First my meara, then my yearly update.

I'm still in Massachusetts, currently unemployed, but getting married.

I just love reading this again and again. So happy for you.

I have the same job. ...I feel boring.

meara, so not boring! With the dancing and drama and travel. Your posts never bore me.

Only news to report, really, is that I bought a HOUSE this summer.

How exciting! And congrats on the 65 mile bike ride. Well done.

Things that have changed - I moved to Vermont!

And you sound much happier. Enjoy your first season in winter wonderland.

Had my gastric bypass last Thanksgiving, and have lost 190 pounds so far

Your journey has been most impressive. I know how much work it has been for you.

I am also continually grateful to work for an outfit that values its employees, and tries to make up for low pay by treating us like we matter.

You do indeed matter, Andi. What you do is very emotionally difficult work. Still sending healing vibes toward Daniel.

Mac has had a great year.

The posts about his progress in school and in life are so uplifting. You and he are so lucky to have each other.

I should know by November sometime if I'm to be hired as a permanent employee

Job~ma, Consuela. That stress off your plate would be nice.

Still geeking over eagles and swans and tulips and mountains and the sheer beauty of my adopted state.

Oh sure, make me want to visit even more than I already do!

Still attending 10-12 conventions a year. Most recently, Renovation(WorldCon in Reno) and Intervention(local con about webcomics and other on-line stuff that we day-tripped). Next up, OVFF(Ohio Valley Filk Fest)

I enjoy reading the convention posts. We don't do them so I get to live vicariously a bit through you.

Since the last Delurking thread, I had a baby!

Ok, that would be the big exciting type update. Aeryn is absolutely precious. I have been enjoying the pictures and vidoes the past few months.

I graduated (finally) in May 2011. BS in Organizational Behavior (Magna Cum Laude, sorry, really proud of that, so tooting my own horn, toot toot).

You should be proud. That is fabulous news.

I exercise every day, and I have tricked myself into looking forward to it because I listen to funny podcasts when I work out.

Oh! Good idea. Who do you find a good fit for the exercise?

Still here, still lurking, still show up at various Buffista functions in the company of the incomparable Beth B

Hi Matt!

Let's see. Same old same old with me. A bit less of me as DH and I are seriously dieting. He has lost a lot more than me, but both still headed in the right direction.

Still married and living in the same place with the most excellent DH. Still have 2 teenage boys, that is as stressful as one might imagine. 23 years now owning this business with DH. Business is also stressful.

Mom is 90 now and doing pretty good all things considered. Brandy is 15 and not doing too good. Starting her on some new drugs for canine cognitive dysfunction in addition to her pain and arthritis meds.

Most exciting new stuff is we have a new bigger shiny boat. One of my doctors had to get rid of it because his mother told him he didn't have time for a boat with his 4 kids. Gotta love the Chinese matriarch that doesn't hesitate to tell her grown physician son how to live his life, and he doesn't consider not doing as he is told. So they had it appraised and sold it to us for half price. Now if only I had time to use it.

Don't have nearly the amount of time I would like to spend here, but I try and catch up with Recent on the weekend.

Okay, Laura just did the best meara ever. I love this thread, as much for the juicy nugget-sized life-bits, as for the delurkers and re-delurkers coming around for the first time in forever (or actually ever). It's like the recaplet version of all those things that have been going on in the threads I barely manage to keep up with the rest of the year!

I'm not sure any of that was actual English.

As for me, I'm still in the same town and the same house with the same dude. But we both have new jobs (him: left the bookstore for a way cool office! me: left the looniversity to freelance!) and a new cat. We all mess with computers a lot. Including, unfortunately, the cat.

Crazy amounts of our time go into fencing. I tend not to talk about it all that much, because, seriously, jus t because it takes 10,000 hours to master a sport doesn't mean that y'all should have to spend that whole 10,000 hours listening to me bitch about how pissed I am that I've been holding my blade, like, 3 degrees off where I want it this whole time and anyway I stink and my quads hurt.

Who do you find a good fit for the exercise?

For me, I like podcasts that are funny, engaging, and nerdy, because when I'm listening to them I barely even notice that I've been on the treadmill for an hour.

My top three are Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, The Nerdist, and WTF with Marc Maron.

Oh! I should try exercise with Cabin Pressure.

Not a lot has changed since last year. Weight flutuates, job eats brain, kid eats brain leftovers. Down one cat, up one dog.

Oh, Wait Wait is a great idea! That show flies for me.

So amych, do you have video of you fencing up somewhere? I would love to see your swagger.

I heard this on the radio this morning - a website that lets you pick music to match your heart rate.

So amych, do you have video of you fencing up somewhere? I would love to see your swagger.

No, I don't having anything to put up anywhere, but ::blush:: -- when I look at video I'm mostly thinking "what do I need to work on", not swagger!

Other way good podcasts--the Kevin Pollack Chat Show and The Proopcast from Greg Proops. Smart and funny.

Wow! You have no idea how much time I have spent finding music that is just the right beats per minute. It makes such a difference.

(do we get stomped for Nattering here?)

eta: Marking all the ideas!