A lot of my friends do this thing on Facebook called Throwback Thursday, where you post a really old photograph of yourself, but I realized a few days ago that this Thursday would be the first of October.  It’s been precisely one year since I left Germany to start my life over here in South Florida.

In that time:

• I spent just over four months living in my brother’s spare bedroom which was also his office after my return.  I’m still very grateful for his hospitality-  by staying there, I was able to find an apartment on my own terms.  When I moved to Germany, I had to live in a hotel for three weeks while I searched for my apartment.  This was significantly more relaxed.
• Soon after my arrival, I inexplicably won a Bose SoundLink Mini in a contest from my web hosting provider.  Thanks, DreamHost!
  
• On my first weekend back, I attended the wedding of a man I’ve known for more than twenty years now.
  
  I brought Amelie as my date.   I first met Amelie a few years ago, and we officially became a couple during my last year in Germany.  This was the first time we went to a wedding together.  Amelie wore a Valentino dress, and she looked awesome.
   
• I reacquainted myself with Tijuana Flats.  Amelie introduced me to Shake Shack.
• I relearned the convenience of grocery shopping whenever the heck I feel like it instead of having to do it before 8pm on weekdays.
• About a month after my return, I purchased a car.   My previous car was sold when I moved to Germany, so I was starting from scratch.  After much deliberation, I decided on a Mazda 3 hatchback.  This decision proved beneficial later, when Amelie and I bought all new furniture for my apartment at Ikea.  The storage in this hatchback is insane.
  
• Amelie and I have gone to many, many concerts since my return, including some long time favorites of mine (Information Society, Kraftwerk, Weird Al Yankovic) and some favorites of hers (My Morning Jacket, Barenaked Ladies, Paramore, Pixies) as well.
  
• During the late January trip to California to see Information Society, Amelie and I briefly visited with my old friend Miri in the Sacramento area.  Less than six months later, Miri took her own life.  That sucks.
  
• Back to fun stuff!  Amelie and I have also been to six theme parks in South Florida since my return-  all four Florida Disney parks, and both of the Universal Studios parks.  We are now Disney annual pass holders, because it’s so close!
  
• On the fifth month, I moved into my own apartment, a one bedroom affair boasting 617 square feet of space.  It’s 150% the size of my apartment in Regensburg, yet somehow feels smaller.  This can probably be accounted for by the actual kitchen, which does eat up a bit of space.   Totally worth it, though.
• I spent five weeks in Japan for work, and I’m only about a quarter of the way through posting those photographs.  This was the 27th country outside of the US that I have visited.
• Work also sent me to Utah for a week.  It’s not as fascinating as Japan, but it’s still pretty darn scenic.
• Edit: I didn’t realize this until I hit publish, but this is the 350th post on this blog.  I thought that was momentous enough to warrant a post-publish edit!

So the running total for this last twelve months:  One wedding, one funeral, one new country, three out of state trips, and lots of concerts and shows.  I wanted to write a great deal more, but one thing that I’ve noticed in the last year is that time goes much, much faster here.  I often feel like I don’t have enough time to write everything that I want to write.  In Germany, it felt like I had a great deal more time to write and so forth.

This doesn’t mean I’m not having fun, though.    While I was scrolling through my phone’s camera roll for this post, I noticed two things:  First, that I’ve taken better than five thousand photos in the past year, just on my phone.  That’s not even including the ones on the big camera that I take traveling.   I take a LOT of photographs.  I think I may have an addiction.  Second:  In a huge percentage of the pictures, I’m with this girl, and I’m smiling like a fiend:

That’s because I have a great time with her. She’s the Bonnie to my Clyde, and I love her to bits.  I don’t usually talk about her much here in great detail, but anyone who’s been reading this blog for a while has seen her name and her picture lots of times.

Last October, I came back to Florida.  It wasn’t until I was with Amelie again that I was truly home.

So what have you been up to for the last twelve months?