Things I learned in 2009

• People really don’t know how to spell.
• Seeing “En film av Ingmar Bergman” against a black screen means that something special is about to happen.
• Being single rocks.
• Bono has a LOT of energy for a short guy.
• Whenever 96,000 people get together for anything, it will be inadequately organized, poorly executed, and result in unhappy people who feel like their devotion and hours spent waiting are being spit upon.
• If you go to a U2 concert, you just might find yourself in the inner circle about 25 feet from the stage against all odds.
• Woody Allen films make me happy.
• Fergie is much finer in person than she is in photos of her in the press. I don’t know exactly why.
• Jet lag has solid ground beneath its exalted reputation. When you and the two people you’re rooming with are all awake at 3 in the morning, there is a reason.
• When going to a foreign country, make it a priority to learn the word for “toilet.”
• There are more cars in Rome than I have ever seen in my life. If parking was allowed in St. Peter’s Basilica, people would park there.
• Paris has fewer cars than Rome does, but the drivers are significantly worse.
• Eggs are never the same from one hotel to the next. Sometimes, one is even led to question their validity as eggs.
• Members of a large group of people exploring a foreign city together will probably have conflicting ideas as to how best do it.
• If you don’t try to help figure out how to get where the group is going, you can’t be blamed when everyone gets lost.
• When you’re at the top, the Eiffel Tower is really high off the ground, and I do mean really high off the ground. It’s the highest you get without being in a plane, unless you’re an avid skydiver, but you probably aren’t one of those, because you would have told me that by now. C’mon, fess up. When did you start?
• Venice during Carnivale is CRAZY. Did you know that even Batman heads over there?
• St. Mark’s Square gets incredibly cold at night in February. Things you thought were unreachable (like your memories of second grade) even feel the chill.
• If you’re going to travel on one of the bigger water taxis in Venice and it’s not completely freezing outside, sit on the top on the little bench. It’s the only way to go.
• If you want to find a date in a European city, I have one word of advice for you. Lucerne. Case closed.
• Browse the postcards at the rest stops in Switzerland. You’ll be glad you did.
• Quentin Tarantino is one crazy, crazy virtuoso.
• Being single sucks.
• Even though he’d been reduced to an easy punchline for years, Michael Jackson meant far more to me than I ever realized.
• On sparring in a tournament: if the judges holdup their hand with the red ribbon on it and you have the red armbands on, that means you won.
• When your friend says something to you, followed by the phrase “no pressure,” chances are they probably don’t mean it.
• Netflix is a beautiful thing. Imagine this: it’s actually possible to find the movies you want to watch and, what’s more, you actually get to. Something like this would be unheard of in the realm of Blockbusterdom.
• Pixar still hasn’t rebounded. Bah.
• Sometimes, your worst fears get realized. Almost every single concern I had about J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek ended up coming true.
• Something called Star Trek can suck. I hated it more than I’ve hated just about any film I can think of in the entire time I’ve lived on this planet, in this body, and eating this cheese. I wanted to boo at the screen. I’ve never wanted to do that before. It was THAT bad.
• New Year’s parties are fun.
• Bruce Springsteen has more energy than I do. Bruce Springsteen has more energy than you do. Bruce Springsteen abides.
• The E Street Band is probably the best backing band these ears have ever heard.
• You never know where your journey will take you. This year, I found myself in a theater drinking a glass of cabernet sauvignon watching a movie with Seth Rogen as a mall security guy. You never know.
• A classic is a classic for a very good reason. Sometimes not so much, but usually yes.
• For some reason, some people actually still think that George W. Bush was good at his last job. Please don’t explain.
• Not everything Radiohead does is all gilded beauty and summershine smiles. I still don’t know why they said they were so proud of These Are My Twisted Words.
• There are at least a couple people you think are close friends that aren’t.
• There are few things that are worse in this world than having someone that you love look at you and tell you that, when all is said and done, you are expendable.
• In Europe, they call a quarter-pounder with cheese a Royale with cheese, on account of the metric system and all.
• I miss little things sometimes in ways I didn’t comprehend. I went back to CSUF with Di for Jeff’s graduation, and realized how much I’d missed walking with my friend.
• Krzysztof Kieślowski’s films are special. That is the kind of thing that I want to do in my own career. He understood a lot more about people than most. I wish that I could have met him.
• Alcohol is good.
• Pulling off a surprise birthday party for my mother is actually doable. It helps significantly to be a “yes man” who does what your sister asks you to. A lot of responsibility comes off your shoulders that way, and you feel better.
• When you’re being driven home after flying halfway across the world and are more tired than you care to blink at, the driver will, by necessity, be a man who’s just passed the exam for U.S. citizenship and feels the need to quiz you on the material.

Here's to 2010. Let's hope it's an improvement on the last one.

Peace, Love, & Understanding,
-Adam