Having settled into a Florida beach life, I no longer wear tied shoes.

That means my insult ammo can be in hand and hurled at the insulter in about three seconds.

I’m thinking about my shoes because I’m thinking about 2008, reviewing the year, pondering the epic events and mini-moments, and wishing that The Shoe Incident had occurred in January 2008, not December 2008. It could have become the year’s big trend, bigger even than that call for change or the bashing of female candidates for high office because they wear pantsuits. I wish the shoes had flown earlier, much earlier.

Reviewing years so often results in lists of unfulfilled wishes, regrets, missed opportunities and bad news. I’m not a person who generally sees half-empty glasses, but I tend to become fonder of a year with the more years piled on.

In my recollection, 1976 was a fantastic year. So was 1992. And 1998 was pretty darn good.

Now, as I said, if The Shoe Incident had occurred in January and hurling shoes had become a trend, 2008 would have been a shoo-in for a fantastic year — lots of laughs to make up for any tears, etc.

But it didn’t.

So some time is needed to get some perspective on 2008, which certainly consisted of abundant conflict and contradiction, good news and bad news, advances and setbacks, thumbs up and thumbs down. Consider the headline GLBT stories:

In Brooklyn, N.Y., Jose Sucuzhanay and his brother were walking together in the Bushwick neighborhood Nov. 30 when a group shouting anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs attacked them. Sucuzhanay died.

In Denver, at the Democratic National Convention, a party platform was adopted pledging, “We will pursue a unified foreign and domestic policy that promotes civil rights and human rights, for women and minorities, at home and abroad. We will pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act” expanding protections and law enforcement efforts.

In Florida, a Miami judge ruled that the state’s anti-gay adoption law has “no rational basis” and ruled that a man who has since acted as a foster parent to two boys since 2004 can move forward with proceedings to adopt them.

And, in Florida, voters approved a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman and invalidate any other “legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof.”

In California, the state’s highest court ruled that banning gays and lesbians from marriage was unconstitutional.

And, in California, the state’s voters passed Proposition 8, amending their state constitution to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

The California anti-gay measure had staunch support from religious institutions, most prominently the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And, in California, the anti-gay measure had no apparent support from Fortune 500 companies.

In film, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to office in a major city, was remembered as very human, and very much a hero.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation to designate May 22 as Harvey Milk Day in the state.

Thumbs down, thumbs up; bad news, good news.

How, seriously, does one rate a year?

Reflect, wait, watch to see what impact the events of the past 12 months have in the years to come.

And, in the meantime, resolve to come up with something as comical as The Shoe Incident early in 2009 to set a big trend, guarantee some vintage laughs, and make for many happy returns.