I’ll be back to what I hope will be more thoughtful posting on Monday. But in the midst of running Friday errands, I wanted to take a few minutes to copy the best end-of-the-year-getting-ready-for-the-New-Year meme I’ve seen. Jessica at Everybody’s Got Something to Hide put up this lengthy gem of a 2008 retrospective. And I’m borrowing it.
1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? A number of advanced Pilates moves. Developed and offered a workshop on Christianity, Islam, and Kabbalah that was well-received in several very different corners of the world. Became ready — for the first time — to be a father.
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Didn’t make any for 2008, and am looking forward to keeping mine for 2009 (see the post below this one)
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Several friends of ours had babies, and one of my cousins had her first daughter.
4. Did anyone close to you die? Not compared to 2006 and 2007, when my wife and I lost our beloved fathers in successive years. But my cousin Laura, whom I played with as a child, became the first member of my family younger than myself to die when she lost her battle with cancer in June. She was 36.
5. What countries did you visit? The Philippines, Chile, Argentina, Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, England, Austria, Croatia, Bosnia, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico. I finished all seven continents. My wife hit Rwanda and Uganda without me, and thus got all seven in 2008.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? A baby, a rescue dog, a book contract, and a new house. Think small, you get small.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory? May 2. I’ll explain why later.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting that “America’s hottest professor award”? No. The friendships I made and the friendships I maintained; the success we had with animal rights work and with the Matilde Mission in particular. Our chinchilla charity now partners with folks in New Zealand and the UK, and our pet project is saving lives across the globe. It’s thriling.
9. What was your biggest failure? Remaining blinded by classism, burning bridges with folks in the blogosphere I ought not to have burnt.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? No, thank God. Colds and a flu, but nothing serious.
11. What was the best thing you bought? A Volvo V70. Some jewelry for my wife. Beth van Hoesen’s Marvin.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My wife, for her patience. The students in my Gay and Lesbian American history class, for their courage and their willingness to fuse activism and personal growth. Our partners in the Matilde Mission. Hillary Clinton, for giving that “18 million cracks” speech.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? The agriculture industry, in its efforts to stop Proposition 2, the humane farms initiative in California. Robert Mugabe wasn’t much better. Pope Benedict XVI, for his recent proclamation that homosexuality represented as great a threat to the earth and its future as environmental degradation. My own, when I was reactive, judgmental, and selfish.
14. Where did most of your money go? Tithing, taxes, travel, charity, iTunes, Whole Foods.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The election, of course. The prospect of becoming a father.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008? “The Shape You’re In”, Catherine Feeny
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier.
b) thinner or fatter? Five pounds heavier
c) richer or poorer? Richer
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Staying in touch with old friends. Meditating. Writing notes to people whom I know would have appreciated them. Rubbing my chinchillas.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Facebook. Self-recrimination.
20. How did you spend Christmas? With some good friends of ours in Palos Verdes, eating vegan potato salad and watching a group of Shih-Tzus frolic.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008? Yes. With my gorgeous wife, all over again — and with people and animals and places that touched me.
22. How many one-night stands? For the ninth consecutive year, none.
23. What was your favorite TV program? Iconoclasts and Hell’s Kitchen.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don’t hate people, but my already limited affection for those who have a choice to wear fur and continue to do so has grown even weaker.
25. What was the best book you read? “On Chesil Beach”, Ian McEwan
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Catherine Feeny
27. What did you want and get? My feet on my seventh continent. A really nice new wallet.
28. What did you want and not get? A couple of publishing opportunities, Cal in the Rose Bowl game.
29. What was your favorite film of this year? “The Wrestler”
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Turned 41, and drove up to our gorgeous place in the hills northeast of San Jose.
31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If I had said no to just a few things I ought not to have said yes to.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Moving closer to the cruelty-free goal. Getting rid of the last of the pleated anythings in my wardrobe. Fitted trousers, faux leather shoes, and tailored oxford shirts with an emphasis on various shades of purple, pink, and blue.
33. What kept you sane? Caffeine, Pilates, prayer, the community of friends who love me despite myself.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I still think Rachel Griffiths is riveting, I still have a wee crush on Mariska Hargitay, and I would follow Ingrid Newkirk to the ends of the earth.
35. What political issue stirred you the most? California Propositions 2 and 8. Glorious victory on the first did not outweigh the bitter blow of defeat on the second.
36. Who did you miss? My father, every day.
37. Who was the best new person you met? My spiritual mentor, Benny H.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Everytime you start to believe your own press, the universe will find a way to remind you of your frailty.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. From a few years back, Dwight Yoakam’s great “Back of Your Hand”:
take a guess at where i stand
pick a number one to two
take a look at the back of your hand
just like you know it
you know me too
It’s a terrific track about marriage.
when you said you’d explain May 2 “later,” did you mean later in this post, or laaaaater later? my interest is piqued because my meme answer for that question was the exact same day, though certainly for a different reason…
to follow up kate.d, does later mean in february (b’ezrat hashem and the crick don’t rise) or is this about something else?
(i might have read a comment you posted on another blog…)
Are you having a baby?!
You certainly must have had trouble narrowing it down in the ‘who appalled and depresed me’ sweepstakes.
BTW, do you mean richer financially or in that silly ‘in my heart and soul’ way?
Aideen and ivh, I’m playing this one close to the vest — sorry to tantalise, but there will be, God willing, an announcement within the next five weeks.
And Bill, I mean both.
How’d you manage the former this year when everyone else got their ass kicked?
Bill, you know I’m far too WASPy to blog publicly about money. It’s been a rough year, no question.
Congrats on the baby/fatherhood prep.
What was your biggest failure? Remaining blinded by classism, burning bridges with folks in the blogosphere I ought not to have burnt.
Not convinced that failure is yours at all. The obsession with identity politics in contemporary American “academic” discourse is profoundly depressing.
It’s better to take a stand for what you believe in than merely shout the loudest. These people are much younger than you and have a hell of a lot of growing up to do, I think.
Hugo wrote:
“The Philippines, Chile, Argentina, Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, England, Austria, Croatia, Bosnia, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico. I finished all seven continents.
…
A Volvo V70. Some jewelry for my wife. Beth van Hoesen’s Marvin.
…
Tithing, taxes, travel, charity, iTunes, Whole Foods.
…
our gorgeous place in the hills northeast of San Jose.
…
Bill, you know I’m far too WASPy to blog publicly about money.”
Oy. Hugo, you have an interesting way not blogging publicly about money. But then I’m not a WASP.
“It’s been a rough year, no question.”
In a WASPy sort of way, I guess.
You should spend some more time around Mennonites.
Grupetti, perhaps you missed the bit about tithing? We tithe and give above that tithe. The misuse of wealth is sinful indeed, but you’re making assumptions here that are, I think, unfair. The crack to Bill about not blogging publicly about money was perhaps wrong-headed, as we are always blogging about money in one way or another, most of us.
You know the expression ‘inside voices’? It’s similar when you know someone in real life and talk to them on their blog. We have to remember our ‘inside voices’ Hugo.