"101" | thursday | january 1, 2009 | 3:50 pm

ELCOME TO ANOTHER YEAR! Happy new year! It seems like 2008 went by really fast. Last year was a filled-to-the-brim year. A lot of things happened. A lot of things got accomplished. A lot of things are still waiting on the jury. Hopefully 2009 will be just as good, just a bright, just as productive, and just as fun plus one. Just a little bit more, please. And go lightly on the bad, the crap, the sad, the disappointing, the troubling, the bruises and the bumps, and the treating people badly (here and abroad).

101 Things I Did in 2008

1. I met Greg on New Year's Eve. He let me kiss him at midnight.
2. After a couple of emails, Greg and I had our first official date. Dinner and a movie.
3. I saw The Savages (with Greg).
4. I did some last minute reading, cramming, and pre-writing for my PhD exams, including writing one whole essay a week ahead of time banking my committee would ask me that particular question.
5. I saw In the Name of the King.
6. I went to English Grad Pub the Thursday before my exams. I got well-wishes and just wanted to have an "everyday" night before I took my writtens.
7. I took my written PhD exams over the weekend of January 25-28.
8. I saw Juno.
9. I went to a little house party at Lindsay's.
10. I saw Cloverfield.
11. I taught ENGL 242 E: "Literature as Worldmaking" during Winter quarter.
12. I passed my writtens.
13. I prepped for my oral exams.
14. I celebrated Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rat, but did not make dumplings.
15. I passed my orals on Valentine's Day.
16. I had a Valentine's Day date with Greg.
17. I saw The Spiderwick Chronicles.
18. I saw Jumper.
19. I went with Greg to a presentation of the documentary films It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School (from 1996) and the 2007 follow-up It's Still Elementary, which were presented by the Safe Schools Coalition.
20. I started to try to plot my dissertation prospectus.
21. I taught my ENGL 111: Critical Approaches to Harry Potter class again for the Spring Quarter.
22. I took a trip with Greg to San Francisco in late March. I wanted to visit my sister, take a little vacation, and hang out with Greg. It was a really great trip.
23. While in SF, Greg and I stayed at a fancy, boutique hotel called Hotel Triton.
24. I visited the De Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco for the first time ever.
25. I went to the ocean while in SF. It is one of my most favorite things to do.
26. While visiting with my sister, she took Greg and I to explore and to wine-taste in Sonoma.
27. We went to the Roshambo winery.
28. We went to the Benziger winery.
29. We went to the Kunde winery.
30. I had a burrito from the Mission, from Taqueria Cancun. Yum.
31. Greg and I reached three months together.
32. I worked on an article on composition and computer games for Computers and Composition Online.
33. I attended a Queer Worlds lecture by Elizabeth Povinelli called "The Obligations of Intimacy."
34. I was an officer for the English Department's Graduate Student Organization.
35. I attended my friend Andrew's annual kegger, where I created my first ever "chipscape."
36. I saw Iron Man, which I liked a lot.
37. I helped launch the English GSO's wiki on departmental procedures, information, and lore.
38. I turned 38.
39. I was not rehired for the Early Fall Start GIS 140: Writing Ready program, even though I put in two good years with them, but I was hired as an instructor for the GIS 140 athletes program.
40. I saw Speed Racer.
41. I attended a "mandatory" meeting for all TAs on "power, harassment, and violence" in the classroom.
42. Greg and I went to see a film during the Seattle International Film Festival called Chris & Don: A Love Story, about Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy.
43. I continue to think about my dissertation and prospectus. I write the first draft of my prospectus and turn it in at the end of Spring Quarter.
44. I saw Sex and the City: The Movie.
45. I helped revise and rename the GIS 140 athletes program, now called Summer LEAP.
46. I saw The Incredible Hulk.
47. I succumbed to post-exam laziness, which turned into ennui, which turned into full-blown post-traumatic, post-partum depression. I had a lot of anxiety dreams about my dissertation and prospectus revision, which remained fallow for most of the summer and fall.
48. Greg and I attended Seattle Pride. It was Greg's first Pride.
49. I rode the Seattle Monorail for the first time ever.
50. Greg and I reached six months together.
51. I went out a lot, mainly with Greg. I ate at some new restaurants.
52. I celebrated July 4th at "Minorval" with Greg and friends.
53. I taught GIS 140 for the Summer LEAP program for incoming student athletes. My roommate and friend Jane was my co-instructor.
54. I saw WALL-E.
55. I saw Hancock.
56. As part of the Summer LEAP class, we took the students to Pike Place Market.
57. We also took the students to Chinatown/International District. I went to the Wing Luke Asian Museum for the first time.
58. We also took the students to Capitol Hill. I designed a very ambitious photo scavenger hunt for them to do.
59. I went to Emerald Downs, the horse track, for Jason's birthday. I bet on the horse races for the first time. Alas, I lost more than I won, but it was totally fun.
60. I watched a lot of Star Trek: Voyager on TV.
61. I watched a lot of Bravo TV, including Project Runway Season 5 and Flipping Out Season 2 and of course Top Chef Season 5.
62. I played a lot of games at kongregate.com.
63. I watched some of the Summer Olympics, including a couple of gold medal events.
64. I saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.
65. I wrote a lot of scribbles and notes about my dissertation and prospectus revision, but the wallowing and the writer's block continued.
66. I continued to run, walk, and exercise. 67. I saw I.O.U.S.A..
68. I went to a mixer for the incoming grad students at the Roanoke Tavern.
69. I got dumped by Greg, just shy of eight months. He wanted to date someone else, which he discovered was not what he wanted, and we reconciled a few weeks later.
70. I went to a "Family Science" lecture featuring physicist Brian Greene at Town Hall Seattle.
71. I saw Slavoj Zizek speak on "violence" at Town Hall Seattle.
72. I participated in the ENGL 111 orientation on a panel with Jane.
73. I attended Penny Arcade Expo 2008 with my sister, friends from back east, and some WoW friends.
74. I taught ENGL 250 B: Introduction to American Literature: "The American Imagination" for Autumn quarter.
75. I taught CHID 496 E: Focus Group: "Paper & Dice 101: Tabletop Gaming as Storytelling" for Autumn Quarter, too.
76. Greg and I reached nine months together, though we spent about a month "on a break." What kind of break? Ask Rachel or Ross.
77. I started therapy at UW's Mental Health Clinic. I spend much of fall quarter trying to figure out myself, my life, my project, and my self. A lot of soul searching. A lot of going back to old bad habits of self, of self deprecation, of self sabotage. And a lot of remembering and revising new good habits of self, of self valuation, and self help.
78. I was an officer for and helped rename the queer grad student group at UW. I built the QGrads (formerly called BOHGOF) website.
79. I started my thirtieth journal.
80. I took out a personal ad in the Stranger's Lovelab.
81. Greg got us full passes to the Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. We went to the opening film and gala and attended seven other screenings of shorts and full-length films.
82. I watched a man commit suicide (and make a statement of protest) by setting himself on fire in Red Square at UW.
83. I went to two Halloween parties with Greg.
84. I voted for Obama and I attended an election night party with Greg at a big gay mansion.
85. I saw W.. 86. I attended the Safe Zone Train the Trainer meeting at UW's Q Center. I can now help run Safe Zone trainings.
87. I co-wrote the GSO Self-Study report, as part of the departmental review process.
88. I did not attend my twenty year high school reunion (the flights were just too expensive and I didn't have the time to spare), but I did reconnect with a number of high school people via facebook.com.
89. I attended the Safe Zone Train the Trainer meeting at UW's Q Center. I can now help run Safe Zone trainings.
90. I went with Greg to a roundtable on the economic crisis at Town Hall Seattle.
91. I had Thanksgiving buffet at the Broadway Grill restaurant.
92. I saw Milk.
93. I attended grad pub regularly all year.
94. I watched a lot of Avatar: The Last Airbender. While Jane was completing her PhD exams, we watched Avatar as a way to relax, hang out, and procrastinate. It's really good and fun and cute and well done.
95. Jane and I fought a moth infestation in our apartment.
96. I finished my prospectus revision (finally) and turned it into my chair.
97. I played in the snow that befell Seattle in truck loads.
98. Greg and I took a second trip down to San Francisco for the holidays.
99. We went to the newly reopened and renovated California Academy of Sciences.
100. I went to one day of the MLA 2008 conference. It was madness. I saw my sister present a paper. I ran into a couple of people from UW and a bunch of people from UMD. I will be going next year hopefully to get a job.
101. Greg and I celebrated one year together.

There are probably a lot more things that I could add to the list, a bunch of things could be exploded into smaller events and experiences. But this gives a pretty good survey of the year's happenings. A lot went on in 2008. I accomplished a lot. I grew a lot. I learned a lot. And I experienced a lot. Here's to 2009!

top | read footnotes | add footnotes