2009 in review
Well the year's almost over, and my brain is turning to mush from a boring, repetitive task. So it's time to do this end-of-year-journal-entry thang.
January:
I started the new year recovering from the month from hell -- I'd been sick, passed a kidney stone, and in general the month had been rough on my family. Mom was recovering from her lung cancer surgery, Grampa John was limping back from the brink, and in general it wasn't a fun time. So I started off the year with a house cleansing, rediscovering my various fandoms, cooking like a fiend, and enjoying a rousing inauguration speech. The sense of history-making was palpable. The year was off to a much better start.
February:
Notable chiefly for a great trip to Gallifrey, an annoyingly literal pissing match between my kitties, and CORALINE. The main thing was being slammed at work.
March:
More slammed-at-work goodness, an emergency laptop replacement, but generally not a bad month. Started doing the Facebook around this time, and started planning out the kitchen remodel too.
April:
Started off with a great April Fools prank session: we pranked my boss by rearranging his room, and I pranked the Otakon fanboys by announcing Toshiro Mifune as a guest. (He's been dead for some time.) Easter held an annoying family dispute that kept things sour for a few weeks; luckily it didn't involve me directly, but it made life uncomfortable for a while. The main event for April was that STAR TREK came out and blew our minds. Awesome.
May:
Lots of Otakon activity ni the realm of guests. Busy at work. Not much interesting to write about.
June:
Lots of con stuff. A quick trip to Atlantic City. Finally conquered a long-term, lingering, extremely difficult to sort out issue at work. Had a fun "Blog like it's the end of the world" entry that caused some inattentive folks real concern (hee hee!). Went swimming in Bunky's new pool, and got out a LOT of negative energy around a bonfire afterwards -- while also reconnecting with friends I don't see often enough. Near the end of the month, I started my kitchen remodel.
July:
Anime Expo trip, followed by my only weekend off (during which I turned 39 in a very martini-filled, low-key way), followed by Otakon. Which as usual dominated everything for a bit, but was extremely successful. TORCHWOOD: CHILDREN OF EARTH came out and blew us all away. The kitchen was completed and I got my house reassembled. All in all, one of the most stressful months on record due to having very little in the way of non-stress time: work, con, and home were all busy as all hell.
August:
Had a great cookout for my staffers -- during which my grill went south and I ended up cooking everything in my new kitchen. Some con drama emerged that made me decide to run for treasurer. Got together with some old college buddies for happy hour one night, which was very pleasant. Had John and Brian stay with me for a week or so while their apartment got a mold issue sorted out -- very nice to hang out with them most nights.
September:
Internal con issues led to a rough election meeting for the con, but once the bandaid was off the wound could heal. Someone with better qualifications and an open mind got elected Treasurer, and I wound up on the Board again. There was a trip up to NYC for New York Anime Fest, and otherwise the month was kinda uneventful. Busy at work again.
October:
The usual barrage of birthdays, setting the agenda for the coming year at Otakon, a big project at work. Began obtaining guests for Otakon 2010. Halloween was actually fun this year, with several parties to attend and a good time at all. I was a social animal whenever I wasn't busy with con stuff.
November:
Various house projects, replenished my entire wardrobe, and back on the workout wagon. Work's craziness suddenly shifted as my main client is going through internal changes; I am mostly working on one of our company's core products now. Shifting gears, and getting out of my comfort zone to be thrown in the middle of a very complicated product, is something that hasn't happened to me at work in some time, and my ego stings for a little while. In con-land, we build the budget.
December:
Early on, we have our budget meeting, and the realities of changing economy are evident. Still, we hash things out civilly and have a great after-party once the budget's approved. Official invites go out and are accepted; strong guest list begins to emerge, with both musical guests, a few dub actors, and a few good leads on other J-guests solidly under my belt. The rest of the month is almost entirely devoted to holiday prep, and the holiday itself goes quite well. There is a surprise blizzard that disrupts one anticipated party by dumping 2 feet of snow on us -- grrr -- but all in all it's a less stressful holiday than the last one and I end my year feeling pretty good about life.
All in all, a pretty good year.
January:
I started the new year recovering from the month from hell -- I'd been sick, passed a kidney stone, and in general the month had been rough on my family. Mom was recovering from her lung cancer surgery, Grampa John was limping back from the brink, and in general it wasn't a fun time. So I started off the year with a house cleansing, rediscovering my various fandoms, cooking like a fiend, and enjoying a rousing inauguration speech. The sense of history-making was palpable. The year was off to a much better start.
February:
Notable chiefly for a great trip to Gallifrey, an annoyingly literal pissing match between my kitties, and CORALINE. The main thing was being slammed at work.
March:
More slammed-at-work goodness, an emergency laptop replacement, but generally not a bad month. Started doing the Facebook around this time, and started planning out the kitchen remodel too.
April:
Started off with a great April Fools prank session: we pranked my boss by rearranging his room, and I pranked the Otakon fanboys by announcing Toshiro Mifune as a guest. (He's been dead for some time.) Easter held an annoying family dispute that kept things sour for a few weeks; luckily it didn't involve me directly, but it made life uncomfortable for a while. The main event for April was that STAR TREK came out and blew our minds. Awesome.
May:
Lots of Otakon activity ni the realm of guests. Busy at work. Not much interesting to write about.
June:
Lots of con stuff. A quick trip to Atlantic City. Finally conquered a long-term, lingering, extremely difficult to sort out issue at work. Had a fun "Blog like it's the end of the world" entry that caused some inattentive folks real concern (hee hee!). Went swimming in Bunky's new pool, and got out a LOT of negative energy around a bonfire afterwards -- while also reconnecting with friends I don't see often enough. Near the end of the month, I started my kitchen remodel.
July:
Anime Expo trip, followed by my only weekend off (during which I turned 39 in a very martini-filled, low-key way), followed by Otakon. Which as usual dominated everything for a bit, but was extremely successful. TORCHWOOD: CHILDREN OF EARTH came out and blew us all away. The kitchen was completed and I got my house reassembled. All in all, one of the most stressful months on record due to having very little in the way of non-stress time: work, con, and home were all busy as all hell.
August:
Had a great cookout for my staffers -- during which my grill went south and I ended up cooking everything in my new kitchen. Some con drama emerged that made me decide to run for treasurer. Got together with some old college buddies for happy hour one night, which was very pleasant. Had John and Brian stay with me for a week or so while their apartment got a mold issue sorted out -- very nice to hang out with them most nights.
September:
Internal con issues led to a rough election meeting for the con, but once the bandaid was off the wound could heal. Someone with better qualifications and an open mind got elected Treasurer, and I wound up on the Board again. There was a trip up to NYC for New York Anime Fest, and otherwise the month was kinda uneventful. Busy at work again.
October:
The usual barrage of birthdays, setting the agenda for the coming year at Otakon, a big project at work. Began obtaining guests for Otakon 2010. Halloween was actually fun this year, with several parties to attend and a good time at all. I was a social animal whenever I wasn't busy with con stuff.
November:
Various house projects, replenished my entire wardrobe, and back on the workout wagon. Work's craziness suddenly shifted as my main client is going through internal changes; I am mostly working on one of our company's core products now. Shifting gears, and getting out of my comfort zone to be thrown in the middle of a very complicated product, is something that hasn't happened to me at work in some time, and my ego stings for a little while. In con-land, we build the budget.
December:
Early on, we have our budget meeting, and the realities of changing economy are evident. Still, we hash things out civilly and have a great after-party once the budget's approved. Official invites go out and are accepted; strong guest list begins to emerge, with both musical guests, a few dub actors, and a few good leads on other J-guests solidly under my belt. The rest of the month is almost entirely devoted to holiday prep, and the holiday itself goes quite well. There is a surprise blizzard that disrupts one anticipated party by dumping 2 feet of snow on us -- grrr -- but all in all it's a less stressful holiday than the last one and I end my year feeling pretty good about life.
All in all, a pretty good year.