Ten Places I'd Like To Revisit

The end of the year is a time to reflect, not just on the year that past, but also on our whole lives that led us up to this point. I'm lucky to have had the opportunity to travel a lot; I've gone around the world and across the country, and many places have stayed with me. I want to go everywhere, but below are 10 places I would really like to revisit one day.

10. Doha, Qatar. Doha makes it onto this list because it's been nearly five years since I was there, and everything I see suggests that the city looks completely different. So my curiosity gets Doha on this list, to see how it's changed, evolved.

9. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. I have Yellowstone on this list because I want to believe there's more to it than I saw in my drive through a few years back. It was very scenic, we saw Old Faithful, and came close to lots of bison. I would go again for the absolutely stunning scenes, but I also feel like it has more to give.

Statue of General Artigas in Montevideo

8. Montevideo, Uruguay. I found Montevideo to be a clean, relatively quiet city, my ideal kind of place. It's a city when you need it, but it didn't feel like an overwhelming place, like a New York. It felt like a good city to go to relax and work on the novel that I, and half the people I know, are apparently working on.

7. Zurich, Switzerland. My Zurich experience was a few hours late at night and sleeping in the airport, so not ideal. But I was stunned by downtown Zurich and would love to see it in daytime and get the full Swiss experience.

6. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. There are few things more majestic than seeing a herd of zebra trotting across the plains. Or a small group of elephants walking in a pack. Or a couple of giraffes eating leaves from the solo tree in a vast expanse of openness. I've seen the animals before, but I wouldn't give up a chance to see some of them again.

Ulcinj, Montenegro

5. Ulcinj, Montenegro. I'm not sure it gets better than sipping Italian wine right outside an old stone city perched on the Adriatic Sea. I wouldn't mind doing that again anywhere in the world, and Ulcinj would be a wonderful location to go. Ulcinj, for me, provides the perfect scene for a relaxing vacation.

4. Panama City, Panama. I was in Panama City grudgingly after more hours than I care to remember at the airport because Copa Airlines' system went down, effectively closing 90% of the airport and my flight back to the US from Aruba. The first thing I was struck by in the city was the number of skyscrapers, and how skinny all of them were. I would love to go to Panama City in a better mood and to walk around the city and surrounding sites.

3. Albuquerque, New Mexico. My stopover in Albuquerque was brief, but there was something intoxicating about it that makes me want to return. The blend of cultures was apparent, even in just a few hours, and I would love to go back and explore the city, its history, and its quirks.

Durmitor National Park

2. Durmitor National Park, Montenegro. One of the most breathtaking natural landscapes I have ever seen, Durmitor National Park sits high in the Montenegrin mountains. When I went in April 2011, there were still several feet of snow on some parts of the grounds, making hiking difficult. We made it partway into the park, but I would love to make it further in and see some of its natural wonders, such as its glacial lakes and canyons.

1. Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe. When I went there earlier this year it was high water time. So much water tumbled over the Falls that I was soaked within minutes and could barely see the falls. But I could hear them. And feel them. I would love to go back one day during low water and see the splendor and beauty that is Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls

In the next few days I hope to look at the 10 places I still would like to visit. I've drawn up the list, but the motivation to sit down and type it out--along with reasons--is the holdup. So enjoy this list in the meantime, and also this holiday greeting from the Minions...I can't wait for their movie in July!

An Awesome Birthday Weekend

December birthdays are hard. First, especially those of us with mid-to-late December birthdays, our plans to go out are usually subsumed by ugly sweater parties and other holiday shenanigans. Second, even if we magically find an open day, there's a good chance half the people we would like at our event will be out of town to visit family. And third, it's cold and gets dark early, so just spending time outside at a park or something equivalent is not a legitimate option. With two notable exceptions--a surprise birthday party and a blizzard that kept all my friends in town a few extra days--therefore, my adult birthdays have typically been relatively quiet. This year was no different.

But I've accepted quiet birthdays and enjoy events with 4-5 good friends. This year my birthday fell on a Friday, putting even more pressure on me to actually do something. Post-work (sadly couldn't get out of that, although my coworkers did bring in some cupcakes and Oreos, which was nice!), as much as I wanted to go to sleep and be lazy, I went into downtown DC and watched the carolers at the Willard Hotel. There was a nice group of 5 of us there, listening to some music, drinking hot apple cider, eating Christmas cookies, and catching up. The party then continued to a Thai restaurant, where I received a free meal, and then on to the Tombs, a wonderful Georgetown bar. Finals were over so students weren't around, so it was a chill Friday night there, but it brought back enough good memories. And I was with friends, which was sweet.

Clearly I partied too hard, though, and slept in until about 12:30 today (Saturday). It was slow-going to start the day, but I eventually pulled through and then went to a friend's place for an EPIC trivia tournament of champions. This friend--we realized we've known for each other for just a shade under 5 years(!)--has been hosting trivia nights at his house every couple of weeks for the past few years, and I've managed to attend a few along the way. The first time I knew no one else, but every time I've learned more names, recognized more faces, and made some new friends. My teams typically did OK, but not splendidly. Today, my team struggled to keep up the entire night, going into the final bonus round in last place. The final round's category was 2014, putting 12 events into order (one per month) and...MY TEAM GOT IT. The only one of the five teams to successfully do it. We worked well together to get it, and I'm proud that I was able to contribute. Here were the 12 events:

1. January: 33 couples get married at the Grammies
2. February: US beats Russia in Olympic ice hockey
3. March: Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 goes missing
4. April: Boko Haram kidnaps girls
5. May: 9/11 Memorial opened
6. June: World leaders gathered to commemorate D-Day
7. July: Germany wins World Cup
8. August: Robin Williams passed away
9. September: First US Ebola case
10. October: Kansas City Royals go to first World Series since 1985
11. November: Trailer released for Star Wars Episode VII
12. December: Last Colbert Report aired

So that's made this an absolutely wonderful and awesome birthday weekend. Here's to being 27! And I love this DJ Earworm mashup...his end of year stuff is good, but this is one of my faves. Very summer-y feeling, which is what I need in the depths of winter.

Light It Up

I went to a Tacky Xmas Sweater Party last night and man, it was fun. There are some truly weird looking sweaters out there. Obviously, I didn't go Christmas themed...I needed to find something for Hanukkah, and I found just that. Thank you, Target. In any case, nothing big, it was just a lot of fun spending time with friends, per usual, and doing it in funky looking sweaters was a big plus.

My Tacky Hanukkah Sweater

Also, yesterday was Taylor Swift's birthday, which I obviously knew. And T-Swift's best friend is Selena Gomez, and this song by Selena Gomez is brilliant. The live performance last month was even better.

Not Living in the Past

About two years ago, I went on a few dates with a girl, we'll call her "R" for the sake of this post. Date #1 went pretty well, which led to Date #2, which was also pretty good, but definitely fell short of Date #1. No worries, though, I figured not everything in life can be a 10/10, so I looked forward to Date #3. But Date #3 tanked. I mean, it was really bad, and I'm pretty sure both of us knew it. I don't think we needed to say that there would be no future dates, but R nevertheless did the whole, "It's not you, it's me" thing and claimed she wasn't ready for a relationship. So, no harm done, and we went our separate ways.

I figured I'd probably never run into R again; we live far enough away from each other and wouldn't be hanging out in the same circles. But a few weeks back I saw her--unexpectedly--and we played the "Let's catch up" game. I surmised that we both said that to be polite but that neither of us really meant it. Until she sent me a text. I was flabbergasted. She asked if I wanted to pick up where Date #2 left off (see, she blocked Date #3 out of her mind too!), but I politely declined. I have moved on, and I don't know why this time would be any different.

I've been thinking about this for awhile, and while I was flattered, I just couldn't imagine myself trying again with R. In part, it's because I've learned more about myself in the last two years and what I think I'm looking for in a partner. But there was also a part of me that just didn't want to rehash a past scenario--Date #3 was undeniably bad.

So that's what's been going on lately. I'm happy it's December, because days seem to speed up at the end of the year and I love the changing of days. What I'm less thrilled about is the cold weather. I wish I enjoyed it as much as this dog, who totally understands how to run a snow maze.

My Brain Is Still Processing Interstellar

I saw Interstellar on Indiana's largest IMAX movie screen (it was huge) almost a week ago, and my mind is still processing it. [NOTE: Sort of spoiler alert if you haven't seen the movie, but not really. In fact, this could end of confusing you more....] The premise of the film really stuck with me. The Earth is destroyed and can no longer sustain long-term human life, the population is decimated, and our only hope is to find a new place to live. I remember watching Anne Hathaway on ellen where she said it was purposefully left out how the Earth fell into disrepair. Was it because of humans? Natural forces? At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. The Earth can no longer support mankind and we must deal with the consequences. There's a focus on solutions and the future.

Stylistically, I really liked the movie. The film has many elements that conjure up images of 2001: A Space Odyssey that even for me--being a young 'un--were easy to recognize. The talking computer and the silent space scenes were probably most prominent. There's something powerfully emotive about a completely silent theater as we watch a spaceship float through space.

But anyway, back to the movie and why it hit me. Space is one of those things that scares me because it is so unknowable. Just trying to reconcile that there isn't an edge to the universe, but also that the universe isn't in something, completely baffles me. The universe is huge, so what else is out there? I don't buy that we're the only planet with "life" (whatever that may be) because of the millions of planets orbiting the thousands of suns, there has to be another one that's developed something, right? And I suppose that's one of the thoughts of the movie. There ARE other planets capable of having life...there have to be! We shouldn't wreck ours, but we're probably not alone either.

So I guess the movie made me realize just how tiny we are. Even the things we can see in the sky at night are very far away. Other planets can take years or more to reach. Other galaxies? Generations. Interstellar doesn't do alien life, but it made me think about it. Well, I guess it does other lifeforms in its own way, and the idea that I can be another lifeform, guiding myself along the way, is an awesome message. But this concept of free will--and whether free will exists if you are the one predetermining your future--is another philosophical conversation my brain is currently processing that may have to wait for another day. :-)

So go see Interstellar if you haven't already. It's worth it. On a MUCH lighter note, John Lewis--a British company--puts out amazingly well-crafted commercials every Christmas season. If you haven't seen them, they are most definitely worth your time. Here's a link to this year's video, with Monty the Penguin. Absolutely precious. Incredibly touching. OK, I'm done melting over this video.