72. A hard-fought year, 1.

(Originally written on February 27th. Not posted until now because I've been running around like a madman these past few days.)

Today is my last day as a 27-year old.

I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, except to say that it was a hard-fought year, and that I'm proud I made it through.

It certainly wasn't the year I envisioned having at 27. Granted, no year since college has turned out like I'd envisioned--for better or for worse--but still, 27 was a weird one in that I'm not quite sure how to define it.

The other years--perhaps because there's now some distance and the objectivity that comes from hindsight--are easier to define. Each has a clear storyline, a theme, a sense of direction and movement.

Twenty-three was hard because I was still adjusting to post-college life, adjusting to life as a New Yorker, and adjusting to the void in my life left in the wake of the demise of the relationships with my two closest friends. But in the end, it turned out to be a pretty amazing year, due, in part, to my blossoming relationship with the City of New York.

Twenty-four was a beautifully strange year in which I fulfilled several long-standing dreams: namely, to play in a bona fide rock band, and to teach overseas.

Twenty-five was split between my relationship with the people of Northern Iraq and my relationship with a girl back home. In the end, the girl won, and I moved from Iraq back to New York, and from New York back to LA to be with her.

Twenty-six was a continuation of the relationship with the girl, which led me towards a wild new journey with a documentary project featuring the VW Bus I bought on eBay for roughly $800. When the relationship with the girl ended, I moved all of my energy and focus into the documentary project; but, seeing as how the two were inextricably linked in my life, I'd subconsciously lost the will to continue on with the project, a realization I've only come to accept in recent months.

So that brings us to this past year. Which I'll talk about in the forthcoming Part 2.