1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
Kept a new year’s resolution (vegetarian week), stuck with a job (the radio station) for five solid years (going on six for 2012), wrote and performed a one woman show, made the cover of the city paper, wrote an existential play, won platinum leasing specialist at work (yeah, I know…), got a master’s degree from JHU, stayed in a relationship past the two year mark (fingers crossed for more years) without doing something to explode it, and parented 7 cats.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I kept some of them. The big important one was that I wanted to be a vegetarian for the first 5 days of every month to cut down on my red meat intake, and I actually did it! Added together that is 60 days (2 months!) of being a vegetarian this year.
This year I’d love to be a better cat mom/girlfriend (I’ll think of ways to measure it), sing with a band again cause that’s always awesome, travel more, and we’ll add the requisite watch the finances and be healthier in to the mix for good measure. Longer post on this stuff to come.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
The Mikkelson family had a baby! She’s cute as punch. Lots of other people I know had babies and got pregnant, but no one else who is really that close to me.
4. Did anyone get married?
Same answer as last year: everyone is always getting married. And if they didn't do that, they got engaged. I didn’t go to any weddings.
5. Did anyone close to you die?
Happily, no. And I realize after reading last year’s responses that I’ve stopped thinking of my friend who attempted suicide as having that attached to him all the time. Thank goodness. He’s too wonderful to be pigeon-holed as “that guy who tried to kill himself.”
6. What countries did you visit?
I stayed in the country this whole year again, but I’m making progress. I went to NYC twice and both trips were great. I visited my sister in Dallas. D’Paul and I ventured to DC a good bit, and I went home for the traditional Cumberland, MD/Keyser, WV Christmas. I found my passport and it’s still valid for a year so if I want to go somewhere I can. And that feels like something.
7. What would you like to have in the 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Last year I had lofty expectations for a better understanding of my career’s trajectory and good hair.
This year, I want a record deal.
8. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and what for?
November 10 – I Want To Be A Gay Icon! opened at Theatre Project. The entire year was basically a build up to this happening. I had a phenomenal creative team working on this with me, and we worked our asses off. I realized that the show was in the works for well over a year and putting it out there was amazing, humbling, and gratifying.
December 1 – Moved in with D’Paul. The apartment is great. D’Paul is great. The cats are great. We’re saving money and we have enough space. I immediately started waking up happier and more relaxed. I love this man. Life is good.
9. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I Want To Be A Gay Icon!
Graduating from JHU with my MLA
10. What was your biggest failure?
Being cranky pants about trying to balance work/work/school/being a gay icon. I will have less on my plate this year. I will.
11. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing too serious to report. I took some corticosteroids for my voice prior to Icon opening, but that was more as a preventative measure than anything. I’ve been feeling good. I need to watch my dietary habits because they’ve GONE TO SHIT. Eventually there will be consequences.
12. What was the best thing you bought?
I got into fashion a little bit more heavily this year. So, I’m going to go with…
Jimmy Choo shoes, and a Halston dress.
13. Whose behavior merited celebration?
D’Paul, D’Paul, D’Paul. He’s just wonderous.
Anna was awesome.
Joseph Ritsch was a godsend for Icon
Two professors from JHU helped make Icon what it was in major good ways
And oddly enough, two work superiors stepped up and made this year a bunch better than it started out.
14. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The Republican party
Idiots at work
15. Where did most of your money go?
Cats. They’re terrific. And when you have a bunch of them, expensive.
Car. I paid it off last February.
Icon. Theatre is expensive.
Clothing. I tried to dress better at work.
16. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I Want To Be A Gay Icon!
Moving in with D’Paul
Visiting my sister in Texas
Vacation for 11 days this week.
Going to the Metropolitan Opera in February 2012
17. What song(s) will always remind you of 2011?
Song of the year is Lady Gaga, Born This Way. It’s a fun dance track, musically sound. The message is great and it made it into my show.
Brett Dennen – Sydney, I’ll Come Running
90’s dance music made a big comeback on my iPod this year.
18. Compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder?
Decidedly happier.
richer or poorer?
My salary increased, but student loans are coming due now that I’m graduating. And my salary didn’t increase that much. Let’s say poorer.
thinner or fatter?
Fatter. For reals.
19. What do you wish you'd done more of?
No regrets. I’d say, if anything, I wish I had sat at home and enjoyed my life with D’Paul and the cat babies more. But I’m about to have a lot of time to do just that – which is awesome. And if all I ever did was sit around rather than do all the things I did, I bet I’d have regrets.
20. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stress out D’Paul. I’m so good at it.
21. How did you spend the Holidays?
Home for Christmas Eve/Day
Back in Bmore for Christmas evening with D’Paul
Restful days until New Year’s Eve party
22. Did you fall in love in 2011?
I fell a little harder all year long.
23. How many one night stands?
None.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
I’ve watched a lot of TV, and cared very little about any of it. I heart Rachel Maddow.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate last year?
Same as last year - I don't have the energy.
26. What was the best book you read?
I took a few lit classes in the last year and we read some awesome books. I really appreciated Camus, The Stranger. My entire world was shattered by Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried. I read a bunch of great plays. Hands down the most incredible book I read was The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Holy shit, if you haven’t read it stop what you’re doing right now and go grab it. Prepare for armageddon.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I saw Rihanna in concert and got the full thrust of how awesome she is in person. I found out how much I like Melissa Etheridge and k.d. lang while I was working on my project. Martha Wash became important. This year was more about me working on myself as a musician than about finding a lot of new out there. I went to people I already liked with the mindset of “What can I steal from you?”
28. What did you want and get?
I wanted I Want To Be A Gay Icon! to be a success and it totally happened. We made the cover of the City Paper, got a great review, and got articles in b magazine, Gay Life, and OUTloud. The audience response was amazing and hopefully 2012 will bring some great things for continuing to move the show forward so we can reach more people.
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
It’s a split honor this year. The films sharing the award will be Midnight in Paris, which was just absofuckinglutely delightful and charming, and The Muppet Movie because, well, nostalgia. We also saw the original Ghostbusters in the theatres (they did a limited run re-release) and it was fantastic. It’s much funnier on an enormous screen. Honorable mention goes to Bridesmaids. I liked it, it was fun enough. I adore Chris O’Dowd and he was super loveable. I don’t go in for the disgusting comedy much, so there were more poop jokes than I needed. But with all the writing about it as some kind of feminist statement, I figure I should at least acknowledge that I had a good time seeing it.
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 28 on June 29th. D’Paul and I had dinner with my parents at Akbar in Baltimore the weekend before. On the actual day of my birth I took a class at work (Dealing with Difficult People! Useless!) in the morning. In the afternoon I drove to our College Park offices to work, and promptly got sick. I went home early, and had to skip class that night. I wrote a paper, and ate a wonderful country meal that D’Paul made for me because he is sweet and thoughtful.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
This year would have been better if I’d been living with D’Paul for all of it, instead of just the last month. We’re really happy. It’s more relaxed, because I don’t have the pressure of a separate home to keep.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Bougie. I got more interested in fashion, and spent lots of time perusing haute couture. I own none of it, but that’s to be expected. Someday I will have an haute couture gown from Elie Saab. It will cost the same thing as a house. And it will be worth it.
33. What kept you sane?
This question presumes that sanity is a part of my life. I’ve given it up.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Lady Gaga – always and forever. She never stops working for the lgbt community. And she’s fucking fabulous.
Rachel Maddow is less flashy about what she does, but man it is important.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Gay marriage. Until it’s no longer an issue, it’ll be my most important one. Right up there with bullying kids.
36. Who did you miss?
I don’t know. The big three: Ira, Sarah, and Kristen have all lived away for some time now, and I’m used to it. I missed Anna while she was in Israel. But then she came back, and now I don’t miss her anymore.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
Melissa Hilbish. She’s the head of the MLA program at JHU and I took two of her classes in the last year. She’s incredible. Technically I knew her before 2011. I had interviewed for the program with her in 2009, but we’d never been close. And despite her deep abiding love for John Wayne, she’s a wonderful person. Very bright, very funny, and deeply snarky.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011:
Continue to question things long after you think you know the answer. And then question them again.
I’ve also started to piece together (at the end of a master’s degree) that I learn in a very different way than most people. It has taken 28 years for me to start figuring it out, but my brain just works differently. I don’t think I’d call it a learning disorder, it’s just another way.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I’m not drunk I wanna go home, officer
And that’s all, that’s all, that’s all
With a warning I check my wipers and defog
I notice my mind is on the floor
But I must move onward
