2008. I don't even know where to begin. This has been a really challenging year. A year with great highs and lows and a year where I learned a lot, maybe I learned more than I would have liked too. At least that's what originally thought. Then I realized that I need to keep learning because to learn is to grow. I was also reminded that learning can be painful. I learned that these learning and growing pains are essential. Without the growing pains I /we would only wither away to stagnation, dust and bones.

As 2007 came to an end I never thought that 2008 would be so challenging.

Last year I wrote a year end review that was certainly heartfelt and true but it was also written in a tongue and cheek manner.

This year I will take a different approach. As always I'll break it down into categories.

Myself and slave barb:

Another year together. I think it's our twenty seventh year together. It has been another year of making mistakes, learning and getting better. Yeah, I'm a Master but Master doesn't mean perfection. Master just means that I have learned valuable lessons and I do my best to not make the same mistake twice.

Myself and slave barb are strong and as always I'm grateful that she's in my life and that she continues to teach me things day in and day out.

She's also an incredible fighter and I get incredible inspiration from her everyday. I really learned that in 2008.

And then there were three HSL +1 = The slave paul Era

I really wasn't expecting or actively looking for additional household members but none the less I got one. It's been said that good things happen when you are not looking.

In 2008, slave paul requested to be my slave. Slave paul is a pleasure to have in the household. It's a bummer that he lives in the state of Eskimo, I mean Maine but we still find ways to make the relationship work. Most important, we find ways to learn from each other and that totally rocks.

Leather:

This was a very interesting year in Leather. We had some amazing highs. SWLC and fully participating in the Dance Of Souls was a life changing experience. That was something that I will never forget. I made connections in ways that I was not able to before. I got to feel spirit and spirituality. All that and a leather event too.? Woof! SPLF was everything I ever imagined and more. Myself and slave barb really wanted to make a lasting impact during our step down speeches. I think we did that. We worked hard on our speeches and we both rocked our speeches. Everything was very on and I think we were able to add something to the event that only myself and slave barb can. Don't take that the wrong way. Everyone has the ability to bring something special to the table. We were able to take our brand of special to Texas and and we were able to rock it. Other highlights in leather would be our trip to San Diego, Our trip to CT, The M/s Conference, SELF and a very sex filled Tes Fest!

The interesting thing is what happened after Tes Fest. After Tes Fest came Floating World. At Floating World we did our last three presentations of the year. That was in August. Our last presentation was Sunday at 10:00 at night to a packed house and it rocked. I felt very sad after that presentation because I knew that was it for the year. But I also knew that after three years on the road it was time to rest and rest we did. Myself and slave barb have not done a presentation since August 08. We had a chance to really re-charge our batteries and think about what our next step is.

2008 was also the year that I decided to step down from being the Director of MAsT Metro. It's time for a change. It was sad but I'm glad that I did it. Leather was certainly interesting this year but the rest has done me good. I'm very ready to write new presentations and get back on the leather stick in 2009.

BONUS: As I mentioned earlier, I got another slave. Welcome to the household slave paul!

Politics and the World – I don't know where to start. Politics took center stage. Whether it was the Olympics in China or a monumental presidential election. It was a nail biting election that really showed that we are a country divided. We are divided by race and we are really divided by red states and blue states. If you ask me that is all pretty sad but it is what it is. The Iraq war rages on, the stock market crashed more than twice. America is collectively counting all their pennies, home foreclosures are at an all time high and unemployment is going up up and up and inside all that we as Americans managed to do something I never thought would happen. We elected a black man named Barak Obama to the White House. Maybe in the next eight years America can catch up and actually have policies that are not designed to make the rich richer and poor go to war. There's hope in 2009 and that goes a long way.

Finances – The country is broke and I'm feeling it too. Americans are not spending and neither am I. There were some months that I wasn't sure how I was going to pay certain bills. Each month I made it and I made it clean. I just needed to look at my finances in new ways. The good thing is that I learned a lot and I have a new financial plan in 2009. The bad thing is I will owe taxes because I had to spend $6000.00 to get my water main repaired. I think I have as much money to my name that I had when I was in 6^th grade. By the way, $4.00 per gallon gas prices make it hard to keep your budget place.

Of course getting my wallet stolen from the gym in May was no picnic and then after that was all settled and I had all new credit card numbers someone hacked into one of my credit cards in Sept. Ah, that was no picnic either.

Career - All was copesetic at work. I went from January to August doing my thing, fighting my battles and making my mark. Then in mid August a new posting went up. I was scared as hell to go for it but I knew it was made for me. I knew it was something that I could excel at. The position was to be in charge of safety. I went for it and with six other people that applied I came out on top and this new job changed my life. I'm treated like management and I owe the world to my new boss. I'm more relaxed but I'm working harder and I'm more focused than ever. I think I'm succeeding. I even got a nice raise too. I worked many years to get to this point and I did it. I DID IT! I'm proud of myself!

Weight Lifting – Everyone knows I love to weight lift. To make things uneasy my gym closed and I had to change gyms. This was not an easy transition but somehow I have come out on top. The change made me become more focused and dedicated. I think a lot of that has to do with the new gym. I have gotten way stronger, more cut and bigger. I no longer consider myself a guy that loves to lift weights, I consider myself a body builder. Do I compete? No. Do I diet like a Pro Body Builder? No. But I tackle the weights like a body builder and this new focus is a great thing for me. It's been a great year at the gym.

Music – I must admit that music was better this year than in many previous years. The draw back is that there's is not a lot of new blood. I'm thankful for the old men of rock ( and women too) are getting back together ( or getting better press) and getting busy to show the soft generation how to rock like fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There really is a difference in the generations. The soft generation is just that, soft, lost, distant, unoriginal and uninspired. The previous generations of rock screamed I WANNA ROCK and they showed that they never really stopped. They also showed that they are harder and stronger than their young soft musical counterparts.

MOTORHEAD

BLACK SABBATH

OZZY

KINGS X

EXTREME

MANOWAR

MONSTER MAGNET

TWISTED SISTER

THE SUPERSUCKERS

CLUTCH

AC/DC

MOTLEY CRUE

NY DOLLS

KID ROCK

FILTER

TYPE O NEGATIVE

METALLICA

GUNS AND AXEL ROSES

WARRIOR SOUL

THE WILDHEARTS

Thank you for kicking the soft generation in the ass in 2008.

Love and Politics – Two steps forward, three steps back. It's a rough road. A few states have started to embrace civil unions and a state even embraced gay marriage. Some states understand that love deserves to be celebrated. Love is not limited to a man and a women. Love is expansive and should be forever growing. Love is for all people and love is genderless. Not to mention the more love there is to celebrate the more money there is to be had. It's a win win situation. Unfortunately bible thumping, narrow minded haters seem to think differently and they get their way. The squeaky wheel seems to spew the most crap and when you wrap your narrow mind in three letters that spell God then then your hate becomes justified. And so we have Prop 8. A bill to turn over the right for same sex marriage. Prop 8 was the low point of the election. Prop 8 was another low point for our great country. There is a glimmer of hope. A large percentage of people that voted in favor of prop 8 now regret it. They realize that they were tricked into believing lies by haters with no scruples or real love in their little evil hearts. If Prop 8 was voted on today it would not pass. There is hope

Speaking of hope, after a roller coaster ride in 2008 the only thing we collectively have in 2009 is hope.

Hope for love for all

Hope for prosperity

Hope for economic stabilization

Hope for health care

Hope for our troops

Hope for our households

Hope to restore pride

Hope for America's Auto industry

Hope for music

Hope for all people

Hope for our banking system

Hope for a greener world

Hope for Americas infrastructure

Hope in the name of Obama

Hope for all in this world

Hope for you and me

HOPE