In a few short hours it will be the tenth anniversary of my first post on Crushing Krisis.
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).
.
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.
.
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 its 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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
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-reaching goals makes it the perfect encapsulation of the year I just lived.
.
Were any of those posts your favorites? Did I miss any you really enjoyed?
[…] 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 […]