Not to beat this whole “ten years ago on this historic, victorian-era weblog” thing to death, but ten years ago today I blogged 33 times.

What was wrong with me?! We’re not talking about a special blogathon or anything. This was just a normal day in my life. Most days I don’t even tweet 33 times. Hell, days where I write three blog posts are pretty few and far between. And, now at least I’m a professional and a musician and a husband and a homeowner and all sorts of other interesting things that I can drone on about at length.

Looking back ten years ago today, I did have a lot to talk about. I wrote a song. I was sick. I linked to some other bloggers. My despised roommate moved out. My new (also somewhat despised) roommate was nowhere to be found, so I couldn’t sign a new lease. And I had to move out of my summer dorm room. And I told you alllll about it.

So, what would 2000 Peter be telling you right now about 2010 Peter’s life?

Last night I went to dinner with my friend Mary. I got home really late, but it was still faster than the commute from my office to our old house. I’m presently in my pajamas. I have answered a few dozen work emails. If these dudes ever show up I’m going to have new storm doors that are less sexy than they are expensive (but, still somewhat sexy). After that I will probably scream obscenities at Jillian Michaels while doing 30-day Shred. Oh, and I’ll probably practice bass, because I rehearse with Filmstar tonight.

Altogether, it’s a pretty interesting day considering I’m not going to wear any shoes until at least 6:30pm. But could I possibly serialize it as a 33 post series?

Related posts:

1. SEPTA Strike strikes out
2. 10 days, 3 bands, 1 brain
3. Why A Link Is Not Enough

Let me know if you’re headed out to one, and maybe I’ll come too! And, don’t forget about my two upcoming shows:

Cris Valkyria, as shot by me at the Northstar Bar, earlier this summer.

Thursday 9/2
What: 90s-esque girl rock!
Who: Cris Valkyria & The Opponents
Where: 8:30pm, The Tin Angel, $8
Why: I was dumbstruck when I first heard the typically acoustic Cris with this fantastic backing band. Shades of Heather Nova, Bjork, Alanis, and Elvish Costello, among others.

Friday 9/3 (I’ll Be There!)
What: Gallery show opening & entrancing music
Who: Jennifer Vessells & Dante Bucci
Where: 5:30pm, Muse Gallery, 52 North 2nd Street, Free!
Why: Jennifer is an amazing visual artist whose paintings I completely lose myself in; Dante is a hypnotic hang drum player who I’m splitting a show with later this month.

Britt Miller's "Pieces of My Heart"

Friday 9/3 (I’ll Be There!)
What: Gallery show, drinks, & mingling!
Who: Britt Miller, my arty partner in FAME
Where: 5-9pm, Drink Philly Office & Gallery, 239 Chestnut St., 2Flr. B
Why: Britt and I keep each other on the path to fame, and this is one of the many gallery shows that are on her road this year. Plus, free food and drinks. Be there!

Friday 9/3
What: Chunky folk riffs!
Who: Andra Taylor supports Charlie Phillips
Where: 7:30pm, Burlap and Bean, Newton Square, PA
Why: Andra is one of my favorite people to split a bill with – if you share my love of Ani DiFranco and Patty Griffin you’ll adore her.

Friday 9/3 – Monday 9/6
What: World premiere play!
Who: Gina & Ocelot on a Leash Theater Company
Where: 3/4 @ 8pm & 5/6 @2pm, The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street, $10
Why: My musical other half Gina Martinelli costars in Prudence, a play by one of my former directors Mary Ellen Cosaboon. I got a sneak preview of this last fall, and it’s a legitimately funny – not some freaky unintelligible Fringe-fest-thing.

Saturday, 9/4
What: Local CD release!
Who: Boy Wonder
When: 7:00pm, World Cafe Live, $10
Why: Boy Wonder is a crazy-amazing songwriter – every one of his tunes is immediately catchy with some wicked guitar interludes. Also, one of the nicest dudes I have met in the Philly music scene.

Saturday, 9/4
What: Chill acoustic tunes!
Who: Bill McConney
When: 9pm, Myra’s Place, 615 Macdade Blvd, Collingdale, PA
Why: Bill’s folk riffs and legato baritone voice are sometimes a dead ringer for Nick Drake, but the songs are all his own.

Related posts:

1. a rewarding life
2. Sound and Vision
3. how to find great music in philadelphia

1. I am not actually a bass player.

2. I am way hotter playing bass than I am playing guitar.
3. No matter how much I beat myself up about #1, I can’t even pick out most of my flubs on rewatch unless I was making a nasty face while flubbing.
4. I’m not actually conflicted about Filmstar.

That last one is the big news and the big surprise. When I last wrote last Friday I was wistful, thinking ahead to my imminent replacement in the band.

Before more blather, please witness our first public performance of my current favorite Filmstar tune, “Fall From the Sky.”

Shortly after that performance I neatly resolved my conflicting emotions over a pint of Abita Purple Haze, a rare beer I will stop my life to drink.

Basically, I realized that – though I love both Filmstar’s songs and sound – what I really love is playing in a full, happy, committed band, with a chance to be significant without always doing the heaviest lifting in the band.

I’m incredibly happy to continue to do that with Filmstar as a bassist or in some other capacity, and I let the band know that in no uncertain terms. I do love their songs and their sound, and if I can push that further I’m all for it!

At the same time, I have to find a way to make my own music into something where I don’t have to be the heaviest lifter all of the time. Am I ever going to cede lead vocals? No – dueting with Gina is the closest I’ll come. But having a drummer, or other instrumentalists? Yes, that would take the pressure off of me – the constant beating myself up and assuming I’m not yet ready for primetime.

That’s what I love about Filmstar – that on Saturday I was not sure I was ready for primetime, but they were sure for me, and it turned out I was.

On the way home I asked E if I could be vain for a few minutes, and I put on the recordings of Gina and I playing Arcati Crisis tunes with Chaz on drums last fall. I’m still in love with them – in love with a recording of me almost a year later! That nearly never happens.

That’s what I want. I’ve got it with Filmstar for the moment, and that’s awesome. But this year I’m going to find it for myself as well.

Related posts:

1. Filmstar and The Substitute People
2. In (and out) of Filmstar
3. Filmstar. Rock’n'Roll Star. Wife.

First, here are your Monday Morning Remainders – eight blogs I’ve enjoyed or tweets I’ve flagged.

1. Philly (and the internet at large) got up in arms last week about a so-called “Philly Blogger Tax,” which was really just the city’s business privilege license being applied to Bloggers. My virtual friend JoeBeta sussed out a sensible explanation and critique of the policy, from Technically Philly co-founder Sean Blanda.

It’s certainly a horrible waste of resources to pursue blogs with revenue in the hundreds when some companies and individuals owe the city millions in back taxes, forcing the city to do things like offer a tax amnesty to the dead beats.

2. Rocking local blog Phrequency had a flash concert for TJ Kong on the freaking Broad Street Subway. I love TJ Kong and my old promo shots were from the Walnut Street station, so in my opinion this is approximately the best thing ever.

Do not hold your breath waiting for me to do one on the El, though.

3. A Vancouver realtor’s Facebok page gained over 4,000 fans in 12 days. Crazy pyramid scheme for iPads? Nope – good old fashioned content that people give a shit about. (via @morganb.)

4. I’ll just repeat what Torrez said:

Imagesoak is a fantastic application for finding things to read and look at based on the interesting photos and images that accompany them. Nevermind what I just said, just go there.

5. Matthew Leone, bass player for the Chicago based band Madina Lake, sustained life-threatening injuries while trying to defend a stranger from brutal domestic abuse. Sweet Relief, a fund that supports musicians in times of illness, is raising funds to pay for his treatment and rehabilitation. Matthew’s band member and brother has been blogging through the ordeal.

6. Leslie Hunt was one of my favorite recent American Idol Semi-Finalists – she had a real identity and real taste in music, but was quickly kicked to the curb for her quirk. Mpomy.com blogs a video from her new project, District 97

7. Amanda Palmer’s life is so serendipitous. On break from her hectic schedule, she sees a random trio of teens whose photo she feels compelled to take. Almost after she’s gone, one realizes who she is, and catches her to tell her that he’s a big fan. One thing leads to another, and suddenly he’s playing a concert to thousands of internet viewers from her apartment.

8. Amanda’s fiancé is super-famous comic, fiction, and film writer Neil Gaiman. Neil has been in a legal struggle with Todd McFarlane since 2002 regarding unpayed royalties on creator-owned characters he developed for McFarlane’s Spawn. Neil blogs part of the judge’s new decision, which contains delicious text like:

Much as defendant tries to distinguish the two knight Hellspawn, he never explains why, of all the universe of possible Hellspawn incarnations, he introduced two knights from the same century. Not only does this break the Hellspawn “rule” that Malebolgia never returns a Hellspawns to Earth more than once every 400 years (or possibly every 100 years, as suggested in Spawn, No. 9, exh. #1, at 4)…

I hope your Monday is going well. More news (and video) on my weekend as a Filmstar coming up!

Related posts:

1. Monday Evening Remainders
2. Monday Morning Remainders
3. Wednesday Morning Remainders

Today I am bolting straight from work to rehearse with E’s band, Filmstar. I’ve been filling in as the band’s substitute bass player for about a month now, and tonight is our final rehearsal before I my first gig with the band tomorrow.

(This gig which will also be my first real gig on bass and my first gig ever that involves a road trip).

(!)

I’ve been incredibly energized by playing with Filmstar, even in my temporary capacity.

When it comes down to it I am a rock fan at my core, despite all of my folk-loving and acoustc-playing. I love getting to a point when a song begins to move your body, whether it’s your hips or your banging head.

My favorite example at the moment is probably the outro of this newer tune, “Fall From the Sky”…

“Fall From the Sky” also displays the more intangible aspect of why I’m enjoying myself so much: Filmstar is the sort of band that I adore. I love riff-y, female-fronted rock. Garbage is my favorite band of all time.

Filmstar’s sound is a mashup of influences – from Glenn, the guitarist and songwriter, lots of 70s and 80s Brit Rock, like The Clash and The Cure. In that same period E is a fan of The Pretenders and Joan Jett, but there’s only so far she can push that icier delivery. She’s way more in line with current stuff like Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Eisley.

Add to that drummer Zina’s efficient rhythms, which sometimes have a girl-group swish to them, and the combined set of influences pretty closely resembles… Garbage. My favorite band of all time.

Here I am, in the position of playing a style I really like, with a sound I really like, with people I really like. Oh, and I really like many of the songs, especially the newest batch of them.

It’s temporary. We all know this. My contract states this. Actual bass-players who have been playing bass for more than a cumulative four-month span of their lives are auditioning to take the spot over full time.

And, thus, I’m conflicted. It’s Glenn’s band, and it’s Elise’s passion project, but having peered into it I realize that there’s something there that I don’t have anywhere else. And while I can find that rock for either my solo music or Arcati Crisis, I’m not going to get the Garbage vibe from either of those. I don’t have the right ingredients, and Filmstar does.

So, yeah. I’m conflicted. I’ll report back after our gig tomorrow, perhaps with some video of me as a Filmstar.

Related posts:

1. Guest-starring with Filmstar
2. Filmstar and The Substitute People
3. Filmstar. Rock’n'Roll Star. Wife.

Your Author, August 26, 2000
Age: 18
Occupation: College Student / Orientation Leader / Barista
Education: One year of college
Residence: Double-occupancy dorm room
Roommate: Viktor, a despicable Eastern European cad
Music collection: about 2,500 songs
Songs written: 100
Girls dated: 0

As a performer: High school and college plays. Maybe an open mic.

Recording rig: Pinhole mic in PC monitor, into Real Producer

Blogging platform: Free account on freespeech.org; Blogger via FTP

Media experience: Hung out at Philly Weekly for the day. Wrote for a little-viewed e/n site (remember those?)

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Your Author, August 26, 2010
Age: 28
Occupation: Communications Account Manager
Education: BA Communications, minors in Theatre & Music
Residence: Single tudor house
Roommate: Elise, charming wife and rock star
Music collection: about 18,000 songs
Songs written: 262
Girls dated: 2

As a performer: A few hundred open mics and a burgeoning number of full gigs; public speaking for groups >4000

Recording rig: Multi-track digital home studio

Blogging platform: Pro account on Dreamhost; installed WordPress

Media experience: Copywriting for local and national publications & brochures; managing multi-platform ad campaigns; brand identities for two non-profit startups; 10 years of blogging

Related posts:

1. Humbling Critique v. Humble Critic
2. And So It Goes
3. Twist & Shout

As of today, the 10th anniversary of Crushing Krisis, I’ve blogged…

3,652 days
3,724 posts and 28 pages
988,154 total words
263 average words per post
271 average words per day

641 posts with the world “guitar”
261 posts with the word “awesome”
181 posts mentioning Madonna
121 posts linking to rabi

3 months with posts every single day

107 unique original songs posted (holy shit, that’s a lot … 10 albums worth!)

And, in those ten years of my life…

262 original songs written
105 of 120 months in relationships
17 states visited or traveled-through
11 guitars owned
11 different job titles

One pair of favorite boots, purchased circa 1997. Resoled twice.

Related posts:

1. You can download my album for free!
2. Helping you picture books
3. Fast Asleep or Rocking Out With The Band?

One of CK's earliest mastheads, from 2000-2001.

I. The Measure of a Decade - what do ten years really mean?
II. My Random Niche - how CK began, and what it became
III. Excelsior, Always – my year in review
IV. The Unhealthy Habit - how CK changed my life (finally) (again)
V. Past Is Prologue - my gratitude for the past ten years

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I. The Measure a Decade

Stop what you’re doing and look around.

I imagine you are in your office. Or on a bus. Maybe curled up with your laptop. Perhaps hurtling through space in the far flung future.

Regardless of where you are, when you stopped to look around how many things did you notice that are at least ten years old?

Your desk? Your wedding band? Your favorite mug?

When you consider a decade in that respect, it doesn’t seem like such a long time. Plenty of things survive ten years. All they need to is to be treated well to stay intact.

2000, summer, shortly before launching CK.

Think about your surroundings again. How many of the ten-year-old things you noticed took time and effort to maintain – like stoking a flame? And, of those, how many of them have aged well, gaining value and appeal?

A potted houseplant? Your home? Your child in the next room?

A decade seems much longer from that perspective – the viewpoint of active maintenance. That’s how I’m seeing the past decade today – ten years after the moment I launched Crushing Krisis.

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II. My Random Niche

200o, December, being ridiculous in Aim's kitchen.

I’m at once terrific and awful at saving things.

On one hand, I am an incorrigible packrat. I have the first newspaper that published one of my poems and the promo mailer from my first college play. Yet, I’m horrible at archiving those things in a coherent, accessible way.

Right now they are in a box in my attic. I think.

2001, summer, in one of CK's first photo mastheads.

Crushing Krisis started as a digital version of that box – “a random niche” is what I called it in an early post. A place to” talk at and file away random bits of information,” where I could write on any topic that didn’t have a home somewhere else – in a term paper, or on a message board.

In the beginning, each post was a note to myself. Later posts matured into bulletins, letters, missives, and serialized screeds – and they were increasingly aimed as much at myself as at the world at large.

At a time when blogs are big business and many bloggers are SEO experts, CK remains as random a niche as ever. While it exists as a collection of thoughts for me, I understand that the memory (and attention span) of the average reader is much shorter. To them, CK is a post they stumbled upon, or a week of archives they paged through.

2001, summer, shortly before CK's 1st anniversary.

So, what is Crushing Krisis? After ten years, you’d think I know how to define it. Is it a diary or a litany of links? Is it about the city of Philadelphia or the wide world of social media? Is the focus communication and journalism or music and art? Is it my home base on the web or a satellite to my artistic identity?

My favorite explanation for what it’s about was one of my earliest taglines, “Yearns, burns, and other concerns.”

Trying to define it any other way seems futile – no matter how I try to plan for or explain Crushing Krisis, it always turns into what I least expected.

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III. Excelsior, Always

2001, October, with my bright red Boston hair.

Ten years in and taken as a whole, Crushing Krisis is a massive tome – just a few thousand words shy of a million.

I added a lot of text to that collection in Year 10. As always, I have my favorites, but this year it was harder than ever to pick the highlights.

Thoughts and Adventures

As always, I documented my most epic adventures and deepest thoughts. I finished the story of jumping out of a plane, and how it changed my life. I shared my personal musical motivation mantra: “What Would Madonna Do?” Elise and I I became Battlestar Galactica’s Six and Baltar for Halloween, resulting in a tweet by the President of SyFy network!

2001, x-mas.

I had my 15-seconds of Philebrity, and gave my first ever acceptance speech. I broke my typical February Funk by spending the night with Katie Barbato, one of my favorite songwriters. I attended the NYC #140conf, blogging up a storm about it and learning how Twitter saved lives on the ground in Haiti. I marveled at how what was once new to me is now an “oldie.”

The House

I wrote a myriad of  posts about becoming homeowners, starting with telling the story of our house in three parts. I got all full of my project manager self before realizing a few minutes later that our settlement might hinge on two jars of change.

2002, spring, a CK masthead and the first time a photo shot by E wound up on the blog.

I mused on how we grew out of our old home, and caused a scene by threatening to vomit over paint chips. We even had our first brush with disaster, as a tornado zipped up our block.

My Musical Life

A huge component of Crushing Krisis has always been my life as a songwriter, but in Year 10 it officially became the life of a performing songwriter – both in gigs and on video. I posted an early video demo of Regenerate, which became my theme for the year. I released my first piano demo, a recording of “Crashing” to commemorate it’s tenth birthday, plus demos of my plaintive “Kick Me” and my long-brewing cover of Madonna’s “Crazy For You.”

2001, in E's dorm room.

I booked my first solo show at the historic Tin Angel, a goal I’ve had for longer than CK’s been around, and transformed it into a guerrilla CD-release show for a DIY disc I produced, designed, and printed in under a week.

It was a good year for Arcati Crisis, too. Gina and I covered Swell Season’s Oscar-winner “Falling Slowly,” and shared an entire concert’s worth of videos – including first glimpses at our new tunes “Better” and “Holy Grail.” We celebrated the tenth birthday of “Under My Skin,” the earliest song of mine with a Gina co-write credit. And we booked a gig in almost every month of the year!

2002, shortly before CK's 2nd anniversary, with my unfortunate accidental mohawk.

Not only did I make my own music, I watched as Elise become an increasingly confident rock star, and witnessed her brother graduate high school while singing to a half-packed arena.

Actual Information

More than ever before, I wrote posts on Crushing Krisis that were useful to people other than just me.  I explained the Blame-a-Thon to an internet audience of thousands. I interviewed fellow artists on if you should say yes to every performance opportunity. I explained the Air Force’s “Web Posting Response Assessment” AKA Troll-Buster.

I reviewed the Michael Jackson blockbuster This Is It, St. Vincent at the First Unitarian, and the obscure indie delight Timer. I contributed a guest post to killer music blog A New Band a Day. I endorsed Net Neutrality and discussed (and was quoted on!) the Philadelphia promoter bill. I even spent two months writing a special feature, the most comprehensive guide to X-Men trade paperbacks on the entire internet!

2003, recording for Blogathon, shortly before CK's 3rd anniversary.

Miscellaneous Moments

I also captured many scattered moments – me in flux between one adventure and the next. I captured my feelings at the apex of happiness as it intersected one of the busiest monthS of my life. I speculated that a gnome was involved in my losing my keys and guitar picks. I exposed Gina’s secret prejudice against Wham.

I finally came to terms with being an adult, and happy. Elise mocked my post-District 9 aversion to prawns. I celebrated the ten birthday of Bluishorange, one of the blogs I’ve been reading since day one of CK. I decluttered my commitments, leaving more room for my OCD Godzilla to roam.

2003, in Drexel's photo studio.

I wondered what I’m waiting for to be the best me. Connected to that, Britt and I continued our inexorable march towards local fame. I had an episode of Tourette’s in the tampon aisle of Target. I compared myself to a rabid wombat. I may have crashed our broadband connection with the amazing powers of my hair. I detailed my uttered skeevedness at riding the El, the insanity of which wound up with my volunteering to do hits of poison if it meant killing a tiny whippoorwill alarm clock outside my window.

2004, at dinner with Rabi. My LJ user pic.

The Unsaid

As always, there were things I didn’t – or couldn’t – write about.

I didn’t tell you about delivering two of my hugest projects ever at work, and fostering our company into the social media age. I even ran a corporate Facebook page!

I didn’t detail how for first time ever I made more money from my music than I spent or lost. I skipped collecting all the feelings behind my two Tin Angel appearances, and missed discussion a slew of other gigs.

2004, also from dinner with Rabi. A longtime CK masthead image.

I neglected to mention that I finally got in shape, adding definition I’ve never had and shedding a few meager pounds that had plagued me for years.

I didn’t discuss Erika’s amazing wedding, or that I’ve suddenly found myself in both a team of groom’s men and a bride’s party. I haven’t talked about Steve’s stunning turn in Jonathan Larson’s Tick, Tick, Boom!, playing against a seventeen-year-old Broadway veteran.

Other things too – hundreds of thoughts, feelings, and inane ponderings. Crushing Krisis is a lot of things, but it can’t be everything. It’s not my whole life.

And that’s okay.

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IV. The Unhealthy Habit

2005, May, performing at Lyndzapalooza.

In 2000, a few minutes into my blogging experiment, I told perhaps the greatest truth about myself I’ve ever disclosed on CK. I said:

I have this unhealthy habit at wanting to be the best at everything very quickly. Well, not the best, but… i like to achieve things very quickly. … [I] want recognition without much long term commitment. The reverse are things that i have put longtime commitment into, but want no recognition in. Am i fucked up or what?

2005, at the office.

Crushing Krisis is one of the few things in my life to begin in the former category and wind up in the latter.

After the newness and the need to post every fifteen minutes wore off I realized there was no one to best – I could only better myself. I think that’s why I’m still blogging. There’s nothing to win, so there’s nothing to lose. I can still get excited about every post.

It sounds simple, but in every other area of my life my unhealthy habit plagued me. I said yes to everything because I always wanted to prove myself.

2006, November, at my peak of indie rock.

In a way, Year 10 cured me of that  habit. After several years of organizing plays, music festivals, and fundraisers, I found myself finally focusing on me. My music, my social media presence, my blog. It makes me feel more real. It makes my friendships feel more crisp and in focus. It makes each day more exciting.

For the third consecutive year I’m writing this post and thinking about twelve months of amazing highs with very few lows. I kicked my unhealthy habit, and is it any wonder I’m happier than ever, blogging and tweeting and playing gigs?

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V. Past Is Prologue

Stop and look around you again.

Most of those ten-year-old things you saw at the beginning of the post were meant to live that long, or longer. Sure, some of them required more upkeep than others, but those possessions and people are not gossamer soap bubbles that can pop at any second.  They were made with the intent of spanning time.

2007, January, my first official promo shot.

How long was Crushing Krisis meant to last? A week, was my early estimation – long enough to keep me occupied before I moved into my first college apartment.

2007, in our old backyard, unintentionally looking like Harry Potter.

Of course, I also proclaimed that all posts would be presented without any editting [sic] or line breaks, so what did I know? How could I know how much putting words into this little white box would come mean to me?

This past year I learned that it’s okay – even normal – for social media to mean something. Blame Drew’s Cancer meant something to people, and it changed my life. At the #140 Conference we heard about people rescued from the rubble in Haiti because of Twitter.

Ten years ago I didn’t have very many things that meant something to me. Music, both by others and my own. Gina, someone I could always rely on. Not much else.

2008, in our old living room.

Over the years, Crushing Krisis not only gained meaning, but it helped me discover other things that were meaningful to me. Elise became woven inexorably into the fabric of the blog. It became about feeling at home in the business world, about living as an independent adult.

In Year 9 CK became the story of our engagement and wedding. In Year 10 it told the tale of us buying our first house, and of me finally pushing myself to achieve the modicum of local fame I’ve always wanted for myself.

2009, summer, on my way to Whuffaoke.

My blog means something to me, and I could never give it up – never give you up, whoever you are today in your office, on the bus, at your laptop, or in space.

How could I give you up when I’ve spent ten years telling you the story of my life in single-post increments? How could I give up the potential of blogging about my first sold-out solo show or when I’m finally ready to accept the challenge of being a father?

Plus, I’ve got to eventually get my driver’s license. I’m sure I’ll blog about that.

2010, January, backstage for my solo debut at the Tin Angel.

I can claim all I want that writing about those milestones is just for me, but that would be a lie. If it was just for me this healthy habit would have been left by the wayside years ago.

This is for me and you.

You, Josh, my longest-running reader. You, Rabi, my blogging best friend.

You, Gina, my partner in never-ending adventures.

You, Elise, the love of my life.

2010, today, thanking you.

You, who read, comment, and inspire. You, Izabelle, Amy, and Tim;  Hillary, Laurel, Dante, Lindsay, Megan, and Erika; Wes, Karen, and Chaz; Jenny and Steve; Britt, Nan, Mikey, and the rest of #BDC; Mark, Kari, Joe, and Michael; Sandra, Patty P., Cecily, and Maya; all of my twitter friends, blue crew, and little monsters – you all know who you are.

You, anyone who has gone from spectator to character and back again.

You, the longtime lurker, first-time reader, or casual visitor.

You, at your desk on a laptop in a space bus, hurtling into the great unknown.

Thank you for making this a better decade than I could have ever imagined back in my stuffy dorm room in the year 2000.

Thank you, and happy birthday to this.

Related posts:

1. 10 years, by the numbers
2. You can download my album for free!
3. Helping you picture books

As you might expect, I have a lot to say about that. Before I do, I wanted to share ten of my favorite posts from this past year. (Actually, it’s 13 posts, but the pairs are pairs for a reason – not out of indecisiveness).

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10. man (just me, actually) vs. nature (mostly this one bird)

I assumed my avian foe would be approximately the size and shape of one of those totally over-the-top Hammacher Schlemmer alarm clocks that light up and vibrate and make bagels, but with wings. Nay. It is a tiny, mottled, gray thing that I could probably fit whole in my mouth.”

Why? There’s always a base level of inanity at CK, and those inane posts are frequently my favorites. While I got off a lot of delicious one-liners in Year 10, this was probably the best encapsulation of just how crazy I can be when left entirely to the confines of my own head.

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9. Under My Skin – Arcati Crisis, Live @ Rehearsal

“[A]fter you’ve been playing something for long enough you stop feeling the feeling that you originally felt and start just feeling the song, because the song embodies the original feeling.”

Why? I wrote a longer post about this song on it’s 10th birthday, but this entry says something so indelibly true about music, and about how Gina and I grow together. Also, it’s just a killer version of a song that’s been with CK since day one.

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8. Extreme Best Memorial Day Ever Extreme Recap

At one point an awful groaning noise began to trail us, and once we ascertained it wasn’t Jersey woods zombies we realized that the entire back bumper had fallen off the car and was being trailed by its tenuous connection to a single bolt.

Why? One of the most entirely ridiculous days of my life, and it was the day before I jumped out of a plane. I don’t usually go into such longform storytelling on CK, but if any day deserved it then it was this one.

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7. T-Minus 210 Minutes & Freak out! Le freak, c’est chic.

First: “I still need to know the timing down the the minute, and the dollars down to the cent. When one of those minutes or cents change, I get frothy.”

Followed by “8:15AM: Hatch a plan for reconciling the bank account issue that – while totally legal and using actual money belonging to us – could have the side effect of E being arrested. As a by-product of the plan, we suddenly have a vital need to count two large jars of change and hope they add up to a significant amount of cash.”

Why? As with most of the major turning points in my life with Elise, buying our house turned into a madcap adventure of epic proportions. I love the naivete of the first post followed by the utter panic second one – the entirety of which is alarmingly the god’s honest truth with absolutely no exaggeration, as verified by Elise.

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6. Fresh Music: Regenerate & Daily Demo: Crashing

Regenerate: “The emotions are still vivid and visceral to me; this may be as close as I can take you to being inside my brain as I write.”

Crashing: “I would hypnotize myself with the rolling two chord verse, learning how to play piano in increments (and maybe a little bit about what the song really meant, as well).”

Why? I have a lot of ambitions for featuring my music on CK that don’t always come to fruition. One one side of the spectrum, I want to demo new songs all of the time. On the other, I want to record definitive versions of my older songs to mark the passage of time. I don’t know that I’ll ever do both regularly, but at least I can say that in Year 10 I did each perfectly, once.

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5. WWMD? & Filmstar and the Substitute People

“From David Bowie to Ani DiFranco to Lady Gaga, what they have in common isn’t their talent and training. Their commonality is wanting it bad. Tenacity.” and “The allure of the fantasy is that we’re the substitute people. Just like a substitute teacher, no one is expecting us to do much more than fill a hole.”

Why? The whole reason I started CK is so I could capture thoughts and phrases I might otherwise forget. Both of these posts do exactly that, and both of them inspired actual conversations with my friends who read the blog. That’s what social media is meant to do.

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4. Major Themes of the NYC #140conf

“I realized that organizer Jeff Pulver didn’t put together a mix tape of information – he composed a symphony. The major themes that emerged were developed, transposed, restated, and transformed by an orchestra of characters on the stage.”

Why? The 140 Conference had a major affect on my year and my worldview, and it was some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time. It was the first time since we left Paris that I felt surrounded by simpatico people. It also helped me get in touch with my inner academic, who loves to discuss and synthesize complex thematic elements into a concise thesis.

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3. Backstage at the Tin Angel

There seem to be a lot of people here. Oh my.

Why? This photo captures such a specific moment in time for me. I had all of these plans for 2010 that I was skeptical I’d accomplish, and there I was on Day 8 achieving one of my biggest goals for the year.

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2. paint chips, forks, and vomitoriums

“After a while,” I intoned, gravely, “you feel like you will vomit if you even see one, let alone say the word.”

Why? Elise insists I manipulate life into a blog reality edit to create these situations on CK. From her perspective I guess that’s the case. From inside my head, this is how life really happens. Welcome to the view from inside my head.

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1. Why I #blamedrewscancer, pt. 4

It was not insane. It was kismet. It was Drew’s whole point. Live Strong. You want to fly? What’s stopping you? Jump out of a damned plane. You want to be a singer? Don’t make an excuse. Use your voice with confidence.”

Why? My experience with Blame Drew’s Cancer in September set the tone for my entire year, and honestly redefined my entire life, so the apex of the #bdc story is fitting as my top post of the year. I love this blog the most when I just put my head down and write something meaningful to me – a time, place, and feeling I’m going to want to remember. That the post is both that and also a meditation on achieving your farthest-readomg goals makes it the perfect encapsulation of the year I just lived.

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Were any of those posts your favorites? Did I miss any you really enjoyed?

Related posts:

1. 9 posts from Year 9 for my 9th anniversary
2. Why A Link Is Not Enough
3. Trio: Season Five, Suite #2!

Last night I supported Mieka Pauley at our first ever house concert, which was also ostensibly the CK 10th Anniversary Show. It was amazing. I had a great time playing songs I usually think are pretty hard, and Mieka was both flawless and real several feet away from my sofa.

Here’s two highlights I will treasure forever…

There’s way, way more where that came from. Also, my blog turns 10 in three days.

Did I mention that all happened IN MY LIVING ROOM.

CRAZY.

Related posts:

1. Song of the Day: Madonna – “Dress You Up” (includes chords/lyrics)
2. Sorry, no Trio; have some Kelly instead. (SOTD #7)
3. 2007 Song of the Day #4 – I Know It (Madonna)