"baby new year" | tuesday | january 1, 2008 | 11:01 am

NOTHER YEAR. Crimony. Where does the time go? And what the hell did I do with it all? Where's all the fame, glory, riches, and happiness that's supposed to go along with it? Surely, there's got to be more to it than this? It's been a long, full, fretful, and somewhere-in-there fun year past. But, to be fair, two-oh-oh-seven wasn't bad. There are just a few promises that I would like my life to keep, make good on in two-oh-oh-eight. Please.

101 Things I Did in 2007

     1. I taught a class called ENGL 111: Everyday Media.
     2. I took a class called "Visuality and Race." My last official seminar ever.
     3. I discovered that I have a hereditary blood condition called Beta Thalassemia Minor.
     4. I had recurring hives but have since lost them.
     5. I went bowling (as part of the English Graduate Student Organization's winter social).
     6. I completed my language requirement for my Ph.D. I now nominally read Spanish.
     7. I met a guy I thought I liked but who turned out to suck (and not in a good way). It never went anyway after the initial meeting.
     8. I did not make jiao-zi for Chinese New Year, breaking tradition, but had a "Take-Out Potluck" instead.
     9. I saw the documentary (slash drama) called Darkon, which is about the live-action wargaming group I used to play back in Maryland. It made me really nostalgic for those days.
     10. I went to a "grog" pirate-themed house party at my friend Caitlin's house. I 'played' a guitar at said pirate party, making up songs, singing, and entertaining a room full of people for some time. "Pot of Gold" was the night's favorite.
     11. I saw The Last Mimzy.
     12. I also saw 300.
     13. I wrote a paper called "Looking for Ophera Windfury: Imaginging Race (and Sexuality) in World of Warcraft," which was for my Visuality and Race class.
     14. I taught a class in the spring called ENGL 111: The Mirror of Erised: Critical Approaches to Harry Potter.
     15. I visited Southern California for the very first time. I went to Riverside, CA for a conference.
     16. I presented my paper on WoW at the University of California-Riverside graduate conference (dis)junctions. I was on a really good panel and got asked some good questions.
     17. While in Riverside, I went to the city's oldest gay bar called the Menagerie, starting a tradition that whenever I go to a new city I have to go to at least one gay bar. Also while in Riverside, I got drunk with some conference people and ended up going on an aborted roadtrip to LA.
     18. I completed my second full year at the UW (and in Seattle).
     19. I completed my coursework for my Ph.D. I never have to write another seminar paper if I don't want to. Phew.
     20. I discovered that I do a pretty funny Kathleen Turner impression.
     21. I saw Spiderman 3.
     22. I turned 37.
     23. I met Tim Gunn on my birthday. He hugged me and signed a copy of his book for me. (I had no idea he was born in Washington, DC.)
     24. I attended the Graduate & Professional Student Senate spring social and got wicked drunk.
     25. I went to my friend Julia's MFA graduation and final show.
     26. I visited Detroit, MI for the first time (as an adult...I think I had been there as a wee babe). I went there for a conference, the second of the year.
     27. II presented a paper I co-produced with my friend Jentery called "Virtual Office Hours, A Rhetorical and Pedagogical Experiment" at Computers & Writing 2007 held at Wayne State University. Actually, we presented with fellow UW English grads as a part of a panel we put together on the "virtual university." It went really well and we made some awesome contacts.
     28. While in Detroit, I went to Detroit's oldest gay bar called the Woodward Cocktail Bar.
     29. I also went to Whitecastle for the first time.
     30. While in Detroit, I got to visit with my friend and ex Josh, who drove down from Ann Arbor to hang out.
     31. My Harry Potter class got written up in the university's student newspaper. I was featured and photographed alongside another class on HP that quarter. The article was written by a former student of mine, Nick Trost.
     32. Out of nowhere, I decided to take up jogging and running as exercise. I began in May and have run every week, three times a week, consistently since then.
     33. I put together the third issue of B-13, the graduate English literary magazine with the help of my friend Jay. Alas, Jay graduated that quarter and I think the magazine is no more.
     34. I designed the cover for the new Expository Writing Program reader called Situating Inquiry.
     35. I recieved the department's "Joan Webber Outstanding Teaching Prize" for a second-year 100-level English TA.
     36. I watched a lot of television, including the finale of Gilmore Girls, a lot of Heroes, Top Chef, Star Trek: Voyager, Doctor Who, Bionic Woman, Kyle XY, Battlestar Galactica, and other sundry shows.
     37. I went to see the documentary Monster Camp, which is about live-action role-players playing NERO around Seattle.
     38. I joined Technorati.
     39. I 'blogged like it was the end of the world.'
     40. I saw Ocean's Thirteen.
     41. I saw Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
     42. I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
     43. I visited SF and the Bay Area for the first time in about five years. I went down for a week to see my sister, who has moved to Berkeley to do her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley. It was a really good visit and it was really nice to see San Francisco again.
     44. While in SF, I went to Pride weekend, visited with friends (like Rob, Murphy, Lauren, and Dustin).      45. I went on a few day hikes with my friend Jason over the summer.
     46. I tutored for GIS 140 for incoming student athletes over the summer.
     47. I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in one night.
     48. Then, I taught GIS 140 for Early Fall Start for incoming freshmen, which this year I helped revise and redesign the course.
     49. I sang karaoke for the first time for reals with my friend Jason. We sang "Part of Your World." It was bad.
     50. I went to see some friends perform in Seattle Glee Clubs' The Olio Players presentation of From Silence to Sound, Or, A short History of the Movie Musical.
     51. I saw Samuel R. Delany read at the Science Fiction Museum.
     52. I was Simpsonized.
     53. I saw The Simpsons Movie.
     54. I saw The Bourne Ultimatum. Matt Damon looks good.
     55. I invented a drink called a Ginger Cape Cod. Delicious.
     56. I read and read and read and read over the summer really digging into my Ph.D. exam lists.
     57. I read Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, which is such an accomplishment that it deserves its own number.
     58. I read Don DeLillo's Underworld, which is also a monster of a text.
     59. I read Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren, which completed my triumverate of difficult, long, tome-like books on my list.
     60. I attended my friends' Andy and Anna's wedding. I also gave the toast at the wedding, which was well-received.
     61. I saw Stardust.
     62. I saw Superbad.
     63. I saw The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising. I have never read the books, though.
     64. I was a judge at my friend Suzanne's 2nd annual 80th Street Chili Cookoff. I also made a 'dessert' chili, which was not an entry (due to conflict of interest) but was very well-received.
     65. My friend Jason and I went to the Friends of the Seattle Public Library fall booksale. It was my first time in that biblio-frenzy! But I did get a number of books I needed for my lists for cheap.
     66. I ate out a lot. Too much in fact. My favorite places are: University Teriyaki, a Mexican place up in Lynnwood, the mall, Hana Sushi, The Deluxe Grill, and any place that offers a good hotdog. I blame my friend Jason. This is something I need to change this year.
     67. I taught a literature class for the first time in the fall called ENGL 200: Reading Literature: Literatures of the Fantastic.
     68. I went to a birthday party for my friend Christian. The theme was "potatoes." I made "Irish nachos," which were delicious.
     69. I attended my friend and colleague Kate's presentation called "Reconstructing Resistance: Music, New Technologies and the Power of Cultural Organizing" at the Vera Project. Kate is part of partnership called "If You Don't They Will." It is a Seattle based partnership founded by Cristien Storm (founder of Home Alive, former staff at Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity) and Kate Boyd (former staff of Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity). If You Don't They Will trains individuals and organizations, youth groups, music clubs, schools, and community members how to effectively identify and counter white nationalism. White nationalism is a social movement that reproduces the ideology of white supremacy while simultaneously denying its racist and xenophobic roots and claiming "white victim-hood." With a combined experience of over two decades, trainers Cristien Storm and Kate Boyd offer an engaging profile of the U.S. white nationalist movement. Topics covered include youth recruitment & cultural organizing, social movement theory, attacks on choice & reproductive health, the anti-immigrant movement, bias & hate crimes, opposition research & organizing strategies, and a regional history of the hate movement.
     70. I met a guy at school who seemed really into me at first and then turned out wasn't into me in that way. Story of my life. But at least this one wasn't a jackass.
     71. I visited Los Angeles for the first time (another jaunt down to SoCal) for a conference at UCLA. I went with my friend Jason.
     72. I presented my paper on queering transhumanism titled "'Making Us All Queer':Queering Transhumanism in Doctorow’s '0wnz0red,' Ryman’s 'Birth Days,' and Gerrold’s 'In the Quake Zone'" at the very prestigious UCLA Queer Studies Conference. It took me three years trying to get into the conference, but I finally did it. It was a great experience.
     73. While in LA, I went to many gay bars in West Hollywood and Hollywood.
     74. I attended a lecture on campus called "Then and Now: Mapping Epistemic Shifts in Queer Studies," which is part of the Queer Worlds project put together by some people I know.
     75. I was "elected" to be a executive member of the English Graduate Student Organization.
     76. I went to a Halloween party at a big gay mansion dressed as Heat Miser. The next night I went to a different party dressed in random medieval garb.
     77. I did a presentation for the Research Exposed! program at UW with my friend Jentery about becoming technoliterate.
     78. I visited Portland, Maine for the very first time to attend a conference. The fourth and final conference of the year. Whew.
     79. I vetted my paper (again) on World of Warcraft for the SLSA annual conference. It was my second SLSA. I had a lot of fun and got to meet up with friends from past a SLSA.
     80. I also got to hang out with my friend Duncan, who drove up from Bar Harbor, who I hadn't seen in like a decade.
     81. While in Portland, ME I went to a gay bar (see the tradition is a good one), which I think is the oldest gay bar in Portland called Blackstones.
     82. I had my first ever Lobster Roll in Maine.
     83. I did sign up to do National Novel Writing Month but didn't write a single word. Too busy!
     84. I saw Beowulf in IMAX 3D at the Pacific Science Center. It was the first 3D movie I have ever seen. It was pretty amazing, actually, given that the film was digitally animated. It felt like being inside a video game.
     85. I spent Thanksgiving in Seattle. I went to my friend Jason's place with other 'holiday orphans'. I made the turkey; it was a gigantic 25.6 lb. monster that barely fit in my oven.
     86. I went to the final weekend of my favorite bars on Capitol Hill: The Pony, The Bus Stop, Manray, and even Kincora before they closed forever. They are slated for demolition to make room for condos. Now I don't know where I'm going to go.
     87. I went (window) shopping a lot. I think I must have gone to Target at least two dozen times over the year.
     88. I played in the snow when it actually snowed really hard and accumulated, which is rare for Seattle.
     89. I read The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman. It was the only non-Lists book I read this year.
     90. I also saw The Golden Compass movie, which I thought was really fun and faithful to the novel.
     91. I attended English Grad Pub regularly.
     92. I went to Neighbours pretty regularly, too.
     93. I played a lot of World of Warcraft (translation: I now have four level 70 characters, with one almost there).
     94. I went to my friend Caitlin and her boyfriend Justin's holiday party and served lots of delicious drinks as the impromptu bartender.
     95. I went to my friend Kate's holiday party and got roaringly drunk with one of her friends, Donna.
     96. I spent the holidays in Seattle. Alenda came up from SF for about five days. We just hung out, made dinner on Christmas Day with Jason, and relaxed. It was really good to see her (and her cat Nemo who came to stay with her).
     97. I checked and updated my Facebook a lot.
     98. I designed my next class, ENGL 242 E: Reading Fiction, called Reading Intersections: Literature as Worldmaking" for the Winter quarter.
     99. I set my date for my Ph.D. Exams for the end of January.
     100. I hung out with a few friends -- namely Jason and Lindsay -- on New Year's Eve at Murphy's and Changes. I got a hug from the really cute bartender Ducky at Murphy's. And I met a nice guy at Changes.
     101. I completed another year (again) single. Boo hoo.

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