What A Year!
2021
I’ll probably sound like every person on the entire planet, but what else can be said about 2021… What a year.
Coming off an unprecedented 2020, 2021 was something of a coin flip. One side, uncertainty. The other side, hope. For me, it was a bit of both, but I mostly looked at the upcoming year from a glass half full perspective, as I usually do. I mean, I ended 2020 on a high note, in spite of what the year threw at the world. I wasn’t in debt, I found the love of my life, and I hadn’t lost anyone close to me.
JANUARY: I’d say the first highlight of the year was being able to surprise Kayla for her on her birthday, even though she almost had a panic attack because she’s not one for spontaneity or surprises. After it was all said and done, she’ll say it herself, it was worth it. I went out to Long Island, and me and Jason (my brother) took her out to TGIFridays. Simple, but a fun time.
Fast forward to the next day and onto the original plan for Kayla’s birthday. Her best friends had invited me over to celebrate her birthday. They had everything covered though. Horror themed donut shaped birthday cake. Her friends always do it big for people’s birthdays… something I’d find out later on in the year. I definitely had a bit of anxiety going into the party, because even though it wasn’t 100 people, I was meeting Kayla’s closest friends for the first time and I obviously didn’t want to mess that up. I’m just glad that I was able to be myself around them because I don’t believe in putting up fronts around people. All-in-all, the day went super well. It was great seeing Kayla happy and even greater knowing that her friends loved seeing her happy as well. They even pointed out how happy she was with me and that made me feel super hopeful about the future.
As far as Kayla’s gift, that wasn’t going to get there ON her birthday. On a side note, the wait wouldn’t be much longer either which worked out well. However, I did bring a Grogu birthday card with me from LovePop (a GO-TO place for super cool cards). That wasn’t all I came with though. I pulled out my phone and played a video from the one and only Gilbert Gottffreid. Yes, you heard me right. Gilbert. Fuckin. Gottfreid. I didn’t expect to get much out of that $100 Cameo, other than a generic “Happy Birthday, Kayla”, but boy, was I wrong. To be honest, might’ve been the best money I’ve ever spent. If I can give anyone any sort of advice, get your loved one a Cameo from Mr. Gottfreid.
So, yeah. The party went as perfect as it could’ve went.
A few days later, we’re back at my place, and the bell rings. I come in, holding a huge box. Inside that box was Kayla’s birthday gift. A life-sized Grogu replica. Sure, he didn’t come exactly on her birthday, but the timing wasn’t too bad. Only a few days lateplate. At least, I didn’t have to carry that box on the train to Long Island and back. Needless to say, Kayla loved her Grogu. I’m happy I was able to get her something so cool. He still stands on a bookshelf in my room, staring up a into the stars.
FEBRUARY: Off the top of my head, nothing really crazy happened after that. Wait. No! Valentine’s Day came around and Kayla got me the coolest present. She bought me the Target exclusive NECA Godzilla from Godzilla Vs Biollante… the one with bile all over Godzilla. That acquisition is kind of a story within itself. I was so stoked when I got it. Not to mention the kick ass Godzilla wrapping paper she used to wrap my gift! I got her some Star Wars Valentine’s Day Pop figures… literally because they were pink. Oh, and a kick ass paper Nightmare Before Christmas themed bouquet from Love Pop. I told you, those guys rock.
Time to hit the fast forward button again…
MARCH: Zack Snyder’s Justice League finally saw the light of day. That’s definitely worth noting… I mean, it was my #1 movie of 2021. I’m so happy this movie was released because that other Justice League movie was a travesty. A few days after that, we took our first trip to the movie theaters since MAYBE Joker in 2019. Me, Chris, Kayla and my good homie, Marky Mark took a trip out to Kips Bay Theater in Manhattan to see Godzilla Vs Kong! HOLY SHIT, was that movie kick ass! Totally worth the delays and anticipation. Not seeing GVK would’ve been a huge injustice. Every roar, every explosion, every blow given by Godzilla, Kong and Mechagodzilla tickled all the senses! This could’ve EASILY been my #1 movie of 2021, but I had to give that to JL for reasons that I could probably give an entire podcast episode to.
Oh yeah, I quit my job at the tattoo shop. The next day.
Somewhere around this time, my TIKTOK sort of blew up after posting a few videos showing off some of my Godzilla figures. I mean, I knew there was a Goji fan base out there, but my biggest video is sitting at well over 70k views and that’s A LOT for lil ol’ me.
The next HUGE thing to happen for me was my first ever trip to Disney World.
MAY: So, rewind back to Kayla’s birthday party. Her friend was giving us a ride to the train station, when it was put out there that I’ve never been to Disney… she wasn’t having that. So we all planned a sort of impromptu trip to Disney that May. Ok, we’re in May now. Everything is all prepped for this huge trip. An entire week at Disney and Universal Studios. I don’t wanna drag this out too long because y’all can only imagine what a whole week out there is like. I will say I had the time of my life. And I have to give the girls a HUGE shoutout for busting their asses to make sure I saw and did as much as I possibly could, and shit did I do a lot! They were able to get me on a whole bunch of rides and made reservations at a lot of awesome restaurants… so much mashed potatoes! To be honest, I’m still processing all of that.
The following months consisted of mostly buying records (A LOT OF RECORDS), action figures, editing videos, live streaming on Twitch with the boys, watching movies, wrestling and occasional photo shoots with Kayla and the girls. If you’ve been following me on social networks, you kind of have an idea of all that I’ve been doing. Oh, and I got back into collections Pokemon cards.
AUGUST: Things kind of kicked back into full gear in August. Me, Jason and James went to see August Burns Red, Fit For a King, ERRA and Like Moths to Flames… my first concert since literally a week before the world went into lockdown back in 2020. To be honest, I was a little indifferent about going to a place with so many people in the midst of the still ongoing pandemic. Although it seems a bit hypocritical, being that I was out in Disney World and Universal Studios months earlier, while not being vaccinated, I was unsure about going to a metal concert. I wasn’t planning on staying in the crowd as I usually do, so I guess it was fine. Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun. It all got bittersweet. That wouldn’t be the last concert of the year for me.
I wanna say a few days after, me and Kayla took a trip out to Jersey to see Korn and ‘68. Staind was there, but who really cares lol. Thanks to Kayla, I was able to scratch seeing Korn live off of my bucket list… A very prevalent theme in 2021. Despite not having the biggest crowd, mainly because they’re a relatively unknown band in comparison to Korn, ‘68 did their thing. I’ve got to see them before a while back, and they always bring it. Josh Scogin is a fuckin hilarious dude. Korn absolutely killed it. What makes it even cooler, was that Jonathan Davis rocked the hell out, despite testing positive for Covid not too long ago. I’d definitely love to catch them live again when Jon is at 100%.
Now if I’ve got my timeline correct, without looking back at photos and what not, I’m pretty sure the next week me and Kayla would take a trip to Philly. Another first ever for me. Originally, we planned this trip because we were supposed to see Deftones, Poppy and Rammstein on Thursday and Friday, but both shows ended up getting either canceled or postponed because of… you guessed it… Covid. I asked Kayla if she wanted to cancel the trip or just go out and have a chill weekend. She chose the ladder. She game planned for us and we went out and made the most of our weekend in Philly. Despite it being either SUPER hot or raining, we managed to go to the Eastern State Penitentiary, Old City and some spots in between. I’d love to go out there again when it’s not sweltering hot.
I’d also like to say thank you to Kayla and the gang again for taking me and Christine out to dinner for both of our birthdays. I forget when we went exactly, but it was fun… as always!
SEPTEMBER: Now onto my 35th birthday. The people around me really know how to make me feel beyond special. Kayla, Chris and Nick all got me really awesome gifts. Chris and Nick got me some Evolving Skies Elite Trainer Boxes and some booster packs… that’s Pokémon for those not in the know. Kayla got me the Godzilla: Showa Era Vinyl Soundtrack Box Set. Somehow she managed to get away with me not figuring out what it was while being in my closet for a few months. I was honestly stumped about was in the box. This bad boy came with soundtracks from ALL 15 Showa Era movies. Each with unique and beautiful cover art and vinyl designs! Waxwork Records always kills it! Out of all the records I got in 2021, this set takes the cake! Speaking of cake, the cake they all got me was super cheesy, but super fucking cute! Normally, Chris would get me a cake with some character I like on it, but this time they switched it up and slapped on my favorite picture of me and Kayla from our trip to Disney World. I gotta give it up to Chris for going all out for my birthday every single year. I really don’t deserve it, but I appreciate the hell out of him for his efforts!
Not too long after, I had gotten a VERY huge email. It was an acceptance email from Emerald City Comic Con’s Artist Alley. It took me a while to register that I made the cut because literally an hour or so earlier, I had gotten my “wait list” email from C2E2. But more on that later…
I’m a HUGE wrestling fan, as anyone who knows me knows. All Elite Wrestling was having a BIG Dynamite event in NYC. We attempted to get tickets for that show, but it didn’t pan out. Literally the night before, a friend of mine had some extra tickets and invited me. Me and Kayla did a little research and ended up getting ourselves two tickets, and I gave the tickets that was offered to me to Chris and a friend of mine. So, we ended up going to Dynamite Grand Slam. This was some Pay-Per-View level stuff! The whole event lasted for about 5 hours. One hour for AEW Dark (a show they tape for their YouTube channel), 2 hours for a live episode of Wednesday Night Dynamite and a special 2 hour taping of AEW Rampage that would air on Friday night. The entire show was epic. Long, but epic! With matches between Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson, CM Punk and Will Hobbs, Britt Baker and Ruby Soho and so much more, the NY crowd blew the roof off! I cannot wait to catch another AEW live event!
OCTOBER: We’re in October now, and things are about to get eventful. Kicking off the month with a show me and the guys have been looking forward to since BEFORE lockdown. We Came As Romans, The Devil Wears Prada and Dayseeker were playing at Warsaw, in Brooklyn. This was one of those shows that had got pushed back due to the pandemic. It was definitely worth the wait. Especially because The Devil Wears Prada dropped ZII (Zombie 2. The follow up EP to their first Zombie EP… one of my all-time favorites) and their brand new single, Sacrifice. Not only was it me, Jason and James, but Kayla came through for this one. I had a great time, though I’m still dying to catch TDWP on a headline tour.
Next on the list was Slipknot’s Knotfest Tour in Jersey. This lineup was SICK! Code Orange, Fever 333, Killswitch Engage, and of course Slipknot. Every single band tore up the stage. It was my first time seeing all of those bands, except for Fever 333… well, sort of. I technically never saw them live, but I did see Jason Salon’s former band, letlive. twice. Fever’s energy was KIND of the same with his older band, but only ratcheted up by like 9,000. You owe it to yourself to go to a Fever concert… or as they like to call them, “demonstrations”. Code Orange fuckin rocked. I was hoping they’d play Bray Wyatt’s “Fiend” entrance theme, but that was wishful thinking lol. However, they did play “Underneath” and that song is my jam. Killswitch was fuckin dope too. I actually never listened to much of their stuff with Jesse Leach. I’m more familiar with the Howard era of Killswitch, but I’d be wrong if I said Jesse wasn’t a fuckin’ beast! And finally, needless to say, Slipknot was surreal. That entire band is amazing. I’m so happy that I can say I saw Slipknot at least once before I die.
As the end of October approaches, the fun is nowhere near over. We ended off the month with another trip to Disney World. So much to celebrate this time around… Halloween, Birthdays, Anniversaries. This time around, we skipped out on Universal Studio because that money was put towards Disney’s Boo Bash. Without getting into toooooo much detail, this was another great week with the crew. We managed to go to some restaurants we weren’t able to reserve on the first trip along with some old favorites. Same with the rides. At this point, we’re only two trips in and I’m closer to checking off all the things. Oh, and I got to meet Pop-Pop! That was a trip within itself. I’ve seen so many things at Disney World, but it always feels new. I don’t mean to Spoiler Alert… Me and Kayla will be back once more before 2021 is said and done.
We officially end October with our favorite holiday, Halloween… Which is also my one year anniversary with Kayla. We had a pretty chill day. Nothing crazy, but that’s just how me and Kayla roll. We didn’t dress up in costumes, but we had matching Michael Myers sweaters and pumpkin beanies from Black Craft. We got tickets to watch “Last Night in Soho”, a movie I’ve been looking forward to since I heard Edgar Wright was directing a horror movie with Anya Taylor Joy. It did not disappoint. It wasn’t all that “scary” but it was one hell of an intriguing mystery. After that, I took Kayla to a Michael Myers graffiti mural I would see on my way to E&J Boutique so I could take pictures of her. Then we took a cab to Industry City to check out their Halloween decorations and grab a bite to eat. A successful and memorable anniversary date.
Nothing super eventful happened for the month of November, except for that day we went out to eat at a Japanese restaurant in Manhattan to celebrate our friend Harrison’s birthday. We went to a spot called Yakitori Totto. I’m not really one to experiment with foods but this place was AWESOME. I’ve always been intrigued by Japanese culture. I really enjoy anime, Japanese professional wrestling, Godzilla, Japanese Pokémon cards and just Japan as a whole, so it was nice to get a taste of what to expect whenever I’m so lucky enough to travel to Japan. I grew a pair and tasted octopus, all be it a very tiny piece of the tentacle. I didn’t like it at all, but at least I can say I’ve tried it. MOMO for the win though!
DECEMBER: So, I mentioned Emerald City Comic Con earlier. I skipped over the months of preparation and stress that went into making it all happen, but let’s just say it was a pretty BIG uphill battle. Despite that, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have this convention on my resume. Once again, I owe SO much to Kayla for making that venture a possibility. This is also another experience I should probably discuss in its own blog because so much happened, so that’s definitely something I’ll get into another time. All-in-all, Seattle was amazing. The people, the scenery… I loved every bit of my trip out there with Chris. I’d say the only negative was that Kayla wasn’t able to take the trip out there with us. The timing was bad, BUT she’ll be there for the next time. I’m so glad I was able to be a part of such a BIG show (one of the big 4 conventions in the US), and I truly hope I get invited back next year, and the year after.
Not even a week later and guess what, me and Kayla were back at Disney. This one was a short one, but still fun. This was actually the first time me and Kayla were just able to wing it and take it easy. We’re normally running around with the crew, trying to get on all the rides, eat at all the restaurants and see the fireworks… though that’s always fun, so I’m not complaining. We took part in their after hours Christmas event, which was cool. I loved that fireworks show, and the fake snow really made it feel as much like Christmas as possible in Florida lol. We spent half of Saturday in Disney Springs, to eat at T-Rex and tried to snap photos of all the Christmas trees. The other half was spent in Epcot. The peppermint lights on Spaceship Earth really looked amazing. We started off our Sunday at Chef Mickey’s, then headed over to Hollywood Studios. Went on Star Tours for the first time, spent some time in Galaxy’s Edge, got a LITTLE tipsy at Catina, took our traditional ride on Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad and ended our night with dinner at Prime Time Cafe. We love that place!
It was definitely a short trip but any trip to Disney World with Kayla is always filled with fun times and amazing memories. I started the year not knowing if I’d ever go to Disney and ended the year going THREE times. Who would’ve ever thunk it? Oh yeah… We’re going back for Kayla’s birthday on the 23rd AND planning a trip to Disneyland in September, so I’m sure you’ll hear about that in my recap of 2022.
We pretty much ended the year meeting each other’s parents for Christmas. Kayla came over to my mom’s house and met her, spent a few hours over there, then took a cab to her house so I can meet her family, then spent a few hours over there. The whole day went pretty well, her family is pretty cool. I love how geeky her dad is. We ended up talking about video games and taking trips around the world. I’m definitely looking to kicking it with him more often. Hopefully he doesn’t get annoyed by me. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention they got me a card. It had a printed out picture of Gigan from Final Wars. Her mom told me it should get to them by the end of the month. It, being the S.H. Monsterarts figure of Final Wars Gigan. I can’t wait to show that off and make a video for him.
Well, that wraps up by 2021. So much happened this year… too much to write about. I feel bad leaving out almost every single figure I got, every record, every Pokémon card, every photo shoot with Kayla and the gals, all the amazing wrestling moments… *cough cough* CM Punk to AEW confirmed! *cough cough*… but I’m not trying to write a full blown book. I couldn’t have asked for a better year. I couldn’t have asked to have spent the year with better people. I can’t wait to see what 2022 brings. 🍻 Here’s to more good times!