I thought that after finishing the Dec. 1 deadline applications, I would have all this free time to clean my apartment, blog, practice, and be a generally productive human being.  That is totally not how it turned out.  The laundry that had piled up did not get washed all at once, but I instead washed one load at a time, depending on what I needed that week most, and the pile has been steadily maintaining itself.  My apartment is in a similar state; instead of one day of whirlwind scrubbing, I clean one thing a day, whichever one bothers me the most.  And then there was work.  Since I’d been sick over Thanksgiving, I hadn’t actually caught up on sleep -just getting enough sleep to not be sick anymore- so I was still tired for the first 6AM day in December.  And then I was in Michigan.  And then I got back and worked a lot of days since everyone else was out of town. My life is so hard, I know :) And now it’s New Year’s Eve, and I’m still wondering what happened to December.  

Doing these types of reflections is always cliche, but I like to do them.  And not just like, need, to remind myself that I’m not failing at life, and that making money is overrated.  No matter how I look at it, 2013 was a good year for me.  It’s the first year I was completely out of school.  It’s the year I got to play music with a lot of amazing people, and do some amazing things.  It’s the year I started playing with my sourdough starter and became used to fresh bread all the time.  But I think the most amazing thing about this year, is that I’ve learned how to be an adult.  My life finally slowed down enough that I can form intelligent opinions about things that are important to me.  I know what music I like, (mostly, until I find something that changes my whole perspective, again), I know what issues are important to me, I know what I want to do, (for the next year, maybe two), and I know a little bit about who I am as a musician and artist.  

I’m looking forward to 2014.  This year, (and maybe the next few years) are great years to be young.  I’m not talking about the economy, or the state of our world.  I’m talking about just being young and free and being able to choose who I’ll be, shape a career I love, to do things because I want to, not because I have to.  Maybe I’ll finally get to quit my day job ;)