I can’t believe the year is coming to a close. Where has this entire decade gone, seriously?

These photos are 1999 vs. 2009. Someone posted that old photo of me tonight, a scan of a picture taken exactly 10 years ago (you can tell from the crooked teeth). I was living in the Netherlands and was about to return to Boston; a Dutch friend dyed my hair bright red the night before, and a few hours after it was taken I walked down to a field and said goodbye to the neighbor’s horses, sobbing. The summer before I left for Holland, I worked with this girl who fancied herself psychic. I don’t believe in psychics, but she “predicted” that I was going to be happier than I’d ever been during my time in Europe. At the time I thought she was nuts, as I was terribly sad to leave Boston. But in hindsight, I have to admit she was right (not that it’s difficult to be happy when you’re 21 and traveling throughout the EU for four months). But really, that’s part of my motivation to get back there as soon as I finish MIT: I want fresh cheese again. I want bicycles and old people. I want to feel the same way I felt back then. I want to see horses.

Anyway, I’ve decided to subjectively summarize 2009 a few different ways:

2009 in food (no particular order).
chocolate loaf cake. beef heart. brown bread. baguettes. foreign butter, lightly salted. bagels and cream cheese. M&M’s. apples. pasta. mixed nuts. Saratoga sparkling water. tea. cider. cider donuts. cookies. broccoli. fresh orange juice. white fish. trucha. manjarblanco. yuca. causa. maracuya. pineapples.

2009 according to my ipod.
Bon Iver. Rogue Wave. Beyonce. Owl City. The Cure. Radiohead. Beirut. Blitzen Trapper. Santogold. Regina Spektor. Myslovitz. Jawbreaker.

2009 favorite personal moments.
Billions of stars, from the window of a Suzuki SUV in the Peruvian central Amazon. Billions of stars, from the natural hot springs at the top of a mountain in Idaho at midnight. MIT in general. Overcoming a number of physical challenges. Playing Carcassonne in Lima. Recording “Getting lost” with DD. Doing all the living room monologues. Singing karaoke, online and off. My birthday, picking up a smooth white stone on the beach at night and touching the thick black Pacific, then walking back up the cliffs with P. & N. Walking around Beacon Hill with DD, every few weeks, like it was the 90s all over again. Sniffing my academic director’s cashmere sweater when he went to the bathroom in an effort to identify his cologne.

2009 as chemical fragrance.
Issey Miyake L’eau de Issey (Night Scent) — still my favorite. Issey Miyake ‘Reflections in a Drop’. L’Occitane Bergamot Tea. Zegna Intenso. Armani Code. A few indiscernibles.

2009 favorite poem.
GIFT – by Czeslaw Milosz

A day so happy.
Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.

We have a new site, for all the living room portraits and monologues: studiocrux.com. Check it out, and if you’re interested in coming over for a portrait, or a video, or both, let me know.

by Mark Strand

One clear night while the others slept, I climbed
the stairs to the roof of the house and under a sky
strewn with stars I gazed at the sea, at the spread of it,
the rolling crests of it raked by the wind, becoming
like bits of lace tossed in the air. I stood in the long
whispering night, waiting for something, a sign, the approach
of a distant light, and I imagined you coming closer,
the dark waves of your hair mingling with the sea,
and the dark became desire, and desire the arriving light.
The nearness, the momentary warmth of you as I stood
on that lonely height watching the slow swells of the sea
break on the shore and turn briefly into glass and disappear …
Why did I believe you would come out of nowhere? Why with all
that the world offers would you come only because I was here?

I worked at a start-up a decade ago. Recently, a friend I worked with back then has launched her own line of high-end, enviro-friendly bags for men under the label “F. Rock”. Since it’s Christmas and all, I thought I would help shamelessly promote them so you can get your man/men something nice. She accepts custom orders — you can choose the fabrics and leathers and style. And she donates a percentage of every sale to the enviro org of your choice. FRockBags.com. Several pre-made bags are also available in Downtown Xing for the next week, in the freezing cold, at a stand they’ve got outside Macy’s.

Snippet by William Whyte, with an excellent voiceover. I really just love this.

Reposted from an email.

**Researching eGovernment 2.0 requesting your participation**

The Kogod School of Business at American University and the National University of Ireland, Galway, are collaborating on a research project that investigates the value of federal government web sites. Professors Murray Scott and William DeLone are leading the project; they are particularly interested in the value created in recent initiatives designed to promote citizen engagement and participation.
The researchers would very much appreciate your support by following the link below and completing the survey. The survey should not take any longer than 15 minutes of your time and can be found at: http://govsurvey.nuigalway.ie

The researchers can be contacted with any questions or comments at murray.scott@nuigalway.ie or wdelone@american.edu

In the digital poetry class I TA’d this semester, one student made a “SoundStage” for his final project, inspired by his activity in an a cappella group. I’ve urged him to turn into an iPhone app. Pretty awesome.