Into the great wide open
Usually, the last post of the year is titled after a favorite song or album from the year that’s been. But in this case, I ceded it over to a song from the late and great, Mr.Tom Petty. I’ve had his greatest hits CD stuck in my head since I bought it in Galway, Ireland on the last full day of the trip in October. But the song title seems to sum up 2017 perfectly. 12 months makes a calendar year and a lot happens in the 525,600 that make up the 365 days.
The year began on a frigid night on the first week of January. On that night, it was our organizations holiday party at our bookstore in Soho. As with all social events, I’m a slow starter. But as the night wore on, I became the social butterfly, flying between the various conversations and settling into my groove just as the party ended. With the party in the books, my first trip beckoned on the dock of the bay.
The only certainties I knew of at the start of the year is that I had my first concert of this year already booked, Green Day at the Barclays Center on March 15th and my first trip was happening in the last week of January. On the weekend of January 27th, my sister and I flew out to San Francisco. There’s a bit of luck that went into it as I won the flights thanks to a JetBlue promotion, “Calling All JetBlue Virgins”. I booked the trip for that specific weekend to coincide with my work anniversary. As the four days went on, it was if I was in a different world, one in turns fast paced yet blissful. From Pier 39 at sunset, the view of SF Bay taking the ferry to and from Alcatraz, walking the Golden Gate Bridge, the views looking down Lombard Street, a day trip to wine country with a drive over the Bay Bridge at sunset, I fell in love with San Francisco. As is now custom on every trip, I didn’t want to come home. I should’ve listened to my sister and extended the trip longer than it was. It wouldn’t be the last trip this year as a week later, I went to Gate 1 Travel’s website and booked my annual trip to Europe. From the Emerald City, my next trip would be to the Emerald Isle aka Ireland in October.
In the aftermath of the trip out West, I would inadvertently pick up a new hobby. My sister with her friend Carmen flew out to Hong Kong a week later for a two week trip that also visited Japan. I was bummed out as I always miss my sister when she travels as she’s the one I talk to at home. I felt the need to do something to cheer up. So, I ended up looking on the website, Goldstar.com and found at random the listing for an Argentine Tango Dance Party. I for years kept using the excuse that I couldn’t dance, mostly to the fact that I’m uncoordinated. But I gave it a shot and liked what I was doing even I felt uncomfortable being in a close embrace and kept blushing while making eye contact. I went back the following month but came to the realization that this isn’t the type of thing done alone. I stopped going as I didn’t have a partner to dance with. But it was a needed jolt of passion that I don’t usually possess.
In March, the first certain moment came, in the form of Green Day at the Barclay’s Center. The day before, a major snowstorm hit and I was worried the show wouldn’t go on. But it did and I trudged through the snow and cold that night. The stars were aligned as Against Me brought the crowd to their feet opening the concert. I knew it was going to be a special night the moment “Bohemian Rhapsody” comes on and the entire arena is singing along in unison before Green Day take the stage. And over the next 2 1/2 hours, they made you forget that the weather was so frightful. No matter how dire the world might be, moments like the entire arena singing along to every word of “Time of Your Life (Good Riddance) at the end of an eventual night will reaffirm my faith in humanity. I didn’t realize that the Ides of March would bring major changes.
Later that month, we found out that for reasons beyond her control, my mom would be in a state of semi retirement. That meant that my dad, sister and I would each take a bill to pay to make sure the house kept running smoothly. But we’re making it work as the moment helped us get on the same page which isn’t always the case. There would be a major change in my office as one of my coworkers was let go after a public disagreement with our manager. As a result, all of the responsibilities spread around to the rest of us. On top of that, a third of the warehouse staff was cut. There’s not a day that goes by when I miss my friend’s presence and love of live music in the room and miss the liveliness of a fuller warehouse. This month would provide me the overarching theme of the year, changes come really quickly. But it would end with a new experience, shadowing our movers for a day. I would be there as they visited the donors, inspected the items, picked them up and dropped them at the designated store. It was interesting to see the day from the other side of the phones.
As Spring continued, we headed into the busiest time of year. And this time, there was no PTO allowed leading up to our event at the end of April, Design on a Dime. This is when you have to be at your best as you’re still booking donations while navigating the various blocks and reminding everyone over the phone that we have nothing open in the immediate run up to the event. The pressure that comes with having to be professional all day long, coupled with no way out eventually got to me on the Friday of DOAD week. I was on the phone with a donor who was upset over that fact that she was misinformed that we value items. I should’ve known I was in trouble that moment the assistant handed over the phone to her boss and I explained our processes. It was to no avail as I proceeded to get chewed out over the phone. It’s never a good sign to go from shaking afer the call ended to bawling your eyes out through your sunglasses outside. This episode cemented my belief that the process is deemphasized, so long as the result works out. I also began to question aloud my purpose in the office given that I have the grace of a bull in a China shop.
In times of trouble, the one thing that gives me comfort is music. In the midst of all this, I had a few concerts as Spring turned to Summer, from my friends Erin & Her Cello during the six shows this year, to my friend Madison at Joe’s Pub and my newfound friends aka the lovely ladies that make up the group As Lolas. The month of may would bring a sight i didn’t think I would see, Midnight Oil at Webster Hall. The Great Circle World tour was the Oils first world tour in 20 years and you could feel the power and the passion the entire night. Before the first half of the year ended, I would fight through the rain to see the atmospheric beauty that was Sigur Ros at Forest Hills Stadium and end the first half of the year on the ultimate high, belting out the chorus of “With or Without You” during U2’s concert at Met Life Stadium.
The start of the second half of the year would bring both a joyous moment and a challenge in the same day. The day before this happened, the moving manager came up to me with a post it. It turned out that my friend and colleague Ian married his fiancee Alex and they were having a celebration. I couldn’t say yes fast enough. That Saturday morning, I went into the kitchen and saw the front panel not working. We had to empty the fridge of the food and with plenty of ice saved what we could. This was on my mind as I was feting my friend’s marriage in Brooklyn that afternoon. We also called our dad as it was the last day of his trip to Cuba and the wheels would turn toward replacing our fridge the first time. It wouldn’t be the last time as it was replaced later in the wasyear.
As Summer turned to fall, Ireland would be on the horizon. But before the Emerald isle, there would be three more things to happen. The first, was Depeche Mode at MSG. It was a great show as a good chunk of their album, Spirit was aired out alongside the classics. And of course, it’s not a DM show without the waves of arms aloft during “Never Let Me Down Again”. The next moment of September came back at Forest Hills Stadium as I won tickets to the Interpol concert. I put it out there that I had another ticket and someone took me up on the offer, my friend and colleague Antonio. It was nice for once to not be alone in a concert experience as Interpol performed their 2002 debut album ” Turn on the Bright Lights” in full at the start of the show. I had one last moment before the trip and it was months in the making. I’d been trying all year to see my friend Jen as we hadn’t seen each other since Christmas night last year. But there I was at the South Street Seaport on September 28th and a little after 8PM, she appeared like angel in the moonlit sky. And in the 90 minutes at dinner together, it was nothing but joy as the last three years ceased to exist.
After eight months of waiting, the date of October 7th finally arrived. On that Saturday evening, I boarded my Aer Lingus flight bound for Dublin, Ireland. I arrived the next morning and encountered my traditional bumpy start as I got my airport transfer confused and tripping trying to catch the group. But I would make it to the hotel where I met our tour manager, Alaco. As I had the majority of the first day, I worked in Dublin Castle, The Irish Whiskey Museum and the National Gallery before meeting everyone that night. That first pint of Guinness was the sign that everything would be all right. The second day would have us take a city tour by bus, ending at Trinity College. In the afternoon, I would visit the slice of heaven that is the Guinness Storehouse. That pint at Gravity Bar was especially sweet as you could see all of Dublin from there before ending the day cheering Ireland onto victory against Wales at the Bull & Castle across the street from the hotel. The trip would continue on to the medieval city of Kilkenny, an overnight stay in the Viking settlement of Waterford, the pastoral city of Killarney and the home of Frank McCourt in Limerick, with a day trip to the port city of Galway. Along the way, it was the natural beauty of the Ring of Kerry, a trio of castles, Blarney, Bunratty & Knappogue and the majesty of the Cliffs of Moher that made the trip the peaceful escape I hoped for. It didn’t hurt that I had 36 awesome people to share the journey with. Even with hurricane Ophelia coming, I didn’t want to fly home from Shannon, Ireland. I had such a good time, I wasn’t as pissed off that I dropped my camera going through security. It would make it through the mid week of the Caribbean cruise before its last lens error lead me to replace it. My camera was the closest thing I had to a relationship in the seven years we’d been through everything together and it will be dearly missed.
There was one more trip on the cards before the year ended, a cruise to the Caribbean. The wheels for this were set in motion in August. My sister and I wanted to do this since it had been brought up during Christmas Eve dinner for the last two years with no follow through. She brought it up to me and I couldn’t say yes fast enough. The cruise would depart from San Juan, Puerto Rico on 12/10. But there was a wrench in the plan, hurricane Maria. We were worried about my sister’s friend Carmen as she and her family live in San Juan, let alone if the cruise would happen. But there we were leaving from snowy NYC into the warmth of the Caribbean. The cruise itself felt like a dream, from each island we stopped in, to the beaches in Antigua and Barbados and the sense of peace that only comes from pushing yourself flying through the air zip lining and kayaking. It was nice to have that sense of bliss leading into a frantic end of the year.
With Christmas Eve dinner with my cousins in the books, its the perfect time to reflect on the year that’s been. It’s been eventful to say the least. There were moments that were didn’t quite fit these paragraphs but they happened, from the baby shower in February and birth of my sister’s friend Shelly’s son Aiden in April, the organizations staff party at the Gansevoort Hotel and seeing my friend Maria Fitzpatrick in the directors chair for the play, The Necromantics on the same Friday at the end of July. I ended up at Yankees Stadium in August for the Hudson River Derby between NYCFC and the New York Red Bulls. And before Christmas, I went outside the box for the House of Yes X-Mas Spectacular. Before 2017 can go gently into the night, there is one last act to write. On NYE, I will be graced by the presence of my friend and singing ingenue extraordinaire, Molly Pope as she and her collaborator, Kim David Smith present their musical flirtation, No Thrill From Champagne.
As for 2018, I already have a bit to look forward to. At the end of January, it’ll be four years since I’ve been working in the call center. Musically I have coming up, Noel Gallagher at Radio City Music Hall in February, the David Bowie Is exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum and seeing my friend Eliane Amherd in concert both in the first week in March and the Foo Fighters at Jones Beach in July. Come May 29th, I will hit a major milestone as it will be ten years since my college graduation. As for my next trip, it will likely be in September and the place let’s just say, I’ll be back on the Iberian peninsula in the one part of it I haven’t been to yet.
So much has happened this year, both joyous and challenging. It wasn’t easy to distill it all into one post. But in the end, I’ve made through the year and I did with the love and support of my friends and family. I want to wish everyone a safe, healthy and Happy New Year!
There’s only one way to end the final post of the year. The last words come from a musical inspiration of mine, Mr. Stephen Sondheim. The show referenced is 1971’s “Follies” and the song is “I’m Still Here”: I’ve run the gamut. A to Z. Three cheers and dammit, C’est la vie. I got through all of last year. And I’m here. Lord knows, at least I was there, And I’m here! Look who’s here! I’m still here!
