Andrew / February 2, 2009 12:13 AM

Question suggested by Robyn. If you have an idea for a Fuel question, email it to inbox@gapersblock.com.

sarah / February 2, 2009 8:45 AM

Is anyone's reason going to be anything other than finding true love? What else is there?

29

K. / February 2, 2009 10:27 AM

2007. Because it's the year I finally started to believe in myself and became the type of person I admired/envied.

Nicole / February 2, 2009 12:13 PM

True love, schmoo love. Age 26 was pretty awesome (2006-2007)- it's the year I purchased my first condo and got my current job, which I love.

annie / February 2, 2009 1:00 PM

Age 10 or 11 were both awesome. I babysat and had tons of money for a 10 year old, it was the last time I took a family vacation, my dad was alive and it was the last age at which I wasn't working, got my first job at 12. Not that it's been downhill since then, but it was the last time I was truly a kid and I miss that.

Mucky Fingers / February 2, 2009 2:19 PM

I honestly can't say I've had an entire year that was my "best". I've had good times, bad times and boring times in unpredictable waves.

joshua / February 2, 2009 4:07 PM

age 22. despite its first three months being crappy (just graduated college, broke up with my girlfriend, working for peanuts, living in a stuffy apt with 2 unstable individuals), the following nine months plus were glorious.

i traveled the world with my best friend, spending seven months backpacking through australia, new zealand, thailand, china and fiji.

i returned home to see my bro graduate high school before embarking on a cross-country road trip where i couch surfed and caught up with college friends before working at a summer camp in burlington, vt!

then, six years ago now, i moved to chitown! sweet as!

fluffy / February 2, 2009 8:22 PM

When I was 9 years old, I had a good year. I remember wearing a pink dress, playing in the back yard, and discovering the importance of good music. 1989 was good cause I had sex for the first time, loved it, and had lots of it. 1995 was also a good year- I graduated college and got married. I spent lots of time in the art studio and made some cool shit. I think 2003 was an ok year. I was newly divorced and felt free. I had also made some great friends who threw me a great birthday party. Spent lots of time at the Flatiron at a friend's studio. That's about it so far.

PMan / February 2, 2009 9:40 PM

Very hard to say, but the high points when I was 30 were great, my social life was great when I was 26, and I got a lot done when I was 17.

Steven / February 2, 2009 10:27 PM

Oh I so refuse to play this game. The current year is the best year of my life. I will not look back and think, oh that year was better because I was younger, or because I had more money, or because of this or that. No no no no no. That is the slippery slope to regrets and unhappiness over the passing of youth. Nope, not going to play that game. Every day that I wake up and am alive is the most fabulous day ever and how old I am, how much I weigh, how much money I have, how gray my hair is, none of these things has anything to do with it.

I will say, however, that I think 1980 was a fabulous year for music.

irisheyes1212 / February 3, 2009 10:57 AM

I had a great childhood...not any particular year but the whole thing, and I miss it often.
2001 was good...spent the summer at Oxford, travelled Europe a bit.
Now I'm unsure. I'm newly 30, still renting, in a so-so job, 20lbs overweight, unmarried and childless.
The weight of all the above makes me sad that my best years are behind me...a thought which paralyzes me and renders me unable to move on and do anything about the above.
Pretty sad.

Cletus Warhol / February 3, 2009 12:00 PM

I've had some great times in my life, but I think my best year is still going to happen. I really feel you have to live your life like that, or you either spend all your time sadly reminiscing about the wonderful past (as Steven alluded to) or you become one of those boring fools who spends all their time yapping about what a great time they had in blah blah blah or how cool they were when they were yap yap yap.

No matter how crappy your life is now compared to whatever previous time in your life, you can still break through the crap and return yourself to happiness. Just don't expect it to last because life just doesn't work that way. It's not like a movie where some dramatic thing happens and then you're just happy forever. Good times and bad times occur in waves and often happen simultaneously. The trick is to be "in the moment" during the good times and fully appreciate them without expecting them to last forever. Then you won't miss them as much during later rocky periods.

Sorry, I know the question was just a prompt to get folks to tell "good time" stories, I just get a little overly philosophical this time of year.

I had some very good times in 1992; I was running with a really fun group of friends, the comedy boom hadn't quite busted yet, and my wife and I had a glorious 5 week West Coast "sponge off the relatives" tour from Santa Cruz to Seattle.

snuh / February 3, 2009 3:24 PM

When I was seventeen
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for small town girls
And soft summer nights
We'd hide from the lights
On the village green
When I was seventeen

A. Lewellen / February 3, 2009 4:08 PM

I suspect that as I get older this will be the type of question I will be wise enough not to answer. However, I am not that old yet so I am going to say the year I married my beautiful wife. We honeymooned in Europe and spent a lot of time being newlyweds. Subsequent years have been great too but only because they have been spent with her.

Steven / February 3, 2009 6:23 PM

No no no no no, Irish Eyes, walk away from the negativity NOW! So you are 30, that means you are finally past some of the follies of youth. So you rent, that means you are not stressing out about the loss of equity in a home and also free to move to a different neighborhood if you choose. That so-so job means that you aren't consumed 60, 70, 80 hours a week by someone else's business. 20 lbs. overweight is nothing -- just ask Carnie Wilson and unmarried and childless means you are free to do whatever you want, when you want. You are fabulous and you don't need to do anything about the above. Your most fabulous year starts now and all you need to do is have fun. Now get on the L, go downtown to the Espressions cafe at the Drake Hotel for a caffeine pick-me up and check out the small gallery in the old Water Tower on your way to the Nickerson mansion museum at Erie and Wabash. You don't need to be a kid in Europe to have a good time. Do it.

modemjunkie / February 3, 2009 8:14 PM

2008 was Definitely the best year of my life, beginning with my wedding in January, our honeymoon in Rio Caliente and concluding with my 65th birthday, celebrating with 200,000 friends in Grant Park on November 4. (Not to mention the amazing party my wife gave me a couple of nights before). (And, my daughter got engaged.

Irisheyes1212 / February 4, 2009 9:30 AM

Thanks Steven...it doesn't seem so bad when someone else puts it in perspective :) And thanks for the museum ideas...it will make for a nice afternoon of alone time when it warms up a bit!
My day just got better.

w / February 4, 2009 10:08 AM

29.

I fell in love. He loved me back.

Wow.

Pangloss / February 4, 2009 10:15 AM

I was 17 in 1979. It's been all downhill and picking up speed ever since.

Baldeesh / February 4, 2009 10:45 AM

Last year was pretty good. No catastrophes, started dating (which has brought me a couple of really funny stories), financially I'm in decent shape.

But 2009 is also shaping up to be even better. The two weeks in the UK really got things started on a high note.

Nicole / February 4, 2009 12:17 PM

When I was seventeen
I had a very good beer
I had a very good beer I purchased
With a fake ID
My name was Brian McGee
I stayed up listening to Queen
When I was seventeen.

Dutch101 / February 5, 2009 8:40 AM

Damn, Nicole beat me to it. So far, every year of my life has had at least periods of awesomeness, and I am pretty happy with my life so far. I have high hopes that it'll get even better though. Having enough money to do some serious international travel would be nice, and I can at least see the light at the end of that tunnel.