It was a war year. What do you expect?

I’ll admit it. I hate that year end meme. I haven’t been reading any of yours. Sorry.

I mean, here we are, writing all year, and everyone is just filling in answers to the same questions no matter what they wrote about a lot of it in the past. So, instead of doing that, I’m just going to plain old recycle my old material.

Well, more or less. Honestly, it hasn’t been that great a year for me. So while I will go over some of the low points I’m going to include a lot of best moments so that I can remember some of the good stuff too. There’s some new things on this list, but mostly you can read me again for the very first time. I've broken things down into handy little categories.

The really bad

The Really Bad

Worst Pain: I thought this would be a one year category after all that dental work I did last year. Unfortunately this year I got a Repetitive Stress Injury through my wrist , forearm, elbow, and shoulder. Luckily not bad enough for a disability claim but it put a cramp into my cheese selling and my writing. I don’t know how you office workers do it.

Person I’ll Miss the Most Even Though I Hadn’t Seen Her in Over 10 Years: Rachael. One of the people who taught me things I needed to survive high school though I’m sure she never knew it. Ever have a premonition of disaster and have it come true? I knew she was somewhere close and probably needed help that I probably couldn’t give. I didn’t find her until the day of the funeral.

Worst Day: Happened very recently but, no offense, isn’t something I feel like sharing. My other worst day was obviously Rachael’s funeral. 4/23 entries. They’re worth reading but I’ll make you seek them out so I don’t depress you on purpose any more than I already have.

The amusingly bad

The Amusingly Bad

Most Annoying Trend: Raw foodies. Admit it people, it makes NO SENSE. And you look terrible. Well, I guess people will always find a way to individually sublimate the anxiety that capitalism provokes in all of us. Come the revolution we won’t need to graze on all fours like common beasts!

Worst Lapdog Journalism in Book Form: It didn’t come out this year, but I read it this year. Hugh Cornwell of the Stranglers explains what every song he ever recorded meant to him To quote Emilio Estevez in "Repo Man", "I can’t believe I used to like these guys."

Phrase That May Not Resonate with You, but Which Makes Me Want to Kill "If XXXXXX didn’t exist they’d have to invent it" It was the first sentence in a NY Times Book Review last week and I just snapped. How can they think that’s good writing? There is no interest, energy, or meaning left in that phrase and all it does is mark the writer/speaker as a lazy, predictible waste of time. Or a mass market thriller author.

Worst Slogan of the Year: Give Them Hope! Don’t Grope!" at SF Gay Pride. I had forgotten all about it until I re-read this entry. Unfortunately the original link is dead.

Personal Scapegoat of the Year: The Olympia Food Co-op. I just can’t help myself. Did I tell you that customers started a hunger strike when the workers tried to institute a new cash register system with scanners? "You can’t get scanners! The workers should all get carpal tunnel and be unable to control the inventory because we’re making a useless and idiotic statement against Something Really Evil!" I offered to send a co-op labor guard up from the Bay Area to help out with the situation but they declined. Yes, I’m exaggerating, but I already told you I can’t help myself.

The amusingly good (entertainment division)

Best Punk Show: Once again I prove that I’m too old to be trusted. The Mutants reunion. I hadn’t seen them in 15 years and they looked like social studies teachers but they were great.

Best Book I Read this Year for the First Time: Southland by Nina Revoyr. A mystery set in LA which touches on the Watts riots, forced relocation of Japanese Americans, Japanese-Black race relations, Los Angeles’s histories, myths and mysteries, and much more. I don’t know what to make of the main character’s lesbian relationships because they read as almost tacked on, but the rest of the book I loved.

Most Interesting Movie: Gallant Girls Finally a movie about ‘80s anarcha-feminists and of course it’s by the Germans. Not perfect by any means, but interesting and nostlgia-producing for some of us.

Album of the Year: Rockin’ out with the hip hop cop . It’s years old, but I finally found a copy after "Powder" became the official SFPD war-demonstration PR guy.

Overplayed Song of the Year: In Da Club by 50 Cent. My official favorite pop song of the year. In the tradition of "The Thong Song" and "Hott in Herre" it’s a slightly embarrassing song that I always love hearing. I love pop music even when it’s harmful. I’m sure that faggot line is actually a statement about 50 Cent’s inner turmoil over donning a hateful mask of masculinity in order to survive and prosper in this world.

The amusingly good (LJ division)

LiveJournalists I Met This Year: akki amarama beautifultoxin chitinous crepuscular danielray decadentscholar elusis felicks final_girl goodbadgirl jamie_miller jennizane jeremydotorg jette kest nadinelet ral reddawn slipkid slutbunwalla socialretard swaz vestalvixen voiceandsalt wookiepocket zenchump zilly. Of course, many of these people were just saying hello over the cheese.

Best Political Discussion on my LJ This year: The Weather Underground Documentry Revolutionaries or privileged, arrogant bastards?

The amusingly good (real life division)

Favorite Random Street Interaction: Face it. One of the best reasons to live in a city is because weirdness, hopefully the non-violent type, can happen while you’re just going on a simple errand. This year there was the The slightly creepy yet very familiar clown.

Proudest Moment for Being a San Franciscan, Runner Up: "Big Stinky" the whale washes ashore on Ocean Beach. When all is said and done, we’re a beach town.

Proudest Moment for Being a San Franciscan: Shutting down the city to protest the War . When war starts, this is the best place in the US to be.

Best Day: Hanging out with my best friends, drinking all day and seeing great bands I had a feeling it would be the best day as it was happening. And once again, a positive, happy post garners almost no comments.

The seriously good

Moment I was Proudest of a Friend/Unlikliest Humor Situation: You wouldn’t think that a hate crime trial would provide laughter, but it can. And this year the person who assaulted my friend might actually come to trial. By the way, if you want to debate the concept of hate crimes, visit Final Girl

Best Thing About LiveJournal: I don’t know how I keep managing to find so many smart journalers and good writers but somehow I do. Plus the ones I’ve actually met have been almost all wonderful. I’d like to thank you all for reading and for all the kind words you may have sent my way last year.

Thing I’m Most Thankful for: It would be tacky to do this at Thanksgiving so I’ll do it now. Thanks to all my friends who’ve helped me through things this year especially the rough patches. Many don’t have LJs, (or if they do they don’t update them) but anarqueso does so I’ll mention her. And special thanks to jactitation for the 16th year of being my best friend.