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A year ago at this time I posted a list of 10 things I was looking forward to in 2008. Before I look ahead to 2009, I thought it would be fun to see how each of those things from 2008 turned out.
1. Ethan’s first birthday. This was as amazing and magical as I’d imagined. I’m looking forward to his second birthday with even more enthusiasm!
2. The New England Patriots Invitational Tournament. Also known as the NFL Playoffs, this one didn’t turn out exactly as I’d hoped or expected. But ah well, 18-1 is almost as good as 19-0. Right? Nah, not really. Alas.
3. Getting healthy. Sadly, this one’s still a work in progress.
4. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In a word: Awesome.
5. Easter Island. I did indeed make it to Easter Island last March, and it was a great experience. Lingering health issues were kind of a drag on the trip, though, and I would much rather have traveled there with Penny and Ethan than go solo like I did.
6. Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The Spidey comics went from monthly to three times a month and featured an all-new, all-not-married status quo for Peter Parker. And, by and large, it was a great year for the character. I’m still jazzed about the series as we head into year two of the new era.
7. Creating… something. Last year was to be the one where I finally made some headway on either Rise of the Hidden Sun or my young adult novel. I chose the novel and managed to get about 45,000 words into it before losing steam around Thanksgiving. So, not a success but not an out-and-out failure, either. A work in progress.
8. New TV shows. I was really looking forward to Jericho (returning from the dead) and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Jericho only lasted seven episodes but tied up most of the loose ends nicely, and Terminator started well, then got a bit spotty before coming on very strong here in season two. Here’s hoping for a season three pickup in 2009.
9. The Red Sox in Japan. Wow, I completely forgot this even happened. It was a neat little sideshow at the time but, ultimately, not all that big a deal. I’m more likely to remember the Sox losing game 7 of the ALCS than anything about their time in Japan.
10. Climbing a mountain. This finally happened in October during our vacation to Acadia National Park. It was a wimpy little mountain, but the views were spectacular and it felt grea to be back outdoors. Maybe 2009 will be the year where I finally get back into hiking the way I’d like to, though.
I’ve been a bit slow to post things to the blog this week. Not for lack of things to write, just for lack of time. Anyway, here are a few random thoughts and obvervations from the week that was.
- Things found in Ethan’s toy box: A plastic cup, a stick of deodorant, a pen, a book, a brush, and my sunglasses. The boy is a packrat.
- For the past 15 months I’ve sung The Ants Go Marching to Ethan at naptime to get him to go to sleep. This week, he started singing it back to me. (“Hurrah, hurrah” is “Ooh-ah, ooh-ah.”) He gets the rhythm and syllables perfect.
- My neighbor tore out the old wooden fence separating our yards and put up a shiny new white vinyl one. He managed to annex a few extra inches of our property in the process and dump dirt all over the grass on our side. I am so not pleased.
- The Sox are in second place for the first time in what seems like a decade. At least they’re still ahead of the Yankees.
- This weekend Penny and I are planning to hike our first mountain since Ethan was born. She even bought new hiking boots for the occasion. It will be Ethan’s first time on a real mountain. (Technically he was with us in Iceland two years ago, but he was just a zygote at the time and probably doesn’t remember.)
- Eighteen strait days of exercise for me.
- Penny and I are really getting into the homemade ice cream thing. So far we’ve made: Mango sorbet, chocolate, and chocolate mint. (Now you understand why all the exercise.)
- Today is new comic book day. On my pull list for the week: Amazing Spider-Man # 564, Astonishing X-Men # 25, Secret Invasion: Front Line # 1, Buffy Season 8 # 16, and Indiana Jones and the Tomb of the Gods # 1. I may start stocking up on the all-ages Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man for when Ethan’s a bit older, too.
- We finished Season 3 of the new Doctor Who series on Friday. David Tennant is inching his way closer to becoming my favorite Doctor. Right now he’s a close second to Peter Davison, and Martha Jones is a close second to Tegan. Could go either way in both cases.
- Tried watching a few of the old Tom Baker episodes last week. Oh my god. They really don’t hold up well at all. That kind of depresses me.
- Just ordered Season 1 of Torchwood to hold us over till the fourth season of the new Who comes out on DVD.
- Starbucks is closing 600 stores?! OK, now I’m starting to feel the effects of this economic slowdown.
Like I said, just some random thoughts.
Ten minutes arguing with Penny about cat urine. (Don’t ask.)
Nine issues of New Avengers read, bagged, and boarded.
Eight innings of baseball watched.
Seven really cute pictures of Ethan taken with my cell phone camera.
Six failed attempts at downloading those pictures. (F**king Verizon!)
Five episodes of Doctor Who watched. (Including this awesome one.)
Four miles walked in the woods at Ravenswood Park in Gloucester.
Three new words added to Ethan’s vocabulary (“up,” “hat,” and ”hot”).
Two long walks around Beverly with Ethan and Penny.
One minor foot-stomping temper tantrum by Ethan.
Zero effort put into fixing the back steps.
If only I could go back in time and show my young, tormented 11-year-old-self this picture, the world might have looked a little brighter between 1986 and 2003.
It’s not quite 6:00 a.m., and the Red Sox are just minutes away from opening their World Series title defense in Japan. It’s as if they designed this whole trip for those of us with one-year-olds at home. Stay up late for a game? No way. Get up at 5:00 a.m. for the pre-game show? Hell, I’m already up anyway. Play ball!
Rather than doing the usual New Year’s resolutions thing I thought I’d start 2008 off with a list of things I’m excited about seeing or doing in the year ahead. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s a start.
So, in no particular order:
1. Ethan’s first birthday. In just a few short months my little boy will be a year old. Holy crap. I know it’s a cliche to say I can’t believe how quickly time flies, but seriously—I can’t believe how quickly time flies!
2. The New England Patriots Invitational Tournament. Also known as the NFL Playoffs, this is where the Patriots invite three vastly inferior teams to be their personal punching bags en route to capturing yet another Lombardi Trophy and, oh yeah, a perfect season. Bring it on!
3. Getting healthy. That means working like hell on my physical therapy and doing the other things—eating well, exercizing every day, and just generally taking better care of myself—that are actually in my control. Hopefully my body will respond after being put through the ringer this past year and a half.
4. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Obviously.
5. Easter Island. Health permitting, I’ll be traveling to Easter Island this March for my first foray into freelance travel writing since 2005’s cover story on Skellig Michael for the Boston Sunday Globe. Pretty exciting.
6. Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The Spidey comics go from monthly to three times a month starting next Wednesday. Thanks to the new status quo, this is as excited as I’ve been for a comic book in a long time.
7. Creating… something. Is this the year I finally make headway on either Rise of the Hidden Sun or one of my two major writing projects? I dunno, but I plan to pick one and run with it.
8. New TV shows. Even though the writers’ strike is still full-speed-ahead, there are two new shows I’m really looking forward to in ‘08: Jericho (returning from the dead for seven all-new episodes!) and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which, admittedly, has the potential to suck, but hope springs eternal).
9. The Red Sox in Japan. Yes, I think it’s stupid that the Sox are opening their title defense in frickin’ Asia of all places, but I do still think it’ll be kinda cool to see them play in Tokyo—if only to see what Don and Jerry have to say about it.
10. Climbing a mountain. I don’t care which mountain. I just want to get out there and hike again. Which brings me back to # 3: MUST. GET. HEALTHY!
The Red Sox are World Champions!
Since falling behind 3-1 to Cleveland, the Sox outscored the Indians and Rockies by a combined 59-15. That sounds more like a Patriots score than something from the baseball playoffs.
I still can’t quite wrap my head around it. It feels great to follow a team from February to October, watching about 1,500 innings of baseball, and be rewarded with a championship. Heck, my in-laws are even getting a free mattress out of the deal. On the other hand, it feels very, very different than 2004.
That championship was about exorcizing a lifetime of baseball disappointment, coming back from impossible odds (again and again and again) against the arch-rival Yankees, getting revenge for the horrible ending to the ‘03 season, and doing something that felt truly… cosmic. Like destiny, really. This one was just about rooting for my favorite baseball team. It feels great, but it doesn’t feel special.
I’d rank this championship third in my personal pantheon of favorite sports moments, behind the 2004 Red Sox and the 2001 Patriots, which were different because they were completely unexpected and really had a lot more drama along the way.
That said, there’s plenty to love about this ‘07 Red Sox team. Probably my favorite thing is the infusion of youth: Pedroia, Ellsbury, Paps, Lester, Buchholz, Dice-K, Manny Delcarmen… I love the fact that the Sox are building a crop of young talent that will hopefully be around for years and years. Maybe, just maybe, we saw a baseball dynasty born last night.
And speaking of being born, how cool is it that Ethan was born in a year the Red Sox won the World Series?
‘Nuff said.
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