Fourteen Things I Did in 2014

I. Started the year with Amanda in (relatively) hot Austin, TX while Chicago was blasted with snow and -20˚ F temperatures. The weather was so bad that I was delayed two extra days in Austin. Darn.

II. Went to South by Southwest music festival for the second time. Questioned if I’m getting too old for this stuff (nah), but still had a lot of fun.

III. Attended a murder mystery birthday party where I only knew a couple people. Attempted to act my character’s part, but mostly watched the other people who were really good at it. Oh, and I was innocent. Phew.

IV. Attended Tom and Anna’s Wedding + Super Internet Party. I even danced. Yep.

V. Drove from Chicago to Bellingham, WA with Amanda.

VI. Got more involved with the indieweb and attended my first IndieWebCamp in Portland. (follow-up post on this still to come. ugh.)

VII. Visited Alaska with my mom and stepdad. (post on this still to come, too. double ugh.)

VIII. Celebrated one year (!) of dating Amanda. Started talking about me moving to Bellingham in 2015.

IX. Went to more great concerts: Son Lux, London Grammar, Kraftwerk, Jimmy Eat World Futures anniversary tour, Markéta Irglová, My Brightest Diamond. And comedy shows: Demetri Martin and Eddie Izzard.

X. Read 12 books. That is two fewer than I read in 2013, but I read about 500 pages more in 2014, so I am satisfied. Related: 1Q84 is far too long.

XI. Got the first album Steve Taylor has released since 1993’s Squint, and it is fantastic. Now I just need to see them live.

XII. Had my pacemaker replaced. I will be getting the old one back once Medtronic is done testing it. They have to disable it and engrave “not for human use” on it. Proof that I am a cyborg?

XIII. Went over the hill of my 30s. I am now closer to 40 than 30. Dang.

XIV. Had quite a scare with my mom, but she recovered and is now home, thankfully. Reminded again of life’s fragility.

Related: Thirteen Things I Did in 2013, Eleven Things I Did in 2011