Well, it's that time again. I've written about the best in movies and music from 2009, but now, as is tradition, it's time to take a broader look back at the year that was. I mean, hey, what's the point of a blog if you can't use it for a little introspection now and then ...
For me, 2009 started off with a bang. A year ago at this time, I was in Israel - my first time ever! - having a blast while participating in Birthright Israel. I call this blog my All-New, All-Awesome Adventures, and my trip to Israel certainly fit that bill. My Birthright trip was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I am both lucky to have participated and thankful that I took advantage of the chance to take part. I won't spend time here recapping the trip - I did that in pretty exhaustive detail upon returning to The States last January - but, I will say that not only was it a life-changing journey, but I also got the chance to meet many great new people from right here in LA. And when I think about highlights from throughout '09, many involve hanging out with the new friends I met on my LA Way Israel trip. Suffice it to say, 2009 couldn't have possibly started out on a more exciting note. In fact, it's hard to believe it's already been a year since Israel.
2009 started out with an adventure for the books, so I guess it was inevitable that it'd be hard for the following months to live up to that milestone. At work, it definitely felt like an uncertain time. The economy continued to be abysmal throughout '09, and the end of '08 saw a lot of layoffs and cutbacks. Luckily though, I continued at NBCU, and was even given a promotion in the Fall - say hello to Danny Baram: Manager. It was rewarding to be acknowledged, especially so as I approached four years working for Digital Distribution. It's hard to believe, I know. It still feels like just yesterday that I was a proud member of the NBC Page Program, dutifully chronicling my early adventures in showbiz on this here blog. And sure, there've been times where it feels like things are getting a bit too stagnant. Especially here in LA, where it feels like you've got to evolve or die. Move up or move out. Go big or go home.
At the same time, my life here in LA got some interesting new twists this year. My brother moved here in late Summer, and himself became an NBC Page. It's still all a bit surreal to me, but I guess LA is big enough for more than one Baram. Sure, it means that the NBC Pages I help to interview for Digital Distribution come in having heard stories of the epic Baram brothers' baksetball rivalry ... but I just have to remind them that my brother's accounts of certain events tend to be slightly exaggerated (or at least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it).
Somehow, I feel like I've seen my family more in this past year than I had in a while. There was more "quality family time" than I knew what to do with. I visited Connecticut in April, October, and December. There were family visits to LA. Somewhere in between, my dad campaigned for a vacant seat in the CT State Legislature, and won, becoming a CT State Rep. There was sad news as well though - my grandmother on my dad's side, Norma Baram, passed away after battling several ongoing health issues. It was a sad occasion, and it's been strange going back to CT these last few trips without taking our usual day trip up to Boston to visit our grandma.
In the late summer, I started doing physical therapy on my ankle to work out the kinks from an old sprain that never quite healed correctly. This wouldn't be worth mentioning, except to note that somehow, this therapy resulted in one of my more awkward birthdays in recent memory. During one of my sessions, I screwed up my right calf and was in some of the worst pain I've ever experienced - I couldn't walk or put any pressure on my right leg. I tried to gut it out for my birthday and ended up hobbling around Universal Citywalk. I'm grimacing just thinking about it, but luckily, after a week or two I was back to normal. In fact, I was feeling good in time for October and Halloween season, which has become an absolutely epic time of year since moving to LA. October 2009 saw yet another successful trip to Knott's Scary Farm, another howlingly fun Horror Movie Marathon, and yet another annual Halloween bash in Pasadena.
Halloween wasn't the only exciting time of the year in 2009. Ever since moving to LA, I've been lucky to attend some really kick-ass concerts, and this year was no exception. In July, I got an out-of-the-blue invite to see Rise Against and Rancid in concert, which was a great time. Later on, in August, I saw one of the best, most epic shows I have ever seen, when I saw Green Day live and at the height of their rockstar powers. I had seen Green Day once before several years back, but this was seriously on a whole other level - just incredible.
And those weren't the only summer highlights. Of course, I have to mention our annual trip to San Diego for Comic-Con, which was once again off-the-chain. Sure, there was the occasional bump in the road during the trip (lost cell phones, anyone?), but whether it was early glimpses at movies like Avatar or partying it up in the streets of San Diego, it was another amazing and memorable trip. Other memorable summer outings? How about hitting up The OC Superfair - a crazy day to be sure. Or how about going to the Cirque Berzerk - a strange but entertaining night of bigtop fun. In fact, there were all kinds of fun times in 2009. Birthdays, reunions, goodbyes, great movies, not-so-great movies, TV nights, video game marathons, basketball games, tennis matches, and many a trip to Menchies. I fulfilled a childhood fantasy and attended E3 in LA, went to a swanky Microsoft premiere party, attended the now-legendary Betty Miller retirement bash, and saw Sting fight for the world title at UC Irvine. Not too shabby, says I.
I alluded to this before, but when I think about what made 2009 such a fun year overall, I think about all the cool new people I've met, along with the old friends I got to have new adventures with. It was a strange year in that some of my good friends left California to start new chapters. And I also regret that there were east coast friends who I didn't get the chance to see this year, even if Facebook and such makes it easier than ever to keep tabs on what everyone is up to. It's hard to see everyone and do everything you'd like to in a given year, but hey, I at least made a go of it. I hung out with Chris A in LA, Aksel in San Diego, and Bradd K in West Hartford. I saw Stephanie P. in CT, and KC at Comic-Con and Knotts. I ran into random K-O classmates, had old friends who were new to LA, and had a decent number of celebrity sightings to boot.
And yet ... I am determined to make 2010 bigger and better. Every so often this past year, I hinted that it felt like the end of an era. And in some ways, it was. But in other ways, sometimes I felt like it was more of the same old, same old. So here is where I declare that, in 2010, the other shoe drops, baby. And I mean that in the best possible way. I want to shake things up, make an impact, and kick some ass. So watch out, keep reading, and stay tuned.
Happy New Year - hope everyone has an amazing 2010.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment