circus

Another year has come and gone and I’ve decided to throw together a year-in-review post. Some of it might be a bit of a humble brag, but I also took the opportunity to reflect on the many changes/big decisions I made over the past twelve months.

PEOPLE

2014 was the year I met…

…Zach Braff (August) in New York, after seeing him in a delightful production of Bullets Over Broadway.

…Jamie Oliver (September) while he was promoting his latest book, Comfort Food.

…my 20+ publishing peeps! Especially the lovely Jane, who I am slowly turning into another concert buddy (please check out her super pretty website here).

…a few bands including You Me At Six, The Maine, Paradise Fears, Nick Santino, Cameron Leahy (lead singer of The Downtown Fiction), and Eric Halvorsen (former bassist of the now defunct A Rocket to the Moon).

2014 will also be remembered as the year I become obsessed with Neil Gaiman. I haven’t met him (yet! *crosses fingers*), but this was the year I finally started reading his books and realized that I had been missing out on something magical.

PLACES

2014 was the year I went…

…to New York City for the Writer’s Digest Conference in August. It was a whirlwind weekend full of stories and advice, seminars and agents. I came out of it certain in the knowledge that a) I am, indeed, a writer and b) agents are people too (even if they are intimidating).

…to England and France in the winter on a family vacation. We saw Christmas markets in Lille and Amiens (France), took a short trip to Brussels (Belgium), and then spent some glorious days in one of my favourite cities, London (England, obvs).

…to 30 concerts (I’m just really proud of achieving this goal, guys).

…to my first ever circus!

THINGS

2014 was the year I…

…convinced Ro that we needed matching tattoos (tattoos that represent both You Me At Six and All Time Low).

I’m Reckless, she’s Brave.

…finally got the Panic! at the Disco tattoo I’ve wanted for years.

…quit my well-paying but boring customer service job in April so that I could go back to school.

…started working towards my publishing certificate because it’s the best career out there for me.

…interned at HarperCollins in the sales department (which is how I ended up spending a day with Jamie Oliver) and put my newly gained knowledge of the publishing industry into actual practice.

…started an internship at Tundra which made me realize that publishing children’s books in particular is what I’m meant to do with the rest of my life.

…started writing for idobi radio, which allows me to combine two of my greatest passions (writing and mostly-pop-punk music) at least once a week.

…re-wrote my novel (again).

2014 in a nutshell

It was a crazy busy year! I didn’t achieve all the resolutions I made in January, but I started making progress towards most of them. I hope all you readers out there had just as good a year (if not better!). Bring it on, 2015!

On Friday, I went to my first ever Cirque du Soleil experience: Kurios.

I don’t know if I’ve ever really thought about going to Cirque du Soleil before, but when we saw the ads for this new one, Ro pointed out that if I was ever going to go, it would be to the steampunk inspired show. So we did! We had great seats – side stage, row D – so we were really close. For the most part, it’s easy to follow along with what’s going on on-stage, though, like all productions, it can be distracting if there are other characters in the background and you can’t decide where to look. There were many different acts, but I can’t decide which one was my favourite. The opening was, of course, very fun because it (literally) set the stage for what was to come. The invisible circus was hilarious, especially when -MINI SPOILER ALERT- Felipe the invisible lion escaped and ran down the aisle. I’d probably have to say the upside-down dinner party – I didn’t even notice them setting up the upside-down table until the lights brought it to my attention. That was the other thing: these acrobats moved so fast. It was incredible to see how quickly they could move from one position to another, both in terms of how fast they could twist their bodies around and how fast they could get from one side of the stage to the other. The act that I thought was the most mind-blowing was the contortionists. HOW IS IT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE TO BEND YOUR BODY LIKE THAT? I can’t even touch my toes without bending my knees (don’t judge, I’m working on it). One thing we didn’t count on: the stress of watching people catapult themselves across a stage without safety nets/harnesses. Yes, it was fascinating, but every time someone leaped through the air, we both cringed as they dropped down to the stage. Of course, they were always caught, but there were some moments – for example, when three guys were standing on top of each other’s shoulders and a fourth guy was tossed on top of them – where there was some staggering and swaying and genuine looks of alarm. I don’t know if that was part of the show, to make it more visibly death-defying, but it was a little scary. I didn’t know what to expect going in, but I really enjoyed it. It’s amazing what people’s bodies are capable of with the right training and a good dose of flexibility.