My favorite photos of the year, from New Year's Eve in Brooklyn to the Digg holiday soiree in San Francisco:

NH
Originally uploaded by tjdee

The reunion could have been a disaster. My ridiculous decision to shave despite having forgotten shaving creme could have screwed me big time. If I had been the only guy to go the semi-casual route, I would've felt like a tool. Frenemies could have shown up with attitude, holding grudges. And while my friendship with Alli, the organizer, gave me access to the attendee list, anyone could have shown up at the last minute while I was manning the registration table.

But everything was pretty great. The open bar helped keep conversation loose, I think. Some last-minute attendees were welcome surprises. Sitting at the welcome table was more fun than awkward. Reconnecting with people I hadn't seen since high school and those I had lost touch with after a couple of years was equally cool.

Mad props to Alli for tracking down everyone and for some creative touches at the event: Attaching 10-year-old photos to balloons was genius. Playing Romy and Michelle at the welcome table was equally clever. And planning the next morning's brunch at the hotel was perfect.

Thankfully not everything was as perfect. There was just enough drama to keep things interesting - some vomiting at the afterparty, a single slightly scandalous hookup and some damage to the suite - but not enough to overshadow the focus of the event.

I still can't quite wrap my head around the idea that more than 10 years have passed since graduation. On my last night in NYC, Alli, Lauren and I stayed up 'til 3 a.m., in part because we popped in a DVD a classmate had passed along that surprisingly contained about an hour's worth of footage from our last day of high school. This guy, Paul, had taped everything, from the pledge of allegiance to my A.P. English class to lunch (where he asked people what they wanted to be doing in 10 years) to the crazy bomb scare we had that day (one of several fakies phoned in by a weirdo that nearly caused the cancellation of our ceremony) to senior choir members practicing our graduation song. It was pretty boring stuff, objectively, but utterly fascinating to us.

Now back to Facebook, with which I'm addicted all over again thanks to the reunion.

How do we learn? Sometimes, for me, acquiring a new Spanish word -- like, for realsies, not just for a fleeting moment -- requires the creation of a mnemonic device and other times it requires an embarrassing situation.

I just hadn't been able to keep the word(s) for "straw" in my brain until about a month ago, when I met Jesús at a taquería in downtown Oakland. I had finally remembered bombilla, but that's really just for drinking mate (so really only of use in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay). J reminded me that a common word in Mexico is popote (also used: pajita). That struck me as sounding pretty indigenous, sort of like the tongue-twister (and lip-bumper, I guess) street name we came across during our vacation in Mexico City: Popocatépetl (took me probably 5 tries to get it right). So I made myself a little sentence incorporating as many puh sounds as possible: Vamos a la calle Popocatépetl para comprar popotes para Penélope.

Speaking of streets, that's a simple word -- calle -- but I used to have a hard time remembering whether it was feminine or masculine (English is a harder language to learn than Spanish, but damn it, at least we don't have gender attached to nouns). I finally connected la to calle after listening to the Julieta Venegas song "Eres para mí." The lyric that made this click in my head is "la calle que canta su canto de diario," which also is full of alliteration.

As I mentioned earlier, embarrassment works, too. Almost exactly a year ago, within a half-hour of checking into my hostal in Madrid, I knocked a glass ashtray off a table in my room, causing it to shatter on the tile floor. Lots of glass everywhere. I had to tip-toe into the private area to ask the señora de la casa if she had a broom I could use to clean up the cenicero. I had to use my nerdy electronic dictionary to look up that word, but I haven't had to look it up since then. Watching a little old Spanish granny clean up your mess (hey, I offered but they shooed me away) will make a word stick.

It's hard not to focus too much on the impending 9-week trip to el D.F., but it helps that the next month and a half will be full of travel, work schedule-shifting and moving-related tasks. First up is a trip to NYC/NJ for Thanksgiving at my aunt's new place and my freaking high school reunion. A week from tomorrow, I will be back at the hotel that hosted my senior prom, living out a movie scene by greeting people at the registration table (only for 20 minutes or so, but still). Thank God for the open bar. I plan to be completely wasted an hour into this thing. A delight!

Summer/fall of 2001: Book it to the Bay Area. Summer/fall of 2003: Back to NJ. Summer/fall of 2005: Another cross-country move. Summer/fall of 2007 seemed to break the cycle, but a year later I was planning another escape of sorts. A mini-escape, but enough to shake things up and feed the wanderlust the seems to overtake me every couple of years.

Thanks to the relative location-independence of my specific job, I proposed (and was approved for) a 9-week stay in Mexico City, where I will take Spanish classes and work remotely, all in the cute, hip neighborhood (and, in fact, at the same lovely house) I stayed in during my 2007 visit. In the middle of the trip, Jesús will come down and we'll explore a beach town (Acapulco, most likely) and one or two of the colonial cities in Central Mexico (probably Guanajuato, possibly San Miguel de Allende). But the real purpose is just to keep working toward 100% fluency. And to be able to do that while still working for a rad company is a big win.

The trip will come in the beginning of February. There's plenty to do before then. I'm peacing out of my current place in Berkeley -- after three years !!! -- at the end of December, kickin' it in SF at J's (tiny) apartment for January, heading south until the second week of April and coming back here, where J and I will figure out what makes sense moving forward.

The trip is one of the reasons this blog still exists. Being in such an insane and exciting city for so long will, I'm sure, provide great blog fodder. And if not, read his stuff instead.

In the Minority

One of My Favorites
Originally uploaded by tjdee

From Sunday's Prop 8 protest at the Capitol Building in Sacramento.

As I walked around these days I decide which group each person passing me is in. It's a fun game.

Rev. Amos Brown
Originally uploaded by tjdee

My favorite moment from the No on Prop 8 event on Tuesday night. Rev. Amos Brown shares some powerful and colorful words about diversity. The "I'm gay and I'm gorgeous" is just cute and playful enough to maintain the impact of the rest of the statement. (He's not gay; watch the clip.)

Strong words from Mayor Gavin Newsom (also knows as Babycakes), as well: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjdegroat/3008036937/

Look, I didn't move my ass to California (twice!) because I wanted to take a trip back in time via a discriminatory state Constitution. I'm here because this state is progressive and trend-setting. Let's keep it that way. You can help by voting no on Prop. 8 if you live here or by sharing the videos below, which feature my hombre Jesús and which were passionately created by Matt and some other rockstars.



Check out the other spots:

Mentiras: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxmc5K6k5_E (Spanish)
Together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv6VujjWLoA
Juntos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz2C4HVUQtw (Spanish, featuring Jesús' giant cabezón at the end)

Ya Voté
Originally uploaded by tjdee

I'm not one of those hysterical foolios who threaten to leave the country if things don't go his or her way on Election Day, but I really don't know how optimistic I'll be about the future of this once-great nation if the GOP takes this thing next week. I mean, I'm a fairly negative person in the first place. But Obamania has hit me and, while I realize that the enormous challenges awaiting the next president will knock down most of the super-exciting plans Sen. Obama has enticed us enlightened ones with, I remain awfully impressed by him and hopeful about what he will be able to do in office, even early on.

This seems to be the most winnable election of the three presidential contests in my adulthood. But I'm still worried. I never, not even for a moment, thought Bush would take the White House in 2000. I thought his stolen four years in office -- during which he threw us into an illegal war, appointed evil friends to high-level positions and committed one forehead-slapping error after another -- would prevent another term. But somehow, despite having two qualified, interesting and, yes, exciting Democratic contenders (Dean was screwed unfairly by the media and Kerry was inaccurately branded boring, as if that mattered at all), here we are, anxiously anticipating the departure of one of the country's worst chief executives.

McCain has done everything wrong. Palin is a nightmare. Bush is an unpopular as ever. Yet the contest isn't a slam-dunk.

And let's not even start on Prop 8.

So, I don't know. I'm hopeful that Nov. 4 will be a joyful night. I really am. But I'm trying to remain rooted and cognizant of the potential for some disappointments. All I know is I did my part this afternoon, joining dozens of other early voters at the Alameda County Courthouse. And come Election Day, I hope to be able to shout "suck it" (via my TV screen) to the brainwashed McCain and the haters who have lied to and tricked Californians in an effort to discriminate via our state Constitution.

Vote! ¡Voten!

In the office on my day off, as is becoming the norm. This time it's because I need to exchange my borked work laptop for a loaner while my Macbook Pro's cracked screen is replaced. I'm telling you, that internal crack was one of the most gut-wrenching sounds I've ever heard.

Nothing like a countdown and a countback to get things started (again, again, again).

Let's see:

* About eight months since I started working at Digg
* Three years since my last day at DivInc's New Brunswick office, after which I started packing for the trip back to the Bay Area
* Just over a month until my high school reunion
* Three months or so until a new, temporary adventure begins (more soon)

That third item is nutty bonanza. I mean, really? Are you serious?

And that's about all I have to say about that.

(Another Blogger template, I'm afraid. And no archives for now. I'm thinking a rolling 25-post snapshot is the way to go.)

I Digg

Inc. Cover
Originally uploaded by Aprilini

I guess I work for the hottest small company in America.

I just can't get enough of this song or this video, which is kinda odd because I've known of this group for a while but, until now, had not liked their stuff at all. Anyway, here's "Hold Me Tight" from Marlango (which is fronted by the half Spanish and half English Leonor Watling, star of Almodóvar's"Talk to Her" and the super cute "A mi madre le gustan las mujeres").

California

Stretch
Originally uploaded by tjdee

It's nice.

My New Favorite Photo

TJ & Jesús...
Originally uploaded by lesbodojo

Kathleen captured a truly precious moment at Pop's.

Idea born three days before filming. A few people practiced for two hours on a Sunday. The rest of us showed up Monday for one hour, one practice run and just three takes. Not bad!


Digg Dubb: Groove Is In The Heart from Trammell on Vimeo.

Thanks, Lauren!

Thanks, Lauren!
Originally uploaded by tjdee

My baby girl, Lauren Pimples McDuffy, always knows just what I want for my birthday. Her inspired choice for teejaymas 2008 included an unauthorized biography of Zac Efron (alas, it doesn't out him) and the official High School Musical "Cologne Spray for Girls."

I'll skip the part where I lament about how old we're getting and just remind you all that she is six months older than I am. Enjoy these last few months before the panic sets in, homie!

Something I've learned both from my brief stint studying linguistics and anecdotally through friends is that, when it comes to raising kids in a bilingual household, it's very difficult to persuade children to actually speak the non-dominant language.

For example, if a household consists of a mom who is a native Spanish-speaker, a dad who is a native English-speaker and kids who are being raised to speak both - but who attend an English-language school in an English-speaking country - they will very often grow up understanding Spanish perfectly but speaking it like a second-language learner, as opposed to a bilingual person.

There's not much a kid can do to get his mom to stop speaking Spanish to him or her, but the kid certainly can refuse to reply in Spanish. It happens often and it makes sense. Even in this increasingly flat world in which mastering multiple languages is proving to be a necessity, it's dangerous for a kid to be marked as "other" by classmates. At first, the kids are fighting back against the parents in an effort to be seen as "normal," but later in life, when they realize that speaking Spanish or Mandarin or whatever fluently would be an enormous asset personally and professionally, it's sometimes too late to become 100 percent fluent. Or it's too frustrating. Think about the difference between making mistakes and being corrected as a little kid naturally developing language skills vs. being corrected by your LAME MOM as a know-it-all 18-year-old. It's super easy to decide to give up in the second scenario.

It's not impossible by any means to improve dramatically after the magical language-acquisition window of birth to 12 or 13 years old, but it requires effort, motivation and willingness to make mistakes. Just speak. Let mom correct you. Deal.

So ... why do I still respond to Jesús in English 75 percent of the time, even when I initiate conversations in Spanish?

Ugh.

(That said, my Spanish is probably better than ever. But - here we go again - I'll never be bilingual living outside of the Spanish-speaking world. And, no, California is not part of the mundo hispanoparlante.)

Littlest Cousin (For Now)

Widest-eyed at 9 months
Originally uploaded by Ella Laura & Derek's Pics

How ridiculous is this photo? I mean, seriously.

Now that I have iMovie again, I finally cobbled together the clips I took at a certain ROCK REBEL's concert in San Jose last November.

When my mom realized that my new job would require virtually no creative writing, she exclaimed, "Wow, you're really taking another step away from journalism and writing."

A little defensively, I noted that I would still be able to pursue freelance opportunities. Just last week I submitted another travel story to a major newspaper and I plan on making those submissions a more regular part of my work life.

But it's true: My day job no longer includes creative writing, journalism or even blogging, which is what I clung to while at GUBA. There, the daily blog entries not only were the most entertaining part of my day; they allowed me to continue to call myself a professional writer.

I will always consider myself a writer, but it will be more of a struggle as I've never been the most disciplined freelancer. But even if I come up with one article idea or travel essay a year, I'll continue to be part of media in this new position. Even as I take that next step away from traditional journalism I'm stepping further into the world of social media, which fascinates and excites me.

I love what Digg is doing to democratize media, taking power away from the one or two (often insane and/or unethical) editors who run magazines, newspapers and other media outlets. Digg puts the power in the hands of the users. They control whether a story and the conversation it provokes attains front-page status.

Also, there's a really nice kitchen full o' drinks and snacky snacks. Booya.