Well my Internet friends (and frenemies), this year has just a little bit more to go and then wham! 2014 arrives. It’s real weird to think that 2013 ever even started (wasn’t the world supposed to end a year ago?), or that we’re well past a decade into this century. The 90s were over ten years ago, and that doesn’t make a lick of sense. That aside, 2013 to me seemed an abstract and throwaway year, and as such I find myself clutching for crazy fun and weird times before that moment on December 31 where people will ask me, “So, what’d you do this year?”
True, there were a few heartbreaks and a couple silly drunken moments, but to be honest, nothing to brag or solemnly slobber over. I’m not really that aged a human, but the years are starting to mold into one gelatinous mess. That being said, hope is not lost, my Internet brethren. There are still many ways to harvest nonsensically awesome and rad events in one’s life in the shadowy cruise into the murky waters of doom.
So, a checklist for the year, I say! First, have you traveled at all this year, friends? Have you eaten at least one dish that still plays flavor chords on your tongue? Have you had your feelings super squished but gotten over whatever garbage instilled that sense of world-endiness? Have you walked in nature and just found silence (without pot)?
If you’ve done none of these things, get on it, my fine, feathered comrades. Traveling is awesome, and should be part of every yearly bucket list. You don’t have to traverse an ocean or anything; a simple drive to a different town or city suffices (but epic trips to Europe and Asia or even the moon are smiled upon). And think about how rad it is to picture a particular steak and just simmer in its meaty, remembrance juices. That’ll heal that heartbreak you most certainly have and are clinging to even though keeping such bad feelings safeguarded is unnecessary pain and suffering.
That last thing, too, is rather important. How often do you simply exist and understand how awesome that is? I know fundamentally doing that is against my credo of leaving the everyday world and jumping out of planes and stuff, but in all likelihood you’re not gonna get a chance to travel to some exotic locale every year, and sometimes a perfect steak hides from you. So, for those who put too much pressure on themselves to do these advisable but sometimes sparse things, enjoy the moments of quiet (like, next to a river or something).
At the end of the year, if all you want to tell people about has to do with vacations and big events of emotional turmoil, you may have missed really sweet days and weeks (and that one month maybe) where nothing at all (like, the comfortable absence of stuff) becomes excellent. One of my favorite parts of this year was probably a lovely walk from work to home when I saw a shop that happened to have artisanal meats and junk. And I ate well, my friends, but only after a sweet adventure of walking in my day-to-day environment. Find that balance, friends, of crazy nonsense and quotidian pleasures, and you’ll have some satisfying things to say to the jerkbag (maybe me!) who asks about 2013. 2014 is coming, kids, and you can’t let it stomp all over the year previous.
