Stuck in VT is Stuck in VT

Goodbye 2007 [59]

Wow. That is so meta.

Like, it is time to look back at one year and 59 episodes of Stuck in VT.

Holy crap, that was a lot of all-nighters. No wonder I look like shit.

In other news, me thinks hell hath frozen over.
First I got asked by Brian (a very nice person who also stays up all night) to do a year end review at the very cool music blog False 45th - who, me?
Then The Jazz Guys actually mentioned my review in their News section?
Next, monkeys will fly out of my butt.

NEW DBC Airs Sunday

Yes, what with all the happy endings and crazy changes and what not, I have not had time to finish snipping up the January Episode #29 of The Deadbeat Club. Tonight (Friday) a rerun from January of 2005 will air at 11:30pm on Channel 15.


The first new DBC episode of 2007 will air Sunday:

The Deadbeat Club
January 2007
Episode 29
The Changes Show

Premieres:
Sunday at 9pm
Channel 15

Some highlights of DBC29 will hopefully be:

2006 DBC Montage
Suzanne tries to hijack DBC
Deadbeats look back on 2006
Deadbeats 2007 predictions
Margot and Zombie Movies
Eva and Vlogs (Scott Walker and Regina Spektor)
Mom and her Political Movie Review (SIR! NO SIR!)
The final installment of The Offasty: A Room with a View

Sadly, I might have to miss watching the premiere Sunday as I will be at my first rehearsal for Champlain's production of The Trojan Women. I am terrified to do a real drama as I am not much more than a clown when it comes to "acting." But it will be fun to wallow and muck about in the drama, trauma and pain of this heartbreaking tale of Troy with some other lovely people!

Well-Poked and Snoring

William looks up, head still full of sludge, so that he can only stare dumbly at the sudden apparition of his two best friends, his inseparable Cambridge cronies, Bodley and Ashwell.

'Won't be long now, Bill,' cries Bodley, 'before it's time to celebrate!'

'Celebrate what?' says William.

'Everything Bill! The whole blessed Bacchanalia of Christmas! Miraculous offspring popping out of virgins into mangers! Steaming mounds of pudding! Gallons of port! And before you know it, another year put to bed!'

'1874 well-poked and snoring,' grins Ashwell, 'with a juicy young 1875 trembling in the doorway, waiting to be treated likewise.'

- The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber

Well, there goes another year - glug, glug - and here's to hoping that 2007 brings all sorts of new exciting life lessons to this lackluster deadbeat - clink, clink! As per usual, this New Year's Eve was a mixture of all things good and bad.


NYE highlights: Suzanne using her savoir faire to slip to the front of a 200+ drinks line; Scott slyly spiking our drinks underneath security guard's watchful noses; my sister tipsy (always a pleasure); Lani's impressive sass to the snooty doorman and her stunning lace dress; Suzanne's bossy drunken side that forced a group of girls to do schnapps shots; Suzanne tipsy (hours of entertainment); checking out the hottest trends among today's youth; watching the bottom feeders looping around their tank over and over again with their droppy mustaches; people watching from a variety of vantage points; learning about Champ and ships that sunk in Lake Champlain; hiding in a sunken shipwreck; watching the fireworks from a killer vantage point.

NYE lowlights: shitty music; shitty white rapper-wannabes; shitty people; shitty DJs; shitty doorman; shitty flashbacks to awkward middle school dances; not enough booze; no desire to dance due to shitty music; only baloney to eat; too cold and snowy for high heels; freezing rain at 3am.

What can I say, I've never much enjoyed NYE. This one promised to be especially wretched but with the help of some good friends, fireworks, booze, Prime Suspect and late night popcorn, it was not all that bad after all.

Here is my first vlog of 2007, DBCV13: Happy New Year, featuring the fireworks on the Burlington Waterfront:



Check out my pal Molly's shot by shot detailing of her pre-New Year's Eve Day with her drop dead gorgeous baby Ivo - seriously, what a dreamboat! Molly's blog post, lots of hot tea, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and knitting have managed to get me through this long New Year's Day.

Goodbye 2006

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Oscar Wilde

Well, the new year is almost upon us and it only seems fitting to think a little bit about 2006 before it passes us by for good. I can safely say that I learned a lot this year, took some chances, won some and lost some, thought some big thoughts, had some nice cuddles, cooked many meals, danced up a storm, sent many emails, edited a shitload of video content, started blogging and posting to YouTube and became a techno addict.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
Albert Einstein

The other day I was getting some papers signed at Champlain College in anticipation of my upcoming classes. I had that weird new student feeling, probably in part, because it has been over 10 years since I was last in school. I wasn't sure where the right building was or who was supposed to sign this piece of paper. I felt awkward and unsure and that felt sort of nice.

“To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.”

Confused, I ended up outside again facing down Main St from the middle of the hill. The sun was setting over the water and the little town of Burlington appeared straight out of a children's storybook. To be specific, it reminded me of the bustling town of Market Chipping from Diana Wynne Jone's book, Howl's Moving Castle.

I have a distant memory of this view, one so old and time worn that I am not even sure if it originates from a dream or an actual memory. For the many years that I've been absent from Burlington, I've remembered this hazy memory of this view and mused about it.

I sped along mazes of freeways and bridges, traversed BART trains and MUNI, watched the ocean ebb and flow - but there was always a special place in my heart for this view and for this town.

"Hope is the dream of a soul awake.”
French Proverb

And even if I am sometimes conflicted about being here, I had a positive moment of clarity standing on that hill looking out over my town. I know I am supposed to be here right now and I am glad to be here. It feels right.

And as 2007 rolls around, I have hope. Hope for a new year filled with exciting new challenges, struggles, lessons, learning, and experiences. Hope can be hard to come by. As years pass and life loses its youthful luster, it is sometimes hard to hold out for hope and a new day.

But looking out at this magical landscape, it is impossible not to feel hope. And I hope I have hope until the day I die. Because really what else is there?