2009 - not the Worst Year Ever
...but it was a strong contender, losing to 2000 on points.
There were supposed to be links and stuff, but I hit the Semagic post button too early and am not about to manually post an assload of [a href=] tags. Feel free to browse the archives.
January was pretty unremarkable; Patrick McGoohan died and I found out about Amazon's MP3 download service.
February began with (another) threat to fire me, continued with the fall of EVE's Band of Brothers to social engineering and pretty much everyone in 0.0 ganging up on them*, and finished with Katsucon. Katsucon brought onsenmark to town, which was Good.
March featured a Goonmeet, where P finally got to meet the Mittani, and the next day I saw Watchmen, which was better as a movie than it was as a graphic novel, imao. Wilbar started interviewing my replacements, and the strain of working there and then going on to work at H&R Block in Foxchase was starting to wear on me.
April started with Anime Detour, which was full of fail because I tried to do too much stuff in not enough time, and that meant I really didn't enjoy the convention as much as I would have liked. I also spent more time on Facebook, which I joined in March, and started finding former classmates, which was Good. Also, I got signed up with the VA, after which good things began happening.
May started with the end of my time at Wilbar, which coincidentally happened right after the Sportage began suffering u/i electrical problems. It ended with Balticon, which was unexpectedly more expensive than I had planned, but at least I got to finally meet Deathquaker, and this was Good. In the middle, there were many days of futile job searches.
June's big event was brian_edminster's 50th birthday, which was a fabulous, big-ass backyard party with lots of friends and family. I also had a great Father's Day on Skyline Drive, thanks to P.
July had no big events. I spent the Fourth with friends. EDIT: Okay, I forgot the coolness of A.F.U. no Breakfast during Otakon, where I joined onsenmark and Deathquaker at the best breakfast joint in Baltimore. Good times. MOAR EDITS: Also also GOONS ON A BOAT, very possibly the best DC Goonmeet ever. :)
August saw the Sportage go back into the shop for various inspection-related ills, which meant I drove a loaner out to Ocean City to hang out with one of my Oxon Hill classmates and her husband. A good time was had by all, even if I got a really horrible sunburn and lost my sunglasses.
September brought You Are (Not) Alone, the revised version of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and tbqh I liked it better than the original. There was Smittypalooza, where I met the Other McCain; a beginning of intensive therapy for my swollen and oft-infected legs; and to cap off the month, I managed to get to a Nationals game. It ruled.
October started with me spending my 50th birthday in the hospital with a leg infection, which was probably caused by me being a retard and staying up way too late at the joint class reunion the previous week. Huladavid came to town for the marching and the protesting, but P and I got to hang out with him some despite time-consuming commuting. I also got a handle on some depression issues (which had nothing to do with the Twins & Red Sox' quick exit from the playoffs, NOTHING) and wound up spending most of the month on Clindamycin, which was pretty miserable.
November began with the hated Yankees defeating the Phillies insuring six months of darkness and pestilence across the land. The Sportage went back into the shop; fortunately, it was just a timing chain issue, but that blew a gaping hole in my budget. Month ended with an excellent Thanksgiving dinner at P's place. Mmmm, wine-soaked pot roast.
December was a lot like October: it started with a stay in the hospital, except this time the VA stripped some useless veins out of my legs. I also sperged a little bit about my frustration with Goonswarm Logistics. (I got better.) There were a couple of posts on RPGs and pregnant soldiers that attracted a lot of attention, the Nationals made some nice moves in the off-season, and most importantly my cousin Patsy had a stroke right before Christmas but seems to have recovered completely. I also got together with a classmate I hadn't seen in 30+ years, which was interesting.
And so, on to the new year...
*I missed a lot of the fun since I was taking an enforced vacation from EVE due to issues with the Failbox, and EVE having upgraded their graphics so Cowzilla couldn't run it any more. :(
There were supposed to be links and stuff, but I hit the Semagic post button too early and am not about to manually post an assload of [a href=] tags. Feel free to browse the archives.
January was pretty unremarkable; Patrick McGoohan died and I found out about Amazon's MP3 download service.
February began with (another) threat to fire me, continued with the fall of EVE's Band of Brothers to social engineering and pretty much everyone in 0.0 ganging up on them*, and finished with Katsucon. Katsucon brought onsenmark to town, which was Good.
March featured a Goonmeet, where P finally got to meet the Mittani, and the next day I saw Watchmen, which was better as a movie than it was as a graphic novel, imao. Wilbar started interviewing my replacements, and the strain of working there and then going on to work at H&R Block in Foxchase was starting to wear on me.
April started with Anime Detour, which was full of fail because I tried to do too much stuff in not enough time, and that meant I really didn't enjoy the convention as much as I would have liked. I also spent more time on Facebook, which I joined in March, and started finding former classmates, which was Good. Also, I got signed up with the VA, after which good things began happening.
May started with the end of my time at Wilbar, which coincidentally happened right after the Sportage began suffering u/i electrical problems. It ended with Balticon, which was unexpectedly more expensive than I had planned, but at least I got to finally meet Deathquaker, and this was Good. In the middle, there were many days of futile job searches.
June's big event was brian_edminster's 50th birthday, which was a fabulous, big-ass backyard party with lots of friends and family. I also had a great Father's Day on Skyline Drive, thanks to P.
July had no big events. I spent the Fourth with friends. EDIT: Okay, I forgot the coolness of A.F.U. no Breakfast during Otakon, where I joined onsenmark and Deathquaker at the best breakfast joint in Baltimore. Good times. MOAR EDITS: Also also GOONS ON A BOAT, very possibly the best DC Goonmeet ever. :)
August saw the Sportage go back into the shop for various inspection-related ills, which meant I drove a loaner out to Ocean City to hang out with one of my Oxon Hill classmates and her husband. A good time was had by all, even if I got a really horrible sunburn and lost my sunglasses.
September brought You Are (Not) Alone, the revised version of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and tbqh I liked it better than the original. There was Smittypalooza, where I met the Other McCain; a beginning of intensive therapy for my swollen and oft-infected legs; and to cap off the month, I managed to get to a Nationals game. It ruled.
October started with me spending my 50th birthday in the hospital with a leg infection, which was probably caused by me being a retard and staying up way too late at the joint class reunion the previous week. Huladavid came to town for the marching and the protesting, but P and I got to hang out with him some despite time-consuming commuting. I also got a handle on some depression issues (which had nothing to do with the Twins & Red Sox' quick exit from the playoffs, NOTHING) and wound up spending most of the month on Clindamycin, which was pretty miserable.
November began with the hated Yankees defeating the Phillies insuring six months of darkness and pestilence across the land. The Sportage went back into the shop; fortunately, it was just a timing chain issue, but that blew a gaping hole in my budget. Month ended with an excellent Thanksgiving dinner at P's place. Mmmm, wine-soaked pot roast.
December was a lot like October: it started with a stay in the hospital, except this time the VA stripped some useless veins out of my legs. I also sperged a little bit about my frustration with Goonswarm Logistics. (I got better.) There were a couple of posts on RPGs and pregnant soldiers that attracted a lot of attention, the Nationals made some nice moves in the off-season, and most importantly my cousin Patsy had a stroke right before Christmas but seems to have recovered completely. I also got together with a classmate I hadn't seen in 30+ years, which was interesting.
And so, on to the new year...
*I missed a lot of the fun since I was taking an enforced vacation from EVE due to issues with the Failbox, and EVE having upgraded their graphics so Cowzilla couldn't run it any more. :(