Already.

It all goes so quickly.

So many things happened in 2013. Some of them good. Some of them less so. For instance: I continued to live in a town that doesn’t have a roller rink. What the fuck is that about. Also: Fukushima. Further: remember that time there was a huge fucking flood and people lost everything and college kids tubed through the underpasses and things changed but didn’t all at the same time? That was intense.

I’m trying to focus on the good things. Like:

1. LA moved in with Isobel, Yoshimi, and me.

2. I worked on some truly amazing projects, like The Ding Dongs, Some Kind of Fun and the currently running Gidion’s Knot. Were they easy? No. They were scary as hell. For different reasons. That’s what made them worth it. Lots of people disagree with me, and that’s okay. We’ll just have to agree to disagree.

3. Kelsie Huff’s Bruiser made me laugh and cry 6 performances in a row. Giiiiiirl.

4. Gleason, Jess, Christina, Adan and I went on an epic road trip film shoot. My emotional reaction to it was to get a headache so bad and long lasting that I was almost completely incapacitated. But only almost. You really know who your friends are when they are willing to put up with you at your grumpiest.

5. I went on an actual vacation. During which: I got to read an actual book of fiction that I wanted to read.

6. Sometimes water washes things clean and you can start over. Sometimes you don’t feel ready to start over, but it’s what’s right. So many geographies know this.

7. Hannah’s chin splints made me laugh super hard in June and in December. And I needed it.

“the left more so than the right.”

8. Strides were taken to make things better. Those strides worked.

9. This was one of the best things I was introduced to all year.

10. There were some good tunes floating around in 2013, as evidenced by my Best of 2013 mix which you can find HERE. It’s a two parter: the link will take you to a page that has download links for Side A and Side B (40 songs total). Click on “download” next to Side A, which will take you to a new page. On that page, click the link that says “click here to start download from Sendspace.” Do the same for Side B. When you’ve downloaded them, I recommend that you  create a playlist in your iTunes and then open each folder and drag and drop the songs in. I even put them in order for you. Here were the year’s highlights:

• Arcade Fire’s Reflektor: This was, in my opinion, the best album of the year.
• Neko Case’s The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You
• The National’s Trouble Will Find Me: I had this album on repeat all summer.
• Vampire Weekend’s Vampires of the Modern City
• Valerie June’s Pushin’ Against a Stone
• Low’s The Invisible Way
• Deerhunter’s Monomania
• Mazzy Star’s Seasons of Your Day
• Parquet Courts’ Light Up Gold, which reminds me of music I used to listen to in high school and college

Do I think all of the albums represented on my Best Of are brilliant? No. But they’re pretty good. Say what you want about Miley Cyrus: Wrecking Ball is a formulaic pop masterpiece. I like it. I can’t help it. She’s up all night to get lucky. Who can blame her.

Here’s to 2014. Kill it, y’all (softly).