Aw!

Adorable!

Can we buy these? Can msbelle sell 'em? Make a damn mint!

And yes, msbelle is awesome.

Dang, that's fantastic!

What a great idea, msbelle!

Yow.

2011 downs: worked as a $10.25/hr file clerk, then worked as a $9.50/hr supermarket cashier. Still scared to look at my final grade on the really hideously difficult programming course I took in the spring. I actually did learn a lot and sharpened up my programming skills, but I turned in assignments that only half-worked at best.

More bad 2011: Mom's health took another hit this fall, and she's on 24/7 oxygen now, and is reacting to this with panic attacks and depression and what's called 'medical anorexia. She's 89 and still sharp, so it's hard to watch.

More bad 2011 for my immediate family: one brother continues to have impaired use of his left arm/hand and will go through another surgery to help relieve pressure on nerves this week. Other brother had a persistent sore throat, went to the doctor, was referred to another, who called a top Nose Ear Throat guy and was in surgery within the week for a cancerous tonsil. My 82yo aunt (mom's only sibling) fell and got a concussion two weeks before Christmas.

And my roommate is still struggling with chronic depression and serious health issues, and is supposed to be going to an inpatient program at McLean's in a couple weeks.

Next rock:

2011 wasn't without some good, though: I finally landed a programming job! It's a temporary contract, that's been extended once already, but a break that I really really needed, which gives me the business hands-on that I needed.

Also, I've been climbing out of the financial credit hole that extended unemployment/under-employment had slowly created. My roommate paid me back for money she owed me by using her university discount to buy me a MacBook Air so I could do my homework for the class I took.

I got to spend time with family a couple of times this year, including time at the beach, and staying with my Mom. Didn't get to go to a F2F or Worldcon or Vividcon or travel anyplace fascinating, but Having A Job trumped all.

2012 -- well, the contract job situation is uncertain. My manager wants me to stay, but his manager, and his manager's manager were reassigned/replaced, and so whether he gets the budget to keep me is a toss up.

I plan to work hard and get my financial house in order, and if the money is there get some long-deferred house repairs (gutters! paint job!) done. Still paying off the furnace replacement from 2010.

I will happy make anyone a buffista calendar and/or poster, but it will not be like Scola's.

I kept forgetting to upload and post this! Here's amyth and I and our Buffista Heart picture - [link]

Hey smonster, could you email me that picture? I don't have a flickr account anymore.