Year in Review - 2012

I've been having a really productive week, since, well, last Wednesday (which was the day after semester's end at my tutoring job). Finished writing the third chapter in my new book, started crafting a six-suit deck of cards, and had a board-game holiday with my family (we NEVER get around the playing board games, so this was pretty spectacular).


2012 was pretty suck-tacular in the first three quarters, but I think it's turning around. Probably because it's over!



This year I:

Published my second novel, Empty Moon
Lost my manx cat Smaug, of 7 years, to a bladder blockage
Found out I had unusual liver levels
Got an Asus EP-121 tablet, which is awesome
Started a blog
Lost our family pug, Louis of 12 years, to a stroke
Had a liver biopsy, which caused a Biloma and (seemingly) permanent nerve damage in the region of my bottom right rib
Found out I have Fatty Liver Disorder and SZ Phenotype Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency
Published an expansion to my role-playing game, Cayenne Quarry
Ditto'd with a reduction, Soup Fork
Became a Moderator at AGN!
Saw Wreck-it Ralph (2012), which is now tied with Tank Girl (1995) for my favorite movie of all time
Started writing my third novel, Flowers for Isolda
Had a job interview
blew it

and

played board games with my family



Overall, I guess it wasn't such an unbearable year.
So how did everybody else fare for 2012? Any big losses? (Hurricane Sandy certainly was a big one.) Any winning moments?


EDIT: Huh, this is my seven-hundredth post. Only took ten years!

Sounds like an eventful year.

I met a lot of people and made a lot of friends this year, which is really strange for me. No major accomplishments or losses, just a lot of long nights.

I had a pretty good year, I would say.

I have finished 3/4 of my Master's degree.
I met and am now stupidly in love with a fantastic woman.
I brewed my first batch of beer (and have brewed several since).
I won an international composition contest, and subsequently served on a panel at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention discussing percussion composition.
I was commissioned for my first full marching band show, and subsequently rehired for this upcoming season.
I formed a professional percussion/clarinet duet, and we gave our first recital/set of masterclasses.
I watched the Thunder games leading up and including the NBA Finals with my friends in OKC.
I will be traveling to Virginia this weekend to meet my lady's family and crash with them over New Year's.

I'm sure there's a lot more that I'm forgetting, but these are the highlights. It makes sense my year would go like this, since it started with me drunkenly playing drums on Don't Stop Believing at a dueling piano bar. No better way to start the year off that that!

I'm just glad I'm alive and I'm so happy everyday just to see the people I love and walk around doing stuff. Last December I was dying on an operating table, so as far as I am concerned, everything after that is bonus round, baby.

But, if I had to mark some accomplishments:

Wrote and self published a fantasy novel (http://www.forrestkyle.com/#books)
Got a job in the space program working on the biggest rocket ship ever built (http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/sls1.html)
Released three new instrumental rock tracks (http://www.forrestkyle.com/#music)
Ate too much pizza and got completely out of shape. (http://www.dominos.com/)

Well, that last thing is kind of an anti-accomplishment of sorts, but I was happy about it because one of the side-effects of my surgery is that I can eat wheat products again, including pizza. So God Bless Pizza. But seriously, I need to start working out again. :drunk:

I'm glad to hear so many good things happened in 2012.



Decipher and Beldaran, way to kick ass!

And Anthony, it's great to hear that you're expanding your social network. That's always a good thing.


EDIT: I guess there were other good things this year. I learned how to make custom fonts. Zelda Classic finished its latest stable release. I got to go to Texas and meet one of my cousins for the first time (that I'd actually remember. I mean, we met when I was a baby, but that doesn't count).

Sometimes it's too easy to remember the bad things and not the good things. Next year, I think I'll take a jar and write down every good thing that happens WHEN it happens, so that I can remember them at the end of the year. A friend of mine told me about this 'jar of well wishes' and it sounds like a great idea.

-Started uploading on my deviantart account after forgetting it existed for 4 years (Ya, I'm surprised I forgot it for that long too)
-Saw The Dark Knight Rises in theaters on my birthday and had sushi for dinner (eel is surprisingly good, try it some time)
-Got a PSP and a nice little collection of games for it including Tactics Ogre, KH Birth By Sleep, and Prinny Can I really Be the Hero
-Got a free Xbox 360 from my youngest brother
-The hotel I work at reopened after rennovations and I got my job back, but in a different department (meh, its work)
-Had a virus of some sort cause the loss of about 3 years of data, which included about a half dozen Bar-Buddies webcomic
strips that hadn't seen the light of day yet. (They were part of a storyline called the F.U.C.K Saga, btw. It was hilarious)
-Gained weight
-Bought my 4th mp3 player (#3 died for no apparent reason other than to spite me it seems,
#2 took a swan dive into a toilet, giving its name a new meaning, and #1 just bricked for no reason whatsoever.
Granted this all happended in the past 5 years so at least it didn't happen all in one year)
-AGN came back (yay!)
-I got swept up in the awesomeness that is MLP:FiM and haven't looked back
-Got addicted to Kamen Rider OOO and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger

Had its ups and downs, but pretty decent year.