Year in Review: 2018

2017, 2016, 2015 (limited-access appendix), 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007

1. What did you do in 2018 that you'd never done before?

I saw the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. (I pretty much always have Boston Symphony Orchestra tickets, but have been branching out to see other orchestras as well.) Ciro and I tried having a weekly date night, with indifferent results. A music video I made was discussed in the New York City gay press and was screened at a nighclub owned by Alan Cumming. I started a company in the UK (a film collective) and designed the logo for said company, DCI, which resembles the way film threads through a 35mm Panaflex camera.

I got a new tattoo, a large diagram of a Saturn V rocket, by artist Stephanie Sheu. I attended a high school reunion. I got a van. Apparently it has 9 gear speeds. Chris Blacker and I started work on a musical but haven't gotten very far. I discovered that someone has animated a section of my "Birthday Song." I had work of mine aired on public access television. I added privacy film to the upstairs bathroom window in an artistic and time-consuming way. I painted a mural on the kitchen wall. I went to t-ball games.

I went to several large protests. One of them was outside an ICE holding facility, and we held up notes for the people inside and they held up notes for us back. Ciro filmed it and his footage was on multiple local news stations. I was very active in registering people to vote and then getting out the vote. I joined Snapchat and Twitter. I installed a spice rack which cleared up a lot of counter space. Ciro bought a coffee maker for the bedroom so there is even more coffee around. Ciro and I stopped even trying to sleep in the same room because his insomnia has been profound and we are currently on very different sleep schedules.

Songs:
"Homosexual Art Attack," voice and synth which I'd categorize as dance/glam, which is the theme song for Romie and James Take a Walk in the Woods.

"Rubber Cement," a country duet about a trial separation
"Catbird Seat," a very short jazz riff with walking bass
"Pig that Flied," a nasal country earworm
all of these have been recorded but none of them have been mixed and therefore you can't hear them.

Shoots:
Romie and James Take a Walk in the Woods (feature, not yet edited), and an instructional video by my sister REL demonstrating how to assemble one of her paper sculptures

Nonfiction:
The 58 Most Worthless Coins in My Piggy Bank, Unranked, at The Billfold

I worked on a lot of scripts and a few short stories, but nothing that is finished or published. A poem was accepted for publication but hasn't run yet. There was a lot of turmoil in my personal life - and a lot of Strange Horizons editorial work. It didn't leave much space for creative work, or at least that's how it feels to me. Even though I did a lot this year, it's hard for me to see past all the stuff I wanted to finish and haven't. On top of that, a lot of the work I've done in the last three years has never seen the light of day because a collaborator or publishing agreement fell through or was delayed, which is frustrating in another way. Mixed up in all that is the stuff I haven't finished yet which is putting other people in the exact same situation.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Completed: finished the music video. attended the reunion.

Partial: read books in Italian but they were children's books. I did also watch The Dragon Prince in Italian instead of in English (no subtitles), and when Antonio's girlfriend (who does not speak English) came to visit, I was able to be somewhat friendly. Basically I don't think I'm improving but don't think I'm backsliding horribly.

Not at all: did not edit "Tick Toc Toe" and haven't even finished reviewing the footage. Did not touch the novel. Did not make any progress on making my office nicer, even though I live there now (it's where I sleep).

This year the things I care most about are finishing Tic Toc Toe and finishing several screenplays for DCI. I started a brokerage account at the start of 2019 and would like to build up enough investment income that I can start cutting back on my day job in another two to eight years.

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a note on the 20-year reunion

p.s. The high school reunion was fun in that I like those people and was glad to see them. However there were two conversations I wish hadn't happened but knew would happen.

One was "you look great now and who would have believed because you used to be overweight." Which I was not. I was 15 pounds heavier than now, at most. It's more like I was in costume. I deliberately wore baggy clothing because I did not want that kind of attention as a 15 year old. It is dumb it that worked so well or mattered to anybody.

Two was "aw you're so smart we figured you would have cured cancer by now, how disappointing." The amount of time I've spent in my life at art schools does not change everybody's hope that miraculously I will make a medical breakthrough. And I appreciate everyone's faith but this is not a thing I have ever pursued so please don't put that on me. I do culture. And nerdy-ass historical research. Put another way, I have never believed it is possible to escape death. All you can do is pass on what you know so someone else can continue the work.

I am also not at all confident I managed to convey to these people how much they have meant to me and influenced me all these years, in the best way. I'm better at these things in writing than in person.