In keeping with the monthly Ten Happy Things, here is a short list of highlights for 2007, as promised.
This was a banner year for me, show-wise. I don't normally attend nearly as many shows as I did over 2007. Overall, I saw Christina Aguilera, Morrissey, Dave Matthews Band, Dane Cook on my birthday, The Police, Genesis, and John Williams conducting the CSO. That's a lot for me. And they were all quality....every single one. I don't know if I can pick a favorite. They all had thier moments, some that stand out more than others. Christina from the 7th row, Genesis doing The Carpet Crawlers, watching The Master lead the CSO in a fantastic rendition of the Imperial March. I'm starting off 2008 with the Spice Girls. I'm hoping the trend of enjoyment will continue.
I won't go into detail because I've really detailed it all quite enough...but my whole new home entertainment set-up is really ab-fab. I know it's kind of superficial and spoiled in a way but I cannot adequately describe the levels of joy I get from watching sports on this thing. It's like a big, electric happy pill.
2007 was an uncharacteristically good writing year for me. Inspiration comes to me in spurts. I can't just write good stuff all the time. It's like I get bit by the writing bug and then I can write myself sick. Going over a lot of my blog posts, I wrote some really good stuff over the year, especially in verse. Better than ususal. Unfortunately, the inspiration has left me. I can still write a bit from time to time but that wonderful wave of intoxicating inspiration has ebbed. It will come back sooner or later and then I'll write some more. Sadly, though, I don't think a fit of inspiration that parallels the one I enjoyed over 2007 will come again. It may come close...but I think that specific rare burst was a once-in-a-lifetime shot. I'm glad to have put it to such use. :-)
From a geektastic standpoint, 2007 was also a delicious year for those of us who bask in the light of Harry Potter. I've always been a huge fan...but the events of 2007 launched me into new and wonderful levels of all-encompassing obsession. Between the OotP movie and the release of the final book and all the subsequent events related to those two things, I enjoyed a level of Harry Potter Mania Heaven that I'd not experienced before and surely will not experience again. It was a highlight in the most magical of ways.
As I'm sure everyone who is unfortunate enough to exist in earshot of me can attest to, 2007 was an orgasmic baseball year for me. Despite the fact that the stupid Mets broke my heart in ways that I didn't think possible after 25 years of being a fan, they still gave me a hell of a season. I even got to see them beat the Cubs from behind home plate, a vantage point I'd not yet experienced with baseball. Thanks again to Barksdale, my quintessential hero who truly understands what it is to love a team more than most people you know personally. Sure, they blew it entirely in the most spectacular displays of utter failure yet recorded...but up until that point, being a Met fan was sweet. Thankfully, the baseball gods smiled on my baseball mistress, the Red Sox. I'm not going to rub it in that they won the World Series. I will, however, rub in the fact that the Yankees did not.
Finally......and I kept it for last because it really was the complete and utter highlight of my entire 2007........I was blessed enough to go to the US Open this year. This was a double-decker highlight. Not only did I get to attend the US Open, an event that I've loved and watched religiously for as long as I can remember, I also got to do this at home. I don't mean just New York in general. I mean Queens and Queens specifically. My neighborhood. My childhood. The one place in all of New York that houses landmarks guaranteed to melt my heart on sight of them. The globe. The space ships. Shea Stadium. Hot dog carts with blue and yellow umbrellas. The 7 train. LaGuardia. And the smell. The smell of the sea as it crashes in and mingles with the aromas of the city. I go back to New York often but it's exceedingly, exceedingly rare that I get back to Queens. It was an experience of euphoric proportions. Watching my second-favorite sport live and in person at the Billie Jean King in Ashe Stadium while situated smack-dab in the center of the first place I ever grew roots. I couldn't possbily have felt less out of place than I did on that day.
Those, of course, are the big things. Big to me anyway. The important thing to mention, though, is that the little things really added up. I started writing Ten Happy Things just to remind me why I should love my life. The summer's heat made me unhappy and I sought a way to find the things that bring me joy. While going over all the lists for this past year, I was really taken by the number of little, seemingly meaningless things that made the lists. It's the little things, folks. It really is the little things. Nothing is trivial. It may seem like it is, but there are moments in life - sometimes only singular moments - when nothing is trivial. Blessings to all of you and happy prayers for a joyous 2008. :-)
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