As Twenty-Ten approached I found myself slightly adrift and unaware of what the next year’s theme might be. Surprisingly enough the theme revealed itself on New Year’s Eve. 2010’s Theme is NYC!

With that in mind preparations are being made for the move to New York City, with a focus on the Park Slope, Bed Stuy, and Gowanus neighborhoods of Brooklyn. I am open for suggestions on good good neighborhoods and places to shy away from.

So changes are in store for me and the residents of Chez Kitteh.

Decisiveness built on the “Default = Yes” theme of 2005 buy opening choices and having me stick to my decision untill the end was reached.

Green was well… the colour as a guiding principle. If all things were equal in a decision choose the one that was more green (colour) Made for some interesting

So looking back to 2006 my memory gets a little more flexible as to what happened and when.

I recall purchasing an older Gillig Bus to visit festivals and Burning Man. I also became interested in The Prisoner, a TV show from the 1960’s, in part as that was the theme of the theme camp I organized and ran that year at Burning Man.

I also saw humpbacked whales in the wild and made several visits to the Tidal Pools at Moss Beach (just north of Half Moon Bay, California.)

I’m going to dig back through the pictures and see what else I can find for 2006… but it seems I did not take many photos that year.

Luscious - richly luxurious or appealing to the senses
Synchronicity - the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality 

When I was engaging on any project I worked to make it more luscious. A good example being my outfit for the first Experiment. Green furry coat covered an outfit created from fruit roll ups, marshmallow peeps, and a few other assorted candies.  

With synchronicity it was a more open mindset and allowing for more possibilities.  Which might have been why I made more friends and connections this year than previously.  

It was the summer of campouts, Lightning in a Bottle, Priceless, Acid Totem in Big Sur, Burning Man, Sunset Parties, New Moonie, Chillits, Field Day, and a few more that slip my mind due to a lack of taking photos. Arrgghh

I remember picking up a copy of Harry Potter at just after midnight of the day it was released and then reading it to all who cared listed at the Priceless campout. (I made it though the first chapter then kept it kinda to myself)

I also made my first trip to Bohemian Carnival and soon became a regular.  My bus eventually became the Gooferbus.

More to come as I discover photos and memories pop up!

And so I learned how to shave, bush my teeth, and worked at defaulting to using my left hand anywhere I would normally reach out with my right. Did I become ambidextrous? no – Develop mutant powers? not yet (though I do have hopes that a future theme might put me in the right direction)

2008 has come and gone and I still try to do things differently. Interact with my world in ways that cause me to understand other ways that things and people are.

I’ve made 33 blog posts here since the year began. I’ve read lots about Ableton Live even watched a few demo series. In addition to my personal blog I’ve three active sites about Gulfport Florida:

• Gulfport 365
• Gulfport Goes Green
• Gulfport Tuesday Fresh Market

I’ve designed the logo and branding for Gulfport Goes Green and had the advertisement published in a regional magazine. As of a month ago I once again have a digital SLR and am working to improve my photographic eye (one of the things that Gulfport 365 is doing) Since moving to Chez Kitteh,which has a gas stove, I am working to reclaim my skills as a chef and experiment more with foods and flavors.

With 3/4 of the year remaining I’m hoping to find time to:

1. begin producing music and playing out as a DJ (I need a good name)
2. deconstructing and altering some clothing I’ve been collecting (need a sewing machine)
3. pick a challenging meal or culinary technique that I will master each remaining quarter
4. develop at least one additional web site per quarter 
5. double the number of existing web clients each quarter
6. increase the rate of my blogging
7. launch the Holistic Education Academy (maybe with a less lame name) 
8. Complete my Gulfport Mailbox project
9. Strengthen the connection and not exploit or annoy those on my social networks
10. Complete the NaNoWriMo challenge this November

I’ve been asked to score a short film this month and will give my final commitment on this coming Monday.  This will help me wrestle the technical aspects of Live and simultaneously be creative.

So if you are contemplating starting a blog or other website or would like to  write  for a blog without worry of technical headaches let me know as we can work together in either possibility.

As the year progressed I did many things most notably:
A trip to Tampa Bay for friends’ graduation
First time to Chicago
Ran the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon
Visited Toronto for two long weekends and almost moved there
Attended Burning Man
Skydiving over Santa Rosa, California
Moved to San Francisco
Took dance classes and gave my first public performance
Traveled to Vermont (specifically Barre) to visit friends, stopping past Portland, Maine to meet another friend for dinner.

It was a great and fun way to approach new activities and ideas and I recommend trying it!

The years following have produced these themes:
2009 – Production
2008 – “Year of the Left Hand”
2007 – Luscious & Synchronicity
2006 – Creativity, Decisiveness, and Green
2005 – Default = Yes

It’s half past February and I still hold to lofty goals as to what Production in 2009 means.  Part is the creation of a body of work, part is the creation of new talents, but overall at the moment it means my doing things that leave a record.

That’s about it for now. I have noticed that themes do take a life on their own to grow and mature and am curious to see where this goes in the next ten and a half months. P.S. I’m also turning 37 this year. (It’s the new 23)