I can't believe it's not 2011

Happy new year, fiercely loyal readers... all 11 of you.

The end of the year was, in a word, fucking awesome! I saw two of my most favorite bands of all time while I was in NYC. I will admit it here, right now. Phish is the greatest band on earth. I saw the Disco Biscuits for 2 nights, then immediately saw 4 nights of Phish. So for 6 straight nights, I subway-ed my butt from Brooklyn to Manhattan and danced my face off, and maybe a little bit of my ass. While in NYC, I drank a lot of beer, took a lot of naps, wrote loads of note cards to my best friend who was away while I was staying in his apartment, verbally abused a stuffed flamingo named Shirley, and got to see one of the finest men I know sport a midriff shirt on a regular basis. Also, I rejoined words with friends, so I'm more useless than ever.

This past week was insane. It's as if God herself has been shining down all over me, pouring sunshine on my life, and dousing me with glee and smiles. I'm pretty sure very little could knock me from my stellar high right now. To any and all friends who read this who were with me this past week, THANKS SO MUCH! It was magic! Here are some photos of the past 10 days or so, including the Christmas party we threw to celebrate Jesus, even though we're Jewish...

May the peace be with you

Christmas party cookies

I have pretty good pastry skills

Meatball

This one's for you, John Lombardi! Miss Long Island herself, rockin' some orange nastiness on the subway because she can't handle straight vodka

The Disco Biscuits - Mad fun

Phish at Madison Square Garden... and all of the following are Phish too

I love all the arms

Best

Fantastic

Mmmmmm

I love you, Chris Kuroda - Phish light man

New Years Eve

Crowd love

Look at them balloons up there

Weeeeeee

Party time

I now have the post run blues. Not post diarrhea blues, but post run, as in a run of shows, as in seeing several shows back to back blues. I know I said earlier that I'm all happy and jazzed and shit, but I also miss the week I just had. I'm one of those assholes who looks forward to an event so hard, and then celebrates said event so hard, that when it's over, I crash and burn. I slept for the better part of 3 days following new years. I needed time to get my head back to earth, get my hearing readjusted, and also needed to figure out how to function in a world where people weren't yelling "miracle", "doses", and "CACTUS!" I won't take much time to discuss how and why I love Phish so much, but I do, and I'll try a little to explain. It's not just about the music, and it certainly isn't about the party. It's something bigger than both of those. It's a sense of belonging, community, positivity and overwhelming ear-bursting awesomeness. On 12/30, on the floor of Madison Square Garden, 13 rows in front of the band, I found myself sobbing my little eyes out during one of their songs. I don't know why, and I don't really care. And it was earlier that day, that my lovely friend lead a yoga class to the sounds of Phish, that I boohoo-ed my eyes out while I lay in shavasana pose at the end of class as he blasted two songs from the show from the previous night. Again. I don't know why I cried... there was nothing even close to sadness, but more of a movement of spirit and joy to the front parts of my brain. Phish turns me into a weeping little mess, and I couldn't ask anything more powerful. Some people have God. Some have Jesus. Some have candy. Some have a weird pornography collection. Some have an obsession with Star Wars. Some people worship Satan and others feel an insane gravitational pull to all-you-can-eat buffets. For me, my "thing" is Phish. I'm usually better at explaining things, but when it comes to true love, I don't got the words.

And that, that last sentence, is the lamest thing I ever wrote. But it's true.

And here's one last one, for all the Trailer Park Boys/Phish fans out there.