Borked my ignition

Hi all. I've gotten myself into a bit of a sticky situation and I'm hoping someone here can help me out of it. About a week back I noticed some white smoke out of my exhaust and after some reading decided to try a compression test to see if I had a leaking head gasket. I got the spark wires and plugs out when something else came up and I had to put the project on hold. It is my understanding that the compression test needs to be done warm, but the problem is that I've forgotten the order that the wires hooked up to the cylinders

I have a '68 with a 289, is it correct that the #1 cylinder is on the right bank closest to the radiator and the cylinders are numbered back along the bank from there? I also have an MSD ignition and distributor, if the #1 cylinder is hooked up to the terminal closest to my carb should the rest follow the firing order in a clockwise fashion? Is that order 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8?

I want to be sure I have this all down right, I imagine that firing cylinders off in the wrong order could be a very bad thing

Well I'm glad I asked, I thought that the #1 cylinder was on the driver's side! Thanks a lot for the welcome and help, but I have one more question. How do I turn the engine over while I have my finger over the spark plug hole? Do I connect the two sides of the starter solenoid?