2AM Traffic

For some reason I drank two cups of coffee at the diner after 8 tonight, so here I am.

I've also been thinking, as many are wont to do at this time of year. This time last year I was fast asleep in Europe about to celebrate New Year's Eve in the streets of Berlin, Germany, drunk as hell. Now I'm sitting in the living room of Andrea's apartment on Gloucester Street. I had no idea I would be here. I like that feeling.

I lived in three different apartments this year, pretty well dividing my year up into thirds. At the beginning of the year, I wondered about finding a place of my own, and about finding a job to keep myself afloat. My goal was to finish my final semester at U of T and do well. I spent the majority of those first four months debating whether or not I wanted to take my university education any further than the Masters level. I still haven't decided, but I know it won't happen immediately.

In April I flew to Vancouver and spent two and a half hours talking with Douglas Coupland, a man whose work I had admired for over a decade. The entire trip feels like a dream, as though I momentarily stepped completely out of reality. Our talk took place on the day of his father's retirement party. He had a head cold but was kind enough to entertain my questions. He picked clover from his garden and gave it to me. It was a tiny window of time that I'll always remember.

Then, Ottawa in May. I wondered endlessly about how the city had changed, and how things were going to be different. I moved into a room that had an enormous view of the downtown area, and I spent the next four months feeling removed, unsure of where I was going to plant my feet. Fate landed me a job at the Senate, late nights that saw me going to bed at 7 AM the next morning. I pulled my back out lifting a suitcase and it hasn't felt 100% since. In July, I volunteered at the Humber School for Writers as a classroom assistant, and reignited my passion for writing as a result.

When it came time to finally nail down a place I could call a more permanent home, I looked at a handful of places and chose the Flatcave, two blocks from Andrea's place. I've tried to turn it into a place that keeps me creative and also affords me a couch on which to lie for DVD marathons. I bought a couch. I bought a bed. I bought a TV. I tried to keep a plant alive in a room that doesn't get much sun.

I started recording music. I started writing songs again for the first time in about ten years. I read books and made a ton of coffee in my kitchen and switched to using a Mac for a desktop computer.

I lost my last remaining grandparent, and tried to support Andrea when she lost her grandpa. I went to a funeral and saw three couples get married. I played horseshoes and swam in Lake Huron against the waves. I saw the sun go down over the Pacific from Stanley Park, and I got high in a hostel in Amsterdam.

An eventful year, in retrospect. I think I can beat it. We'll see.