Gregorian New Year
After leaving Solomon Schechter Day School, and before I met Rick Recht and was introduced to this whole Jewish Rock thing, my Jewish and secular identities had little to do with one another, save for when I was forced, full of embarrassment, to admit to my teachers and coaches that I would be absent for holidays. I’m not sure if that embarrassment I felt as I approached my teachers was a product of the anti-semitic remark that my sister and I fell victim to at our day camp in Kansas City, or if it was just part of the usual desire to fit in. Either way, Rick was a great example to me of being proud of who you are and of wearing your heart on your sleeve. Rick was, and is, a great example of a cool American Jew, not an American and a Jew. So while it may well work more cleanly in my previous “isolated identity” incarnation to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and the “civil” new year, it makes more perfect sense now.
Like most people, and E! or whatever other similar media, before looking forward to 2010 (which I am) it’s important to look back on 2009. Despite a complete pileup at the finish line, including close friends and family falling ill, losing jobs, etc …there were some highlights.
-Katie, who so many of you helped through Be The Match, is healthy and well!!!
You should still join the donor list at Join.marrow.org!!!
-Light up Shabbat, my third album was released
-In My Shoes, Hadar’s debut album was also released (see Hadar below…looks like we need to take out the trash!!!)
-We bought our first apartment
-I met my Father’s Mother’s family for the first time in my life
-Sang the National Anthem and G-d Bless America for the Trenton Thunder
Harking back almost 10 years, I remember my senior year of high school, sitting in Dennis Lane’s marketing class and reviewing Danny’s “Stuff To Do” list…what most people would call a bucket list (bucket being less syllables and a better option than his resulting acronym). As I recall, Danny carried his list wherever he went for at least a couple weeks, making certain edits, or crossing certain things off the list. I only remember some of the items that made the final cut, some of which I’m not willing to share, and some of which are still on my personal list. But seeing as I’ve never put my list down on paper, and in celebration of the earth making yet another complete revolution around the sun, I give you my “Stuff To Do for 2010 and Beyond” list. Some are short term goals, some are more long term, and they are in no particular order.
Jump out of an airplane
Scuba
Meet Paul McCartney
Meet Eric Clapton
Successfully strut leather pants
Visit my Grandfather’s childhood home and neighborhood in Vienna
Travel to Ipanema, India, China, Japan, Galapagos, Chile, Korea, Egypt
Win the Lottery
Ride in a fighter jet
Watch the last season of Lost, then watch them all over again!
Find the perfect Cab Sav
Learn Piano
Learn Hebrew and Spanish fluently
Land a backflip
Enter space
Make my Toyota commercial
Hang out with Seth Rogan, Will Ferrell, and Jack Black at the same time
Start an organization as impactful as Greg Mortenson’s CAI
Be in a scripted film
Do the luge (or bobsled as a close second)
Hang up the picture frames in our apartment
Run a marathon
Get a reservation at Rao’s
Meet Barack Obama
Find the cures for cancer and AIDS
Looking back on this list, it seems pretty lame…I feel like making excuses like, I’m forgetting some big ones, or I thought of a lot of others but they either go without saying (ie eating lunch at Dakshin today), or didn’t seem epic enough to actually write down (ie immortality). Let’s just say I’ll try to add and hopefully check things off of this list…In the meantime, here’s to a happy and healthy 2010!