impersona | It started out, I didn't plan it

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It started out, I didn't plan it

That Year in Review thing. I liked how prodigy did it, I'll add in a few more subjects.

WORK: Holy shit I had an amazing professional year, with some really great stuff lined up for the beginning of 2013, including going to the Adobe Summit in Salt Lake City and actually SPEAKING AT A CONFERENCE in late January. Someone at my level couldn't even dream of having a talk at a conference with senior leveled people in my field in attendence (and these are people from Microsoft, LinkedIn, etc) but that's what's coming up. I got two promotions this year, and some cute little bonuses to end the year with (like the iPad mini I've been glued to for the last two weeks. I really need to get serious and pursue new skills in my field in early 2013, so I am as marketable as possible for my next job.

HOME: Moved into my spacious little studio, and even though I keep on talking about upgrading...there is really a lot I like about this apartment, like how the kitchen is its own room, and how I never hear my other neighbors, EVER, and how close I am to work. And my favorite knitting shop is moving across the street....so for all of the hemming and hawing I do, I really like my place and it'll take a hell of an upgrade to get me to move on. Project for this month - get a taller stand for my TV, a new bookshelf, curtains to help keep in heat, rugs, and making my own pouf!

HEALTH: Actually a fine year in terms of health - there were two instances where I had to stay home sick, and my trigger symptom for stress changed from sore throats to a thing in my eye (think the dad from Daria). I've made big, big strides in my diet - I only have one soda a week now, virtually no sugary drinks except for honey in tea, lots of water, and now I'm holding myself accountable to a calorie counter, which has reduced the carbs I've been consuming. Bought a bike this year and was using it a lot more when the sun wasn't setting at 4 PM XD But have gotten into the habit of gym before work. Hoping to lose 20 lbs before Fanime.

SOCIAL: My biggest goal in 2012 was actually to improve my social skills and social life, which has worked fantastically. I now cycle between 6 groups on Meetup.com which I really like, have actually been to PARTIES and have fallen in love with strategy board games (even though I do really suck at them XD ). I also feel more socially confident at work and in my relationships with other people, including my family. The dating thing didn't work out, but I feel like I might be able to give that another shot this year.

CRAFTWERK: Shit I did a shitton of knitting this year, including my most complicated project to date, the Dwarven Battle Bonnet. Still have...5 presents to finish. I want to learn how to cable this year. I made my Musubi costume for Fanime this May and I really liked it - it was completely worth it to get nice fabric from Mood, and the mistakes I made this year will be really easy to fix for 2013. I'm building Lime from Saber Marionette J and also either Shauntal or Bianca from Pokemon for Fanime 2013. I have a dress I want to sew for myself, and my pouf. I started painting again this year and am starting to go to a monthly meetup related to drawing and painting so I can keep on going. I've been doing a hell of a lot of cooking this year, including lots of ice creams and pizza. Per usual.

READING/WRITING: MISERABLE FAILURES but that's okay, considering I got a lot of other things done. I might not have read anything this year if not for the book club I joined (the best book I read this year was Hunger Games, which shows you how far I got in expanding my horizons). Least favorite, by far, was Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson. For writing I remember making 5 fics I think, none of them tremendous works of art. I did enjoy writing my Yuletide fic this year, and I enjoyed writing the fairytale story for Fly in February and the Ice Guardians story in September.

MOVIES/TV: Much better year for movies than I expected - I can't call a favorite, except that it is a very tight draw between Wreck It Ralph, Rise of the Guardians, and Hunger Games. Avengers was also about 50 times better than I expected. I got intensely obsessed with Mythbusters this year, which is like my lullaby before I go to sleep these days. I watched all of Teen Wolf and Green Lantern: The Animated Series, both which were a billion times better than I thought they would be. For anime I watched Ouza (okay), Guin Saga (AWESOME), Folktales from Japan (SUGOI), Queen's Blade (BOOBIES), Puella Magi Madoka Magica (WUNDERBAR), but my favorite by a long shot was Fate/Zero.

GAMING/TECH: I have a WiiU! And I'll like it better once it has more games to it (THE OLD NINTENDO SONG AND DANCE, WHAT CAN YOU DO). My brother did give me Assassin's Creed 3, which I'll start playing tomorrow night. It was a badass year for the Nintendo 3DS this year - I played through the Ocarina of Time remake, Tales of the Abyss, Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance (MY FAVORITE), Pokemon Conquest, and Pokemon White 2. The gods were very kind to give me TWO Pokemon games this year, and also a Kingdom Hearts game which showed my babyboo Riku a lot of love.

As for tech, in a matter of two months I went from having no TV, an ancient iPod, and a dumbphone to a smartphone, two tablets, and a huge ass HDTV. Okay sure I'll take it.

ADVENTURES: I took a week and a half vacation to Pennsylvania and Washington DC this year, which was badass. I had Fanime, ALSO AWESOME AND A HALF. Kay visited me in July for almost two weeks, and I really liked having her around and doing adventures and having a goddamn guest in my apartment. And just yesterday I returned from a vacation to Las Vegas (with a swing down to Santa Barbara to find that Charis lives the fucking high life). Also Fyre and I did LOTS AND LOTS of small day things, like we learned how to make glass beads, went to a huge foodtruck rally in San Francisco, macaroon class, and took an adventure to Half Moon Bay with Pixie which was really charming. Adventures in 2013 will include: Vegas again, Salt Lake City (never been), New Orleans (never been, also ANGIE), probably New England in late spring, and probably Hawaii in the fall, plus definitely another weekend trip to south California, which is not the pit of hell which everyone in NoCal lead me to believe.

FINALLY, let's throw some meme flavor into here. If you write the phrase ADVENTURE POODLE in a comment, I will respond with 3 questions about how your 2012 went, and what you plan for 2013! You could respond in my comments, or pay it forward and into your own journal.

Have a great 2013 everyone! GET CRUNK TOMORROW. I'mma drink and slash some necks, hi Assassin's Creed.

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ADVENTURE DACHSUND

YA THINK YAR A SMARTASS, EH (you are)

1. What is the most important facet of your life which you want to change in 2013?
2. I've heard people argue about whether 2012 or 2013 felt like 'luckier' years, some people liking 2012 because it was an even number, or some people liking 2013 because it will be Year of the Snake. Completely arbitrarily, which number year do you prefer of the two, and what completely unscientific reason do you have to back up your choice?
3. Was there a month in 2012 you'd redo because you'd want to do it better? How about a month you'd redo because you want to relive the AWESOME?

Edited 2012-12-31 08:10 (UTC)

1. What is the most important facet of your life which you want to change in 2013? Full-time job! I need one!
2. I've heard people argue about whether 2012 or 2013 felt like 'luckier' years, some people liking 2012 because it was an even number, or some people liking 2013 because it will be Year of the Snake. Completely arbitrarily, which number year do you prefer of the two, and what completely unscientific reason do you have to back up your choice? There's something aesthetically pleasing about the number 2012, including that it's even, but 2013 is four different numbers and that has a whimsical quality. I'll go with 2013. Optimism wins.
3. Was there a month in 2012 you'd redo because you'd want to do it better? How about a month you'd redo because you want to relive the AWESOME? Redo, hahahahaha lots of them. Maybe September. Relive, I forget which month I went on my awesome road trip in, but that was awesome.

CABLING IS MY FAVORITE THING because it is actually super easy and like magic, I would be happy to talk it over with you!

Snow Crash (one of my life-changing books 20 years ago) suffers a lot from dating, I think; reading about VR in the 90s when The Internet was a magical college thing and MUDs were Holy Shit So Amazing is a lot different from trying to get into that world now.

See, I always assumed that cabling was super-complicated and not for me, but as I've been improving in the past year, now it seems entirely within my ability.

I am sorry that I didn't like Snow Crash better - part of it was that I didn't realize it had been written in the 90's until halfway through, so I was like ".....Second Life, the Novel? Big whoop." It's more impressive now that I know it predates that. Still, man, that infodump in the middle of the book kiiiiiilled me.

WHAT CAL SAID. I was totally intimidated by cables too, but then I sat down and tried them out, and they're really not all that hard! The hardest part for me is actually knitting the crossover if I'm working with a thick cable, but the principle is easy peasy, and you will wonder why you were so intimidated. XD

YES THIS IS EXACTLY IT and why I love them SO SO SO MUCH, they look so complicated but they're so easy to do you feel like a goddamn superhero. You don't actually need a special cable needle, either -- anything solid that will hold the stitches is fine (I use an extra smaller dpn when I'm doing cabled socks, for example).

Yeah, that's what I meant about dating really killing Snow Crash -- Diane Duane has a more modern version of the Second Life/VR Omniverse concept in Omnitopia Dawn from 2010.

ADVENTURE POODLE (I still think it was a Bischon Frise, but it doesn't matter, it was still adorable (though the childrens book we came up with was even better))

1. Are there any new skills you want to cultivate in 2013?
2. Favorite trip in 2012? Why?
3. Inspector Spacetime takes you on a wild adventure that involves you meeting yourself back in 1992. What would you tell yourself to look forward to 20 years from then? What to be wary of?

1. DISCIPLINE. Which is to say non-slackitude. I swear, I slacked harder in 2012 than I have ever slacked.

2. Hands down, the trip to the Bay Area in August for

feyandstrange and

digitalsidhe's wedding. I got to spend time with my family in Vegas AND with almost all my Bay Area friends AND I got to be part of an awesome wedding!

3. Look forward to: Some of the wildest adventures I have ever been on and meeting some of the most awesome people I have ever met. Be wary of: letting others decide my life for me.

YOU TOO ARE A MAYOR OF SUCCESSVILLE FOR ACCOMPLISHING LOTS OF THINGS THIS YEAR AND ALSO SPEAKING AT A CONFERENCE WOO!

ALSO ADVENTURE PUPPY!

I'll give you the keys to the city! Just don't do anything crazy you darned kids!

1. What was your favorite thing that you wrote in 2012?
2. How many unfinished knitty projects do you have from 2012? What are some crafty endeavors you have in mind for 2013?
3. People often talk about what decade they should have been born in. Are you happy with the decade you were born in, or do you feel like you were better suited to a past or future age?

1.) HM. Well, glancing through my gdocs list, I have to say I think it's actually the Valentine drabble I wrote for you. XD;;; The reason I say that though is that it was one of those rare moments where the story practically wrote itself once I knew where to take it. That, and I loved how Alice and Deon and Peter played off of each other. <3

2.) I've got all the Christmas knitting I'm still working on, and I have a barely started shawl that has been very fussy. I've also got a hat for a friend of mine, and I still want to continue the project of knitting ALL THE PLANETS. I've also got a couple of outstanding projects that have been kinda hibernating, a ruana that I'm thinking I might need to scrap because I think the baby alpaca is just gonna stretch horrifically, and a dalek that I promised a friend of mine and I just really need to sit down and finish. XD; I of course plan to do MOAR KNITTING in 2013, including some projects I've got queued up, like a shawl for myself and more socks. I also want to continue my cheese and jam making endeavors, and continue working on improving my sewing.

3.) Hmmm, that's hard to say. I know that I can get very old and crotchety about how quickly technology is moving (and when they CHANGE THINGS ON ME), but at the same time I don't think I'm necessarily suited to an earlier age. Being around during the explosion of SCIENCE! in the late 19th century/early 20th century would have been awesome, but my breasts might've prevented me from fully participating in that. Actually, I think I'm pretty happy being a child of the 80's. I only wish I was born a little bit earlier so I could have experienced more of it properly (as I was really only conscious of the last few years). But it's good in that I'm in a position where now I can do SCIENCE, and knitting and other crafty things are making huge comebacks, so I can participate in that as well. <3

Fuck YEAH ADVENTURE POODLE.
Pee on all the things!

1. What was the most delicious meal you had in 2012? Any new recipes you want to dig into in 2013?
2. What Chinese Zodiac animal are you, and does it have anything to do with your actual personality? In a cage match, who would win, your Chinese zodiac animal or your Western Zodiac?
3. If your life was a report card, then in what subject did you get a "Needs to Improve" in? Where did you feel best in class?

1. I can't pick a best meal. I'm picking best THINGS I ATE instead.
- Award for best side dish: COCONUT NAN (also learned that secretly they will make it for you ANYTIME if you just ask!)
- Award for best main course: Scallops with goat cheese and yam mousse and prickley pear suace at Parallel 88 in Springdale, Utah.
- Award for best dessert: Bread pudding with...whatever the hell it was with...from the Slanted Door at the foodtruck rally. SO good.

In 2013 I am going to get that damn pumpkin caramel right! I AM. I'm also keen to try Samosas again for the first time in years and years.

2. I'm a cock ;D And Aquarius. More aquarius then Rooster - although the rooster is the arty one too. And Rooster totally wins in a fight. TOTALLY.

3. "FInancial Planning" needs improvement. I keep buying art supplies and shoes instead of saving for retirement. But I am currently totally rocking gardening. This year was a pretty good garden year. 2013 will be EVEN BETTER. There will be tomatillos. :D

Adventure schnoodle!

1. What book of the 52 you read would you recommend for other people to read? Or even just me in particular?
2. Are there any skills you want to cultivate in 2013? Any new hobbies or activities you want to try?
3. Is there a month that you would want to replay and do better? Are there any months that were just BADASS AWESOME as is?

Adventure labradoodle!

1. If you were going to go on a great quest of vengence in 2013, against whom or what would you avenge youself?

2. What are 5 things that happened in 2012 that you didn't imagine happening a year from now?

3. Similarly, what would be 5 outrageous but AWESOME things to accomplish this year? Five things that, at the start of next year, you will be like "Well I didn't think that would happen but DAMN IT DID"

Edited 2013-01-02 20:19 (UTC)

1. MY VENGEANCE uhh I'm not actively angry at anyone, I managed to dump the people making egregious demands and now I'm focused on being so totally awesome and unreachable that they cry into their pillows at night going WHYY WHYY I LUVVED HER WHYY. Then, once I'm more solidly -somewhere-, maybe I'll reach back and help them out. A little. But on my own deadline, not theirs.

2. 2012 was a whole lot of nothing.
1. I hunkered down on my bank account I guess, managed to surpass one goal there by a small amount.
2. I did technically move IN 2012, in the dregs of the last day of the year right before January 1st.
3. Started working on my new wardrobe of high-quality neutral pieces for office work, which can be paired with stylish black leather accessories and all kinds of cute stuff. Stopped having a heart attack over $100 price tags, since the clothing's going to last a long time, it feels great, and fits even better. No more Old Navy. :x
4. Severed from my job, giving a friend a crack at the position since she's in a bad situation.
5. Got new job.
...These were not listed in order of importance. XD

3. 5 Outrageous Things!
1. It'd be cool if I could get the Saskira rough draft complete, maybe even get a 1st draft that's legible for beta-reading. I flipped through what I had the other day and it wasn't bad, just rough.
2. Completing the Twelve Days greeting card set and getting 500 copies printed for sale, that'd be sweet.
3. Getting a 1000-piece run of my sticker business cards would also be very cool.
4. Meeting people from Google and sneaking into that place. SURPRISE I WORK HERE, NOW.
5. Having somewhere permanent in Mission District to live! :) Preferably before the end of the month.

ADVENTURE CAVAPOO

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT IS

1. What have you done this year that was totally outside of the realms of anything you would ordinarily do? Did you surprise yourself in any way this year?

2. Name 3 things in your living space that you need to update or upgrade before Dec. 31st 2013.

3. Oh no! The Mayans were a year off, and you've found proof that civilization as we know it will end on Dec. 22nd, 2013! What kind of projects or skill-building regimes will you want to have available in your Nuclear Party Bunker to keep you happy for the next few years?

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It started out, I didn't plan it

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