Let's See How Far We've Come 2013: The Year in Review

I did this last year, and I want to do it again before the javascript powering the bottom right copyright thing switches over to 2014 (I figured out how to do that this year, so that's something).  Nevertheless, I want to review the year, because a lot happened.

I didn't write a Christmas Letter this year, which I regret, but honestly I ran out of time. However, the line I borrowed last year from last year's letter holds true this year yet again:

This year was a challenge to see how full a schedule could be, and how much we could change.

January brought a bunch of posts inspired by song lyrics. It also brought Rick Sebak following me in Twitter, and seeing The Chief at the O'Reilly. Yes, I am a Pittsburgh nerd.

February brought the first 2013 Carnegie Elementary Talent Show, as well as TEDxGrandviewAve. It also brought the end to one of my Pittsburgh idols, Peter McKay,'s column in the Post-Gazette. Since then, I've attempted to emulate his style in a combination with Tom Bodett's.

March brought on some sort of philosophical nonsense I can't exactly justify. I was in the midst of that pre-musical funk mixed with a workload I never fully caught up with.

April brought 9 to 5, my second stage production. I also got my driving permit. To those asking me why I didn't try out for 2014's musical, click here.

May brought the second ReimagiNATION, and the goats incident.

June brought liberation from my sophomore year. It also brought the Three Rivers Arts Festival and yet another adventure into the city. (To only some people this will make sense:) we lost Millie, and Dakota. I got kicked out of the high school for the first time, and I went to a drive-in theater.

July brought Fourth of July up at Camp, and I celebrated 4 years of posting here. July also brought Bishop Daniel to Slickville and my father to the rank of Very Reverend. I was published by the UOW, and Signal Item.

August introduced me to the fantastic Spring Standards, and yet another subtle reminder of how much I love photography. It also brought yet another journey to the mythical land of Delmarva (again, it's NOT REAL!). It also brought with it the adventure that was the Baltimore Fender Bender and the start of my Junior Year.

September brought the start to my second year as announcer for the Carlynton Marching Band. It also brought me auditioning for Arsenic and Old Lace, an audition which led to a callback which led to me playing Teddy. It brought the second Powder Puff Game and it brought, wait for it.... wait for it.... THE GIANT RUBBER DUCK!!!!

His All-Yellowness

October brought the end to the Pirates's first winning season in TWENTY YEARS! *party popper* as well as a playoff game *noisemaker* all in view of the duck *fireworks*. It also brought Homecoming, and my first visit to Point Park University.

November brought the first set build I have ever attended, and the busiest month I can remember in a while that I couldn't exactly describe. I helped with the Carnegie Talent Show (yes again, twice in one year, yay!). We brought Arsenic to the elementary schools, and I was interviewed in the Signal Item.

December brought Arsenic and Old Lace. It brought near-end (it still functions, just not very well) of my $5 Yard Sale Camera, and an adventure into the city. It brought me the next chapter of my photography, I presume, with the acquisition of a DLSR camera as well as the realization that 2013 was one fantastic year.

All of the tickets from events I attended in 2013 - minus Arsenic, the Choral/Band Concerts at both CHS and the one at Bethel Park. Note the Bowling Wristbands and Wedding Singer Ticket.

I signed off last year with the proclamation: "I plan on writing by the way until at least 2015. From there only time will tell, but that seems to me to be a tad far off." One year from now, this year-in-review post will be halfway through my senior year of high school. It will be the last review before 2015, you know, the year I graduate and the year this blog is all about: my road to 2015.

To everyone that keeps up with this; reads this blog, thank you. During this same review on 31 December 2012 I said I had nearly 7500 pageviews, with like 100something posts. As of this post, this is post 212, with 12,500something pageviews. That's 5,000 views in one year. I cannot fathom that and have nothing to say but thanks.

I'm Moving Slowly for I Dare Not Want to Cause Alarm

(Alternatively Titled "I've got that Summertime, Summertime Anti-Sadness" I don't know what I was going for though. End Parenthesis.)

So I sort of misled you in that my last post I alluded to having been done with vacation. But I was actually in Delaware at the time, enjoying the last few days/hours of my vacation. The following day I took a ferry to Cape May New Jersey from Lewes, Delaware where I took this picture of a picture of Chris Christie:

If you look closely, you can see someone's lipstick on the lovely face of Chris Cristie. Inspiring.

I just thought I'd share that with you. Cape May was quite lovely, and pictures from there and the adventures following that will be up on Flickr in the coming weeks... Sorry, I'm bad at that.

Then we went back to Delaware and the following morning set back for Pittsburgh. I already wrote about taking road trips, but I had absolutely no idea of what happened roughly 30 hours after I hit publish. I was navigating shotgun, getting ready to circumnavigate Baltimore, when we got into a crash. Well, it was a fender bender, but being about 5 feet from the majority of the damage shook me up quite a bit, I'm just very glad I wasn't driving at the time.

But I'm not going to ramble on that, we got back into Pittsburgh on a Sunday (with thankfully no delays, yay! Seven hours in a car FTW!) and I started junior year on that Wednesday.

One of the things that comes inherently with this cycle is readjustments. And it's hard to adjust to new courses, and to at least two people I've met this week, it means adjusting to a whole different world. Because let's face it, each high school is it's own little world. But for the first time in a long time, I adjusted, and for some reason like zenned out (is that a word? I don't know...) which I think is fantastic. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come.

That Friday I came up with a crazy idea which I'll probably announce sometime this week, and we had the first football game of the season.

It was wild to be back in an announcer's booth to again announce the band. Even though I'm scripted, I still love the feeling of it. And what was even weirder was that when the band started marching, nothing happened but cadence. However, as soon as I said "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN please welcome to the field YOUR 2013-2014 Carlynton Golden Cougar Marching Band!" everyone cheered. And that's awesome too. And to top it off I spent the weekend at camp.

So it was a week of strange contrasts from ferries to tall ships; from DelMarVa to New Jersey; from DelMarVa to Pittsburgh; a beach to an announcer's booth.

This coming Friday is an away game at Clairton, and Saturday brings the CHS Festival of Bands, which you should totally come to and listen to me help emcee, or perhaps come for the fireworks, and the fantastic bands. It's 7PM at Honus Wagner. More details on a site I worked on: carlyntonband.org. Click the graphic on the home page for more info.

T-Minus 25 Days Until the GIANT DUCK!!!

But What a View from the Fifty Ninth Street Bridge

An alternative title is "Of Sandcastles, Roadmaps and" there's a third thing, but I couldn't think of it when I sat down to post. Add whatever you want there.

So I didn't write last week, and that was because I was on a 400ish mile adventure on our (my family and I's) way to vacation in Delaware. Roadtrips are interesting things: the basic premise is that you have a long road that you need to get over in order to go someplace that you're not.

Due to my knack for remembering things like addresses and memorizing routes, I end up playing navigator to get there. And it can get stressful, very stressful when I was put in the back of the car and barking directions to circumnavigate around Baltimore, but we get there nevertheless.

When I was little, I used to think my life was just one ridiculously long reality television series (this is what television did to me, which is part of the reason I don't watch it much anymore. The other reason? Because, internet.). Part of that crazy idea was that when we got in the car, the stuff that ran by wasn't really there. I would sit in a car for an hour or whatever and when I got out, the sets would have changed to the point where I was 'someplace else'.

The reality hit me around age 6 or so that such a thought was ridiculous. Though at times I wish that I was still in that. Take for example last year when I first crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge spanning from Annapolis to the nonexistent peninsula that is DelMarVa. The reality that cruise ships (gigantic things from what I've seen) can pass under this thing without problem is sort of unnerving. It also helps this time when we had to go in the opposite direction (something having to do with rush hour and EZ-Pass) as everyone else on the particular part of the bridge that we were on. I'm just glad I wasn't driving for that part.

Once we got over onto DelMarVa, I can say that I've officially driven (that's proper use, right?) in two states: Pennsylvania and Delaware.

So part of the adventure of vacations is checking out the local television networks and comparing them with back home. Last year I was introduced to Captain Willie Dykes and the crew of DelMarVa ' s (a made up word combining Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) news leader WBOC-16.

Oh My. So yeah, though we may grumble back in the burgh about little quirks at TAE, Channel 11 and the Special K, nobody has the weekly adventure that is OUTDOORS DELMARVA. It's really something else. Check it out sometime.

But I wasn't in nonexistent DelMarVa to critique local news, I was there to build sandcastles and take pictures of stuff. Though I haven't finished looking through everything yet, I will post everything eventually to my flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexanderpopichak) and will share this gem from Ocean City, Maryland:

It's the pleasantville effect... Click for larger

The thing about vacations is that, as Wikipedia puts it: A vacation or holiday is a specific trip or journey, usually for the purpose of recreation or tourism. In essence, it's an adventure for no great reason but to live.

And I think in a larger sense people take vacations in order to appreciate their hometown more. I know that the beach is great (and so is the ocean and the rest that comes along with it) but nothing compares to being home, which when googling to find some deep and profound definition, I realized that I was seriously about to google what home is.

Alright, new posts eventually. Summer ends for me sometime next week, so I may be spotty when it comes to posting for the first week or so.

And then I realize it's a Thursday, not a Friday. Oy vey.