Sleepy in Seattle

Long before Flight of the Conchords were singing about it, six young men were bringing business time to the world. And by world, I mean the tri-county Central New York area.

In an effort to prove our existence with the ladies of Cicero-North Syracuse High School, six guys from the likes of the math league, glee club, and (d)orchestra joined forces to create an unstoppable musical force. That’s right people, 2001 marked the year of The Businessmen.

The best part of it all was that I had no business playing with these guys. As Kristen (Sciaruto) Embry would be quick to point out, I could barely use a sustain pedal. How was it that I found myself part of the group that would rise to the top of the local high school radio charts?

Simple. I had a performance spot at our high school’s Prevention Night, that’s code for ‘ambiguously themed talent show’.

I was going to form a band to perform a cover of the Tom Jones song, It’s Not Unusual. It was a brilliant plan, which worked basically like this:

1. Find trombone and trumpet player
2. Create band and play It’s Not Unusual at high school talent show
3. Take my pick of any girl in the school (like on The Bachelor)

Instead, my good friend at the time (and future lead singer) convinced me to do otherwise. He said that I should join their band and surrender my spot at the show. He would just hand me a guitar, saying all that mattered is that we would all be in a band together and that the “business would come”. Luckily I weaseled my way in as the piano player once their original member didn’t show up for a practice. Or at least that’s how I like to remember it.

It’s business time people, and my senior year of high school was never to be the same.

A new decade is upon us, and it got me thinking about how much can change in 10 years. I’d be willing to venture a guess that the last 10 years have held more than any other period every will. Just think about how much stuff transpires between the age of 16 and 26. Big stuff. Big life stuff.

In the last 10 years I’ve graduated from high school and college, got my first car, first kiss (because of the car), first girlfriend (because of the kiss), first job (because girls are expensive), and first home (because being homeless isn’t really popular right now). I thought it’d be fun to recap the highlights from each year in the last decade, in a new series called Ten Years in Ten Days. Buckle up, time for a quick trip down memory lane.

In the Year 2000…

The year 2000 was possibly the most over-hyped year ever to exist. People were busy buying powdered milk and canned food, all the while significant technology spending and the likes of e-commerce fueled the economy (sock puppets anyone?). Tw0-thousand was also when I started my senior year in high school.

I remember the first week of school it was all about the vests. Old Navy had been brainwashing us all summer with their Tech Vest commercials. Ah yes, the Old Navy Tech Vest. Truly technology at its finest. Remember kids, it was hip to zip.

Favorite memory? Zipping my way up and down the hallways of Cicero-North Syracuse High School, fresh with frosted tips and and some sort of beaded necklace from my cousin. Oh, and a Messenger bag too. Sounds about right.

Here’s a shot with my future r-blading partner and Summer 2002-03 BFF, Bridget Frio (Fredenburg) sporting said style.

Gosh, was I ever a sucker for those Lisa Loeb glasses.

Today was a pretty low key day. Contemplative. Spent a good chunk of time just recharging the batteries, and in the background of my mind I began to mull over a few things. Namely, how people approach a new year.

It’s strange, but I see so many friends putting a disproportionate amount of stock into the first 24 hours of a new year, as if this crucial first day sets the entire standard by which the following 364 will be counted. They get into new workout routines, grind the gorging on fatty foods to a near halt, and line their Facebook status updates with optimistic sayings.

Perhaps this is just the pendulum swinging back extra hard – we start out each year with the best plan and intentions, and we gradually start missing the mark. And by the end of a year, it’s so clear that were not even close to where we want to be that now only drastic measures (read: a ‘fresh’ start) must be taken.

And we know it’s coming. Family members gorging on food at Thanksgiving and Christmas often remark that it will all change after the first of the year. If we were seriously committed to changing our lifestyle, why couldn’t we just make the change instantaneously?

Maybe it’s systemic of a bigger problem, perhaps we just don’t feel like we’re in control of our lives anymore. What we know we should do and what we desire to do never actually match up with the things that we do.

One thing is certain. I’m going to be wading through layers and layers of office-garbed resolutionists at the gym. I look forward till the third week of January when they’ll be back at home falling into their 2009 routine all over again. I’m sure Idol will be on by then, right?