Personal things that have happened:

• one kid graduated high school and left for college, then got caught in a hurricane, but is fine now. Considering the amount of stress and upheaval he experienced, his first semester of college went fairly well.


• I changed positions within the same organization, but have a whole new set of co-workers to adjust to


• one kid moved to Michigan to be with his girl (she's awesome, so I have no objections, he's just far away)


• I was offered a beautiful young German shepherd from a friend who has too much family to properly deal with the dog. I reluctantly turned it down because I work too many hours and have no other pets to help with socializing him. Plus, my knowledge of what a German shepherd needs is pretty limited. All of my prior dogs have been Labrador retrievers. I remain tempted, but am resisting.

Fannish things:

• My active (non-lurking) participation in fandom remains in the art direction. (Can a person use up all their words? I write a sentence or two of an idea, and then abandon it. I think I used up all my words in the previous decade). I've arted for Captain American Reverse Bang, and the Captain America Big Bang over the past year.


• Fandoms I've been lurking in: MCU (see above), Stranger Things, due South (way to be late to the party, Rae), and anything else my friends throw my way in the form of recs. *hint hint*

Books, movies, TV shows, etc.:

• Aside from the non-fiction books that I read as a way to improve my professional practice, I read The Martian, The Terror (I've read several fictional treatments of the Franklin Expedition, and that was before I ever watched due South), and The Mountains Echoed, which I sort of stole from my school library, but then gave back when I finished. Currently, I'm reading The Children of Húrin, which was a Christmas gift from one of my children.


• I don't really go to the theaters much for movies anymore. Actually I think the only thing I saw in the theaters this year was Black Panther. I'm attempting to get in the entire oeuvre of Taika Waititi before year end. The only film I have left to see is Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which we are going to try to watch either tonight or Sunday night. Whichever night we don't watch that, we plan to watch Venom, which is my younger son's fav Spider-verse character.


• I watched all of due South over the summer. I've watched the first season of several shows but been 'meh' about getting to the next season, including Glow, The Magicians and The Good Place. For completely unhinged baking, I watched Zumbo's Just Desserts.


• I will attend only two live NHL games this calendar year. I did not get a Dallas Stars ticket package for the second season in a row, mostly because the people who frequently go to games with me live in different states (see above). We're going tomorrow night, though.

Personal thinky things:

• I consider myself pretty well plugged-in with tech, but this year I found that I really enjoy analog journaling. I don't do the full-on bullet journal thing, which would work better if my job involved doing different things from day to day. But I have a nice hardbound journal and a good fountain pen, where I keep up with tasks and events in my days. It would be excruciatingly boring to post here, but I like having a summary and record of happenings.


• With my kids scattering to different corners of the country, I've started thinking about where I would move if I could. What would my ideal situation be? I don't know at this point, but it's on my mind. I would hate to leave this house, but like everything else, sometimes you just have to let go. I have a realtor friend who would love to sell it for me.^_^


• Another Christmas gift from a child was a water color art journal, so I'm going to try to make something in it once a week. A full piece, but not one that I would necessarily feel like posting somewhere. I haven't had anything that fills in the gaps between the random crap in my sketch book and full-on, hours-of-work paintings, so I'm eager to start with the art journal!

Okay, the coffee is gone, so I need to go finish a piece for artyuletide.

(Also: *so* many html tags! I hope I closed them all!!!)