New Years Eve Wrap-up: or, ramblings from an early morning couch

So I just woke up on New Year's Eve, a vacation day for me, and saw that it has snowed about an inch and a half since I woke up to turn my alarm off at 7:45. The weather people had been predicting rain. This made me so happy that I got up before 10:00 (I know it's 10:00 now, but I had to get situated) with the idea of recounting how great this year has been, and with an earnest wish to the Universe that my 2010 can be as good.

This year:
-I rang in the New Year '09 at the Slipper Room watching pretty ladies do burlesque with some of my best friends in the world, on one of the coldest nights I can remember. We kept it warm with booze and dancing.
-My mother and little sister came to visit shortly thereafter, on the coldest weekend of the winter. But we still had fun by eating tons of sushi and peanut butter. (Not together.) And my mom came to my apartment and loved it, even though she had to acknowledge that the double bed is not only used by me.
-I went to New Orleans for the first time, and while there spent some time with some of the coolest people in the world, AND heard Old Crow Medicine Show and the Felice Brothers play Ziggy Stardust--on my BIRTHDAY. It really doesn't get better.
-I became a citizen in a country led by Barack Obama, in whom I still place a lot of trust. I think we're gonna come out of things ok, people, although I DO wish the public option hadn't been hacked to bits. There goes my hope for an independent future...
-I developed and indulged a very public terror of robots and slime molds.
-I got a story published in an anthology from Pergola Publishers!
-I got several stories and articles published in The Whiskey Dregs literary magazine.
-I celebrated St. Patrick's Day by walking around in the dark somewhere on Long Island only to be welcomed in by a family of super-Irish people who gave me beer and let me pretend to know the words to a bunch of Irish songs with them. In the morning they gave me cheeseburgers. It was magical, like a leprechaun.
-I met Phillipe Petit, the Man on Wire.
-I tried waxing my private bits for the first time, and I loved it! But it's pricey so I stopped.
-I gave into the trend and bought myself some skinny jeans, which I now love because they let me show off my awesome shoes.
-On a sadder note, my favorite cowboy boots bit the dust in the spring and have not been replaced yet. I must find the perfect pair. Along with them, the car that I drove to Chicago in from South Dakota to buy the cowboy boots in, then later drove to Chicago to live there, and in which I spent countless hours driving around playing loud music trying to overcome wicked bouts of depression... Also bit the dust...
-On sad notes, since we're going there, two of my great uncles and two of my cats died this year. Also, Michael Jackson, Ted Kennedy, Patrick Swayze, and David Carradine.
-One of my best friends moved to Kansas, of all the weird-ass things to do.
-On brighter notes, however, I went on two trips to North Carolina this past year. one just to visit my dear friend Gert, who showed me an excellent time, and again later to go on a beach vacation with my best, best friends in the world, Gert, Mich, Lib and her amazing babies, and Connor. Because I have always had to know better, I was one of the few who escaped without a horrendous sunburn.
-I started taking classes in publishing at CCNY, nailed the class I took in Copy Editing, and now may have a future in publishing if the writing thing doesn't work out.
-I went to Centralia, the eternally-on-fire town in Pennsylvania, and had whacky adventures.
-I did some really cool modeling projects, which you can check out if you'd like at http://www.modelmayhem.com/864844
-I stopped taking the anti-inflammatory pills I've been on since elementary school, which had been working on giving me a stomach ulcer, and started on the much-more-painful self-injected Enbril, which has made me feel like a human being again, even though it sucks when I inject it. YAY!
-I started writing a column for McSweeney's Internet Tendency.
-I told my parents about this column, and thus about my involvement in the smut biz. They didn't disown me!
-Before telling them about the smut thing, I organized and brought into being a gigantic 60th birthday party for my parents.
-I started writing for Whack! Magazine.
-I went to my first-ever porn convention, where I met and was fondled by Ron Jeremy and hung out after-hours with Jenna Haze, Lexi Love, Sean Michaels, Mr. Marcus, Joanna Angel, and on and on and on...
-I did a presentation on swingers at Nerd Nite at Galapagos Art Space which was very well received (and attended a bunch of other Nerd Nites, at which I met some really cool people like Shyaporn).
-I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time, after drinking for free at Nerd Nite for about five hours. I skipped most of the way and sang songs from Newsies with a girl I had never met before.
-I saw many concerts--I'm sure I'll forget some. I have seen the Felice Brothers twice (and will see them again tonight!), The Duke and the King at least four times (and started up a sort-of working correspondence with Simone Felice), Skinny Puppy, Cat Empire, The Dead Weather, and who knows what else. I also saw "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Live on Stage: The Nightman Cometh" and kinda-sorta met Charlie Day and Rob McElhenny.
-I fell in love again!
-I almost got punched in the face by a random guy on the sidewalk in Brooklyn on Halloween because he was threatening my girlfriend and I was NOT having any of that shit. I was told by friends later that I was screaming obscenities at him, but I say I was just telling him to leave us alone.
-I bought a new computer.
-I got an internet stalker, and heard from my old real-life stalker! Whoopie!
-I learned to make ramen at home, and learned how absolutely mind-blowingly awesome ramen can be, thanks to places like Momofuku and Ippudo.
-I celebrated Christmas with some of the best people in the world--my friends and my family.
-I learned to really call myself a writer and believe it when I did. I failed to get a book deal, and I lot one of my magazine jobs, I still think I'm on the up and up. It sure is a lot of work though.
-I got reading glasses!
-I kicked ass, took names, and hope to continue the trend in 2010. I'll be going to Vegas for more porn performer canoodling next weekend, then to Boston for much-needed girlfriend canoodling the next weekend.