Best of 2008
Posted on: January 1, 2009 - 12:43am
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Best of 2008
For anyone who cares to reminisce a little:
What was most favorite moment of 2008? Big or small; what event of the past year made you the happiest?
I'm claiming the results of the American election as mine (paws off, ya buggers! 
) - not merely because Obama was elected, but because McCain/Palin were so savagely destroyed in the polls. I felt it was an excellent demonstration that, at the very least, people weren't as grotesquely giddy for Armageddon as I'd once feared.
Needless to say, this made me quite happy for quite a little while. 
Quote:
"Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full."
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
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Well, I'm happy that Obama won, merely from the perspective of this moment; but I'm not going to go as far as to claim that it will always be my favorite moment of 2008. Although I did vote for him and root for him enthusiastically, it's always possible that he could turn out to disappoint me, in which case his election would become, in retrospect, from the perspective of some future moment, my least favorite thing about 2008. But I would definitely classify it as the most MEMORABLE thing of 2008.
But since that's kind of a canned response that literally over half the country could say, let's try a different one:
My personal most memorable thing of 2008 was that for the first time I ventured meeting someone from the internet for romantic reasons and had the first date that ever required me to fly across the entire country. Even though I called it off a few months later, it was exciting and fun and sexy, and even though I don't have an internet success story to share, I now totally endorse internet success stories and don't understand why some people scoff about them so much. (Maybe just old people?)
Funniest/weirdest/most annoying thing about 2008?
Rickrolling!
Rick Astley himself rickrolls Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL-hNMJvcyI
xkcd does hilarious, speculative comic about rick-rolling: http://xkcd.com/524/
(I know, I know. You're afraid one of the links is a rickroll. I give you my word as a heathen that I'm not trying to rickroll you.)
A place common to all will be maintained by none. A religion common to all is perhaps not much different.
My most memorable moment of 2008, was sitting down at my favorite bar/restaurant after work on Friday May 30, Balada on Dundas near Dixie; all the regulars took turns buying me a drink. I easily had 20 glasses of red wine (my favorite) and a large plate of food without paying a cent. They had to help me into the car when dad in-law came to get me. That was no easy task since at 6'2" 240 lbs I'm not small.
The occassion; after 32 years with the same company I had finnished my last day of work. Not my retirement, the factory was closed down and the machinery was shipped off to China & Pennsylvania of all places. 200 people were out of work but I don't think any of them got the impromtu party I got.
I'm often reminded by the regulars that "I'm a bum, 'cause I can't keep a steady job for more then 32 years ata time. "
"Very funny Scotty; now beam down our clothes."
VEGETARIAN: Ancient Hindu word for "lousy hunter"
If man was formed from dirt, why is there still dirt?
My most memorable moment of 2008 is getting of the train in Toronto on February 1, embracing my partner and realizing that this is the rest of my life and I'm happier about that than I can describe in words.
BigUniverse wrote,
"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."
In the broad scheme, I can't underestimate how big a deal it was to me that Obama got elected. I've probably mentioned it before, but I don't think he's the savior of America or anything. He's going to bow to centrist pressure and be what would have been a good conservative a half century ago, but I really was shitting my pants trying to figure out how I'd get permanent residence in another country if McCain/Palin won. This buys me at least four years before I have to seriously consider that again.
It may seem trite, but I do gauge the passing of years by sports, and this one was memorable. I love watching history, good and bad, and Detroit's 0-16 season made my eyes sparkle just a little. Notre Dame and Michigan having shitty seasons at the same time -- I almost cried with joy. Philly and Tampa Bay was officially the most boring World Series in history (according to Nielson) and I think we'll look back on this year as the first death knoll of baseball, for better or worse. (I think worse, because I love baseball.) Brett Favre left the Packers, and then led the Jets to a total implosian, while Matt Ryan looked like the second coming of... well... Atlanta's never had anybody like him, and he's had one of the best rookie seasons ever, helping us southerners to forget about Vick and all that nastiness.
Personally, this has been a remarkably shitty year for reasons I won't go into in public, and in all honesty, I'm glad to see it over. One of the things that made me happiest this year happened earlier this week, when I threw a dinner party for my best friends, got good and drunk, and played jazz until the wee hours of the morning. Despite having a very bad year, I still have friends, good food, good booze, and was smiling as the year passed into history.
That's saying a lot.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
Katy Perry - Encouraging recreational lesbianism, being as hot as Zooey Deschanel, and having terrific lyrics on her whole album.
Bill O'Reilly's "Fuck it. We'll do it live." 2008 catch-phrase at my workplace.
Watching capitalism implode from its own excess. Madoff, TARP, merger tax breaks, $4.00+ gas on speculation. 1/2 of $700,000,000,000.00 US down the toilet(the equivalent price of 109 Large Hadron Colliders). Ending the year with people declaring that a low oil price is destroying the economy and we should TAX people for driving too much???!!!
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