As the end of 2003 is almost upon us, and as I have this lovely forum from which to relate otherwise boring tales on unsuspecting people, I thought it might be nice to take a little time to sit back and reflect on what 2003 was like for me, at least in the broad strokes version. I hope you enjoy sharing some of the year’s highlights with me.

—Still Alive—

Yep, still kicking. Good lord, what am I, twenty-two now? Well, I made it through another year without dying. Yeah for me!

—I Dumped the Bitch…er, I Mean My Girlfriend—

Right around the start of the year when we had the whole 2 weeks at my house fiasco, which ended with my father telling my sister and I for the first time that this was actually his second marriage and true romance wasn’t quite the perfect fairy tale I was imagining, was when the idea finally started to dawn on me that she wasn’t really the “One”. Of course the relationship went on and off for a few months longer, struggling to try to make the best of things, until finally around March or April (I forget now) I finally called it quits for good.

Of course the madness never really ended there. We decided to remain friends and things got predictably extremely awkward at times. Most recently there was the final straw in September where she decided she didn’t want to talk to me any longer (and just “forgot” to tell me about it). Most of you probably remember that, as I vented my rage very publicly (check my posts in September for all the details) and was pretty upset for about a month or more. Not so much about losing the relationship, but more about the stupidity of the whole thing.

Thankfully I can now say that I am completely over the whole thing. I’ve moved on. I happen to be a little more bitter and jaded now, but Amen it’s all over.

—Clancy Came to Bard to Spend the Week with Me—

…And I ended up seeing him for only two days before he disappeared completely to do questionable acts for the rest of the week. Yeah, I still remember that.

—Movie Madness—

One day Mike and I decided to get high and see Leprechaun in Space and Leprechaun in the Hood in the campus center, which ended up being one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever done. Somehow because of that event I got in my head the idea for the Crappy Movie Marathon, a great idea I had where we would watch crappy movies all day and make fun of them with met with disastrous results, as no one actually showed up for it. Nevertheless, I at least loved the idea of it, and several other mini-marathons sprung up from it (again, none of which met up with much success).

The love of watching movies lived on though, and as the summer progressed I became more obsessed with the cinema; with watching movies at home and in the theater, in talking about movies, reading about them, and then ultimately writing about them (thus sprang up The Monday Movie Review). Then I found a deal at Blockbusters to rent lots of movies for less money, the amount of DVDs I bought went up, and suddenly I realize that this year I’ve seen more movies for the first time than any other time in my life. In 365 days I’ve managed to see about 250 movies for the first time and around 360 movies total. Obsess much? Yeah, but at least it is something I really love.

—I Discover the Blog—

In the Spring Mike Marlin introduces me to something new that’s quickly becoming popular—the blog (online web log). I scoff at first at the idea of a diary or journal that is just online instead of in a book, but soon I begin to realize the power of something that can be both extremely personal and public at the same time. This concept of mental voyeurism becomes instantly popular with me and thus C’est Non Un Blog is born on Blogger. A few months later I switch over to livejournal and began what you are now reading.

—Matrix Mania Comes in with a Bang, Out with a Whimper—

At the start of this year a lot of new information about the two new Matrix sequels started to come out, and I instantly became obsessed. I had downloaded every trailer, read every magazine article and pretty much had a gigantic wealth of information at my fingertips before I even saw on of the films. Seeing the Matrix for the first time in 1999 was one of those movie going experiences that you’ll never forget, and at the very first Midnight showing of The Matrix Reloaded I was there in Red Hook ready to see the new movie.

What followed was slightly confusing. Part of the film were exactly what I was expecting, especially the now famous freeway chase which is one of the most amazing car chases I think to ever be put on film. But then there were the long stretches of boring exposition and philosophy, the pointless (and very weird) orgy sequence. A lot of people didn’t really know what to think of the film. Although I was slightly disappointed I still loved it, and happened to write about a small book’s worth of essays on it.

Then there was the video game, Enter the Matrix, which was insanely fun at the first pass, but on repeated inspection began to fall apart. Play the game at any level higher than Easy and it no longer is any fun. The footage from the actual film was cool, but mostly it made no sense until you saw Revolutions.

Speaking of which, Revolutions came out in November and again I was one of the first ones to see it. This time I was horribly disappointed though. The philosophy was even more pointless and not any fun, the action sequences weren’t THAT spectacular, and the ending just sucked the fun of the franchise right out of my poor heart. Man it sucked. Again, I wrote another small book’s worth of essays on the experience.

The one bright spot with little to no disappointments was the Animatrix. The animation in these shorts were amazing, and the stories interesting enough to warrant repeated viewings. The Second Renaissance shorts remain some of the most disturbing pieces of film making I’ve seen this year, and Beyond remains on of my favorite pieces of animation ever. Bravo, Japanimation!

—I Finally Get My Driver’s License—

In August I at last sign up to take my 5-Hour course because I waited too long after taking Driver’s Ed to get my license. After more pain in the ass ordeals than I feel like recounting here, I finally go to take this stupid class at the YMCA in Troy, on what happens to be the same day as Blackout 2003. To put things into perspective, right as we were leaving the house to drive to Troy the power goes out. That’s odd, we think. Little did we know.

So I get to the thing and already there is talk of the power being out and the class maybe being canceled (and of course all of the expected talk of terrorism, just to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck). The class does take place though (thank God) and it goes surprisingly easy. He lets us out an hour early, and because I was one of the few people to actually show up on time after the break, he gives us all of the answers to the test. So besides having to sit there when I really didn’t want to, getting my permit back was a piece of cake.

So I go to take the test. The driving inspector is a major ass and makes me a nervous wreck (although it’s not like he had to try hard). He just pushed me the wrong way though. I really wanted to hit him. So I failed that time after failing to make a proper parallel park (I was three feet away from the curb) and I had to wait another month before I could even take the test again.

Second time, same as the first. Except this time I did well enough and was able to hide the fact that my leg was shaking like a wet kitten so as to pass. I was so relieved I almost drove into a wall. Now I can finally get myself around, driving at high speeds with my mixtapes keeping me company.

—I Was Alone for My Birthday—

It wasn’t that big a deal, but then at the same time it was the first time I was ever alone for my birthday (only the second time without family) and it was just a little weird. To fill the void I just watched movies all day. It’s questionable as to whether that helped any.

—Kill Bill Rocked My World—

Other than the Matrix movies, the one film I really wanted to see this year was Quentin Tarantino’s first film since 1997, Kill Bill Volume 1. It may be odd to list the viewing of one movie as a major event of the year, but when seeing that movie causes you to instantly go out and buy over 30 DVDs on eBay, there is obviously something there. Thank you Quentin! Without you I would not know the joy that is old school Shaw Brothers kung fu. Kill Bill is definitely the pop culture event that most influenced me this year.

—Oh Yeah, and I Graduated from College—

At the time, and I’m pretty sure this will stand the test of time, this was a very minor event in my life. Graduation wasn’t a joyous event like a wedding or birth, it was more akin to a funeral. It was the end of an era. I was leaving some of the best times of my life, and that didn’t make me too happy. I don’t even really remember most of graduation. I remember how the tent looked and that’s about it. Whooped de do, who gives a fuck? I graduated.

Of course as much as I will miss the college life, I do think I was pretty thankful to get out. I loved reading the texts and discussing them in class with my peers and professors, but I was really fed up with doing all the other nonsense work that goes with it, the only purpose of which is being able to prove that you did in fact learn something. My senior year of college I handed in at least half of my papers late (one not at all!). It all just wasn’t really doing it for me anymore.

If there is one event that is deceivingly more memorable than graduating college, it was finally completing my senior project and actually being quite proud of it. I remember the final re-write was like hell (ironic, since that was what I was writing about). For five straight days all I did was edit, from the moment I got up until I went to bed. I was editing in my dreams. After three whole days of this I started to go a little crazy. But thankfully it all got done, and I was quite happy with what I ended up with. Definitely my proudest achievement of 2003 was completing War is Hell. Not too shabby.

Well, that’s just the broad strokes version of 2003. I hope you enjoyed sharing it with me. May 2004 be just as good, if not better.