Tuesday Jan 05, 2010

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I'm getting too old for inventory. It hardly seems worth the effort anymore to catalogue my favorite books, movies or albums of 2009 since I can barely remember without checking what was officially released within the last year. And reminiscing through 2009 by events feels more intelligible only ephemerally; a few years removed, it seems irrelevant whether that relationship ended or this relative passed away in the last months of 2005 or the first of 2006.

Documenting the last twelve months by photographs makes the most sense for me. At least all the pictures I've taken are time stamped for easy sorting (I can even click the 'Last 12 Months' tab in iPhoto!) so I know I'm not phantom remembering something that really happened around 2007. Some of these are crappy pictures but represent a wonderful moment; some capture a terrible experience that nonetheless was a significant event in my year; and others, I just liked the photo.

So obviously a photo heavy post beneath the spoiler; less obviously, the first pic is mildly gruesome, so fair warning if you're (extremely) sensitive.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)



Ah, the very first photograph of 2009. Coming home from the movies, I went flying after being hit by a car in a hit-and-run on Santa Monica Blvd (that's what I get for attempting to walk in LA). Diagnosis was a fractured left leg and blunt trauma, but obviously could have been much worse.





Some months later, trip up to San Francisco with _margot_. Great getaway as always, but more importantly the hills made for a hell of a trial by fire for testing my recovering fibula.



Collided head on with a swerving truck en route to apartment hunting. Combined with the first picture, I feel like it makes me look like the most careless person ever, but the other driver accepted full liability I tells ya. Insurance company declared it totaled but perhaps against all logic I brought the old ride back from the dead. Life started to get better from this point forward.



First pic fully moved in to our new place in West LA. Not huge by any means, but after a year of two people living in a studio, a one-bedroom feels like a palace.





On the way to our overseas adventure, deciding to take advantage of a long layover in Vancouver by spending the day in the city. Second pic is of course consummate hockey fan _margot_delighted by the Canadian currency.



Kulminator Cafe in Belgium, smokey, dingy, cat-filled and one of the best beer bars in the world, especially for cellared Belgian ales. We drank some outstanding brews, musty with ten+ years of age on them.



Antwerp: internationally renowned as the fashion capital of the world, ladies and gentlemen.



Drinking our way through Belgium, finishing with a couple nightcap ales at the Grand Place square.





Two pics of our last evening in Paris, drinking a damn tasty bottle of Bordeaux (bought for 3 Euro at the grocery) near the Pont Neuf sitting by the Seine.



Moving from France to Tunisia: First evening in Tunis.



Mint tea at a cafe in the Nouvelle Ville.



_margot_ with morning coffee in the Tunis medina.



Doorway in the hilltop seaside Tunisian town of Sidi Bou Said. Lots more of my Tunisia photos here.




On from Tunisia to Rome. I'm too much of a Fellini geek (witness the La Dolce Vita poster in the apartment pic) not to do the tourist thing and toss a coin into Trevi Fountain.



Nightlife in the Trastavere section of Rome.



Nearing the end of our trip, at the Tuscan villa we stayed at, looking towards the rolling vineyards. More Italy photos here.



Back home to LA, shopping cart in the Venice canals. Just liked the photo.



Another picture I just dig. This is Magnolia brewpub in Haight-Ashbury, home of perhaps the best cask-conditioned ales on the West Coast.



Everyone likes hippos, right?



Late summer: finally started homebrewing! I could watch that airlock bubble all day.



From the steps of Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles. One of those things in the city I'd been meaning to do for years but took someone relatively new to town to get me out to.



On a fall work trip to NYC, I got to check off something long on my 'to-do' list by staying at the Chelsea Hotel.





Pictures of trip to Chicago. Great time of year to be there - _margot_ was especially thrilled to get a dose of Fall.





Recent stay at the Hotel del Coronado, a Victorian style beach hotel built in 1888.



And of course, it ends in beer. This was the lineup at a recent beer tasting we held at our place a couple weeks back.



Viewed like this, it's hard to believe how much traveling I did. 2009 had its strikes and gutters, starting shitty in the first few months but getting better and better as it went on - and hey, that beats the alternative, right?

VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
pygmy:
russia has the sense to actually divide it into eleven, at least. if you look at a time zone map, china is just one giant monotone blob. (also, they don't have daylight savings time. that, i actually kind of like)

also: hooray for travels! great pictures.
bill_the_cat:
It's been a strange ending and beginning. Whether it turns out to be good or not remains to be seen.

Incidentally you guys should have let me know when you were here. I would've gladly introduced you to some excellent BC beer.

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