Day 918: Year in Review – 2010

Wow… 2010.  The year of Gilliam… and to a lesser level… the year of Pakistan.  However, any which way you slice it, 2010 was truly remarkable and life changing.

That said, the year should probably be fresher in my mind than it actually is.  In fact… I can only remember two occasions with great clarity… and honestly, those are the only two memories I want to keep from that year.  They simply involve a ‘Hello’ and a ‘Goodbye’. 

But since the two very special boys involved these memories have birthdays just around the corner… I think I’ll wait until then so I can do both memories justice.  Come back January 31^st for ‘The Hello’ and February 10^th for ‘The Goodbye’.

As for the rest of the year?  Well, after exploring 9 years of rather depressing videos recapping the decade… I found one for 2010 that is amazingly creative and inspiring.  I love it!  Enjoy!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0QXB5pw2qE)

Day 915: Year in Review – 2009

Must like 2007, 2009 was another rest period for the folks behind SchutzHappens.  The three of us, Serena, Grayson, and I, pretty much spent the entire year settling into our lives in Belgrade… that is until we found out Gilliam had told God he wanted to be part of our family… which was quickly followed with the announcement of my next assignment… unaccompanied in Pakistan.

At which point, as you can imagine, the year started ramping up for 2010… which promised to be yet another legendary year.

As for Anderson Cooper?  Pop culture abounds yet again in CNN’s review of 2009… but then again… the King of Pop passed away, so that probably had something to do with it.  As for me… the ‘Miracle on the Hudson” defined the entire year.

Day 914: Year in Review – 2008

Well, as 2008 begins… it became obvious that 2007 wasn’t really a settling in year… but more of a break before the marathon began again. 

2008 marked the year we packed up our entire lives, joined the Foreign Service, moved to Washington DC… then moved to Belgrade, Serbia.  Incidentally, just before leaving Atlanta I launched SchutzHappens with a post titled “SchutzHappens 101”… and then on my first day in Washington, DC I followed with my second post simple titled “Day 1”.

In addition, my departure from Cobb County couldn’t have come at a better time.  Shortly after leaving, due to the economic crisis, the Cobb County Commissioners announced a hiring freeze that wrecked havoc on the already understaffed Cultural Affairs Division… two and a half years later, to the best of my knowledge… that hire freeze is still in place, even after forcing all employees eligible for retirement out the door.

Day 913: Year in Review – 2007

Honestly, 2007 was a bit of a blur for me.  In a lot of ways it was my settling in year.  I didn’t mention it before, but at the end of 2005 Cobb County promoted me for the second time… and as my good friend and colleague Nelah likes to point out… between March 2005 and August 2006 (just shy of a year and a half) I accomplished a series of life milestones:  first new car, new job, new wife, new baby, first new house, and as if that wasn’t enough… I also started Graduate School.

A couple years ago I read an article that described each of the above items as ‘life changing events’ and discouraged people from take on more than one of those events in a twelve month period.

Oops.

So yeah, 2007 was a settling in year for the whole family… and for that reason; the whole year is kind of a blur.  But, it doesn’t look like I missed too much.  Unlike Anderson Cooper’s previous disaster filled reviews… there seems to be a pop culture focus for 2007: Ann Nicole, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Harry Potter, The Sopranos, and the iPhone release. 

Well… one of the 11 million Harry Potter books mentioned in the video is sitting on my book case… so I guess I was a connected to 2007 just a little bit… and it’s also the year I applied for the Foreign Service.

Day 912: Year in Review – 2006

Well, while Anderson Cooper focuses his eye on those who passed in 2006… 

Much like 2005 was the year of Serena… 2006 was the year of Grayson.  2006 was the beginning of the wildest ride I have ever embarked on… even wilder that joining the Foreign Service.

It goes without saying that Grayson is very special to me.  Becoming a father was, bar none, the most profound thing that has ever happened to my life… and I don’t take the responsibility… or rather, HONOR, of fatherhood lightly.  It’s magical and wonderful, frustrating and tiresome… and no matter how defeated I can feel as a father… that feeling of failure is, somehow, equally rewarding.  It is an interesting dichotomy I’ll never truly understand, but will always appreciate.

Simply put, when you cut through all the horrible BS that ‘defined’ 2006… for me… it was the year I helped make my best friend, and for that I will always be grateful for the gift Serena gave me.

Day 909: Year in Review – 2005

You know how I said 2004 was the last year I associated my life with theatre productions I’ve worked on?  Well… that is partially true.  I actually started off the year in a four person musical called, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”  And, on March 6^th, 2005, about two weeks before opening night… I met Serena.

The play itself comically chronicles the lifecycle of love.  The first act is about coming of age and dating… and the second act is about marriage and parenthood.  After meeting Serena for the first time (maybe a week after we first met) my director, Nelah, looked at me and said, “Oh my God… your entering act two in real life!”… Needless to say, but Nelah (one of my many adopted moms) approved… and now she looks back on this play and claims that it actually conical my life  more than anything else… I guess it’s pretty poetic when I also tell you it’s the last time I’ve appeared on stage.

To give you an idea to what Nelah meant… here is a clip from Act 1 Scene 4 ‘Men Who Talk and the Women Who Pretend They're Listening’.  Although this isn’t from my production, I’m the ‘aerodynamic engineering’ guy… I also apologize for the spotty camera work, but this is the best version of this scene on YouTube (a website that was launched in 2005).  Also, if you make it to the end for the musical number ‘Why? Because I’m a Guy’, you won’t be disappointed.

Also in the first Act is this great scene titled ‘He Called Me’… although… when watching this scene you should reverse the roles and imagine me in the pajamas… but make them manly blue pajamas. 

Why? 

Well, I had a great time on my first date with Serena… I was really taken with her, but I didn’t get the ‘I’m interested’ vibe back from her.  And I also jumped the gun… I tried to plan our second date during our first date (horror!)… I invited her over to my place for dinner and a movie… and… well… at the end of our first date it was kind of awkward and Serena only offered me a hand shake… I walked away feeling pretty confident that I would never hear from Serena again.

The very next day… she called me:

So… that gives you a little flavor of the whole dating portion of the show… now for the final scene of Act 1: Wedding Vows.  I played the part of the groom… and keep in mind… Serena was in the audience.

 

Which brings us to Act 2… all about marriage… and my three musical numbers that Nelah says predicted the next phase of my life… I played the father/husband in all three:

Act 2, Scene 2: Whatever Happened to Baby's Parents?

Act 2, Scene 4: The Family that Drives Together...

 

Act 2, Scene: Shouldn't I Be Less In Love With You?

No… despite as it may seem from this post 2005 wasn’t “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’… it was simple the underscore.  2005 was the year I met Serena and my life changed for forever… for the better… and besides there being a lot of rain I don’t really remember anything else about that year.

Day 908: Year in Review – 2004

Well… in the Fall of 2004, Serena finished her assignment in Kenya, all the while dreaming of some dreamy guy who would sweep her off her feet in 2005.

Speaking of feet… for me, 2004 was all about playing Paul in ‘Barefoot in the Park’… if you haven’t figured it out by now, theatre folk have a tendency to associate time with the productions they worked on.  2004 also marked the last time I did that.

Starting in 1993 with ‘Balcony Scene’, for the next eleven years I associated time with productions.  1994 was ‘M*A*S*H’, 1995 was ‘MacBeth’, 1996 with ‘Glen Garry Glen Ross’,  1997 was ‘Last Supper, 1998 was ‘True West’ and ‘Angels in America’, 1999 was ‘America Hurrah’, 2000 was ‘MarsQuest’, 2001 was ‘Don’t Drink the Water’, 2002 was ‘Mona!’, 2003 was ‘It’s a Wonderful Life, and 2004 was ‘Barefoot in the Park’… as for 2005?  Well… you’ll have to wait for my next post for the answer to that one, but I’ll tell you this… I won’t be telling time through productions anymore.

Today I think I’ll let my man Conan give us the skinny on 2004:

Day 905: Year in Review – 2003

Man!  The Anderson Cooper special on 2003 is ultra depressing yet again… Time to recruit the talents of Jon Stewart.

But first, 2003 was actually a pretty nice year for me.  Work was good and I had started acting a lot more than I had in the previous two years.  I was called upon twice to replace actors who were fired less than two weeks prior to opening night: Quincy in ‘Dracula’ and George Bailey in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’.  As you can imagine, learning all of George Bailey’s lines and blocking (where I move on the stage) in such a short amount of time was pretty nerve racking… especially since the only time I left the stage was intermission.  Think what you will about me being in alone Pakistan… but nothing is more stressful or rewarding than taking stage under rehearsed and pulling it off… that’s the kind of stress that makes you feel alive.  Other than the theatre, I’ve yet to experience anything like it (expect for the time Serena, Grayson, and I narrow missed being involved in an accident with a tractor-trailer on I-75… but that’s a different story).

Anyway, it was really fun and in a lot of ways, theatrically speaking, I had finally settled back into the kind of reputation I had left behind in Charleston… back then I had a very similar experience stepping into the role of Louis in ‘Angels in America’ (a three hour play) two months into the rehearsal process, with only two weeks to go.  Then in Atlanta, without really trying, I had somehow regained my reputation of being dependable and good under pressure… a combination that doesn’t always go together in the theatre world.  It felt really good.

But enough about me… I bet you’re wondering what Serena is up to during this time.  Well… I neglected to mention in my 2002 review, but Serena had joined the Peace Corp as a Small Enterprise Development volunteer in Kenya, a two and a half year commitment.  By 2003 she had finished her training, was fluent in Kiswahili and was working on a USAID funded project aimed at natural resource conservation and management, looking specifically at indigenous resources and methods of using the resources to generate income while supporting conservation efforts… but it was her stories about being attacked by a hippo and an elephant that stole my heart.

Take it away Jon (Sorry, the embedded link wasn't working:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-november-9-2009/decade-in-review---2003

Day 903: Year in Review – 2002

Arg!  What a horrible year!  At least the 2001 video reminded me of some nice things… but the video for 2002?  Well… at least there was Hallie Berry’s Oscar win.  If you haven’t seen ‘Monster’s Ball’ you need too.  It’s a rough movie and there is a sex scene more uncomfortable than the one in ‘Brokeback Mountain’… but Hallie’s performance, alongside Peter Boyle, Billy Bob Thornton, and Health Ledger is nothing less than astonishing. 

And you know?  I realize that a lot of people think I am goofy when it comes to my obsession or take on entertainment.  I find entertainment a very interesting escape for people… and frankly, when times are tough in the more unlikely things happen in the entertainment world that captivates people and gives them hope.  As goofy as it sounds… in 2002, we needed ‘American Idol’ and we needed someone to root for… we needed Kelly Clarkston.  There was something oddly special about the first season of ‘American Idol’… the show itself is a bizarre mix of escapism and reality… it was just what we needed at the time.

Anyway, here is what 2002 looked like from where I stood:

Day 901: Year in Review - 2001

To be completely honest, I don’t have a lot to say about 2001. It was a really strange year for me.


2001 was the year I pulled myself together and the year the whole world seemed to fall apart around me.


After a dismal 2000, professionally, that part of my life really turned around in 2001. However, once September 11th happened… having a job or not having a job seems pretty trivial. In fact… besides getting my first real job with benefits and 9/11… Off the top of my head, I couldn’t think of anything else that happened in 2001.


Well, unless you count ‘Gladiator’ winning best picture over ‘Traffic’ (Travesty!) But those movies were actually released in 2000, so they don’t count for a hill of beans in my mind.
So… I started searching for Year End Review videos online and stumbled across a series Anderson Cooper did on CNN. They are really simple and well done… and unlike other 2001 review videos it talks about a lot more than just 9/11… because well… at least Harry Potter gave us something to look forward to in 2001:

Day 895: A Decade In Review, Part 1

Wow.  Can you believe it?  Another year over.  Heck, another DECADE over!

Yes, I’m one of those annoying time keeping purists.  Saying things like ‘the 60s’ or ‘the 90s’ may be fun… but their misleading.  Decades don’t begin on years that are factors of ten… no… they END on those years.  The end of 2010 marks the close of a decade (a standard measure of time).

And yes, I was also one of those annoying bastards who back in 1999/2000 felt compelled to say, “Hmmm… yes, the Y2K bug is interesting, however, I will celebrate the end of the Millennium next year, thank you very much!”

But regardless of it all… it has been such a CRAZY year… and such a CRAZY decade for the folks here at SchutzHappens.  To think, at the start of 2001 I had only been out of undergrad for seven months and I was still trying to find steady work… doing something… anything!  2001 was actually the year I started at Cobb County.  At the same time Serena joined the Peace Corp and moved to Kenya.  We finally met Serena in 2005.  We became parents in 2006.  Joined the Foreign Service in 2008… which brings us to 2010…

It’s really hard to believe that we started 2010 in London… where Serena and I became parents for the second time.  (BTW: Gilliam started walking for reals last week… so calk that one up to another 2010 milestone for the Schutz Family).

Then, after London we were back to Belgrade, then Charleston, Atlanta, Washington DC, Islamabad, and back to Belgrade… This year, I haven’t lived in one city longer than four and a half months… and that just feels crazy to think about… and that’s what I do… I think about crazy things… so… I think it would be fun to do a series on ‘A Decade in Review’.

Now, it’s going to take me a while to get situated back in Pakistan, so I will still have the periodic random video to kill time… but I will also post my own little SchutzHappens perspectives on the last decade… I think it will be a lot of fun to look back and reflect a little.

And I promise… Once I am situated, I will finish ‘The Chair’… that is my resolution to you.  Working out more is my resolution to all the carbs and unhealthy food I was eating last year.

Happy New Year Everyone!