2015, A Year in Review
Before I look ahead, I just wanted to take a moment and review and reflect :)
First, and probably the most important thing that happened, I got a job. Yup, after more years than I'd like to say, I got a real job, not a temp job or something where I was helping out a friend and they were kind enough to give me money...a real job. With Benefits! LOL, that amuses me, because that's the department I work in. Benefits. Yes, I answer the phone all day and help my fellow employees figure out their benefits. I get to talk all day and help people. Seriously, where has this job been all my life?
I have fabulous coworkers and a great boss, I have to say. People are fun and don't mind my silly ways. Plus, I get to occasionally decorate the desks of people who have birthdays or go on vacation saying something like, "I just know I'll come back to 400 tickets in my bucket!" (There were less than 200 tickets there...but well over 400 little slips of paper strung up and festooned all over her desk. She was quite amused!)
In 2014 I bought my second ever vehicle (the first having been a hand-me-down Ford Granada I had for a short time in college), and I am pleased to say that I still absolutely love my scooter. Yes, it doesn't go on the freeway, not much for long trips, but it gets me to and from work, my friends, the grocery store, and the occasional wander about just fine! In fact, I love it so much I tell people the benefits of it all the time. LOL! Hey, it's even red! What is not to love about that??
Of course, in this weather, I do require a bit of extra layering to endure the wind, the rain and the temps. From inside out, aside from the basic underthings, I usually wear: My support stockings, socks, leather shoes, leggings, skirt, shirt, scarf, ski jacket, poncho, silk glove liners, ski gloves, ski mask, and lastly, my helmet. I look not unlike a space person. A bright blue one with a red head. LOL! But it gets the job done!
This year saw me tackling the job of chairing GameStorm, as well. That was an adventure, I tell you! Holy cow! LOL Hotel problems, space issues, scheduling problems, personnel holes, it felt like I was running the gamut of “What hopefully will never happen to your convention!” But with some fabulous volunteers, many of whom I consider close friends, and a lot of hard work, we pulled it off to critical success. Think I want to take a little break before I do that again though. Let the nightmares subside into fond, humorous anecdotes first! :) But in the end, it was a good experience and I hope everyone who attended had at least as much fun as I did :)
This is not to say I didn't help out at other conventions, oh, no! :) I am still on the Board for Oregon Science Fiction Conventions Inc, and indeed, I threw the first ever Volunteer Appreciation Party. I learned a lot from that event...it was not a critical success and we had far too much food left over, plus location issues and the shirts were late...plus people ended up not coming, even though they rsvp'd. Bleh. Live and learn, right? :)
At Kumoricon I helped with the Crafting events, including panels on making Felt Dollies, braided thread, cool fabric flowers, and of course spent hours upon hours upon hours helping people make Cat Ears from fur, felt and hot glue. The night after the convention ended I was still making them in my dreams! LOL! But, aside from that, I did three panels on writing. One was a collaborative writing effort, which got out of hand. We learned what not to do if we do it again. Another was Fic to Art, Art to Fic. I paired up the audience between fic and art and they collaborated. It was okay. The third was my absolute favorite and not simply because they gave me a microphone and I got to talk about writing for an hour. Although that was a big part of it. It was Elements of Good Storytelling. Basically I gave a crowded room (wow!) my advice on how to improve their writing, how to get over writing blocks, how to network, and a few tongue in cheek (mostly) comments on What Not To Do. I received complements afterwards!! I think I'll do this again! ...but prepare better next time! LOL
At Orycon I got to do panels also. I taught someone how to make a granny square in a Yarning for the Doctor panel. I got to be on a panel with Nini Kiriki Hoffman (in was a NaNoWriMo write for an hour panel, but it was good fun!). I got to be on a How to File the Serial Numbers off Your Fan Fic panel, and also another on Taking Your Fan Fic Writing to the Next Level (we discussed the care and feeding of Betas, among other things). Got more positive feedback on both of those panels too! Yay! Also did one on Putting the Play back into Roleplaying Games. That was fun, the stories we got to hear and tell, advice given for When You Aren't Having Fun, etc. It was great. Then the final panel of the convention for me was one on Girl Gaming Trends. It was a small crowd, most of us knew each other...so we spent the hour giving gaming advice to the mother of a young teen who wanted to help her daughter get more into gaming. That was a blast. We all love gaming and meeting someone like her was just so fabulous. Parents who care really warm my heart, you know?
Let's see...other than that, I've been trying to get my life back in shape! I'm not saying I'm out of debt, not by a long shot, but, let's just say that I'm no longer drowning, but staying level-y now. I did manage to mostly catch up with all the stuff that was seriously arrears, though! Woo!
Plus, I've gotten into better condition health-wise as well, although I am now officially diabetic. Ah, well. Some of the best people I know are also, so it isn't the end of the world. My doctor is helping me keep it under control, so yay! :) I do have edema in my legs that cause them to swell, but with the help of the therapists, it is mostly under control and I am maintaining with the help of support stockings now. Also yay! I even managed to lose a couple of pounds this year! Woo hoo! (My doctor was impressed that I was all plateaued over the holidays, since this is a very calorie dense time of year, LOL!)
So, gosh! That's the highlights, I guess! Ooo, I did one more thing recently...I bought a new computer! Okay, it's new to me. I got it at Free Geek, a local non-profit that takes old computers and refurbishes them. For $170 I got a 3GHz Quad core with 8GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, a monitor (with sound bar), keyboard and optical mouse. I win! :D Took me a few days to get it set up, then another few to get stuff transferred over, then I finally moved to using it instead of the old one on Christmas. It's so lovely compared to the old one that I had to keep rebooting every couple of days.
There we go. Now, to decide what I want to do with the new year, right? LOL! That will be another post! *hugs you all* Happy New Year everyone!!
First, and probably the most important thing that happened, I got a job. Yup, after more years than I'd like to say, I got a real job, not a temp job or something where I was helping out a friend and they were kind enough to give me money...a real job. With Benefits! LOL, that amuses me, because that's the department I work in. Benefits. Yes, I answer the phone all day and help my fellow employees figure out their benefits. I get to talk all day and help people. Seriously, where has this job been all my life?
I have fabulous coworkers and a great boss, I have to say. People are fun and don't mind my silly ways. Plus, I get to occasionally decorate the desks of people who have birthdays or go on vacation saying something like, "I just know I'll come back to 400 tickets in my bucket!" (There were less than 200 tickets there...but well over 400 little slips of paper strung up and festooned all over her desk. She was quite amused!)
In 2014 I bought my second ever vehicle (the first having been a hand-me-down Ford Granada I had for a short time in college), and I am pleased to say that I still absolutely love my scooter. Yes, it doesn't go on the freeway, not much for long trips, but it gets me to and from work, my friends, the grocery store, and the occasional wander about just fine! In fact, I love it so much I tell people the benefits of it all the time. LOL! Hey, it's even red! What is not to love about that??
Of course, in this weather, I do require a bit of extra layering to endure the wind, the rain and the temps. From inside out, aside from the basic underthings, I usually wear: My support stockings, socks, leather shoes, leggings, skirt, shirt, scarf, ski jacket, poncho, silk glove liners, ski gloves, ski mask, and lastly, my helmet. I look not unlike a space person. A bright blue one with a red head. LOL! But it gets the job done!
This year saw me tackling the job of chairing GameStorm, as well. That was an adventure, I tell you! Holy cow! LOL Hotel problems, space issues, scheduling problems, personnel holes, it felt like I was running the gamut of “What hopefully will never happen to your convention!” But with some fabulous volunteers, many of whom I consider close friends, and a lot of hard work, we pulled it off to critical success. Think I want to take a little break before I do that again though. Let the nightmares subside into fond, humorous anecdotes first! :) But in the end, it was a good experience and I hope everyone who attended had at least as much fun as I did :)
This is not to say I didn't help out at other conventions, oh, no! :) I am still on the Board for Oregon Science Fiction Conventions Inc, and indeed, I threw the first ever Volunteer Appreciation Party. I learned a lot from that event...it was not a critical success and we had far too much food left over, plus location issues and the shirts were late...plus people ended up not coming, even though they rsvp'd. Bleh. Live and learn, right? :)
At Kumoricon I helped with the Crafting events, including panels on making Felt Dollies, braided thread, cool fabric flowers, and of course spent hours upon hours upon hours helping people make Cat Ears from fur, felt and hot glue. The night after the convention ended I was still making them in my dreams! LOL! But, aside from that, I did three panels on writing. One was a collaborative writing effort, which got out of hand. We learned what not to do if we do it again. Another was Fic to Art, Art to Fic. I paired up the audience between fic and art and they collaborated. It was okay. The third was my absolute favorite and not simply because they gave me a microphone and I got to talk about writing for an hour. Although that was a big part of it. It was Elements of Good Storytelling. Basically I gave a crowded room (wow!) my advice on how to improve their writing, how to get over writing blocks, how to network, and a few tongue in cheek (mostly) comments on What Not To Do. I received complements afterwards!! I think I'll do this again! ...but prepare better next time! LOL
At Orycon I got to do panels also. I taught someone how to make a granny square in a Yarning for the Doctor panel. I got to be on a panel with Nini Kiriki Hoffman (in was a NaNoWriMo write for an hour panel, but it was good fun!). I got to be on a How to File the Serial Numbers off Your Fan Fic panel, and also another on Taking Your Fan Fic Writing to the Next Level (we discussed the care and feeding of Betas, among other things). Got more positive feedback on both of those panels too! Yay! Also did one on Putting the Play back into Roleplaying Games. That was fun, the stories we got to hear and tell, advice given for When You Aren't Having Fun, etc. It was great. Then the final panel of the convention for me was one on Girl Gaming Trends. It was a small crowd, most of us knew each other...so we spent the hour giving gaming advice to the mother of a young teen who wanted to help her daughter get more into gaming. That was a blast. We all love gaming and meeting someone like her was just so fabulous. Parents who care really warm my heart, you know?
Let's see...other than that, I've been trying to get my life back in shape! I'm not saying I'm out of debt, not by a long shot, but, let's just say that I'm no longer drowning, but staying level-y now. I did manage to mostly catch up with all the stuff that was seriously arrears, though! Woo!
Plus, I've gotten into better condition health-wise as well, although I am now officially diabetic. Ah, well. Some of the best people I know are also, so it isn't the end of the world. My doctor is helping me keep it under control, so yay! :) I do have edema in my legs that cause them to swell, but with the help of the therapists, it is mostly under control and I am maintaining with the help of support stockings now. Also yay! I even managed to lose a couple of pounds this year! Woo hoo! (My doctor was impressed that I was all plateaued over the holidays, since this is a very calorie dense time of year, LOL!)
So, gosh! That's the highlights, I guess! Ooo, I did one more thing recently...I bought a new computer! Okay, it's new to me. I got it at Free Geek, a local non-profit that takes old computers and refurbishes them. For $170 I got a 3GHz Quad core with 8GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, a monitor (with sound bar), keyboard and optical mouse. I win! :D Took me a few days to get it set up, then another few to get stuff transferred over, then I finally moved to using it instead of the old one on Christmas. It's so lovely compared to the old one that I had to keep rebooting every couple of days.
There we go. Now, to decide what I want to do with the new year, right? LOL! That will be another post! *hugs you all* Happy New Year everyone!!