were among the most precious of my adult life, and I still look forward to the publication of the conference materials that will provide a Happy Recap of it all:)
* Run! While 2011 ended (around Thanksgiving) with a failed attempt at my entering my first-ever sanctioned running event, 2012 included three successful efforts on the pavement. The first was an on-again-off-again 5K scheduled to end on the 50 yard line of the Bills' home stadium, and when it proved to be on-again mere days before the starter's gun, I ran/mostly walked the event with an out-of-town friend with a bum knee and finished in around a 45 minute time. Roughly six weeks later, I included a Boston-area 5K on the road trip you'll hear about later, and, mostly running/walking that one, brought in a respectable 36-and-change-minute time. Finally, despite no training at all until two days before Thanksgiving, I joined two friends on an 8K, just under 5-mile, run-ish journey into downtown Buffalo in the oldest roadrace in the country, almost breaking a one-hour time and enjoying the company and the surrounding fun. In a slightly different world, I'd have topped THAT with a final December 5K on Roosevelt Island outside Manhattan, but capacities of both the race (too little) and Connecticut weapons (too many) kept me from that effort. I expect more will follow in the year ahead.
* Road trip! It's been a longtime ambition of mine to visit multiple Major League Baseball ballparks on a single, week-or-so-ish vacation, beginning at Fenway and continuing through the northern U.S. from there. This past August, I at least knocked off two of those stops. In March, our AAA baseball team announced it would be the visiting top-level team at Fenway at the Red Sox annual "Futures" event, and I immediately ordered two tenth-row seats behind first base for five months hence. I built a long weekend around that event, which came to include stops at the NBA Hall of Fame, the aforementioned Boston-area 5K, an R.A. Dickey game at Citi Field, and visits with many friends old and new.
*Milestone! and, um, Other Stone.... September 26th brought our 25th wedding anniversary- marked in a low-key manner for us, but not without being mindful of its importance. Earlier in the year, I took on the medical profession in trying to confirm that I'd come down with my first-ever kidney stone, and the medical profession largely won that battle, never entirely confirming the diagnosis, but almost subjecting me to a life-threatening diagnostic treatment until a wise radiologist caught the mistake and switched me to a less invasive one. Earlier this month, I wondered if the condition was back, but between prayer and pomegranate, it seems to have settled back down to the point that I am entering 2013 without any immediate worry about it.
* Write! November came and almost went, for the sixth time since 2005, without me writing a novel during National Novel Writing Month. This time, though? The story idea that came to me, literally, the night before the start date, and then promptly evaded me for the next three weeks.... consumed my consciousness for the final 10 days of that month and resulted in my second lifetime NaNo win with one day and 11 words to spare:) I've beta'd the story to a few folks, and their suggestions have been useful and are appreciated. Perhaps the coming year will add fuel to the fire that ignited in those brief moments of a month.
----
What lies ahead?
This blog will continue. Maybe not here (he says, as LJ once again says No data received Unable to load the webpage because the server sent no data). Maybe on my actual-name domain which I've been paying for lo these past two years without doing anything. But somewhere. I'm disheartened sometimes that my entries receive few comments these days compared to prior years, but the stats show the fact: I get way more than I give. Gotta work on that, too.
The book will grow. It needs more work and a sympathetic ear, but it will get them. Those last ten days of November were among the alivest of my recent life- raring to go every morning, rather than the dread anticipation of what some robe-wearing idiot (which can refer to church as easily as court) might have in store for me later that day.
Church will change. Maybe not the church, but my role in it. As of July, if not sooner, I rotate out of a position (kinky!) that will immediately drop me from a dozen other ex officio responsibilities that drive me even crazier. Between now and then, we have decisions to make about direction- what we do, who we do it for, and how to go about it- that I have strong feelings about and which, if outvoted or outshouted, likely will lead to the church changing before mid-year.
I will find ways to meet more of you (this past year brought more first-time IRL contacts than any before) and to care about all of you in all your days, good and bad.
2012 ended with way too many bangs and some resulting whimpers, but on the whole we record it as one of the good ones. Here's to 2013 being eligible for "even better."
* Conference! Right before the last weekend in April, I headed south and east from here to the neighborhood of my upbringing, to attend and present at most of a three-day event that had been 50 years in the making and more than two in the planning: a formal academic conference to recognize the 50th anniversary of the debut of the New York Mets. Months before, I'd proposed, and had accepted, a paper for the event, and for those brief shining days when the team was still in contention, I shared my presentation and presence with a group of fellow fans spanning states and recollections and generations, from Polo Grounds denizens to the age-of-my-daughter daughter of the conference's beloved and now-deceased founder. Despite computers that tried to place me in a Vermont hotel for the two overnight nights, these nights and days were among the most precious of my adult life, and I still look forward to the publication of the conference materials that will provide a Happy Recap of it all:)
* Run! While 2011 ended (around Thanksgiving) with a failed attempt at my entering my first-ever sanctioned running event, 2012 included three successful efforts on the pavement. The first was an on-again-off-again 5K scheduled to end on the 50 yard line of the Bills' home stadium, and when it proved to be on-again mere days before the starter's gun, I ran/mostly walked the event with an out-of-town friend with a bum knee and finished in around a 45 minute time. Roughly six weeks later, I included a Boston-area 5K on the road trip you'll hear about later, and, mostly running/walking that one, brought in a respectable 36-and-change-minute time. Finally, despite no training at all until two days before Thanksgiving, I joined two friends on an 8K, just under 5-mile, run-ish journey into downtown Buffalo in the oldest roadrace in the country, almost breaking a one-hour time and enjoying the company and the surrounding fun. In a slightly different world, I'd have topped THAT with a final December 5K on Roosevelt Island outside Manhattan, but capacities of both the race (too little) and Connecticut weapons (too many) kept me from that effort. I expect more will follow in the year ahead.
* Road trip! It's been a longtime ambition of mine to visit multiple Major League Baseball ballparks on a single, week-or-so-ish vacation, beginning at Fenway and continuing through the northern U.S. from there. This past August, I at least knocked off two of those stops. In March, our AAA baseball team announced it would be the visiting top-level team at Fenway at the Red Sox annual "Futures" event, and I immediately ordered two tenth-row seats behind first base for five months hence. I built a long weekend around that event, which came to include stops at the NBA Hall of Fame, the aforementioned Boston-area 5K, an R.A. Dickey game at Citi Field, and visits with many friends old and new.
*Milestone! and, um, Other Stone.... September 26th brought our 25th wedding anniversary- marked in a low-key manner for us, but not without being mindful of its importance. Earlier in the year, I took on the medical profession in trying to confirm that I'd come down with my first-ever kidney stone, and the medical profession largely won that battle, never entirely confirming the diagnosis, but almost subjecting me to a life-threatening diagnostic treatment until a wise radiologist caught the mistake and switched me to a less invasive one. Earlier this month, I wondered if the condition was back, but between prayer and pomegranate, it seems to have settled back down to the point that I am entering 2013 without any immediate worry about it.
* Write! November came and almost went, for the sixth time since 2005, without me writing a novel during National Novel Writing Month. This time, though? The story idea that came to me, literally, the night before the start date, and then promptly evaded me for the next three weeks.... consumed my consciousness for the final 10 days of that month and resulted in my second lifetime NaNo win with one day and 11 words to spare:) I've beta'd the story to a few folks, and their suggestions have been useful and are appreciated. Perhaps the coming year will add fuel to the fire that ignited in those brief moments of a month.
----
What lies ahead?
This blog will continue. Maybe not here (he says, as LJ once again says No data received Unable to load the webpage because the server sent no data). Maybe on my actual-name domain which I've been paying for lo these past two years without doing anything. But somewhere. I'm disheartened sometimes that my entries receive few comments these days compared to prior years, but the stats show the fact: I get way more than I give. Gotta work on that, too.
The book will grow. It needs more work and a sympathetic ear, but it will get them. Those last ten days of November were among the alivest of my recent life- raring to go every morning, rather than the dread anticipation of what some robe-wearing idiot (which can refer to church as easily as court) might have in store for me later that day.
Church will change. Maybe not the church, but my role in it. As of July, if not sooner, I rotate out of a position (kinky!) that will immediately drop me from a dozen other ex officio responsibilities that drive me even crazier. Between now and then, we have decisions to make about direction- what we do, who we do it for, and how to go about it- that I have strong feelings about and which, if outvoted or outshouted, likely will lead to the church changing before mid-year.
I will find ways to meet more of you (this past year brought more first-time IRL contacts than any before) and to care about all of you in all your days, good and bad.
2012 ended with way too many bangs and some resulting whimpers, but on the whole we record it as one of the good ones. Here's to 2013 being eligible for "even better."