But first, one last bit of year’s end housekeeping to deal with. While I’m still not a huge fan of new year resolutions, last year’s list helped me focus throughout the year, so I thought I’d do it again.

1. Leave Cincinnati and never come back. It was fun getting to know a new city, but I’m not planning to stay, and I’m fairly certain that this will never be “home” to me.
2. Own less. Learning to toss out a lot of junk in preparation to move across the country showed me how many possessions I have that I really don’t need. I need to go through the boxes and throw out my collection of coffee mugs, old t-shirts, and random computer cords.
3. See more live theatre. My life used to revolve around theatre, but I haven’t been making as much of an effort in recent years to take in local performances. I attended 3 shows in ’08, so I think I can make it to at least 5 in ’09.
4. Write more. It used to be that I wrote constantly, for work, for pleasure, for killing time… since I no longer work in full time journalism, nor am I currently in school, and I’m not even writing speeches or marketing copy, my writing of late has been limited to revisions of my law school application essay and blogs. I’m not putting a specific number or type of writing goal, just that I need to get back in the habit of writing a variety of styles before I start school.
5. That dating thing, yeah. So I know it was one of last year’s resolutions to go on actual dates and it didn’t happen. So much of 2008 has been spent with an eye toward moving on, it was hard to seek out romantic connections. Hopefully, I’ll be settled into one place for a few years by the end of ’09, so I should probably rethink the path toward permanent bachelorhood.
6. Kill the giant squid in the bathroom. Or maybe just make a little more effort to keep my bathroom cleaner than it has been. It’s not completely disgusting, but I do need a new shower curtain and a quick mopping.

You’ll notice that I’m not including the “quit smoking” or “lose XX lbs” goals. I’ve decided those shouldn’t be NYE resolutions. They are more like ongoing goals. I’m also not bothering to set specific goals around law school until I know where I’m going, and that’s more or less out of my hands at this point.

Anyway, I guess we’ll be checking in again in a year.

• There Will Be Blood
• 27 Dresses
• Cloverfield
• Jumper
• Horton Hears a Who
• Never Back Down
• Stop-Loss
• Kiss The Bride
• Iron Man
• Kung Fu Panda
• The Incredible Hulk
• Hancock
• Mamma Mia
• The Dark Knight
• Tropic Thunder
• Pineapple Express
• Milk
• The Spirit

Despite Jen’s continual subtle hints about documentaries playing nearby that I might like (Jen loves those docs), I suppose there’s nothing terribly out-of-the-box in my selection of movies this year. A few romantic comedies, a few gay-themed, a lot of superhero and a lot of movies I went to because they starred cute guys.

Of all the movies I saw this year, only Mamma Mia warranted an overall negative review from me. Iron Man, Milk and The Dark Knight are my top three for the year.

Best Character of the Year: Katie in Horton Hears a Who.

Best Villain of the Year: Joker in The Dark Knight.

Best Company for a Movie: Sorry Jen and Jacob, but the best movie companions this year were Craig, Callie and their friends at Kung Fu Panda. During the ride home they yelled “Skadoosh!” over and over again.

Best Movie for Attending Alone (Or, If You Were So Lucky, With an Intimate Friend): My decision to go see Never Back Down was 99% motivated by my desire to see Sean Faris in various states of undress and sweaty. Cam Gigandet wasn’t bad to look at, either. I could have ignored the plot and still had a great time.

Best Decision to Skip a Movie. Ever.: I’d love to poke fun at some of this year’s stinkers (Twilight, 10,000 B.C.), but the only movie that makes me shudder in fear that someday I might be tied to a chair with my eyelids forced open is An American Carol, a “comedy” about the loony left.

• Xanadu (Original Broadway Cast)
• In The Heights (Original Broadway Cast)
• Young Frankenstein (Original Broadway Cast)
• Dreaming Wide Awake: The Music of Scott Alan (various artists)
• Youth Novels (Lykke Li)
• Juno (Soundtrack – various artists)
• Were the World Mine (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
• Lucky (Nada Surf)
• Exile On Mainstream (Matchbox Twenty)
• Pushing Daisies (Original Television Soundtrack)

Specific songs/singles that got the most play in 2008 (again, no particular order):

• Falling Slowly, Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, from Once
• Now, Jonathan Groff
• Just Not Now, Farah Alvin, from I Love You Because
• Accidental Babies, Damien Rice
• I’m Alive, Original Broadway Cast, from Xanadu
• 4 Minutes, Madonna and Justin Timberlake
• Tonight, Lykke Li
• The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning, Smashing Pumpkins
• The Clock Strikes Three, Michael Arden, from Forward
• Love Remains the Same, Gavin Rossdale
• We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder, Bernice Johnson Reagon
• Yes We Can, will.i.am
• Harder Better Faster, Daft Punk
• All These Things That I’ve Done, The Killers
• Wanting Memories, Sweet Honey in the Rock
• No More Gas, DJ Earworm
• Hotel Chelsea Nights, Ryan Adams
• Rose’s Turn, Patti LuPone, from Gypsy
• Coin Operated Boy, The Dresden Dolls
• Chelsea Hotel No. 2, Rufus Wainwright

I don’t think it’s a perfect list, and all this really points to are the songs/albums that happened to be on when I hit an OCD “earbuds-in play on repeat until it becomes white noise” phase at work, still, it’s an interesting snapshot of the music that mattered to me this year.

It’s more revealing to discuss music in relation to what I was doing at any given time.

Lykke Li and the Juno soundtrack – Early 2008, before I started studying for the LSAT and my whole world changed.

I will always associate the actual studying with Scott Alan’s album Dreaming Wide Awake. I had a 35 minute MP3 I mixed myself that included proctor instructions for running an entire section of the LSAT and Alan’s music featured prominently in the 35-minute mix. I listened to that same mix 4 times a night, 3 or 4 nights a week, for two months straight.

I had a playlist labeled “anthems” that helped me get on the road and move across the country. Songs included music that spoke to the civil rights movement (Sweet Honey in the Rock), big and bright musical celebrations (“I’m Alive” from Xanadu, “96,000″ from In the Heights), and other stuff meant to be celebratory and as far from maudlin as possible.

Ryan Adams, Rufus Wainwright and Nada Surf were big in my New York vacation playlist.

Were the World Mine and Pushing Daisies are associated with the holiday season.

You get the idea. My brain tends to associate music with certain moods or places, even if there’s no emotional connection between them. To this day, I still associate the larger bay area (outside San Francisco) with Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill because of a family vacation when I was 18, and Annie Lennox reminds me of driving a very large van.

Anyway, for a much more pop-centric look back on 2008, check out DJ Earworm’s mashup of the year’s top songs: United States of Pop 2008

Top search terms that brought people here:

1. mario lopez
2. reluctantly helping my friend move
3. shirtless superheroes
4. dominic cooper
5. rufus wainwright
6. hunky jesus (hunky jesus competition)
7. asshole
8. sarah palin
9. may 15 prophecy
10. one testicle

The most visited posts:

1. Jere’s Terrible Advice
2. Lies My Presidents Told Me
3. Reluctantly helping my friend move
4. Shirtless Superheroes
5. Movie Review: Mamma Mia
6. Russia-Georgia Conflict
7. Hunky Jesus Competition (Because you know he was hung like this)
8. Gay Porn Star Raped by Army Captain
9. Get to know Sarah Palin
10. Peter Pan

Top Referring Sites:

1. stumbleupon.com
2. tyreseus.livejournal.com
3. shirtless-superheroes.blogspot.com
4. robandjessihooper.com
5. cincywestsidequeer.blogspot.com
6. alanilagan.com
7. twochefsplusalittlechef.blogspot.com
8. breaktheillusion.com
9. puntabulous.com
10. jasminerebecca.blogspot.com

Total Site Visits in 2008 (to date): ~33,000 (Top Month: September with 6,602 visitors)

Average Daily Visitors in 2008: 96

Total Posts in 2008 (to date): 325

• Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
• The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
• The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
• Firebird by Mercedes Lackey
• For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison
• Watchmen by Alan Moore
• Law School Confidential by Robert H. Miller
• Moral Politics by George Lakoff
• I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max
• Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
• The Logic of Life by Tim Harford
• Blind Fall by Christopher Rice
• The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton
• The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst*
• Hero by Perry Moore**
• The Beautiful Miscellaneous by Dominic Smith
• Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
• Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
• Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay
• A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire

* Started and abandoned
** Reread from previous year

There are a few nonfiction books missing from the list because I forgot to make a note of them, and I left off audiobooks, but it’s a pretty good list. 20 books in 52 weeks isn’t exactly slacking.

Favorite Book of the Year: Probably Blind Fall. There were a lot of good ones, though.

Worst Book of the Year: Without doubt, The Secret. What a waste of paper. Ooh, magical thinking can change your life. Somehow, though, I can’t think away the memory of this crap.

Biggest Surprise of the Year: I Hope They Sell Beer in Hell. Tucker Max is an ass, a shallow excuse for a human being, a selfish hedonist who shouldn’t be allowed to influence young people. That said, he tells a wicked story (even if they are exaggerated) and despite my political sensibilities, found myself laughing more than once.

Favorite Discovery of the Year: Darkly Dreaming Dexter. This year featured quite a few titles outside my usual reading comfort zone, but the first Dexter book was the one that made me glad to be trying out new things.

Biggest Disappointment of the Year: Dexter in the Dark. After a very promising beginning to the series, the third book jumped the shark and let me down. I’m not 100% sold on continuing with the series now.

• Mormon American Princess at San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center
• Xanadu on Broadway
• [Title of Show] on Broadway

So, I didn’t get out to see a lot of live theatre this year, but what I lacked in quantity I made up for in quality. Also, the latter two shows have closed their Broadway runs, but at least [TOS] lives on in YouTube’s The [Title of Show] Show. Check out their star-studded season 2 opening, “The [Title of Show] Show ‘Who Shot Mindy’ Christmas Spectacular Show Special Show.”

While I prefer not to do “top ten” lists, and it would be impossible to recount every show I watched on television this year, here’s a completely subjective list of the shows I most enjoyed in 2008:

• Battlestar Galactica
• Boston Legal
• Brothers & Sisters
• Chuck
• Dexter
• Eli Stone
• Eureka
• Greek
• How I Met Your Mother
• Pushing Daisies
• Raising the Bar
• Saturday Night Live
• Scrubs
• True Blood
• Ugly Betty
• Weeds

Four are being canceled or are in their final season, I have to watch two of them online, and most of them include some kind of queer element.

Show I Will Miss the Most in 2009: Pushing Daisies. Such an underestimated show. Why aren’t you people watching this?

Guiltiest Pleasure: Raising the Bar. Apparently not much loved by critics and the ratings have been less than stellar, but I quite enjoyed it. While following the typical “lawyer show” plot formula, I was impressed at the level of attention to detail in the show (like cell phones being off in courtrooms) and the characters were growing on me.

Show that Used to be on The List but I Just Don’t Care Anymore: Heroes. I still watch it, but I find my mind wandering and I’m not paying as much attention as I used to. I might also mention Desperate Housewives in this category, but I’m not sure it was ever officially on “the list” to begin with.

Favorite Discovery of 2009: I think it’s a toss-up between Dexter and True Blood, but I’ll give it to Dexter by a slight margin only because I had to catch up on three full seasons.

Favorite Musical Number in a Show: Since my favorite numbers in Pushing Daisies originally aired in 2007, I’ll have to give this one to “My Eyes” from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog, which I guess isn’t technically a television show, but it’s my list so I make the rules.

• Creating Change. In early 2008, I was fortunate enough to attend the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s annual leadership conference, Creating Change, in Detroit. Speakers included Julian Bond, Matt Foreman, and Rev. Gene Robinson. I attended workshops on topics ranging from communications strategy to fat-phobia. Especially memorable about the weekend, however, was attending the leadership meeting for United ENDA, a true grassroots movement stirred up by the 2007 decision to remove “gender identity” from the federal Employment NonDiscrimination Act. I felt as though I was in a room of under-recognized giants of the modern queer movement.
  
• Wondercon. My second time at San Francisco’s annual comic book convention, I really took the time this year to enjoy myself and attend more events. Q&A sessions with J. Michael Straczynski, Terry Moore, and a queer artists roundtable; stars like David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, James McAvoy, Brendan Fraser, John Cho, Jon Favreau, Casper Van Diem, Jolene Blalock, among others; and tons of awesome geekery. Two moments really stick out: finding a complete 18-issue set of the entire Emma Frost series of 2003-2005, and when Jon Favreau showed a very excited audience the first public clip of the first reveal of Iron Man’s Mach 2 armor.
  
• Accidentally getting caught in San Francisco’s St. Stupid’s Day Parade. There I was on April 1, minding my own business and studying for the LSAT when over the sounds of my iPod I hear a drum beat coming down the street. Suddenly, the little courtyard where I eat lunch and put in an hour of study is swarmed with people in crazy costumes (or no costumes at all). I threw my homework back in the bag and went with it. Only in San Francisco!
  
• California Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Gay Marriage. On May 15, 2008, San Francisco was experiencing unusually warm weather, so we only had half the overhead lights on in the offices of Out & Equal. At noon, the California Supreme Court released their ruling on the gay marriage cases. As my coworkers searched the net for news about the verdict, I began speed-reading the 172 page PDF off the Court’s website. CNN announced that the court ruled against gay marriage, but other news stations were reporting differently. I kept reading. About 20 minutes after noon, I announced to the room, “guys, I think this says we can get married! … listen to this, ‘in light of the conclusions we reach concerning the constitutional questions brought to us for resolution, we determine that the language of section 300 limiting the designation of marriage to a union “between a man and a woman” is unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute, and that the remaining statutory language must be understood as making the designation of marriage available both to opposite-sex and same-sex couples.’ That means gay marriage is legal in California!” Beatriz went out and got cake, we had an impromptu party at my office. That night, the Castro erupted in celebration. There were tears of joy. Heads were held higher. Regardless of what came later in the year, I will always think of that day with celebration.
• Muir Woods. To celebrate my birthday, I rented a car and drove up to Muir Woods and spent and afternoon walking among the redwood trees. It was beautiful and amazing.
  
• Taking the LSAT. Because of the demand for test centers in the Bay Area, I scheduled a vacation and flew back to Salt Lake to take the law school entrance exam at the University of Utah campus. After nearly 4 months of obsessive, every-spare-moment studying habits, the break from work responsibilities allowed me to calm down considerably. On Monday, June 16, I borrowed my sister’s car and reported to the designated classroom with a pack of freshly sharpened, glittery pencils in a large ziplock bag. The atmosphere was tense, but I think I had a good mental frame of mind. I flew through the test, easily beating the time limits and certain of all but a few of my answers. But it was grueling. We started very late, the test dragged on way longer than the practice tests had. When it was all over, I drove into downtown and met up with some awesome friends for drinks and dinner. Then I spent a few days playing with my niece and nephew before going home to San Francisco.
  
  
• Working Out with Ben. Early in the year, I ought a large package of personal training from my gym in San Francisco. My trainer was a French-Israeli straight guy who loved action movies and crude jokes. I wasn’t sure if we’d hit it off at first, but by our third week, we were having a great time. Then, in June, I decided to leave San Francisco and move to Cincinnati at the end of July. Since I still had a lot of training sessions on my account, but there were no branches of my gym in Cincinnati, we began doing 3 sessions a week, then 4, and for the last three weeks I was in San Francisco, I was spending an hour with Ben every single weekday. Since I was also off the cigarettes, I never felt healthier or stronger. I genuinely miss my time with Ben and have suffered in the workout department simply because it isn’t as much fun hitting the gym without such a great motivating friend to gossip and pass the time with.
• Driving Across the Country. Perhaps, the memorable event of 2008, I decided to leave my job and San Francisco to move to Cincinnati, where I’d live with my friends Jen and Jacob until I start law school. It was the first time I traveled by land east of the Rocky Mountains, the first time I took a multi-day road trip by myself, and the first time I got to see several parts of the country. Stops in Salt Lake and Iowa allowed me to spend time with my family, and a full week to travel gave me the leisure to stop at various attractions and take in a bit more than the road.
  
• New York. Planned early in the year, my trip to New york was almost called off because of the expense of quitting my job and moving. It was Jen’s birthday weekend, however, and she wanted to go. So instead of flying, I bought a train ticket. For less than $1,000, I got a private room at a Chelsea hostel for a week. I saw two shows on Broadway, took in museums and art galleries, window shopped, did touristy stuff with Jen and Jacob, explored a great deal of Manhattan on my own, saw some friends, and spent time getting to know the schools in the city. In 7 days, I explored more of New York than I’ve explored in Cincinnati after 4 months.
  
• The Election. So many specific memories wrapped up into one. The debate night parties, seeing Obama speak in Cincinnati, watching MSNBC all day every day while searching for a job, liveblogging and obsessing over every little detail, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. Election night… watching Ohio turn blue, watching Florida turn blue, celebrating. Staying up to see if California was ready to report on Prop 8… the sadness of that defeat… the queer rights protests and rallies breaking out across the country… it was an emotional and thrilling.
  
• Applying to Law Schools. With my LSAT score, my transcript, and my letters of recommendation underway, I spent many hours reworking and revising my resume and personal statement. Because I overspent on the trip across the country and my vacation in New York, I was delayed in submitting my apps until I had money coming in from my jobs. The first time I hit “send” about 18 times (the LSAC asks you “are you sure?” several times) to submit my first application, I was a nervous wreck. All told, I put in 8 applications and I still haven’t heard a definitive decision from any of them.

Click to embiggen

So, in order, the places I visited (defined as at least 1 overnight stay) in 2008 are:

• San Francisco, CA (A)
• Detroit, MI (F)*
• Salt Lake City, UT (B)
• North Platte, NE (C)*
• North Liberty, IA (D)*
• Cincinnati, OH (E)*
• Manhattan, NY (G)

(The letters correspond to their location on the map for geographically illiterate Americans)
* First time visits

Some of the most memorable sights include:

• The eastern descent out of the Rocky Mountains and into the buttes of Wyoming
• The creepy cornfields of Iowa
• Crossing the Mississippi River
• The view of downtown Cincinnati from the levee in Covington
• Cincinnati’s Spring Grove Cemetery by moonlight
• Looking out at Chelsea from the Chelsea Hotel
• Manhattan’s skyline from the front of a tour boat (the Statue of Liberty was nice, but nothing compared to the city)
• The banquet hall of Detroit’s Renaissance Center filled with over a thousand queer activists at the Creating Change conference

I have pre-written several of these posts (the ones that are most list-like), and they are scheduled to be delivered at set times this week. I’ll also be trying to post additional thoughts about memorable aspects of the year in between the pre-planned stuff.

It seems like a good place to begin our look back at 2008 is with my list of resolution from December 31, 2007. Let’s see how I did:

1. Take the LSAT in June and score at least 165. +
   Done! Scored 169.
2. Take proactive steps to improve my credit rating by the end of the year. +
   Done! In fact, I’m one $765 payment away from having a clean bill of health for the first time since college. Anyone got a spare $765? I’m good for it! I’ll show you my credit report!
3. Re-start my gym routine and take off the 20 lbs I put back on in 2007. ½
   Done(ish)! I don’t know if I’ve lost the 20 lbs, but I started working out pretty seriously through the spring and summer. I admit I haven’t kept at it as well in Cincinnati, but I don’t think I’ve gained weight, either.
4. Apply to law schools in the fall. +
   Done! No acceptances, yet, but we should be really close.
5. In 2007, I went on one bona-fide, non-ambiguous date. In 2008, I will go on at least three. X
   Not done. Not a single date, actually. Some anonymous sex, sure, but no dates… unless you count all the times I’ve been out with my heterosexually-paired roommates as dates.
6. Maintain a positive outlook at work. X
   Well, I quit the job, publicly criticized my boss, and moved across the country, so I think we’ll call this one a failure. On the other hand, right to the very end I believed that I had the power to affect change in that workplace, so that was some positive (or naively wishful) thinking.
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. +
   Done! I’ve definitely made progress. While I still talk about work (whatever job I’m at) a bit, it’s not nearly the dominant topic of conversation it was last year.
8. I will take advantage of my fancy new health benefits in 2008 by visiting the dentist and getting routine medical check-ups. ½
   Saw the doctor a few times and got caught up on my vaccinations, but never did go to the dentist. I did go to a chiropractor for several weeks, though. I guess this one is half done since I lost those fancy health benefits when I left the job.
9. Quit smoking. ½
   I quit in April, started again in late September, quit again last week. I’m not sure I can technically claim success on this one, but not for lack of trying.
10. Keep my room cleaner by ending my pack-rat tendencies – toss out old clothes, junk mail and stupid knick-knacks. +
    You know, moving across the country in a rental car is a great motivator to de-clutter your life. My room needs another cleaning right now, but it’s bigger and I have less clutter than when I wrote this last year, so I think we’re calling this a success.

Thats 5/10 accomplished, 3/10 partially accomplished, and 2/10 that I think I failed at. All told, I’m rather proud of my results. I never could have envisioned that I’d end the year 3 time zones away from where I started it, earning about a tenth of my January salary, but I’ve been pretty good about planning ahead for my life this year.

I’m going to give myself another week to decide what (if any) resolutions I’ll be setting in 2009. How about you, did you meet your 2008 resolutions?