that was the year that was
Jan. 3rd, 2016 10:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishA fallow year. Havi, who may be the wisest person I know, has been writing extensively about her shmita, from the one year in seven that the Israelites would let their fields lie fallow to rejuvenate and refresh. That's more or less where I was in 2015: recovering from somewhere between three and ten years of ongoing pressure and stress.
I've very little tangible to show for it: one story, "City of Memory," making the rejection rounds; some initial work on a novel and on a longish story. A weekly-ish write-in with Steph C--, which I appreciate a great deal. Viola, with which I am pleased except for how terrible I sound, but at least I sound terrible in different ways now! (Been meaning to make a "viola after a year" post for the last two months. This week maybe.) I saw a lot of movies, and read more that I have in awhile.
To the left, I feel more like myself than I have in ... ever, maybe. Certainly since I left Blacksburg nearly a decade ago. I'm more happy than stressed, I feel like Vancouver is beginning to deliver on the vision that I chased out here. I have no regrets about the time off.
After a year or so of effort I have what seems to be a somewhat reliable local 18xx group. We're all terrible, though in different ways, so there's still something to be learned. I also lost a player from my nominally-weekly RPG night, which would be okay except that I didn't handle it as cleanly and kindly as I could have, and have thus lost him as an acquaintance as well.
Mostly, socially, this past year, and especially the last few months, have been more about cutting back. I think this may be how it goes for me: overextend looking for Good People, then trim my interactions with the Less Good ones. I'm not yet entirely happy with my social circle, but I can see it from here. Now I just have to get there. Easier said than done.
Niagara, the Outer Banks, DC, and the Olympic rainforest were I believe the only trips I took this past year. Not too surprising. This coming year looks to be pretty similar: no rainforest, no February sun, but maybe Minneapolis for Fourth Street, or some other con location. (And then Helsinki in 2017!)
The money situation is stabilizing at last, too. We ought to be able to lay actual plans in a couple of months, plans that will hopefully avoid further burnout. I am of course not thrilled with my job but it'll do for a couple of years at least, and then we'll see where we actually are versus where we'd planned to be.
At the end of last year I wrote I don't know what happens next-- and that is about the coolest thing I can imagine. It turns out there's something even cooler than that: being able to see the wide array of amazing things that are within reach.
I've very little tangible to show for it: one story, "City of Memory," making the rejection rounds; some initial work on a novel and on a longish story. A weekly-ish write-in with Steph C--, which I appreciate a great deal. Viola, with which I am pleased except for how terrible I sound, but at least I sound terrible in different ways now! (Been meaning to make a "viola after a year" post for the last two months. This week maybe.) I saw a lot of movies, and read more that I have in awhile.
To the left, I feel more like myself than I have in ... ever, maybe. Certainly since I left Blacksburg nearly a decade ago. I'm more happy than stressed, I feel like Vancouver is beginning to deliver on the vision that I chased out here. I have no regrets about the time off.
After a year or so of effort I have what seems to be a somewhat reliable local 18xx group. We're all terrible, though in different ways, so there's still something to be learned. I also lost a player from my nominally-weekly RPG night, which would be okay except that I didn't handle it as cleanly and kindly as I could have, and have thus lost him as an acquaintance as well.
Mostly, socially, this past year, and especially the last few months, have been more about cutting back. I think this may be how it goes for me: overextend looking for Good People, then trim my interactions with the Less Good ones. I'm not yet entirely happy with my social circle, but I can see it from here. Now I just have to get there. Easier said than done.
Niagara, the Outer Banks, DC, and the Olympic rainforest were I believe the only trips I took this past year. Not too surprising. This coming year looks to be pretty similar: no rainforest, no February sun, but maybe Minneapolis for Fourth Street, or some other con location. (And then Helsinki in 2017!)
The money situation is stabilizing at last, too. We ought to be able to lay actual plans in a couple of months, plans that will hopefully avoid further burnout. I am of course not thrilled with my job but it'll do for a couple of years at least, and then we'll see where we actually are versus where we'd planned to be.
At the end of last year I wrote I don't know what happens next-- and that is about the coolest thing I can imagine. It turns out there's something even cooler than that: being able to see the wide array of amazing things that are within reach.
And the view from this height
High above the ferris wheel lights
May cause me to sway--
But I'm teaching myself to be brave...
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Date: 2016-01-03 07:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-05 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-04 01:03 am (UTC)Woohoo!
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Date: 2016-01-05 03:59 am (UTC)