2008 in Retrospect
I'm gonna put this behind a cut because it's mostly for me.
Lessee. Spent the first half of the year in physical therapy, trying to get my ankle all healed up from a pretty effed up injury (2 torn ligaments and a split tendon). This could have sucked tremendously, but fortunately, I scored a truly kick-ass physical therapist who became a pretty doggone great friend. I would recommend Allen to anyone (and have already made a couple of recommendations here on good ol' LJ)!
By February and IBR, I was dancing again, maybe not as hard as I once did, but by March, I was dancing on a box with a thousand Spaniards (pretty hot way to have a birthday, I might add.)
That trip to Barcelona in March with Fred and pals Dicky, Phil, and the Scotts was an excellent way to spend a birthday, and I got to see my buddy Paco DJ to a very appreciative crowd. Watching him do his thing so well made me about as giddy as anything else we experienced on that trip (and we experienced a lot). Getting to see Xavi is always a huge bonus, because, you know, a continent apart, and I adore that man. I know now that I have some wonderful traveling companions who I could pretty much go anywhere with and we'd get along great. Definitely in the running for Best Trip Ever.
We had primaries and I decided early on that Obama was the Democrat I most wanted to see in office. Almost a year to the day we voted in those primaries, he will be. And that is a very good thing. (Yes, I have some issues around the Warren invocation, but I guess I'm in the camp of "wait and watch closely" before I get truly angry about it. Not happy, no. But happy about Obama winning? To quote an important phrase of this crazy-ass campaign, you betcha.)
Got a new pair of glasses so I can see more stylishly, and a rocking tattoo that I can only see when I look in two mirrors. Both make me feel excellent.
Due to the softball injury, I wasn't allowed to play ball for an entire year (I was technically cleared to do so in October)! I thought it was going to be the end of the world, since I had built so many of my social structures around playing ball for the past nine years. But in the end, I missed it and I didn't. I didn't miss practices on Saturdays, but I did miss playing the game on Sundays. I didn't miss the obligations of having to man beer busts, or go to everyone else's beer bust so that they would then turn around and go to yours, et cetera. I truly missed it when my team (Daddy's Badboys) made the playoffs and got to go to Seattle to play in the World Series, which is one of the highlights of any season, bar none. And I missed some of the guys I played ball with (not all of them, but that's another story). Seeing how the team is already moving on without me in 2009, getting their roster together and plans for an upcoming tournament in January, I'm thinking I will probably take another year off of the sport. I may go back and play in a tournament at some point, but I'm not putting any pressure on that. I got to witness a lot of drama that was not my own, being on the outside this past year, and realized maybe another year off wouldn't be all that bad. Softball will be there when I'm ready for it to be a part of my life again.
Having more free time from softball allowed me to plan for trips to Lazy Bear (my 8th) and Burning Man (my first), the former which was the right amount of fun as it usually is, and the latter the kind of fun that I feel like I earned. Burning Man was hard work, but I was very fortunate to be camping with some of the best people on the planet to take it on, a mix of veterans who knew the drill, and virgins who were all too willing to pitch in in every way they could think of. I absolutely got lucky again to be with my campmates at Camp Fairyland, especially during a dust storm that tore half of our camp apart and turned it into a set straight out of Twister. The music, the art, the people, all wonderful, and I really can't say enough about how much fun of an experience it was. Fred's actually itching to go back next year...I'm not sure if I'm quite as onboard with it as he is right now, not that it wasn't a blast, but because I think it might be nice to do something different with my vacation time. But we'll see. I think if nothing else, we know what to expect from Burning Man now (well, besides the unexpected), and I'm even more excited to do it again...in 2010. Ha. Well, maybe my arm will be twisted. We'll have to see.
Work and massage school. Well, work is work. I can complain (and do), but in the end, I have a job, and for the moment, in this effed up economy, well, I need to try and stick it out for now, while continuing to look. But I'm looking to make a change. I thought that going into massage school was going to be a part of that change, but there's a lot involved in making that happen, some of it timing, some of it luck, and some of it pure skill. And...well, let's just say that I haven't been as engaged with massage school as I could be, or more importantly, should be, to pin my career hopes on it. Let's just say I'm enjoying what I'm learning from the classes, and I have a lot of practicing to do. As of now, I have 7 classes left, plus 2 exams and practice hours to complete, so I'm a ways away from being certified in San Francisco. And if it ends up being something I do for fun for friends, so be it. I'm not putting a lot of pressure on myself about this right now.
And Fred? Well, words don't quite sum up what we have. But I know that in any good or bad year, he's still the best thing.
Some really good shit happened this year. New president, new friends, new experiences. Watching people I love dearly get married, legally, in the state of California.
Some really bad shit happened this year too. Old president, old job (which I still dislike), losing some old friends. Proposition 8 passing by a narrow margin and nullifying a lot of love and good will. Fucked up.
I have to believe in good things coming about, even with everything bad that knocks us down or backwards. I guess I'm just built that way. It's not always easy, but it is what it is. And I think 2009 is going to bring some amazing. We need it.
So long, 2008. I can't say you were the worst year I've ever had, but you will never be in my Top 10 list either.
In the meantime, 2009! Let's go! Tonight, Fred and I will be joining a bunch of friends out dancing to Dicky and Paco throwing down beats at Bearracuda, exactly where we were last year, laughing and smiling and dancing. Exactly the way I want to ring in this new year.
Hope you all have a safe, fun, and wonderful New Year!
Lessee. Spent the first half of the year in physical therapy, trying to get my ankle all healed up from a pretty effed up injury (2 torn ligaments and a split tendon). This could have sucked tremendously, but fortunately, I scored a truly kick-ass physical therapist who became a pretty doggone great friend. I would recommend Allen to anyone (and have already made a couple of recommendations here on good ol' LJ)!
By February and IBR, I was dancing again, maybe not as hard as I once did, but by March, I was dancing on a box with a thousand Spaniards (pretty hot way to have a birthday, I might add.)
That trip to Barcelona in March with Fred and pals Dicky, Phil, and the Scotts was an excellent way to spend a birthday, and I got to see my buddy Paco DJ to a very appreciative crowd. Watching him do his thing so well made me about as giddy as anything else we experienced on that trip (and we experienced a lot). Getting to see Xavi is always a huge bonus, because, you know, a continent apart, and I adore that man. I know now that I have some wonderful traveling companions who I could pretty much go anywhere with and we'd get along great. Definitely in the running for Best Trip Ever.
We had primaries and I decided early on that Obama was the Democrat I most wanted to see in office. Almost a year to the day we voted in those primaries, he will be. And that is a very good thing. (Yes, I have some issues around the Warren invocation, but I guess I'm in the camp of "wait and watch closely" before I get truly angry about it. Not happy, no. But happy about Obama winning? To quote an important phrase of this crazy-ass campaign, you betcha.)
Got a new pair of glasses so I can see more stylishly, and a rocking tattoo that I can only see when I look in two mirrors. Both make me feel excellent.
Due to the softball injury, I wasn't allowed to play ball for an entire year (I was technically cleared to do so in October)! I thought it was going to be the end of the world, since I had built so many of my social structures around playing ball for the past nine years. But in the end, I missed it and I didn't. I didn't miss practices on Saturdays, but I did miss playing the game on Sundays. I didn't miss the obligations of having to man beer busts, or go to everyone else's beer bust so that they would then turn around and go to yours, et cetera. I truly missed it when my team (Daddy's Badboys) made the playoffs and got to go to Seattle to play in the World Series, which is one of the highlights of any season, bar none. And I missed some of the guys I played ball with (not all of them, but that's another story). Seeing how the team is already moving on without me in 2009, getting their roster together and plans for an upcoming tournament in January, I'm thinking I will probably take another year off of the sport. I may go back and play in a tournament at some point, but I'm not putting any pressure on that. I got to witness a lot of drama that was not my own, being on the outside this past year, and realized maybe another year off wouldn't be all that bad. Softball will be there when I'm ready for it to be a part of my life again.
Having more free time from softball allowed me to plan for trips to Lazy Bear (my 8th) and Burning Man (my first), the former which was the right amount of fun as it usually is, and the latter the kind of fun that I feel like I earned. Burning Man was hard work, but I was very fortunate to be camping with some of the best people on the planet to take it on, a mix of veterans who knew the drill, and virgins who were all too willing to pitch in in every way they could think of. I absolutely got lucky again to be with my campmates at Camp Fairyland, especially during a dust storm that tore half of our camp apart and turned it into a set straight out of Twister. The music, the art, the people, all wonderful, and I really can't say enough about how much fun of an experience it was. Fred's actually itching to go back next year...I'm not sure if I'm quite as onboard with it as he is right now, not that it wasn't a blast, but because I think it might be nice to do something different with my vacation time. But we'll see. I think if nothing else, we know what to expect from Burning Man now (well, besides the unexpected), and I'm even more excited to do it again...in 2010. Ha. Well, maybe my arm will be twisted. We'll have to see.
Work and massage school. Well, work is work. I can complain (and do), but in the end, I have a job, and for the moment, in this effed up economy, well, I need to try and stick it out for now, while continuing to look. But I'm looking to make a change. I thought that going into massage school was going to be a part of that change, but there's a lot involved in making that happen, some of it timing, some of it luck, and some of it pure skill. And...well, let's just say that I haven't been as engaged with massage school as I could be, or more importantly, should be, to pin my career hopes on it. Let's just say I'm enjoying what I'm learning from the classes, and I have a lot of practicing to do. As of now, I have 7 classes left, plus 2 exams and practice hours to complete, so I'm a ways away from being certified in San Francisco. And if it ends up being something I do for fun for friends, so be it. I'm not putting a lot of pressure on myself about this right now.
And Fred? Well, words don't quite sum up what we have. But I know that in any good or bad year, he's still the best thing.
Some really good shit happened this year. New president, new friends, new experiences. Watching people I love dearly get married, legally, in the state of California.
Some really bad shit happened this year too. Old president, old job (which I still dislike), losing some old friends. Proposition 8 passing by a narrow margin and nullifying a lot of love and good will. Fucked up.
I have to believe in good things coming about, even with everything bad that knocks us down or backwards. I guess I'm just built that way. It's not always easy, but it is what it is. And I think 2009 is going to bring some amazing. We need it.
So long, 2008. I can't say you were the worst year I've ever had, but you will never be in my Top 10 list either.
In the meantime, 2009! Let's go! Tonight, Fred and I will be joining a bunch of friends out dancing to Dicky and Paco throwing down beats at Bearracuda, exactly where we were last year, laughing and smiling and dancing. Exactly the way I want to ring in this new year.
Hope you all have a safe, fun, and wonderful New Year!