33 years of... me! Part 4: The 21st century!

And at last, we catch up to the present... On Jan. 1, 2000, I was 24 going on 25.

Y2K and the 21st century:

2000:
• Jan. 1: Y2K came. And went. It was also my last night on the news desk at the Call. I was moving to Sports the next day...
• Summer: ... Where, despite a whirlwind romance with a colleague, I had the most miserable nine months of my professional career.
• September: Nearly three months to the day after arriving, I fled Allentown for New Jersey and a much-needed fresh start.

2001:
• 9/11: Can there be any doubt about one of the seminal events in history, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks? I don't think I've ever hidden my love of America and all she's done for me, and I'll never forget driving up over a rise on Route 22 and seeing the tower wreckage burning, smoke rising into the sky visible from miles away. I was slow getting to work, stunned as I'm sure most of us were, and also feeling both lucky I'd lost no one and amazed at my best friend's close call - he was due to be working at Windows on the World, a job slated to start Monday the 10th that was delayed until Wednesday the 12th. I don't really know what I can say about something that touched everyone in some way. Besides the Towers, I'd traveled past the Pentagon not a year before, and the crash of United 93 in Western Pennsylvania brought back memories of the crash of US Air 427, which occured near the Pittsburgh airport while I was in college.

2002:
• Pretty much all year: This one was kind of a dull one by comparison - as has been much of the ensuing time, as I settled into both New Jersey and adulthood. Work hard. Bitch about the commute and Jersey drivers. Work hard again. I also had my last serious pre-Marisa relationship. Really. I went 0-for-03/04/05/06.
• October-December: In the sole major life event, I bought my very first (town)house, in lovely Hillsborough, N.J. I lived their five years, and loved it. I used to say my parents (who helped with the down payment) owned the living room, I owned a few kitchen tiles and the bank owned the rest. By the time I left, I'd actually managed to own about half of the kitchen all on my own.

2003:
• Spring: The Business section won a major national award for the first time, for its work in 2002. We had a killer party, which included some great food and a VIP throwing up in and on my car.
• Otherwise: Dullsville, population Me. None of this is to demean anything I actually did in these years, by the way, or anyone I did any of that with. It's just, my life was in many ways in a multi-year rut despite some major highlights along the way, so often, the first thing I think of was that I spent 364 days doing nothing and a day or so doing something really exciting. This year, for instance, I think I managed to paint the dining room in the house. I took a week's vacation to do it. Years later, Marisa would paint the dining room in our new house in about eight hours.

2004:
• Oct. 10: A career highlight, covering my first Raiders game for Raiderfans.net.

2005:
• January-April: The making of "Dead Hunt" took place over the first several months of the year, and really was one of the major highlights of my life. You're probably sick of hearing me shill the movie by now, but come on. Can you blame me? I wrote the freakin' screenplay!
• February: I joined the Black Hats at Mardi Gras, in the last hurrah of my 20s, some days before my 30th birthday. I started out my year 29 by bleaching my hair blond and ended it by doing test-tube shots with shot girls at Tricou House at 711 Bourbon St. Of course, not six months later, Katrina slammed the city, which just broke my heart since I loved my few days there so much and met so many great people.
• March: Post No. 1 here on Life on the Rim!
• Summer: My Dad and I started a tradition of going to a yearly Yankees game, usually just us. I mention it because as I write this, we just got back from Year No. 4's game earlier today.

2006:
• Pretty much all year: Not the most exciting of years, mostly spent doing two things: Sitting around waiting impatiently for DH to come out, and going on unsuccessful third dates after rejoining Match.com.

2007:
• Feb. 3: After a year or so of the above frustration, I went on what I was pretty sure would be on of my last Match dates if it didn't work out. It worked out.
• May 13-14: I got promoted. I got engaged to the love of my life. Haven't you guys heard enough about all that yet?
• August: New house! You've heard about that, too. Yeah, I'm on a roll these days, eh?

2008:
• Thus far: Well, it's only been a few months into the year, so I'm not sure if there's a real highlight yet (except for Norton doing better!). Maybe today's trip to Yankee Stadium for its final season. Check back in August, though! Definitely some fun to be had then!

Meanwhile, that wraps up 33 years of me! Hope it was worth the wait!