Best of 2009: Part One

Now that more than half of 2009 is in the books, I thought it would be fun to sort of go back through the past seven-ish months and compile sort of a collection of memories. These are in no particular order except how I happened to remember them.

• "I like how you tear into those things. You're like a freakin' fire truck!" - said by Brian during dinner at Lucky Fortune one weekend when I managed to make it home from Eugene. The fire truck reference comes from the Family Guy episode "Petarded."
• Office party night, April 9, 2009. - This was the first time I had ever been introduced to the real game of life, which we played at Cameron's apartment while waiting for The Office to start. Thus began several months and counting of playing the game and sharing it with a bunch of other people, and the game has only become more and more fun.
• Finishing the SOJC pre-major requirements. - Finally, I can consider myself a true UO journalism major. Info Hell, Duncan McDonald and J101 are all things of the past and now I can focus on bigger and better things...like trying to figure out what exactly I want to do with my news-editorial degree now that all the newspapers in the country are shutting down.
• Concerts. - Beginning with Jason Webley March 19, continuing with OK Go March 30 and The Decemberists May 21, and most recently Relient K May 29, this was a busy spring as far as my live music intake is concerned. All of the aforementioned are among my favorite musicians, so I didn't consider any of the shows to be a bad deal, although having someone to hang out with at the Decemberists show would have been fun.
• Turning 20. - Although not nearly as eventful as next year will likely be, this July 14 was nevertheless a milestone - I am no longer a teenager, although I've been an adult for two years now. Now I have a full year to carefully plan out my next birthday, as it has the potential to end either good or bad...let's hope for good.
• Finally making it to the Melting Pot. - For the past couple of years, I have had to deal with Bess and Brian continually mentioning how amazing the Melting Pot is and satisfying myself with continuing to mention how much I really wanted to go sometime. Finally, for my birthday, Bess and Brian took me out to dinner at the best restaurant in the world (well in Portland anyway) and we enjoyed: Quattro Formaggio cheese fondue with bread, apples and vegetables; California salads (lettuce and tomatoes with crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, walnuts and raspberry black walnut vinaigrette); Coq Au Vin fondue (fresh herbs, mushrooms, garlic, spices and burgundy wine) with shrimp, duck, teriyaki sirloin, pork, chicken and potstickers; and S'mores fondue with cheesecake, strawberries, bananas, Oreo- and graham-cracker-coated marshmallows, pound cake and brownies. Plus the atmosphere is super sexy: the restaurant is underground, so you descend down a winding stairway into a dimly lit wonderland.

Hopefully the rest of 2009 will have more fun times!