Happy Anniversary to Me

I began this blog one year ago today. I had a lot of deep thoughts about that earlier in the day, then somehow erased all of them.




I also haven't mastered digital photography in the last year. This picture was meant to be one of me in a big hat and sunglasses, but I erased that as well. This one is from yesterday in Central Park, listening to Seu Jorge at Summerstage.

It's hard not to view occasions like this as opportunities to reflect. What have I done in a year? I've had a few small triumphs at work, which I can't talk about (though a recent one, to give you a small hint, involved CNN), but I'm feeling frustrated and unfulfilled by my job. I want to be doing something in the world, something that will make a positive impact, and my job is more about keeping things going for other people who are out there making impacts, positive and negative.

I overcame my ambivalence and bought an apartment.

I went all Al Gore and gave up air conditioning. Luckily, my apartment seems to be its own little microclimate, 5 degrees cooler than outside.

I went on a lot of first dates.

I walked. I haven't been writing as much as I'd have liked, and I haven't been writing about walking as much as I'd have liked, but I am still walking, still getting off the bus a few stop early, taking a detour across the park, wandering around midtown at lunchtime. Still looking for shoes that aren't sneakers so that I can look a little nicer while I'm out there.

I'm still hanging out with Stuntmother, as I did today, as I have since we were children, and as I hope to do until we're well into our dotage. She was the one who encouraged me to start this blog, knowing that though I've written all my life, I find it impossible to finish anything and put it out into the world. This, she said, would be possible. And, a year later, I feel like it is.

Where I walked today: To Central Park to queue for tickets for Macbeth, only to find out that I needed to be there by 8am; down Broadway to various stores that were closed for the holiday; down Madison Avenue to look for the bridesmaid's outfit SM needs for her sister's wedding and to drink an iced coffee; to the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue to see just how cool it really is and get overwhelmed by the crowd; back to the west side to Borders, to buy King Leopold's Ghost and The Long Emergency (because, you know, I needed some light entertainment). Miles: ~3.5