The past ten years sure have been a decade of change in my life. In 2000 I found my first post-college job and moved across the country, from California to Washington, D.C. In 2001 I discovered the music of Rufus Wainwright and became a semi-groupie. In 2003 Thom and I first met. In 2006 we moved to my hometown just weeks before my father died. And this year Thom and I got married.

The other day I put together a “decade in pictures” slideshow, hastily assembled and thus imperfect, but evocative nonetheless. Enjoy.

Tonight we’re going to a small get-together to celebrate New Year’s with my family. Happy new year, and happy new decade!

That’s right, our honeymoon is upon us! Tomorrow we fly via Amsterdam to Venice, and the day after that we embark on a twelve-night cruise aboard the Grand Princess from Venice to Rome, stopping at the following ports and cities in Croatia, Greece, Turkey, and Italy: Dubrovnik, Corfu, Katakolon (Olympia), Athens (Piraeus), Mykonos, Kusadasi (Ephesus), Rhodes, Santorini, and Naples. We finish in Rome, where we’ll stay for a couple of days before heading back home. (Google map? You got it.)

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We’re totally excited, as you can imagine. I can’t wait to see so many things in person for the first time that I’ve only seen in pictures, like the Parthenon in Athens, the canals of Venice, and so on and so on. I’ll try to update now and then, but for now, γειά σου and ciao!

Here’s the song list, as printed in the program:

Quizás quizás quizás (Farrés)
Tempo Perdido (Alves)
Sympathique (Forbes / Lauderdale)
Ebben? No andro lontana (Catalani)
Uskudar (Traditional)
Adagio from Concerto in F (Gershwin)
Pièce en forme d’Habanera (Boléro) (Ravel / Leyden)
¿Dónde Estás, Yolanda? (Jimenez)
Malagueña (Lecuona)

Splendor in the Grass (Marashian / Lauderdale)
Andalucia (Lecuona)
Sway (Gimbel / Ruiz)
Autrefois (Forbes / Lauderdale)
Praeludium and Allegro (Kreisler / Taylor)
The Flying Squirrel (Taylor / Lauderdale)
Amado Mio (Fisher / Roberts)
Il fox trot delle gigolettes (Lehár)
Carioca (Youmans / Eliscu / Kahn)
Aspettami (Forbes / Lauderdale)

For the encores, they did “What’ll I Do?” (Berlin) and “Brazil” (Barroso), and we joined in the conga line that went around the hall, led by bandleader Thomas Lauderdale. Fun!

After the concert, Thom and I went to Absinthe for a late dinner, and who should we see at the table across from us but Cloris Leachman! Apparently she was in town for the Pride parade the next day, in which she was one of the grand marshalls. (Here is Thom’s dark and surreptitious photo from over his shoulder.) On our way out Thom said hello to her as we passed her table, which turned into a conversation about the food, and then her manager (whom we later found out is one of her sons, I think?) started asking us what the local buzz was, if any, surrounding Cloris and her participation in Pride, so suddenly we were the voice of the LGBT community, heh.

And as we left the restaurant, we ran into Thomas Lauderdale, who was on his way in. I guess it was the place to be after the show.

By the way, Pink Martini will be back in the Bay Area later this year (tour schedule): Santa Rosa on October 1, and Mountain Winery on October 2.

In the evening all of us, minus Odie, went to nearby Martinez to watch the fireworks at the waterfront. Here’s a short video I took of the very end of the show; don’t mind my addition of some stock iMovie music (the clip is called “Vintage News,” as in old newsreels, but it also reminds me of Wallace & Gromit):

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

It was my second time to the new Academy, but my first time in the planetarium. That show (narrated by Sigourney Weaver), which takes you on a short trip through the universe, is pretty amazing. Stuff like that reminds you how vast space is and how small we are. After that we saw a special movie/performance piece called Bella Gaia, which focuses on the Earth, mixing satellite images and data visualizations with the words of International Space Station astronauts. The director was there to present the film; he is also a violinist, and he played violin during the movie as part of the score.

(South Park viewers will be pleased to know that I pronounce it planet arium. Thom and I always crack up at this clip, below. “And these two little stars over here form the constellation The Crusades.” Hahaha.)

Afterward, we wandered the museum and spent the rest of the evening at the aquarium exhibits. It’s a fun vibe at Nightlife. (And you save a lot over the regular daytime admission, which is always nice!)

And now a blast from the past. Here’s a photo of me with my paternal grandparents, taken in March 1980 when I was almost three years old, in front of the old Academy of Sciences building. The only things I remember about the old Academy are the circular fish tank and the giant Foucault pendulum. And did they have an earthquake simulator or was that at the Exploratorium?

Aww.

Here you go: wedding progress at thomandjeff.com.

Thom and I lived off Columbia Pike, so our closest Metro station was Pentagon City, but I totally remember all those places in Clarendon (“Clizzle dizzle”?) and Ballston. Funny stuff.

Speaking of Arlington, a few months ago a Flickr photo of mine (of an “I Voted in Arlington” sticker, from about four years ago) was used as part of the cover of this year’s Arlington County Profile, an annual publication of the county planning department. A staff demographer had contacted me about using the photo, and I said sure. She recently sent me a copy in the mail (PDF available). Neat!

Also I totally love the look, especially since several scenes blended two things I love, mid-century style and travel. You have to go see it!

One more thing: Doesn’t this movie just beg for a Disneyland ride? Or retool and re-theme Soarin’ over California into something like Mr. Fredricksen’s Aerial Adventure?

Here’s the set list from the concert, in order:

Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor
Hurt Feelings
Stana
The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)
Robots
Jenny
I Told You I Was Freekie
I’m Not Crying
Mutha’uckas
Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros
Foux du Fafa
Bowie
Sugalumps
Tour Guide
Business Time

“We’re Both in Love with a Sexy Lady” goes in there somewhere, but I forget exactly where. I was taking notes on my phone and was probably overtaken by the aforementioned hilarity.

See also the Bay Guardian music blog for some photos.

The court saw Prop 8 as merely withholding the designation of marriage from same-sex couples and leaving the substantive rights intact in the form of domestic partnership, and the majority felt that doing so neither threatens equal protection nor rises to the level of a constitutional revision, which requires a higher threshold to enact than an amendment.

Only Justice Carlos R. Moreno, the lone dissenter, seems to get what our side has been saying all along:

In my view, the aim of Proposition 8 and all similar initiative measures that seek to alter the California Constitution to deny a fundamental right to a group that has historically been subject to discrimination on the basis of a suspect classification, violates the essence of the equal protection clause of the California Constitution and fundamentally alters its scope and meaning. Such a change cannot be accomplished through the initiative process by a simple amendment to our Constitution enacted by a bare majority of the voters; it must be accomplished, if at all, by a constitutional revision to modify the equal protection clause to protect some, rather than all, similarly situated persons.

So what are the silver linings? First, that the approximately 18,000 same-sex marriages performed last year are recognized. Second, that a movement is afoot to educate and persuade the public, and bring marriage equality back to the ballot. The tide has turned; time and momentum are on our side. And third, that domestic partnership, while not at risk during this case, still exists. Yes, it is a “separate but equal” institution — it’s impossible to imbue the status of domestic partnership with the aura of marriage — but it’s an important part of California family law.

Thom and I became registered domestic partners on February 13, 2009, and have been planning a wedding ceremony for this September, which from the outset we said we would have regardless of the Prop 8 decision. Prop 8 does not diminish the personal meaning of our relationship. Regardless of what the state recognizes, we will do what countless other couples, gay and straight, have done: stand before our community of family and friends, and pledge our life and love to each other.