Year/Decade in Review

There was a meme on Twitter for #oneline09, summarizing 2009 in one line. I wrote this:
Became a mom: lost sleep, lost free time, found more love than I ever imagined.

That pretty well summed up the highlights. We traveled around a bit showing off that baby. On a sad note, I lost my grandfather in February and my grandmother in August, but at 90 and 89 their passings were clearly drawing near.

Some have pointed out that the decade doesn't officially change for another year, but since a decade is just a series of 10 years I think we can look back whenever. So, like others, this seems like a good time to do a quick recap of my life since 2000. And wow, has this been quite a decade of change.

In 2000 I lived in Pittsburgh. Since then I moved to Arlington, VA (working in Washington, D.C.), and I now live in Chicago.

In 2000 I left my job of 6+ years for a job that I would be laid off from a year later. I got another job where I worked for 2 years before going back to school for to get my Master's of Science in Information Security Policy and Management. After that came a new job. (The one that made me move to the D.C.-area.) And when I decided to move to Chicago that was enabled by yet another job still.

Oh, why did I decide to move to Chicago? Because my now husband and I wanted to move here. In 2000 I wasn't even dating anyone seriously. I got into a relationship in 2001 that dissolved in 2004. In 2005 I met my now husband. We moved halfway across the country together, got married, and this year we had a son. In 2000 I wasn't even thinking about children.

It's hard to imagine but in 2000 I wasn't a playwright. I was acting, directing, choreographing and producing, but I didn't start playwriting until 2003 when I wrote a play on a whim that got selected and produced at the Gemini New Play Festival. After that I was hooked. I've only acted once since then, but I've had enough play productions that it would take me a while to figure out the total number in order to include it here. I've even (rarely) gotten some money as a result.

It's amazing that all that and more have been crammed into the last 10 years. Part of me sort of hopes that the next 10 years will be a bit more stable, but somehow I doubt that will be the case.

2008: Year in Review (and a glance ahead)

Well, this year included more big personal milestones. 2007 included moving halfway across the country, changing jobs, and getting engaged. In 2008, I got married and then (surprisingly promptly) got pregnant. I also changed my name, although that change is still trickling through to certain credit cards and memberships.

Planning a wedding and preparing for a baby did cut into my playwriting activities, but I still had some achievements. 3 monologues and a one-act premiered in Pittsburgh. A one-act was produced in Maryland. I had my first Chicago productions, first a reading then a production of my first Christmas play. Although no full-lengths were produced this year, I did complete a draft of a new full-length, which received a developmental reading at Chicago Dramatists in November.

There was some travel this year. We went to St. Johns for our honeymoon, which was spectacular. We visited friends and family in Georgia, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. We also spent a babymoon weekend in New York City.

Body and health wise I lost 20 pounds before the wedding. Although I'd been that thin before I had never been so healthy. I felt great! After the wedding, I finally fulfilled a promise to a friend to try Bikram Yoga, and I loved it. I still do it about twice a week. Of course, the pre-wedding weightloss came back plus more with the baby, but that's what happens. Having lost it once I'm sure I'll be able to take care of it after the baby is born.

There was some luxury this year, in addition to splurging on an amazing resort for the honeymoon. Although hubby (thankfully) doesn't travel much for work anymore, he still had plenty of hotel and airline points. Hilton points allowed us to stay at the Drake Hotel in Chicago on our wedding night and at the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC for our babymoon. Both stays were paid for by points only, which was excitingly decadent.

So what will 2009 have in store? Well, the main thing will be the birth of this critter and the beginning of what hubby calls "the crittaceous period." I am pretty sure that much of the year (and much of the future in general) will revolve around him. I do plan to make time for myself, but I'm being realistic. I likely won't be able to do as much writing, but I will try to send out existing plays. (A one-act is already scheduled to be produced in Massachusetts in January.) Perhaps I may even have some time to continue developing the new full-length. But this year's uber-list is likely to be a bit short. Until I have some time under my belt as a mother (Wow, it's been a few months since I've been able to wear a belt!), I don't want to make promises to myself that I can't keep. My main goal is to give birth to a healthy baby boy, and I'll see where to go from there!

Happy New Year! Now, I need to soak my black-eyed peas before heading out for the evening...

2007: Year in Review (and a glance ahead)

The biggest headlines are from my personal life: I got engaged, and I moved from Washington, D.C. to Chicago. But 2007 was decent for me as a playwright as well.

My play "A Skewed Nude" was presented at The Great Plains Theatre Conference, which I attended. It was my first playwriting conference. "Nude" also won the award for best unpublished script at the Maryland Community Theatre Festival in January. (The play previous won at the 2004 Pittsburgh New Works Festival.) The publicity from the Maryland conference resulted in a subsequent performance by the Newtowne Players in Leonardstown, Md. That production is significant in that it was the first time I was unable to attend a production of one of my plays. I also missed a production of a few of my monologues that were performed as a part of "Practice Monologamy" at Carlow College in Pittsburgh in March.

A few new pieces premiered this year. My full-length "Necromony, USA" premiered at Duquesne University (Pittsburgh) in February. My one-act "Claire's Departure" premiered at the Pittsburgh New Works Festival in September. "Typist," another full-length, had a reading at Pittsburgh Playwright's Theatre in March and was a semi-finalist in several competitions (always a bridesmaid never a full production?).

Note that most of my playwriting successes were early in the year before I got distracted by adjusting to a new city and planning a wedding.

Speaking of weddings, we attended four this year: two in Pittsburgh, one in D.C., and one in Connecticut.

Moving to Chicago gave me the opportunity to reconnect with friends with whom I grown apart or completely lost touch. Of course, these are likely trade offs for people in D.C. I'm already losing track of, but it's still nice to get back together with good people from my past. And Chicago, as expected, has brought wonderful new people into my life as well. I think I'm going to like it here.

So what excitement lies ahead in 2008? Much of that remains to be seen. Most notably I'm getting married. As for theatre, this is the first year since I started seriously writing in 2003 that I have not had at least one production lined up before the year began. That's to be suspected since I didn't do a lot of writing or submitting in the latter part of 2007. Still, it's a bit scary. I'll have a few monologues in a benefit planned for May, which I am excited about, but it still doesn't feel as significant as full play or even a one-act. Hopefully, though I can get a few things going in the next 12 months. Only time will tell.

Regardless, I am excited for the prospects and opportunities of this new year.