In response to all the 2016-shaming I've seen on the interwebs (which in turn seems to have resulted in some shaming of the 2016 shamers ['cause, you know, that's how the interwebs work]), I want to be sure to rave about the sixteen best things from *my* year -- and also because it's an annual tradition for me (this is the seventh! list).
Consistent with the way things have been presented in the past, the list will be alphabetical and is as follows:
1.) BIKING: I'm on a long term weight loss journey, and after my attempts at jogging in 2015 led to a knee doctor telling me I was going to have to lose weight some other way before my knees would permit me to lose weight by jogging, I ended up back on a bike for exercise -- a place I hadn't been since I was regularly on a bike for actual transportation before I had a car back in the early 90's. I am happy to report that the time away didn't matter, as that whole "it's like riding a bike" thing is actually spot on.
2.) BOOK SALE: Guess who found a local annual "friends of the library" book sale, where hardcovers are only $1 (and it's buy 4, get 1 free) and paperbacks are only a quarter? Guess who's going to need a new bookshelf before too long? (The answer is "me" ... to both questions.)
3.) CASANOVA and OZZIE: It was the third year raising two rescued pit bulls (one with allergies and the other with anxiety [and only 3 legs and a "wing" ... but that doesn't really stop him from doing much of anything]). I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure it's the reason "work from home" was invented.
4.) CHERRY CHERRY WHISKEY SOUR: When I was young, I was a proficient bar crawler. Now that I'm not as young, it's more likely that the drinks will happen at home once a week or so -- and the specific drink of the night is going to be a cherry whiskey sour with a splash of cherry juice and two to three cherries. You know what? It's a lot less expensive, too!
5.) ELECTION SEASON: Admittedly, it was a bit unpresidented all around (and it looks like it's going to stay that way for some time). Things could get serious really quickly in the new year, but until the nuclear war starts, I'll stand by my statement that it sure was fun to watch it all come together/fall apart. Plus I now live in a contested state, so although all votes matter, it felt like mine might have mattered a little more than all those years living in Chicago.
6.) FIFTY TASTES OF FLORIDA: I've been doing this writing thing for so long now that every now and then, I have to change it up just for the heck of it ... and this year, that meant that the "Random Thought for Thursday" became a "Random Taste for Thursday" instead, with one new eating establishment to review each week of the year. Having completed all fifty meals, I have to say we had a blast (and we will continue in 2017 with fifty more new places to eat).
7.) ICE CUBE TRAYS: Sometimes it' s the simple things -- and the ice cube trays needed to be replaced this year. The first attempts were too cheap -- and snapped into pieces the first time I tried to break out the cubes. But that second set, though: perfect cubes, every time. There were *other* good things that happened this past year, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit as to how happy they make me feel.
8.) JOHN GUARE: My acting "career", such as it was, started my freshperson semester of college with a role in 'House of Blue Leaves'. Thanks to a presentation at a local university here in Florida, I got to meet the playwright AND he graciously signed my cast poster. Good things come to those who wait ... and to those who hang on to their college stuff twenty seven years and counting.
9.) MATTHEW, THE HURRICANE: Three years I've been a Floridian -- and the storm named Matt was the closest I came to getting to experience an actual hurricane EXCEPT I was out of town when it showed up and EXCEPT it decided to skip our part of Florida for landfall further up north anyway.
10.) MOVIE WEEKENDS: I've previously disclosed that "my name is Troy ... and I'm a television addict", but this year I took it up a notch and devoted some of that tv time to movies (almost always at home curled up on the couch with the puppies) with #superherosaturdays and #stephenkingsundays. I'm a man on a mission ... and I've made tremendous progress.
11.) MULCH: I may also be addicted to mulch. To be fair, the back yard can't have dirt patches in it because of Casanova's allergies ... and the three attempts at sod (in ever smaller amounts) all failed. So if I get my jollies on the weekends getting four bags and spreading it around over and over again again ... so what?
12.) MURDER, THE CAT: She was the only one who lived in PA, Chicago AND Ft Lauderdale -- which is what happens when you live a good long seventeen years or so. This year, she passed, and although that's sad, the best part is of all the memories we have of her ... 'cause that way she lives forever.
13.) OCTOBER TRAVELS: In a car, up the coast, through Greenville and Charlotte in the Carolinas plus Blacksbug and then into western PA, across the center of the state down to my alma mater and back down the coast through DC and Chapel Hill and Jacksonville. All in all, it was eight states in eight days (or more like 16 states since I was in almost all the states more than once) and the itinerary wasn't as important as all the people I got to see along the way. If I missed you this time, I 'll be back in Sep 2018 (mark your calendars now) ...
14.) SIGNING A 2 YEAR LEASE: Little did we know that negotiating when we re-signed in March would pay off ... when the landlord's father put the house up for sale in the last few months of the year. Although an offer came in, when you factored in our timeline and the amount of money we needed to buy out the lease, the offer was pulled and the house is no longer for sale. Some decisions pay off dividends in ways you couldn't predict.
15.) WALT/DOLLY: Sometimes, vacation comes to you. At least, that's how we feel when Walt and Dolly come for their annual stay in the winter. We're all getting older, so we don't have quite as many activities as when they used to come to visit us in Chicago, but it's still a chance to go to the fair ... or to go out to eat a few times ... or to just stay home and play cards. Plus, as tradition dictates, it always includes my annual birthday dinner at a steakhouse ... so there's that.
16.) YOU: It takes this honorary position every year at the end of my best of list (I'm not sure what's going to happen if I ever have a best something or other that starts with a Z), and that's for a specific reason. Whether I managed to actually see YOU this year in my travels, or whether I just followed along with what YOU do on the Facebook, rest assured that my life is better because YOU are in it. If ever there was a time to remember that YOU and I are in this together, it's now. Thank YOU for being YOU -- and here's to YOU (and me) having the best new year ahead!
OF COURSE THEY'RE ON MY BEST OF LIST:
https://www.facebook.com/thecasanovajames/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
OF COURSE I HAD A GREAT TIME WITH THIS:
https://www.facebook.com/troy.neidermyer/media_set?set=a.10204145370194844.1073741843.1843633569&type=3
OF COURSE I WAS THERE WHEN JOHN GUARE CAME TO TOWN:
http://capcognition.blogspot.com/2016/01/random-scandal-sheet-for-sunday-13116.html
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