New Year's Eve 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEXEXjeh29k
As I usually do at the beginning of a new year, I am looking back at what made 2008 the year that it was. Often times I remember mostly a lot of shows that I was either a part of or attended...just trivial things. This year was quite different in having experienced a death in the family that was not only unexpected but very close. It is one thing when a distant relative dies; it is a whole other story when it is your Uncle who though you only see once every year or so, is someone you were close to and anticipated seeing in June but that would never come after a fateful day in March.
Throughout 2008 I filmed a lot of stuff and worked to get better at filming and editing.
Before all that happened though there was the beginning of the year and a party with some old friends in Apple Valley. When I moved to Cincinnati in 2007, I knew that the friends in that area and further north wouldn't be people I would see a whole lot of due to the rising gas prices and the distance so I thought this would be a fun time to see them and it was. I don't know if anything from this day lead to a surprising turn later in the year or not but either way it was an enjoyable way to ring in 2008 and expend some of the fireworks I still had (and still have to use up). On New Year's Day I made the trip back to Cincinnati so I could watch the Winter Classic and got to see the Penguins win. Sometime in the next week or so I began work on the Cornerstone 2007 project because I had a deadline for March to get it done so many of my evenings were devoted to working through all that footage.
In January, I attended a meeting with the Southwestern Ohio District Church Of The Nazarene to ask for further support for the coming year. That meeting proved productive as Covenant was granted support and my friends Abe & Joni could take on a part time salary. Later in the month we did some outreach to the neighborhood with bags of salt and flashlights. I continued working with Covenant all of this year and plan to continue for the foreseeable future. I also continued working with SupportCare with mentally handicapped folks and it was at this time of year that my schedule changed from having to work on Thursday evenings to Sunday & Monday evenings. In general that has worked out pretty well but working second shift is never very convenient.
Throughout January & February I continued to volunteer with the Underground. I debated leaving with my friends on what would be the last day for them but was not sure. All I knew for sure was the demeanor at the place changed drastically once the Human's made a choice to leave it behind and that change did not feel like a good thing to be a part of. The person who would be making the decisions on whatever the new direction might be did not seem to have any idea what that new direction was so at that point I made the decision I would probably leave with the rest. The guy then met with me and gave me a little hope for the future so I considered sticking around. I went to a Flogging Molly show on Valentine's Day. It was an interesting event in its entirety. Flogging Molly played an in-store down the street from my apartment prior to the show later that evening. Earlier in February, I made a drive to Cleveland to see my friends Jon & Mandy of Travelogue do a show on a weekend. I also hung out with other friends like Gregor and Kristina.
It was in March that the year became one that will never be forgotten. We held Yeshua Fest at Covenant which would be the only show of the year. It was intended to be a fundraiser. I finished the Cornerstone project before the deadline I had set. Gregor Reynolds was to come down from Cleveland to record a commentary the same weekend as Autobahn Music Festival. The week leading to this everything seemed ready to make it happen then a blizzard came in. I hoped it would pass through but it did not and buried Ohio under at least a foot of snow in most places. On Saturday, I woke up and waited to see if I would even be able to attend Autobahn due to driving restrictions from the wintry conditions and sure enough shortly after noon the restrictions were lifted so I decided to take the drive not knowing how icy it would be outside of the city. Terrified, I made it to Autobahn and found that the snow emergency remained in effect outside of Hamilton County so I should not have been driving but I did. I saw many cars off the road, some appeared to have been there quite some time and some were semis. The artists from California all had made it to Autobahn but the rest could not make it. A few friends from Columbus made it and were also quite shaken by the conditions. The people at Joe's Java offered us dinner and a place to sleep for the night if we needed it but we decided to leave once the music was over and the trip back wasn't terribly bad though I got in quite late. On Sunday I got up for church to find out that my Uncle Andy had some sort of seizure and was in a coma. For the next two weeks we prayed and hoped for a miracle and at first it seemed that Andy could possibly wake up without too much damage to his health. In the meantime I had a St. Patrick's party with some friends. The day after Easter, Andy passed away.
April began with me attending Andy's funeral and making an unexpected trip to Pennsylvania. This also was when I received an upsetting email from Gregor telling me he did not consider me one of his close friends and therefore did not take me in account when making plans. This was after I asked him to consider my time when we were trying to reschedule the plans to record a commentary for Cornerstone 2007 and he seemingly blew me off after I made some arrangements to make it happen since he would not drive to Cincinnati. I did not expect him to drive to Cincinnati in that blizzard during Autobahn but I guess he didn't care to ever come out. This was rather rude in my opinion and entirely not the time one should say something like that even if it was the truth. I let it go for some time before addressing it again but I don't feel there ever was any resolution so I have decided to put it all behind me since I don't expect to spend that much time with Gregor ever again anyway due mostly to proximity. I turned 28 and was tested to see if I had the same genetic issues the led to my Uncle's death. As it turned out, I did not. April would be the last time I volunteered at the Underground as well. The week after the funeral I decided to help out with a Skillet show that was terribly disorganized. Besides feeling that I did not have much time to commit to the Underground anyway I decided to leave it behind. As time went on I learned other things that really led to the changes there that I did not feel were things I wanted to be part of so overall I have no regrets parting ways with the Underground.
In May, I interviewed to receive my District minister's license and received it again. I was able to meet with Gregor to get the Cornerstone Commentary done as well. It was a bit awkward but it was done. I think he didn't really care about doing it but that doesn't matter anymore anyway. I watched a lot of Stanley Cup hockey as well as the Cincinnati Cyclones win the Kelly Cup. Chas Meinecke came out to a Pirates/Reds baseball game.
In June, I visited my family in Pennsylvania for my Grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary. I got to see my aunt and cousins from Alaska and this was when I expected to see Andy but due to his dying that was not the case and made the trip home bittersweet. I returned to Cincinnati to see the Jesus For President seminar and to prepare for Cornerstone.
July was Cornerstone. I left later than the group I was camping with so I travelled alone but got there that night. It was probably my favorite Cornerstone experience so far. I was able to film much of it again and my friends seemed excited to see the footage once we returned home.
There wasn't too much that happened in August other than some fireworks at the end of the month downtown to celebrate Labor Day.
September started out with the Pirates in town again to play the Reds. There was also a Celtic festival, Oktoberfest, and Midpoint Music Festival. In the midst of all this a hurricane hit Cincinnati causing the electric to be out for several days up to a week in some places.
October I went to Unified Underground with Chris Human in Maryland and felt a renewed desire to reach out to the punk rock culture and hope to implement that in the next year with my involvement with Covenant. My parents came to visit as well and the Cyclones started up their hockey season.
In November, I went to visit Chas and got to see the Dropkick Murphys in Louisville. Flatfoot56 came to Cincinnati on the same day Kristina had to come down for a school thing and to visit me. Covenant held a Thanksgiving Dinner for the neighborhood and the Human's helped out with that which somewhat bridged two parts of who I am together. We had a presidential election (amongst other offices). I can't say I am surprised by the outcome though I did not vote in accordance with the majority. I felt like I was without a good option for the major parties.
December was my deadline for the Cornerstone film project and I finished it the day of one of Sophia's last shows. The film was premiered at the Human's house with friends that went to Cornerstone as well as others who did not go. I returned to Pennsylvania for the first time since June and got to see some old friends and the family. The New Year was rung in with the Human's and other friends (Chris, Tammi, Rudy, Josh, Luke, Lisa, etc). We ate at Tokyo's Japanese Restaraunt then hung out at the Human's to watch the ball drop in New York where it appeared extremely cold.
2009 is now upon us. I hope the year is good. I hope no one close to me experiences tragedy. I cannot wait for Cornerstone but it won't happen until the end of June so I must wait about seven months but my money is in for my ticket! I expect to continue my filming and film editing hobby and hope to get better.
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