Maybe I should back up a bit. I’ve always had a fairly vague sense of what I wanted to do with life, but I rarely stopped to evaluate exactly how I was getting there. Then, about two years ago, I got tired of bouncing from job to job almost by accident, of working seasonal contracts or in small businesses without any kind of benefits or great opportunity for advancement. I made a plan to move to San Francisco and be much more picky about the kind of offers I would accept.

The fact that I was able to make the change by focusing on smaller goals (i.e. saving money, finding a place to live, job hunting, etc.) proved to myself that I could take charge of my life.

In the last year, I’ve been able to observe a great number of workplaces and take stock of my talents and make some decisions about what I want to do when I grow up. Realizing that I need to set intermediate goals, I’ve decided that there will be resolutions this year. However, all these resolutions come with the caveat: failing to meet these goals does not mean I am a failure. I give myself permission to make mistakes or change my mind.

1. Take the LSAT in June and score at least 165.
2. Take proactive steps to improve my credit rating by the end of the year.
3. Re-start my gym routine and take off the 20 lbs I put back on in 2007.
4. Apply to law schools in the fall.
5. In 2007, I went on one bona-fide, non-ambiguous date. In 2008, I will go on at least three.
6. Maintain a positive outlook at work.
7. I will remember that there is more to my life than work. Much more. Things that are more interesting to discuss with my friends and loved ones.
8. I will take advantage of my fancy new health benefits in 2008 by visiting the dentist and getting routine medical check-ups.
9. Quit smoking.
10. Keep my room cleaner by ending my pack-rat tendencies – toss out old clothes, junk mail and stupid knick-knacks.

So, there’s my list, for what it’s worth.

Behind the jump for being long and completely unnecessary…

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? Set up my own personal website with my own domain name.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? No. I started the year with only one resolution, to quite smoking. It didn’t work out. I have some resolutions planned for 2008, but I’ll save those for another blog.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Not this year

4. Did anyone close to you die? Thankfully, no.

5. What countries did you visit? Utah. Wait, that’s not technically another country, so, none.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? A boyfriend. Okay, not really, it seems like a really bad time to get involved right now. I would, however, like a flat-screen television for my tiny little room.

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Hmm, can’t seem to think of one. Lots of good memories, but none significant for their date.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? There were several professional achievements, but the biggest personal achievement has to do with overcoming certain fears. I’m being evasive on purpose, maybe in time I will share the details.

9. What was your biggest failure? I wasn’t there for a friend during a time of need. I feel bad about it, but it was confusing for everyone.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing worse that a few colds.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Train tickets to New York City.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration? The Gay & Lesbian Task Force and the members of the United ENDA Coalition.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and/or depressed? The Human Rights Campaign

14. Where did most of your money go? Rent. Most of my discretionary money (not bills, taxes or living expenses) was wasted on comic books, books and music.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The idea of going to law school.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? I’m going to go with “Totally Fucked” from Spring Awakening.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? I’d say it’s about even.
ii. thinner or fatter? Fatter. I stopped doing my gym routine mid-year and put 20 lbs back on.
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer. I make more money, but taxes and other debts have sapped my savings account.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Dating.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Hiding in my room.

20. How did you spend Christmas? With my family in Utah.

22. Did you fall in love in 2007? Nope.

23. How many one-night stands? I plead the fifth.

24. What was your favourite TV program? I think Ugly Betty edged out the competition.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I can’t talk about my boss in a public blog like this!

26. What was the best book you read? I’ve already blogged about this… Hero by Perry Moore.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Spring Awakening

28. What did you want and get? More opportunities to travel.

29. What did you want and not get? A healthy bank balance.

30. What was your favourite film of this year? Hard to pick, but it’s either Hairspray or Across the Universe.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were ya?  My actual birthday (30 years old) wasn’t that exciting, but I gave myself a gift a few weeks earlier with a first-time-ever trip to New York City and a Broadway show.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? A boyfriend, perhaps.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Argyle sweater vests for work. Torn pants and hoodies for the weekend.

34. What kept you sane? Jennifer.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Okay, he’s a fictional character, but Scott “Cyclops” Summer. Tied into that, James Marsden.

36. What political issue stirred you the most? The blue dog Dems stripping transgender protections out of ENDA with with blessing of the HRC and Barney Frank.

37. Who did you miss? They don’t deserve it, but Lance and Lawrence.

38. Who was the best new person you met? Rob and Jacob.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007: It sounds really basic, but the need to set goals for your life and career.

40. How does 2007 compare to previous years? I’m older and wiser. Fewer dramatic highs and lows, more personal insights.

• Washington, DC* (three times)
• Salt Lake City, UT  (twice)
• New York City, NY*
• Oakland, CA
• Las Vegas, NV
• San Diego, CA* 
• Mill Valley, CA

* Visited for the first time in 2007

If I hadn’t burned out on the conferences, I might also have done another trip to Las Vegas, or to Philadelphia, but I’m starting to understand why some people don’t want to take jobs that require lots of travelling. Assuming I don’t leave my current job, I’ll be spending some time in Austin, Texas next year, and probably back in DC at least once. Of course, if I can swing it, I’d also like to visit law schools I’m hoping to apply to, which would mean visiting a number of other cities as well.

• Pan’s Labrynth 
• Zodiak 
• Spiderman 3 
• Shrek the Third 
• 28 Weeks Later 
• Grease (sing-a-long version) 
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer 
• Paprika
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 
• Sunshine
• This is England 
• Hairspray 
• Across the Universe 
• 30 Days of Night 
• Into the Wild 
• Beowulf 
• Lars and the Real Girl 
• Enchanted 
• The Golden Compass
• Sweeney Todd 
• Juno

So, trends… well, musicals seemed popular with me this year, as did fantasy and comic book superheroes. I’m not sure I could do any sort of ranking for this year’s batch of films, I liked such different things about each of them. Somewhat disturbingly, despite the fact that I watched a number of movies that deal with racism, not one of those movies includes a non-white person in a significant lead role (except, arguably, Paprika – which featured Japanese characters but dubbed into English with mostly white actors – and Hairspray, depending on how you define “lead role”).

So tell me, did I miss anything that I really should have watched? I’ve still got Netflix.

Books I read in 2007:

• Altered Carbon (Richard Morgan) 
• Freakonomics (Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt)
• King Rat (China Mieville)
• The Lions of Al-Rassan (Guy Gavriel Kay)
• Ysabel (Guy Gavriel Kay)
• The Price of Nothing: The Darkness that Comes Before (R. Scott Bakker)
• The Warrior-Prophet (R. Scott Bakker)
• The Thousandfold Thought (R. Scott Bakker)
• Glass Soup (Jonathan Carroll)
• A Model World and Other Stories (Michael Chabon)
• What is the What (Dave Eggers)
• Memory & Dream (Charles de Lint)
• The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t (Robert I. Sutton)
• Lullaby (Chuck Palahniuk)
• Lud-in-the-Mist (Hope Mirrlees)
• The Land of Laughs (Jonathan Carroll)
• Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity (Julia Serano)
• A Fine and Private Place (Peter S. Beagle)
• Danse Macabre (Laurell K. Hamilton)
• Peeps (Scott Westerfeld)
• Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey (Chuck Pahalniuk)
• Michael Tolliver Lives (Armistead Maupin)
• Ilium (Dan Simmons)
• Olympos (Dan Simmons)
• Your Movie Sucks (Roger Ebert)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (J.K. Rowling)**
• The Music of Razors (Cameron Rogers)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J.K. Rowling)
• Grief (Andrew Holleran)
• Hyperion (Dan Simmons)
• The Fall of Hyperion (Dan Simmons)
• The Swimming Pool Library (Alan Hollinghurst)
• Endymion (Dan Simmons)
• The Rise of Endymion (Dan Simmons)
• The Line of Beauty (Alan Hollinghurt)
• The Town That Forgot How to Breathe (Kenneth J Harvey)*
• How to Get into the Top Law Schools (Richard Montauk)
• The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions: Straight Advice on Essays, Resumes, Interviews, and More(Anna Ivey)
• God is Not Great (Christopher Hitchens)
• Microtrends (Mark Penn)
• A Fistful of Charms (Kim Harrison) 
• Dead Witch Walking (Kim Harrison)
• The Good, The Bad, and The Undead (Kim Harrison)
• Soon I Will Be Invincible (Austin Grossman)
• Hero (Perry Moore)
• The Phoenix Unchained: Book One of The Enduring Flame (Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory)
• InterWorld (Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves)
• The Practice of Law School: Getting In and Making the Most of Your Legal Education (Christen Civiletto Carey & Kristen David Adams)
• The God Particle (Dick Teresi)
• Mistral’s Kiss (Laurell K. Hamilton)
• Radical Careering (Sally Hogshead)
• Death of a Darklord (Laurell K. Hamilton)
• The Wooden Sea (Jonathan Carroll)
• Wicked (Gregory Maguire)**
• Son of a Witch (Gregory Maguire)**

* Started but unfinished for various reasons
** Re-read from previous year

I probably missed a couple that I forgot to record and later loaned them to friends. I also feel like I re-read the Fionavar Tapestry this year, but I’m not sure about that now. The list also fails to include the many graphic novels I read this year, LSAT workbooks, audio books, and technical manuals I read beginning-to-end. Still, the end-of-year count is 55 novels in 2007. That’s down from last year’s count of 61, but I blame that on the higher number of comic books I read this year and the number of work breaks I spent working on LSAT practice questions rather than escaping into another fantasy world.

Favorite discovery of the year: It’s a toss-up between Whipping Girl and author R. Scott Bakker. Julie Serano’s book on transgender identity and feminism certainly reshaped my attitudes and outlook, and Bakker’s intelligent Prince of Nothing trilogy sucked me deep into high fantasy early in year.

Worst book of the year: I guess I’m getting better at picking out books, because nothing really stands out as having been a waste of my time, except maybe The Town that Forgot to Breathe, which I tried several times to read but could never fully engage with.

Biggest disappointment of the year:Well, there’s a lot of Laurell K. Hamilton on this year’s list, but I think I’ve sufficiently lower my expectations so as not to be disappointed anymore. However, Interworld had the opposite problem. I have such high expectations of Neil Gaiman, I feel let down when his books don’t quite rock my world.

Biggest surprise of the year: Definitely The God Particle. I had no idea I would enjoy this book when I picked it up, but the author was such a cut-up, that despite being rather science-y, I looked forward to reading more of it every time I got to take a break.

The best book of the year: With so many great books on the list, I’m going out on a limb here. I’ll say Hero by Perry Moore. Not because it was the most literary, most intelligent, most emotionally moving, most original or most memorable – it was none of those things. I’m giving it my best-of-year pick because it was and remains exactly the kind of book that I most prefer to read. Gay teen coming-of-age + love story + sci-fi action story (specifically with comic book superheroes) + emotional reconciliation with an estranged parental figure… you get the idea. It was practically a “WWJR” book (“What Would Jere Read?”).

10. Top ten poops of 2007
9. Top ten reasons to make a donation to Huckabee for President in 2007
8. Toe tem typos of 2007
7. Ten best STDs of 2007
6. Ten most interesting places I’ve put a banana in 2007
5. Top ten long-winded whiny blogs about why I’m single in 2007
4. My ten favorite knitting patterns in 2007
3. Top ten “esprit d’escalier” remarks I thought of in 2007
2. 2007′s biggest adventures in body hair waxing
1. Top 2007 things I’d rather do than go to work most days in 2007

I decided not to stick to people I necessarily admire, because a person can be fascinating and vile at the same time.

10. Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, John Gallagher Jr. – the leads from the cast of Spring Awakening have, within a short year, inspired legions of fans. Despite being relatively unknown when the show launched, the show swept much of the Tony’s and the three young actors have become almost overnight stars of the New York theater scene. Additionally, Spring Awakening was my first Broadway show experience during my all-too-brief first trip to New York City eariler this year. I almost missed my flight home because of the show, but it was totally worth it. The cast album has dominated my iPod playlist for most of the year.

9. T.R. Knight- Don’t get me wrong, I love Katherine Heigel, and I’m not going to argue with Babs about what the general public thinks, but for my money, her little gay buddy and Grey’s Anatomy co-star is the fascinating one. Knight came out of the closet in 2006, but really became a fascinating person in 2007 during the fallout of the Isaiah Washington “faggot” scandal. His appearance on Ellen, where he was so earnest and vulnerable as he spoke to his feelings about the situation, melted my icy heart.

Read the rest after the cut…

8. The Crazy People of San Francisco – I love my new home city. This year I was able to attend/participate in How Weird Street Faire, Bay to Breakers, Cardboard Robot Rumble, a Zombie flash mob, Dore Alley, Gay Pride, Folsom Street Faire, Haight-Ashbury Street Festival, Hunky Jesus Competition, Wondercon, a Ukelele concert in a comic book store, and so much more. Special shout-out goes to Mayor Gavin Newsom, ya philanderin’ boozin’ awesome son-of-a-biotch.

7. Peter “Porno Pete” LaBarbera- this guy is nuts! Porno Pete, as he’s come to be known by gay bloggers, is president of Americans For Truth (about Homosexuality, or AFTAH), a group dedicated to spreading anti-gay ideas with little regard for the truth. Just this week, Porno Pete unleashed “raw and unedited” footage of the Folsom Street Fair in an effort to embarrass Nancy Pelosi. This man is simply ridiculous… my own personal sorta run-in with Americans for Truth came earlier this year when, in an effort to discredit the organization I work for, the AFT site raided my co-worker’s sex-advice blog and painted her as a porn actress determined to prey on young girls… coincidentally, about a week before she left us to persue an MBA.

6. Donna Rose, Mara Keisling, Susan Stanton- I know most of my readers might not know who the hell these ladies are, but they are reshaping the debate about workplace equality and pioneering educators in the realm of transgender rights. Donna Rose, formerly the only transgender member of the HRC’s board of directors, left the LGBT’s most recognizable political organization in an awkward position when she publicly resigned after the HRC failed to keep their promises about an inclusive ENDA. Mara Keisling, of the National Center for Transgender Equality, became the most influential trangender lobbyist in Washington when she launched a month long blitz to try and save gender identity in the House ENDA bill. Susan Stanton put a face to the reality of discrimination when she was fired from her job as City Manager of Largo, FL for daring to transition openly, yet faced the fallout with poise and intelligence. Heroes, all of them.

5. Captain America- I don’t think I’m cheating using this iconic superhero in my list. While I’ve been a comics fan for some time, I never really connected with Captain America–until Marvel’s Civil Warcrossover. As a champion for civil liberties who broke with all character expectation and went against the U.S. government and the law of the land to stand by what he believed was right, I identified very strongly. In the fallout, Cap was assassinated in one of the biggest comic book stories of the year, and it was heart-wrenching.

4. James Marsden – Well, my crush on Jimmy M extends back to the first X-Men movie, but you have to admit he’s had a good year. Last year he did X-men 3 and Superman Returns, but this year he showed new sparkle in Hairspray and Enchanted. Tonight he got mentioned on Ugly Betty as a hunk (I totally agree with Christina – now they need to bring him on as a guest star), and we all know that Ugly Betty is the new signifier of cultural truth. I’m really excited about his upcoming role in 27 Dresses, but I’d really love it if he would spend more time making out with guys in his movies.

3. Larry Craig- what the American public didn’t know about cruising airport bathrooms for man-on-man sex was staggering, but this anti-gay Idaho senator set out to teach us about toe-tapping, wide stances, hand waving, and a superb lack of understanding about the criminal legal process. No one believes he didn’t try to cop a feel with that undercover cop, but he remains in his senate seat, refusing to step down before the end of his term and continuing to claim both innocence and heterosexuality (methinks the lady doth protest too much).

2. J.K. Rowling- Alright, Barbra Walters got this one right. Just glancing at my blog over the past year proves that I was fascinated with the creations of this woman. I’m not sure there’s any more I can add except bless her crazy soul for the gay Dumbledore thing.

…And my pick for the #1 fascinating person of the year is … You! No, just kidding, it’s …

1. Al Gore – Nobel Peace Prize. Will he or won’t he run? Oscar. A message of environmental awareness that people can’t ignore forever and might be finally having an impact. Did I mention that I once met him? …and, foolishly, passed on the opportunity to watch An Inconvenient Truth at the same time as him and his family. Anyway, Al has been reminding us all year that you can connect with voters by speaking passionately about what you believe in, and that the American public is not as dumb as most political speech-writers would have you believe.

And just because I can, some runner-ups who almost made my list:

• Hollywood writers and the strike
• Barack Obama
• Jon Hartmere & Damon Intrabartolo (Bare: A Pop Opera)
• Matt Foreman, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force
• Neil Gaiman – back on the top of his game with some great books and movies
• The cast of Ugly Betty

Who would you put on your list?