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| Last workout of 2017! |
Tonight is New Year's Eve. It's the end of 2017, a year that has had many ups and downs. It's a time for reflection, for apple cider, and for avoiding human contact.
I have no plans for the evening, so I've decided that I will update my blog. You know, the blog I forget about for months on end. Yeah. So I'm going to watch Netflix-flavored Voltron and update my blog. And you, my imaginary readers, shall reap the benefits of my lack of social life.
Aren't you lucky?
Ok, so the first thing I wanted to do tonight was make a list of all the books I read this year. Yeah, I'm that exciting! I didn't reach 52 this year, and I actually read fewer books than last year, but that's ok. I'm reading, I'm enjoying it, and that's the point of the #52booksin52weeks challenge.
01. Rebirth by Tyler Golec
02. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
03. Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen
04. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
05. Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
06. In The Beginning by Virginia Hamilton
07. Tarkin by James Luceno
08-11. The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
08. Alanna: The First Adventure
09. In The Hand of the Goddess
10. The Woman Who Rides Like A Man
11. Lioness Rampant
12. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
13. The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
14. The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures by Dave Stevens
15. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
16. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
17. I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali
18. Power Girl: Power Trip by Jimmy Palmiotti
19. Monster Musume vol. 1 by OKAYADO
20. Redwall by Brian Jacques
21. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
22. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
23. Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander
24. The Girl With The Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts
25. The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty
26. Red Planet by Robert Heinlein
27. The Lost Years (Merlin #1) by T.A. Barron
As you can see, it was a good year for reading. I read a variety of books, and only a few of these were re-reads from my younger years. A couple of them really didn't resonate with me, but overall, I'm happy with my list. Next year I'll have to turn up my reading volume again.
WORK
I wrapped up two glorious years at Hess in Yilan, Taiwan, transitioning to Rawlins High School in Rawlins, Wyoming, USA. What a big change! It was a very difficult decision for me to leave Taiwan and return to the States, but I felt that it was time for a change.
I had a wonderful experience in Taiwan. Hess was an interesting company to work for, but for me, it was all about the kiddos. They made my time there truly special. My coworkers were pretty wonderful, and I forged some lasting friendships there. I'm also glad that several of my former students have connected with me on social media so we can keep in touch.
I've almost finished the first semester here in Rawlins (it ends on January 19th), and it has been pretty awesome so far. I really enjoy teaching juniors, and I feel like I'm in a good place right now. I'm looking forward to continuing my work here as time goes on. I'm still getting to know my students, and I have a few who routinely stalk me on Instagram. So far, so good!
FORNEVER RPG
Oh man, 2017 has seen a lot of changes in my RPG system! I've done a lot to try and streamline the rules system even more, and I've made some small changes with wide-reaching impacts on the system as a whole. I don't have anything specific to announce regarding my timetable for release, other than "soonish."
WRITING
This year I won NaNoWriMo again, which is totally awesome. I wrote the second book in my fantasy trilogy, and I ended the month of November with a completed manuscript. Of course, it's rough as rough can be, and it definitely needs a tender beating with the Revision Stick, but it's done. The first book took a decade to write, and the second a month...I think that's progress?
I've basically given up on writing for Radish. I do need to finish that story at some point, and I'll continue to upload it to Radish (and eventually to Wattpad, as well), but I don't think the platform works for what I write.
Speaking of Wattpad...I've been keeping my fans waiting on M.A.I.D.S. [season 2] for entirely too long! I feel really awful about that, but my brain does weird things when I think about working on it. I know, I know, I need to finish it. I want to, it's just...complicated.
LIFE
Life is definitely improving, but that doesn't mean I'm not wracked by doubt and depression from time to time. I've accomplished so much, and yet, it feels wrong. At this point in my life I was supposed to have someone to share it with. Well, we can see how that turned out. I'm still bitter about that. I think about where I'm at and what I've become, and I feel like something's missing. Hopefully this year I will be able to work on that, as well.
It's not all doom and gloom, though! Things are improving, and like I wrote earlier, I'm in a good place. I have exciting things in the works, and the rest will come. I'm cautiously optimistic about 2018. Goodbye, 2017, you weren't all that bad. Thank you for the good, and thank you for the lessons.
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