The Year in Review 2012

It's been a long, insane, + tumultuous ride, my friends.  While there are so many things that have happened in this past year--some of them crazy as fuck, like almost getting run over by a hit and run that ended up colliding with three parked cars, one of which caught on fire like in the movies--ultimately, this year was defined above all things, by intensity + power + beauty + circularity + clarity.  Among the many things, here are a few highlights:

1.  Visiting Ōsaka for the first time in my life, where most of my Japanese family lives

2.  Connected to #1, meeting my Japanese family for the first time in my life after going to the Edo Castle, including my cousins Eikichi + Chie, Aunt Shizuko + Uncle Toshio, Eikichi's wife Megumi.

3.  Feeding the deer in Nara, singing authentic karaoke in Dōtonbori with Eikichi + Megumi, eating Soba + going to temples for the New Years

4.  Passing my Field Exam, my Written Exam + My Oral Exam at USC, becoming a PhD candidate in the process

5.  Celebrating (lamenting) our last six months in LA

6.  Taking two road trips to Santa Barbara.  One, just to see it.  A second time to kick it with my Thesis Adviser, TC Boyle at his Frank Loyd Wright house

7.  Spending my 28th 38th birthday at LACMA with LB

8.  Going to the Getty Institute

9.  Saying goodbye to USC, at least for 2012

10.  Getting short stories accepted for publication in Quarter After Eight, the Last Night on Earth Anthology  + The Antioch Review

11.  Saying Goodbye to LA, which, to be honest, really broke my heart in a way that I never though it would

12.  Driving across country from LA to Chicago with the pooches + a million boxes of books

13.  Releasing my electronic music LP, "Space Age" on iTunes

14.  Being the 1st Runner Up in Fiction in the P&W's California Exchange Award

15.  Finally publishing a short story in Fiction International after sending them submissions for years

16.  Reuniting with my beautiful city, Chicago