2008

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From http://ridavio.com/ Finally! The year in pictures for 2008 is finished. Did you make the cut? You'll have to watch to find out. Similar to last year, the passing of the seasons is defined by trips upstate to the Catskills and bike rides through Central Park and down the Hudson River. There was more filmracing and I was lucky to see my family several times: Mom's spring visit, 4th of July with both parents hosted by Barbara in Ocean Grove, the Davis family reunion in KC, the Chavarria family reunion in Saltillo and my brother's big birthday in Gig Harbor. While there was little international travel this year, a spring project took me to the far reaches of New York including little Russia in Brighton Beach, little India in Jackson Heights, Chinatown in Flushing and more. My work for the Center still figures prominently, after four years working under contract I was officially hired this year. The Center celebrated it's 25th anniversary and the highlight of that was marching at the front of the Pride parade. When you see beach it's probably Fire Island (if it's not the Jersey Shore) - I made it out three times this year. I finally made it to PS1 for the first time and the car free Saturdays on Park Avenue in August were lovely. You see lots of old friends and a few new ones and a couple of long lost ones. But the fondest goodbye was Florent, a restaurant that closed this year, and not after countless Saturday brunches. The trip upstate that is not in New York is New Hampshire on Labor Day thanks to Chris. And then there were the elections, the hard fought struggle, the unbelievable elation and the bittersweet aftermath with the outcome of Prop 8. Thanks to Basil, David and Andrea for their music suggestions and contributions. Once again I'm including Santa Baby as sung by Eartha in honor of her recent passing. Over 12,300 photos taken this year were edited to around 1,800, of which probably around 1,500 made the cut. It didn't help that I resolved to post a photo a day to my blog on my birthday this year. As this year draws to a close my thoughts go out to those who have experienced the downside of the current economic situation first hand. Let's hope for a better 2009 with more enlightened leadership and some real gains in equal rights for all of us.