It’s a special year-end Geek Out post. Rather than compiling specific movie, music, book or [insert topic here] list, I decided to do the top 10 from all aspects this year. Here we go…

1) My husband, Will: We celebrated 13 years together and 11 years of marriage in 2008 and it’s awesome (of course). Besides being just overall great, he helped me survive an intense six weeks of work this summer by being an absolute saint and doing whatever it took to keep me sane and grounded. He’s also been a constant support and inspiration in getting Neutral Zone completed (see item #3). I love him!

2) Discovering Provincetown: It was our first vacation since the Outgames trip to Montreal in July 2006. We needed to get out of NYC bad and this was the perfect destination. It was a wonderfully relaxing week. I had no idea that sitting on a balcony with your husband and looking out over the water could be so incredible. Plus we bought our first ever art work from a gallery, which we both just love.  Thanks to AJ for talking us into going on this trip.

3) [title of show]. I saw [tos] three times in it’s short three month Broadway run and it will stick with me forever. It’s the perfect little show about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical and it speaks brilliantly about the creative process. Songs like “Die Vampire, Die,” “A Way Back To Then” and “Nine People’s Favorite Thing” are simply amazing. We attended their closing performance in October and that was one of the most moving theatrical experiences I’ve ever had. Plus, I got to be in the “Nine People’s” video, so that was very cool too.

4) Finishing Neutral Zone: After a little more than two years of work, I declared Neutral Zone finished and it’s headed into the mail before the end of the month so it can be entered in a competition. It’s been tremendously rewarding to finish and I’m excited to see what 2009 will bring for this story. Now I need to figure out what the next writing project is.

5) Surviving Monopoly: In my 20+ years of working I’ve never done a project as large as Monopoly. I learned a ton and, while it had stressful times, it was an awesome project to be a part of. The rest of the work year was quite good too.

6) Hockey: It was a pretty good hockey year. I captained Purple Rain to a silver medal in the Chelsea Challenge. The Tigers got a silver medal in Division 8 for the winter season. I play on three teams pretty consistently and have a lot of fun doing it. Plus I got to play to support Hockey: The Musical, which meant a hockey road trip (and those just don’t happen enough). Meanwhile, in the pro division, Detroit won the Stanley Cup (and they’re starting of 2009 in a great way as part of the Winter Classic in Chicago)!

Purple Rain Silver Medal Picture

Rent Filmed Live on Broadway DVD7) Rent: I saw Rent from the final time on Broadway back in February, shortly after the closing notice was posted… and I got to do it from the front row (yes, I finally won in the ticket lottery). It was an incredible way to wrap up the Rent experience at the Neaderlander Theater. I also caught the final performance that was filmed to show in movie theaters, and that was a great experience too because it was captured so well. Luckily that performance is coming to DVD in early February.

8) Discovering Facebook: I didn’t get the attraction of Facebook until mid-year when a couple of friends urged me to create an account with more info (I’d had a bare-bones one do test an application we were building at work). Now I’ve reconnected with people from high school and from California. It’s pretty cool… and it gives you a whole new layer of insight into your friends.

9) Chelsea & Mark performing “Bleeding Love”: “Bleeding Love” became a pretty big hit this year and every time I hear it I remember this amazing number from So You Think You Can Dance. Chelsea and Mark pulled on my emotions with this great bit of choreography. Not even the two different performances on this fall’s Dancing with the Stars could erase the SYTYCD perfection.

10) Sex & The City: The Movie: The best time I had in the movie theater all year. I laughed a lot. I cried a lot. It was great to see Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha back in action and in such fine form. It was like they never left. A TV-to-movie transition is the runner up here too as Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom was also a wonderful film.