Top 10 Moments of 2010

2010 comes to a close and I suppose it’s time for a bit of
inflection. A lot changed this year. In fact, I’d venture to say
this year’s motto, was Change or Die. I believe in kinetic energy,
socially, scientifically, and mentally. You gotta keep on the move
otherwise you risk stagnation. So this year began sober, for once. I
had to work at Lucky 7s. I can’t say I was overly happy about
having to work on NYE. It’s one of those few nights of the year
where I go out with a bit of swagger and get to draw the attention
of the ladies. Generally I travel to some hot spot for good
times with old friends. Sadly this year, I was stuck working. Miss
Nina Petronico was good company none the less. And we did have a
good time, shaking drinks and talking shit during our shift. So the
year started, with mixed feelings. What a telling omen for the rest
of the year. I’ll get into it more when I get upto 2010 with a
Through Sound and Time. In the meantime (as Space Hog said) here
are my top ten moments of 2010. 10.
Audition At the start of football season, a friend
called me up. She asked how much acting experience I
had. I replied “ZERO, but I’m quite a character in my
own right.” She asked me if I wanted to audition for a play
she was helping produce. I decided that I did. Went to
NYC and I auditioned for a play. It was the first time I
ever did anything like that. I did not get a call back but
it was exhilarating anyhow. I’d prolly do it again. It
never hurts to expand your horizons a bit. 9. Stand
Up This was more recent (last week) as I write
this. Local Celebrity and all around funny gal Sarah Roxanne
Shields hosts a Stand-up event at my bar. Two of the
“professional” comedians bailed and after another brave soul
stepped up for his set, I decided I had the nards to try my
hand at it as well. The response was slightly better than the
audition. I got a few solid laughs out of the crowd.
Again it’s fun to see just what new talent I might be able to
uncover. Stage fright wasn’t an issue, and mostly I talked
about my background in art (which was mainly stiffing markers in
3rd grade) and my illustrious dating career. 8. Book
Club Along with my friend Paul, I started a
book club this year. It’s still going, I’ve since stopped
attending meetings and have begun reading much much more on my own,
but it was a spark that reminded me some of the best therapy a
person can get for writer’s block is to just analyze another’s
attempt at the craft. 7. Awarded Best Dressed in
JC I attended the second annual 4th Street Ball at
City Hall this year. After a bit of lobbying and some early
mornings, I won the contest for best dressed. It’s nice to
have a cool title to brag about. Sure beats high school’s
title “the guy that smells faintly of cat piss”. 6.
Moshpit at the Ghost of Uncle Joe’s This years
Halloween event for the Ghost of Uncle Joe’s raised a bunch of loot
for the Harimus Cemetery. That’s a pretty good thing.
But what was really great on top of that, we all had a total
blast. It’s not often I get to work it out in the moshpit
these days. Let alone with all my friends from Jersey
City. We really got it going. I was a little bummed
about the ladies that day. I remember thinking as I was
pounding my way through the Misfits set. “This is Zac
Clark. That 19 year old kid, smiling and dancing and
singin, out there alone and at the same time amongst
friends, doing his thing.” I can’t tell you how many times
someone grabbed me and was like “DUDE, You are tough as
nails!” or something to that effect. True I’m no
slouch, and when the music plays I feel no pain at
all. I forgot my woes for a while, Knuckled
up Buckled up and had a super great time. 5. Started
working at Bar Majestic Late June I had been
thinking about moving on from Lucky 7 for about 6 months. I
was started to get disgruntled, as a worker, which is not to say I
didn’t like it there or I still don’t think of those cats as
family, I was just becoming stagnant, and I wanted something else,
a change of scenery I gathered. I met Dave (the then owner of
the Bar Majestic) we hit it off and I started working a good old
fashioned bartender’s type of bar. Martini’s, cocktails and
wine, That’s the way I started bartending when I first learned. It comes
naturally, and I like playing the role of the gentlemen’s type
bartender. After a short while, I started doing the bar’s PR
and a few month’s later, here I am with my co-worker Ali Charli
running the place. Movin’ and shakin’ that’s just what I
needed. I dusted off some cobwebs and now I feel like I
couldn’t have made a better choice. It was hard and scary to
leave 7’s (i had been there for 2.5 years) but ultimately it was
the right move. 4. Dating an Actress
I don’t make it much of a secret that I date mostly from girls I
meet online. I’m not one to worry about social stigma, and I
look at it as a way to meet someone I would have never had the
opportunity to meet otherwise. One of the girls I dated for a
bit was this super cool actress. We had a total blast hanging
out. She turned me on to some cool stuff (like Scott
Pilgrim), and though our romance fizzled out, I gotta say I had a
pretty fun time with her. She went to England to pursue her
acting career. During that time I worked hard to try and get
out to see her. When it didn’t pan out I opted to take a trip
to Italy instead. It was a hard year for relationships up til
then, I was starting to get pretty jaded about the opposite sex
(more so than my normal level) she gave me a touch of hope for a
while. And for once, when everything ended, I could at least
shrug my shoulders and say hey that’s life. Look at me I’m
growing up. 3. Trip to Italy So I
took up travel writing. So I decided to actually, y’know do a
little traveling. I set out late September on a trip of a
lifetime, into a world I had very little experience with. I
immersed myself in a country I had no ties to. I represented
my country and it’s citizens as best I could. My best friend
of 17 years, Paul Cox, and I had some crazy adventures. I
wrote an account of each event as quickly as it happened.
When we parted and I was alone, I learned a whole lot about
international travel as well as myself. You can check out my
adventures in travel over at Uncle Traveling
Zac. 2. Honored with a position as Inked
Magazine’s Travel Writer. I’ve been a journalist for
something like 8 years, in mind and spirit if not in
manner. All that persistence finally payed off in march when
my friend Rocky became the Editor and Chief of Inked
Magazine. He was in need of a new travel writer. After
reading some of my short fiction, he asked me to take the
job. I could barely believe my luck! After a little
over a year as Jersey City’s Rock writer, I had achieved a regular
spot in an internationally read and respected magazine! It’s
been five months since my first article came out. Everytime I
see my name in print I want to shriek like a little girl.
1. Writing a Book November is
National Novel Writing month. That said, I tried and failed
to write a book in 2009 for this event. It left me feeling
like a huge failure. This year I planned ahead. A few
solid ideas got tossed around and finally I settled on what would
become The Unreasonable
Facsimile.
I tried a few different settings for
writing and found that just being home away from the rest of the
world I was able to write to my heart’s content. 30 days
later I gave manbirth to my first novel. It was a lonely
month, I sat there each day trying my best to construct dialogue
and coming up with a story. Once it was finished I had a
nervous tick for 15 days. It sits on my computer waiting for
me to start the dreaded editing process. But out of all the
things I accomplished this year it stands as the greatest.
It’s perhaps the greatest accomplishment of my life, though I’m
sure I’ll find a way to top in in 2011. I must thank Ali
Charli, who soldiered on with her own book while I wrote
mine, surely had we not written in solidarity I would have given up
after the 4th day. Paul bailed two days in. But that’s
ok the three of us are all even with one book written to our
names. The the experience has taught us all that it’s easier
than previously thought. So that’s the whole deal.
2010, a lot more happened. If you’ve kept up with my antics,
you know that I have several blogs. And a twitter account,
Rocker
Tycoon. I hope you find good fortune and some solid
tunes come 2011. And we can all take heart in the fact that
there won’t be anyone wearing those stupid double zero new years
glasses at least till 2100!