Annual Life Tally: 2012
My yearly list of what's gone and what's to come (2011's, for reference.)
Career:
-Did a short stint with an offshoot of my old department, only to discover that the job sucked ass, and I was getting seriously burned out on the place and what I've been doing there. Got tired of being a button monkey, and only doing occasional original writing, plus I started feeling skeevy with some of the celeb-hounding focus of one of the other teams, and decided: I'm done. If I have to, I can try to get work there again--though likely with a different department entirely--but for now, I think my days of contract content management are done.
-Instead, I decided to dive headfirst into this novel-writing thing. I got two into more or less publishable condition, and did a rough draft on a third. The first will be out early in the new year (watch this space) as a self-pubbed venture. The second I'm shopping around to agents. Not sure if anything will come of this, but I hope so. I really like setting my own pace and being able to make stuff with my brain.
Family:
-Celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary, and got some spiffy new rings for it. We'd bought some frankly cheap gold/diamond bands when we first got hitched, but we never really wore them because they were irritating our fingers, thanks to a ridge inside the band. So we went a different direction this time and got some very pretty dark tungsten carbide ones instead.
-Did the first half of the adoption process! We're now just waiting to be chosen by birthparents. Which could happen tomorrow or a year from now.
-Said goodbye to the last of our "first generation" of kitties: dear Penny, whom we'd had since she was nine weeks old. We're down to just the two, now: Otter and Khaleesi, who unfortunately don't get along because he thinks she's prey. Sigh ...
-Had another row with my parents, but this one resolved itself fairly well. I think we may finally be at a workable detente.
-Got back in touch with my sister, which is truly strange, but in a great way.
-Got a new nephew--M's sister's second kid--and finally met the kids and her husband. Wasn't actually a horrible experience.
-Found out my childhood BFF K is about to become a grandmother, which makes me feel horribly old. It's impossible that a kid whose diapers I changed is soon going to be bearing a baby of her own. Weird. WEIRD.
-Semi-related: got back in touch with the little one I spent so much time with when she was a baby and she and her parents were living with us. She's 13 now. Whoa. But she's a little spitfire, and though I know it's not really possible, I do like to think I contributed to that in some way. ;)
Friends:
-Threw a couple of spiffy parties and attended some as well. Really started feeling like we're finally back in the swing of things with the old gang. We'd been out of regular in-person contact for so long that we really were just on the fringe of it for a long time, and that made things difficult. But I think we're finally re-bonded with most folks, now. And that feels really wonderful.
-Part of this was a chorus-reunion party I threw in November. It wasn't quite the singing party I'd hoped, as we were all very rusty on the old songs, but I think I may do another one of these next summer and do some better advance prep this time--choosing music, etc. It was a blast to see some folks I'd not seen in easily 10 years.
-Still had some lovely time with my fandom peeps, including meeting a couple I'd not yet met before. Have been too sick/buried in publishing prep in recent weeks to keep up properly, but once that's finally over, I'll be back in the swing of things.
Domestic:
-Consolidated the guest room and my office, to free up a room for the impending baby invasion. Painted that room--nice, bright colors--and bought a crapload of baby gear to have on hand in case we get a last-minute placement. The room feels terribly empty right now, but eventually it'll be messy and smell like baby ass. Whee!
-Grew my first-ever proper kitchen garden--but in containers this time. Most of it turned out pretty well, IMHO. Still can't grow cucurbits well, but my tomato plants kind of blew up and ate everything else, which is cool. Also had some high-producing strawberry plants, and even managed to grow a couple of small artichokes and a single Meyer lemon.
-Also spent a lot of time watching the birdies again, and buying a bunch of new feeders for them. Saw a few new types I'd not seen before: varied thrush, red-breasted nuthatch and downy-headed woodpecker, among others.
Travel:
-Blew pretty much all the money I'd made at the job on going back to London for 10 days. Finally got to meet some of my actor lovelies that way, at a con and a live show a couple of them were doing. Also got to get a lot more in-depth with the city than we'd done the first whirlwind tour, and went down to Brighton for a day, too.
-That was basically it for travel, though, and likely will be our last elaborate trip for a while. We'll still do some shorter-range trips, but nothing we can't easily abandon to fly back home if we need to for the adoption. So, Hawaii, Mexico, Cali, etc. Maybe East Coast of some sort. But nothing transoceanic until the kid is grown up enough for such travel.
Misc.
-Got into a few new shows, including the spinoff from my beloved Primeval. Met one of the dudes from Game of Thrones, who was a complete puppy.
-Had some fairly major oral surgery: got a tooth yanked and then a bone graft, in prep for an eventual implant. Currently have a big empty spot where a molar should be, and it feels really odd.
-Wasted six weeks (and counting) being very sick with several different problems, the latest of which is a rather alarming bout of major and painful muscle inflammation with (as yet) no known cause. Whee. Honestly, if I had to boil this year down to five things, it'd be health crap, adoption paperwork, London, writing and playing stupid games on my phone.
Career:
-Sell some books. Maybe write another one or two. That's pretty much my entire career path in a nutshell at this point. I might do a little freelance editing on the side, and I have a Zazzle store that's made a few sales of some graphics I designed, but beyond that, my world is going to be about telling stories for the forseeable future. Much as I'd like to contribute to the ethical revolution that journalism so desperately needs, there are really no opportunities for me to do so without my head exploding.
Family:
-Baby? Maybe? Finally? I keep saying this every year, and it keeps not happening, but at least at this point, we've done everything possible for us to do on our end. It's all about hoping some pregnant nerdette finds us and wants us to raise her kid. That is, of course, assuming that whatever this current health ick is about, it's simple and passes quickly, rather than being some horrid ongoing thing that scrubs the whole project.
Friends:
-Still be sharing house space with the lovely D. We've had many roomies over the years, but this one has worked out so incredibly well. I can't really see a reason why we'd stop anytime soon.
-Hopefully spend a bit more time with R before he heads off to points unknown for grad school. Gonna miss that bugger.
Domestic:
-Same ol'! There are quite a few little home-maintenance projects we need to get done, but who knows when that'll happen. Also, each year, I learn more about gardening, and have some ideas on how to make it better the next go. Will be starting seeds earlier, for one.
Travel:
-We may try to do at least one more nice vacation before the baby gets here. We do have to stick close so we can fly back on a moment's notice, but we'll probably hit Hawaii or Mexico or something. May also do an Orlando trip, as it's been a while, and there are People I want to see.
Misc.
-More burying my head in pop culture, methinks. Not that that's unusual for me. :)
-Get that tooth implant and hopefully be done with the oral surgery for now.
-Assuming that this current ick does pass, I'm going to try to get in a bit more activity, mostly because I need to build up my endurance for baby caregiving. Doubt I'll do much more than simple yoga and more walking, because I hate exercise for its own sake, but I may at least try doing some more nature-traipsing so I can see more birdies.
Career:
-Did a short stint with an offshoot of my old department, only to discover that the job sucked ass, and I was getting seriously burned out on the place and what I've been doing there. Got tired of being a button monkey, and only doing occasional original writing, plus I started feeling skeevy with some of the celeb-hounding focus of one of the other teams, and decided: I'm done. If I have to, I can try to get work there again--though likely with a different department entirely--but for now, I think my days of contract content management are done.
-Instead, I decided to dive headfirst into this novel-writing thing. I got two into more or less publishable condition, and did a rough draft on a third. The first will be out early in the new year (watch this space) as a self-pubbed venture. The second I'm shopping around to agents. Not sure if anything will come of this, but I hope so. I really like setting my own pace and being able to make stuff with my brain.
Family:
-Celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary, and got some spiffy new rings for it. We'd bought some frankly cheap gold/diamond bands when we first got hitched, but we never really wore them because they were irritating our fingers, thanks to a ridge inside the band. So we went a different direction this time and got some very pretty dark tungsten carbide ones instead.
-Did the first half of the adoption process! We're now just waiting to be chosen by birthparents. Which could happen tomorrow or a year from now.
-Said goodbye to the last of our "first generation" of kitties: dear Penny, whom we'd had since she was nine weeks old. We're down to just the two, now: Otter and Khaleesi, who unfortunately don't get along because he thinks she's prey. Sigh ...
-Had another row with my parents, but this one resolved itself fairly well. I think we may finally be at a workable detente.
-Got back in touch with my sister, which is truly strange, but in a great way.
-Got a new nephew--M's sister's second kid--and finally met the kids and her husband. Wasn't actually a horrible experience.
-Found out my childhood BFF K is about to become a grandmother, which makes me feel horribly old. It's impossible that a kid whose diapers I changed is soon going to be bearing a baby of her own. Weird. WEIRD.
-Semi-related: got back in touch with the little one I spent so much time with when she was a baby and she and her parents were living with us. She's 13 now. Whoa. But she's a little spitfire, and though I know it's not really possible, I do like to think I contributed to that in some way. ;)
Friends:
-Threw a couple of spiffy parties and attended some as well. Really started feeling like we're finally back in the swing of things with the old gang. We'd been out of regular in-person contact for so long that we really were just on the fringe of it for a long time, and that made things difficult. But I think we're finally re-bonded with most folks, now. And that feels really wonderful.
-Part of this was a chorus-reunion party I threw in November. It wasn't quite the singing party I'd hoped, as we were all very rusty on the old songs, but I think I may do another one of these next summer and do some better advance prep this time--choosing music, etc. It was a blast to see some folks I'd not seen in easily 10 years.
-Still had some lovely time with my fandom peeps, including meeting a couple I'd not yet met before. Have been too sick/buried in publishing prep in recent weeks to keep up properly, but once that's finally over, I'll be back in the swing of things.
Domestic:
-Consolidated the guest room and my office, to free up a room for the impending baby invasion. Painted that room--nice, bright colors--and bought a crapload of baby gear to have on hand in case we get a last-minute placement. The room feels terribly empty right now, but eventually it'll be messy and smell like baby ass. Whee!
-Grew my first-ever proper kitchen garden--but in containers this time. Most of it turned out pretty well, IMHO. Still can't grow cucurbits well, but my tomato plants kind of blew up and ate everything else, which is cool. Also had some high-producing strawberry plants, and even managed to grow a couple of small artichokes and a single Meyer lemon.
-Also spent a lot of time watching the birdies again, and buying a bunch of new feeders for them. Saw a few new types I'd not seen before: varied thrush, red-breasted nuthatch and downy-headed woodpecker, among others.
Travel:
-Blew pretty much all the money I'd made at the job on going back to London for 10 days. Finally got to meet some of my actor lovelies that way, at a con and a live show a couple of them were doing. Also got to get a lot more in-depth with the city than we'd done the first whirlwind tour, and went down to Brighton for a day, too.
-That was basically it for travel, though, and likely will be our last elaborate trip for a while. We'll still do some shorter-range trips, but nothing we can't easily abandon to fly back home if we need to for the adoption. So, Hawaii, Mexico, Cali, etc. Maybe East Coast of some sort. But nothing transoceanic until the kid is grown up enough for such travel.
Misc.
-Got into a few new shows, including the spinoff from my beloved Primeval. Met one of the dudes from Game of Thrones, who was a complete puppy.
-Had some fairly major oral surgery: got a tooth yanked and then a bone graft, in prep for an eventual implant. Currently have a big empty spot where a molar should be, and it feels really odd.
-Wasted six weeks (and counting) being very sick with several different problems, the latest of which is a rather alarming bout of major and painful muscle inflammation with (as yet) no known cause. Whee. Honestly, if I had to boil this year down to five things, it'd be health crap, adoption paperwork, London, writing and playing stupid games on my phone.
Career:
-Sell some books. Maybe write another one or two. That's pretty much my entire career path in a nutshell at this point. I might do a little freelance editing on the side, and I have a Zazzle store that's made a few sales of some graphics I designed, but beyond that, my world is going to be about telling stories for the forseeable future. Much as I'd like to contribute to the ethical revolution that journalism so desperately needs, there are really no opportunities for me to do so without my head exploding.
Family:
-Baby? Maybe? Finally? I keep saying this every year, and it keeps not happening, but at least at this point, we've done everything possible for us to do on our end. It's all about hoping some pregnant nerdette finds us and wants us to raise her kid. That is, of course, assuming that whatever this current health ick is about, it's simple and passes quickly, rather than being some horrid ongoing thing that scrubs the whole project.
Friends:
-Still be sharing house space with the lovely D. We've had many roomies over the years, but this one has worked out so incredibly well. I can't really see a reason why we'd stop anytime soon.
-Hopefully spend a bit more time with R before he heads off to points unknown for grad school. Gonna miss that bugger.
Domestic:
-Same ol'! There are quite a few little home-maintenance projects we need to get done, but who knows when that'll happen. Also, each year, I learn more about gardening, and have some ideas on how to make it better the next go. Will be starting seeds earlier, for one.
Travel:
-We may try to do at least one more nice vacation before the baby gets here. We do have to stick close so we can fly back on a moment's notice, but we'll probably hit Hawaii or Mexico or something. May also do an Orlando trip, as it's been a while, and there are People I want to see.
Misc.
-More burying my head in pop culture, methinks. Not that that's unusual for me. :)
-Get that tooth implant and hopefully be done with the oral surgery for now.
-Assuming that this current ick does pass, I'm going to try to get in a bit more activity, mostly because I need to build up my endurance for baby caregiving. Doubt I'll do much more than simple yoga and more walking, because I hate exercise for its own sake, but I may at least try doing some more nature-traipsing so I can see more birdies.