2018 Year in Review

2018 was a Year of Culture for me:

10 museums (California Science Center, LA Natural History Museum, La Brea Tar Pits, The Getty, The Getty Villa, The Last Bookstore, Next Stage Gallery, Denver Art Museum x2, Denver Museum of Nature and Science x2, Molly Brown’s House)
5 plays (Hamilton, Aladdin, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Book of Mormon, White Christmas)
4 trips (Puerto Vallarta, Boston, Los Angeles, Orlando)
3 concerts (Dandy Warhols, The Fray, Scottish/Highland Bands)
3 theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, Universal Islands of Adventure)
2 comedy shows (Lewis Black, Steve Martin & Martin Short)
2 ghost tours (Brown Palace, Banjo Billys)
2 sporting events (Rockies, Broncos)
2 tiki bars (Adrift, Trader Sam’s)
2 conferences (Denver Digital Summit, Denver Travel Show)
1 botanical garden (Denver Botanical Gardens)
1 aquarium (Boston Harbour)

The Year in Culture

I never thought I’d…

See Hamilton! I almost didn’t as I didn’t get tickets the day they went on sale, but persistence paid off and I found a partial view obstructed seat close to the stage!

Best Unexpected Pleasure…

I’m going to take this literal and go with the fact that I sort of crashed the Dandy Warhols concert at Ophelia’s after a work dinner ran very very late. When the band started to play I was like “Oh these guys sound familiar”, and when they played my favorite song of theirs “Bohemian Like You” I at first thought it was a cover band before realizing what was actually going on.

I pushed myself to…

Be more cultured this year. I based my personal trips around new places and stuffed my year with new experiences. While it wasn’t friendly on my wallet, I had an amazing time!

Favorite Play…

While I did see Hamilton and it was amazing, I absolutely loved Aladdin. The Cave of Wonder’s sequence was breathtaking.

Least Favorite Play…

I just didn’t like White Christmas. They changed a lot of things from the movie, and made it more to a comedy. The last few songs did wow with the fake snow, but this is just one play I cannot recommend to others. Just watch the movie if you need some Christmas Spirit.

Favorite Concert…

I always love The Fray and managed to get front row at a charity concert they did in December.

Favorite Comedy Show…

This is hard as I love Lewis Black (and he did read my rant on stage) but I felt like Lewis was having a little bit of a off night that night, so my favorite Comedy Show this year was Steve Martin & Martin Short at Red Rocks. Also I had just finished both Martin’s and Short’s autobiography audiobooks so I felt like I knew them a lot better.

Favorite Museum Experience…

Egypt always holds my fascination and the King Tut exhibit in LA was no different. I actually did the LA trip only for this one exhibit. While I had seen some of the treasures years ago in Chicago, and later in Egypt, this was the first time I could take it in slowly AND take photos. I had so much fun!

But a close 2nd was the Getty Villa (a museum built like an ancient Pompeiian Villa). I went with my friend Thomas from Egypt, and I had so much fun geeking out with him at all of the ancient works of art.

Least Favorite Museum Experience…

Whoever designed the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit didn’t have crowds of people in mind. Everything was designed at eye level…except eye level of someone a little taller than me. If you were a child, you were screwed. Little alcoves in the main room meant only one person at a time could view an object, and they just crowded people in there. They shouted “Don’t Line Up” but if you didn’t there would be no way to elbow your way in. I got so frustrated I almost left without seeing the Scrolls. It was a beautiful exhibit, but designed for only 10% of the amount of people who were actually there.

Favorite Halloween Activity…

I freaking love Halloween and stuffed my October full of activities. I think my favorite activity was the Molly Brown House’s Victorian Horrors, where they had people read you horror stories while dressed as the authors!

Favorite Food Experience…

This year was tough as I found out I had significant food allergies. So I’d say my favorite food experience was finding places with Gluten Free menus, like Yellowbelly a GF friend chicken restaurant near my home. Plus after cutting out my food allergies I’ve felt 1000x better!

Most Embarrassing Moment…

When I pissed off Rick Steves at the Denver Travel Show.

Best Travel Experience…

I had the most amazing massage ever in Puerto Vallarta. Spent almost an entire day there and was the most relaxed I’ve ever been.

Worst Travel Experience…

Cheaping out on hotels in Santa Monica meant that I could hear a couple violently having a disagreement over “staying in a shitty hotel”. Police were called, and the woman cried after being told that EVERY hotel guest had called to complain about her.

Favorite Reads…

I really enjoyed Martin Short’s “I Must Say”. I picked it up on a whim. I like audiobook biographies when they are written and read by the author. Last year I listened to all of Carrie Fisher’s books and enjoyed them a lot. I picked up Martin Short’s book only because his voice sounded calming. I actually…didn’t know much about Martin Short. I remember him from movies like Father of the Bride, but as I had never watched SNL, I didn’t know much about him. The audiobook was great as he would do voices as some of his characters, which helped when I went to see him live as I could understand what was going on.

Favorite TV Shows…

I love dramatic TV shows and my two favorites this year were The Americans and The Last Kingdom. I have been watching The Americans since it first came out, and this year was the last season…and man it was a doozy. They did everything right. I highly recommend this show.

Late in the year I discovered The Last Kingdom and loved it instantly. I’m still working through the latest season, but they did a great job with this show.

Favorite Movies…

My two favorite movies this year were “Murder on the Orient Express” and “An Inspector Calls”. Two period piece murder mysterious with twists!

Other Milestones/Highlights

We moved offices at work. We are now more uptown/financial district which has been a change from our old LoDo offices.
I organized my home! My garage got new shelves so I could fit a lot more down there. I donated a ton of stuff, and I finally got the spare room turned into a real office! I also got brand new Living Room furniture for the first time in 10 years!

Blogging

I took a year off of blogging and it was freeing. I didn’t have to rush home and finish writing. But…my plan to prep 2019 with a lot of posts has failed. I don’t have much written. I’m going to attempt to write as fast as I can, but I may need to scale back and not post weekly. We’ll see.

2019 Plans

I’ve got 3 plays I’m going to: The Play that Goes Wrong, Fiddler on the Roof, and Anastasia!
I’ll see Claude Monet at DAM and a Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at DMNS
I might have business trips to NYC, Orlando, Texas
Possible trip to a friends wedding in Washington DC