Goodbye, Infinity

I mentally classify years in much the same way that my friends had taken to classifying Balticons: “The Year of Drama” “The Year of Hunger” etc. This year does not get a nice classification, I can tell you that. It started poorly (literally an hour after the year began, it already started to suck) and mostly stayed fairly cruddy.

Here are some good things that happened this year, though:

• I traveled frequently. February was the D&D Experience, which was my first taste of 4e, and also what really catapulted Critical Hits to its currents heights (and sustained thanks to Danny any my other writers putting out great content). March was a trip to Florida to attend a wedding with Melinda (chronicled by me in nerdish fashion, but also in photographs). April was the annual Gathering trip to Columbus, which I have considerably mixed feelings about in retrospect. May was Balticon, which was somewhat subdued and involved very little of the convention itself, but I did enjoy a bunch of games of Tales of the Arabian Nights. June was Origins which allowed me to see (and play D&D with) college friends I hadn’t seen in a while, though like much of this year, I found myself embroiled in Edition War. July was 48 Hour Film Project, which even though we came in 20 minutes over deadline, I still consider a success thanks to the quality of the end product. August was GenCon, which was great for meeting new friends (who I had only emailed or message before), not so great for sleeping, spending, or actually playing games. Even though I was somewhat down on GenCon thanks to previous experiences, it might have been my favorite convention this year (with Origins also being in contention). September was Baltimore Comic-Con, a decidedly “meh” experience- I missed a few of the creators I wanted to meet, though getting to meet Darwyn Cooke was a huge plus for me. October and November featured no trips or cons, which is fortunate (as you’ll see), and for December, I leave for Miami (Florida, not University for once) in a few hours.
• My Spring ‘08 semester featured Magazine Writing, a useful and fun class with an awesome professor. Most likely, my writing portfolio will contain more pieces from this class than any other class. It also sits as my favorite class from my time in the Publications Design program.
• At the beginning of the year, I left Fedex Kinko’s (which is no longer named that) to start my new job, which I quite enjoy. Obviously, it also pays a lot better than my old job. My friend Kristin was instrumental in helping me get the job, and I can’t thank her enough.
• I was (twice) cleared of having cancer and instead just have very annoying medical issues.
• Get Bit! was positively reviewed by Tom Vasel and Scott Nicholson, two reviewers I respect very highly. The game breached the top 2000 for a time on Boardgamegeek, and currently sits just outside 2000.
• I, with lots of help, launched the RPG Bloggers Network. Though it’s had some serious hiccups at various times, I’m very happy on all the praise it’s gotten, and looking forward to making it better and better in the new year.
• I concluded my 3.5 game mostly successfully (final battle was something of a trainwreck, but it also made me swear off 3.5) and launched my 4e game which has been chugging along since June, with no end in sight.
• TV was really excellent this year. Both the stuff that I made an effort to watch new every week and the stuff that I finally got to see after being told how good it was. Off the top of my head: House, The Office, 30 Rock, Pushing Daisies, Journeyman, Chuck, Life on Mars, some of Battlestar Galatcia, some of Heroes.
• Two TMBG shows in one year, both awesome! Jacksonville, Florida show featured new stuff and old favorite I had never seen performed live, DC Flood show was Flood!
• With my income up, I bought a lot of stuff. Seriously, I had gone a long time scraping by with whatever clothes I needed and whatever equipment was absolutely necessary (plus a dedicated entertainment budget). Even as I try not to be someone driven by money, it’s very nice to not have to stress out about every single medication I buy.

Bad things of 2008 will not be posted, both in accordance with my golden rule of blogging and because I snuck some complaints into my best of.

Other miscellaneous year-end wrap-ups:

You can check out my music charts for the year if you’re interested in what/who I was listening to this year. Short answer: Vampire Weekend is the best new band I’ve heard in a long time and an instant favorite. Runner-up: I’m sad Self isn’t around anymore but glad they finally re-launched their site that allowed me to legally download much of their work. Honorable Mention: Postal Service needs to come out with another album. (I’ll be compiling a “Dave’s Best of 2008″ mix CD, which I’ll post the contents of when I’m done).

Favorite games of the year are mostly pretty obvious: D&D 4e, Dominion, Rock Band 1/2. Secret Project EMR-35 of Andy’s saw a lot of play, and will almost certainly enter my top 10 games when it’s finally released. And Werewolf has seen something of a renaissance lately, for reasons that I hope to disclose publicly soon.

This year also sees me growing increasingly dissatisfied with my Centro and Palm OS, and increasingly jealous of the iPhone. Yet, I cannot logically switch yet. Dammit.

I think that’s all I want to commit to the Internet’s collective memory about this year. Catch everyone in the far flung future of Twenty Oh Nine…