2008 Year in Review! (part one of two)

Well, good for me. I've managed to spit out a whopping six blog entries between the beginning of October and now. And three of those were videos and one was an entry saying that I wasn't gonna write anymore. Well done. But I'll make no apologies! It's time to move on. Time to tackle 2009. Time to look ahead! But before we look ahead...let's look back, shall we?

(side note: I realize the deadline for all 2008 recap lists/articles/blog entries passed about two weeks ago. Meh.)

January
The year got off to a promising start...

2008 should be a good one. I can't remember the last time I started the year with a job, a place to live and a girlfriend.

That was a hell of a start! And I was happy. I felt like I could look ahead instead of constantly looking back. I liked my job. I liked Houston. I was optimistic. I wrote that on January 2nd. Aaaaand that's about the time my year started careening downhill...

...things with the girlfriend have been weighing heavily on my mind as of late. I would say "we've hit a rough patch," but I know it's much more than that. We've gotten to where we're fighting a lot more, and I think all the uncertainty is beginning to pull us apart. She's not planning to move to Houston after she graduates, nor would I expect her to. So we're trying to figure out what the point of the whole thing is.

The irony, of course, is that she did move to Houston after she graduated, but by the time that happened, we'd been broken up for six months. That's not the important thing here. The important thing is that when I wrote this, I was about to enter into a world that I'd never experienced before -- the world of the heartbroken and rejected. I've already written about this at great length, and I really don't feel like rehashing it (especially since there are eleven more months to cover and, unfortunately, she'll be making a few more appearances), but I can tell you that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Although, there was a sick part of me that wanted to see what all the fuss was about. What was this feeling everyone always talked about? What was a broken heart, really? Wounded pride? Disappointment? How could this little feeling have produced thousands upon thousands of songs, poems, essays, books and overpass scribblings? Well. Be careful what you wish for.

Let's see, I also joined a gym in January and started my short-lived "healthy snack review" feature. I should start that again. Ah, and I did a wonderfully entertaining entry on the worst blockbusters of all time. (and yes, I linked to that posting only to get more mileage out of the fact that I spent somewhere between four and six hours on it)

February
February didn't offer much. I did a handful of mailblogs. I went to Galveston. Valentine's Day came and went pretty quietly. I did get very, very excited for the All-American Football League, due to the fact that a.) it was football in the spring, b.) there was a Team Texas, and c.) Team Texas was going to play their games at Rice Stadium, which is about a mile from my apartment. The league was supposed to launch in the spring of 2007. Then it was pushed back to 2008. Then, because most of the money used to fund the league was tied directly to (gulp!) subprime mortgages...they postponed it til spring 2009. I'm not holding my breath. Hell, even the Arena Football League has canceled their season and they've got a TV deal! It's not looking good.

March
At this point, I was settling into my heartbreak. It actually caused me to think of (and write!) an ill-conceived analogy involving Peruvian potato farmers...uhhh...right. Also, I began "dating" someone from my office. I don't think "dating" is the right word. Are you "dating" when your only interaction is sporadic email, getting drunk together and screwing? I say no. But! It was a good distraction.

Let's see, what else...I spent an ungodly number of hours researching and writing a posting on Bill Simmons. All of that time and effort resulted in three whole comments. Two weeks after that I wrote about Drank and a short film I saw on TCM starring a cast of dogs. That resulted in five comments. Sigh.

But! The major event of March had to have been South By Southwest. It was a drunken good time. And it really was a good time. The first night I maaaay have overindulged. But I saw a lot of my favorite people, a few bands and had an overall fantastic weekend. Speaking of which...

April
If you held a gun to my head and demanded I tell you anything about this past April...well, there'd be bits of Robert matter all over the wall. In fact...er...what the hell happened this past April?! Time to check the blerrrg!

Ah yes! Much as March was defined by the nuttiness that was SXSW, April was defined by the nuttiness that was the Crawfish Festival at West Alabama Ice House. What a day!

I also began playing with the idea of online dating, but was hesitant. Apprehensive. Scared of being paired with this woman again.
And then, of course, there was this.

May
Now May was an eventful month. I can tell you without even looking that it was May when Cory and I took our mid-week trip to San Antonio. That was a lot of fun. I need more Tuesdays like that.

May was also when I decided to finally sack up and give online dating a try. And, I gotta say, it was a good experience. It was a nice little microcosm of dating in general, I guess. The attention from cute girls was encouraging, the winks from not-so-cute girls was appreciated, but ultimately, ignored. I went on some dates. And...well...I guess I'm sorta still dating one of the girls I met on Match. Yes. It's true. I'm dating Sonia. Umm...more on that some other time.

June
Goodness, I was a dating machine in June! I went out with Penny, Gabby, Alyson and Sonia! When it rains, it pours! And it was pouring! (note to self: when they invent a time machine, set clock to June, 2008) I started the month having just gone to dinner with Penny (apparently I wasn't that into her), then ended the month having just gone out with Sonia for the third time.

I also went to my ten year high school reunion in June. That was a lot of fun. And I relayed the story of Christian the lion (incidentally, I've heard rumors of a movie. I hope this is true).

July
I saw Wall-e. Apparently that's all that happened to me in July. I also started referring to Donna as "D*nna." I stole that from someone, but I can't remember who. My god, I can't believe I've been stressed out about that girl for one year. ONE. YEAR.

August
I was dating Sonia in August as well. I know this because I wrote an entry about our Saturday afternoon spent getting drunk, eating THC pills and then wolfing down bacon candybars. That was a fun Saturday.

The Beijing Olympics happened in August, but I didn't write much about them. Umm...

I had to cancel a trip to New Orleans because of Hurricane Gustav, which ultimately caused little damage.

The truth is, I kinda love that city. I haven't been back since New Years. It'll be interesting to see how many memories come flooding back (poor choice of words?) and how much of it is tied to D*nna. So. It could be interesting. Ideally, my happy memories of the city will be tied simply to the city itself. And it really is an amazing place, between the French Quarter, the Marigny, St. Charles, the big houses, the sleepy pace...

(side note: the previous paragraph is only relevant because I'm going to New Orleans tomorrow. And yes, it's my first trip since last New Year's. How will I feel? Anxious? Excited? Sad? Drunk? Only one way to find out...)

Now then, the defining moment for me was easily my trip to New York. I saw friends. I made new ones. It was a lot of fun.

Well, I'd love to get to September-December because a lot of really interesting things happened during that time (Tech football, I became an uncle, Hurricane Ike), but I'm about five minutes from walking out the door and I won't be back til Tuesday. Thanks for checking in, it's good to be back!