2013: A Year in (Belated) Review
So I meant to write this on New Year's Eve, but what can I say, Christmas break procrastination is a demon. Instead I'm sitting here in my on campus apartment room on the night before classes start up again. I wanted to make a post about how truly amazing this year has been, and I figured better late than never. So I'll mention some of he highlights of my 2013 (in the order in which they occurred, of course).
1. #CGTC2013 (the Candy Girls Take Chicago)
So before 2013 I hadn't been on vacation since the summer of 2010. And I really missed vacations. I traveled a LOT in 2013, but this was the trip that started it all, and it was honestly one of my favorite weekends of 2013. Basically, a group of friends and I went to Chicago in February. We went to the Holiday Club (the place where Team Starkid members met and hung out, made known by the Jim and The Povolos song), went to Millennium Park to see the Bean, and then went to see Airport for Birds, Starkid's first sketch comedy show. It was my first time ever seeing them perform live, and we were in the front row. Before this trip I had started to think that I would never get to see Starkid live and in person, let alone meet them after the show, so this was a HUGE deal for me. Not only did we get to see the show in the front row, but after the show I got to meet all but one of the cast, including the man who the people I was with had bonded over so much, the man who I never thought I'd actually get to meet, Jeff Blim. He was as snarky as I expected but he was SO nice to us. We talked with him for so long after the show that we ended up being the very last ones in the entire building. It was seriously a dream come true.
2. Jim and the Povolos live in NYC
So with amazing luck, I ended up being able to go to New York City for one weekend to see Jim and the Povolos live. I loved visiting that city again after almost three years, and it was so cool getting to see Jim and the Povolos and TalkFine perform live and meeting 2 friends from the Candy Girls there. I also got to meet the band afterwards, and even though the meet and greet went VERY fast, Jeff recognized me and I got a hug from him even though the security was trying to move us along. :)
3. May Term in Italy
I also got to travel abroad in Europe for the first time ever in 2013. I went with other students at my school and 2 teachers for a "musical journey through Italy" (Viaggio Musicale). We stayed in Venice, a beautiful villa on a vineyard in Tuscany, and a fancy hotel in Milan, and visited Murano, Florence, Lucca and Pisa, and Sienna. I made great friends on that trip, and it just so happened that my birthday was right in the middle of it. That's right, I turned 20 in a beautiful villa with homemade tira misou as my birthday cake and wine and champagne. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday.
4. Darren Criss Live
Yeah... I know I went a little overboard on the traveling this summer... but this was such a perfect opportunity. I got to visit my friend Felice in Dallas and stay with her for a weekend. I also got to do something that I thought would never be possible for me. I got to see Darren Criss live, in the front row. I actually got to hear him sing songs from AVPM and AVPS, as well as other covers and his new songs. It was really a perfect weekend. :)
5. Universal Studios Orlando
My dad had an offer for a hotel in Florida, so he took me with him to visit New Smyrna Beach and Orlando, Florida. Besides getting food poisoning for the first time in my life, this was a really fun vacation, because when I finally recovered from food poisoning, we went to Orlando and after years of wanting to go, I finally got to see the Harry Potter expansion of the Universal Studios Islands of Adventure park. It was just as amazing as I had hoped it would be.
6. Eat A Slice with Olan Rogers
This past summer I had the wonderful chance to meet one of my biggest inspirations, Olan Rogers, again for a second time. This was way too exciting because I honestly never thought I'd get to meet him again after the Dial Up Tour in 2012. He hosted a free pizza party meetup tour across the US just for the sake of meeting his fans. I am constantly inspired and uplifted by this guy, and it was so great meeting him again.
7. Salt Lake Comic Con
2013 also featured the first year of Salt Lake Comic Con, and my best friend and I got to be there. Thanks to a mixup turned gift from a generous and understanding amazon seller, I got to finish my fem 11th Doctor cosplay just in time for this convention. Even though the con was really crowded and not as organized as it could have been, I had fun seeing everyone's costumes and looking around. I also got to meet Nicholas Brendon (Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) who was the nicest person and gave me such great hugs, and Simon Fisher-Becker, who played Dorium Maldova on Doctor Who, and he told us our costumes were "cool." ;)
8. Panic! At the Disco Live
Vacations aside, this year I finally got to see Panic! live (the first time I saw them live the lead singer couldn't be there so the show was amazing but different). Brendon was absolutely awesome and they sounded so great. Brendon even took his shirt off at the end of the show! <3 I'm seeing them again in concert in a few weeks and I can't wait.
9. Anime Banzai
This Banzai was really fun because I was with my best friend for the whole weekend and we got to see and hang out with one of our friends from high school who let us stay with her in her hotel room. But what made this year's Banzai truly the best one I have ever been to was the new friends that my best friend and I met and hung out with over that weekend. Now called my Sherlockian friends (because we all love Sherlock and they all cosplay Sherlock characters) or even "the turtle club" (it's an inside joke), these beautiful people make me so happy and I am SO glad that I met them. I have only known them for a few months, but I feel like I've been such close friends with all of them for so much longer. :)
10: #CG123: Chicago (Yes, again...)
Well, since June I had had major traveling withdrawals, and it just so happened that I convinced my dad to help me pay for another trip to Chicago so that I could see Team Starkid's new sketch comedy show, 1Night 2Last 3Ever, or 123Ever. Not only did we get to see that show in the front row, but we also just happened to be in Chicago the night that Jim and the Povolos decided to do a free acoustic set in the lobby of Stage 773 in Chicago. So that weekend I got to meet and talk to Jeff Blim, Meredith Stepien, Nick Gage, and Brian Holden twice and talk to Lauren Lopez again. She actually remembered me from Airport for Birds way back in February and I was so happy!!! To top it all off, Nick Lang showed up to both shows, and I finally got to meet him and tell him how much I love and appreciate his writing and acting in the Starkid musicals. It was such a great weekend, and a perfect ending vacation for what had been a crazy fun year of travel.
2013 was a perfect year and I got to celebrate its ending with amazing friends. I spent most of my Christmas break hanging out with my turtle friends, from celebrating the new Sherlock episode premiere to a Sherlock-themed in character murder mystery ugly sweater secret Santa Christmas party to even just hanging out together at Starbucks. I couldn't have asked for better people to finish off the year with.
(Those were our faces right after watching the premiere of Sherlock season 3....)
Here's hoping 2014 will be just as wonderful as this year has been. :)