Secret Santa gift should go in the mail, tomorrow. I've had everything for about a week, but haven't made the push to get it to the post office. That will change, tomorrow, as I made an appointment to get my picture taken and apply for a passport!

Folks may know my father passed away a little over a year ago, which made this year a bit of a melancholy affair, learning new routines/roles in the family to compensate for his loss. While it's been sad, it's also brought the few of us remaining that much closer. We actually do more things together and there's more of a feeling of support between everyone. So we take the good with the bad and hope for better as time goes on.

One of the consequences of Dad's passing is the distribution of his estate, which my brother is taking his own sweet time about. It's a bit annoying, but I'm in no financial difficulties at the moment, so I'm waiting patiently for whatever comes out of it. The only thing that has paid out so far was his remaining state pension, which since J. had to notify the state so they'd quit sending his pension check, it triggered the payout of that. It's been just enough to treat myself to a few nice things and paying off some debts (credit card, student loan!)

The major nice thing is that I'm able to use a portion of it on a trip to Milan next March for the World Figure Skating Championships, hence, the passport. It's the first real vacation I've taken in 6-7 years and the first time I've been able to get overseas since I got out of the Navy in 1993. I'm so grateful to be able to do this that it brings me to tears knowing that the only reason I can do this is because Dad died. It's joyful and bittersweet at the same time.

The header to this thread made me laugh, not just because it's hilarious in its nonsense, but because I just finished off a stollen full of marzipan. Sometimes, the Buffy!Bot got it at least partially right.

ANNOUNCEMENT: I am ever so slightly slack in my elfishness! I have things ready to go but won't be able to get to the post office during normal hours until Tuesday. My apologies, dear recipient!

Now, as for 2017:

Unfortunately, as you probably already know, Donald Trump.

On a more personal note, it was a mixy year. I used all my vacation time for the first time EVER -- New York for my dad's 75th birthday plus Hamilton; New Orleans for our anniversary and a chance to see smonster's favorite dive bar; a restorative week on the Outer Banks in the off season (I've never really enjoyed beach vacations because I hate the crowds and the sitting around on a hot beach. turns out that going halloween week fixes both problems.)

I made a point of making things -- art things, craft things, food things -- and did a lot of reflecting on what it means to practice and to do stuff that's resolutely in the physical world.

I took up the guitar because a switch flipped in my head that said "I wanna rock and roll". Three whole weeks ago, so oy do I suck. But I'm in love with playing every day. That's good enough for now.

I finished my 2017 reading challenge without counting any books by white men (other than the one I was halfway through at the beginning of the year). I ate my vegetables. Mostly. We had work done on the house, which both improved things greatly and also threw us into chaos for longer than I liked.

We were adopted by a second cat. The first cat is still not altogether thrilled, but they've more or less reached detente, and are sleeping about 6 feet away from each other as I write this.

I came thiiiiiiiis close to walking away from my job, but then switched to a different team within the company, which relieved the immediate frustrations. The tech world is absolutely a fucking trashfire, but my company remains better than most, and I'm grateful for that.

Anne - Yay glad you got everything.

aurelia, did I send two ornaments? Well, that clears up some confusion. Ornaments aren't all that useful after Christmas -- sorry! There should be two more things coming for you.

My big box of gifties are here!!! Thank you, Kat (& family)!! I have guests now but I'll report fully tomorrow!

Finally finished the novel this year. Kind of wish I had a better strategy for picking an agent than the back of my favorite books and who has a friendly pic on QueryTracker, because it's not really working so far, but I've only been blown off a few times...need to pace myself about that.

Working for a PAC means I can't really escape current events the way some of you can...it's What We Do.(This has cost me in what passes for my dating life, as I no longer much match the Manic Pixie Dream Crip in my dating profile.I am actually sad about that, because, all jokes aside, I am like that on my best day, but they don't come around that much...which is a bummer, even without the feeling that you are bait-and-switching someone into possibly liking you.)I could rewrite the profile, but don't know how real I can get and still be appealing to humans. Also, I may actually be too busy, for the first time in a decade and a half. I actually do like what I do, except it would be nice to be paid, and I really didn't expect things to still get so "Turning Point". I probably used the money I might have used for a Secret Santa present for a billboard that talks smack about Paul Ryan, or to buy Doug Jones some pivotal post-its.
In fannish news, Simon and I do talk on Twitter on occasion now. Wouldn't say that slavish hero worship *pays off* exactly, but considering the first time we spoke, he kind of told me off, I think that's a good evolution.

Glad it arrived, Lisa.

aurelia, did I send two ornaments? Well, that clears up some confusion.

You did, yes. If you need one back, let me know.

It's been a hard year in a lot of ways — it's actually a little absurd how many family members and and friends died this year, and by November, when 1 more family member and 1 more acquaintance died, I was pretty much numb to it, and that's where I am right now.

We lost Kato and Slinky, and even though they were at the natural end of their lives and we were damned lucky to have them as long as we did (15 1/2 is an exceptionally long life for a dog Kato's size, and almost 21 is an exceptionally long life for any cat), it was so fucking hard to lose them.

Politics. Jesus. I feel so demoralized and crushed on the regular.

My fucking depression relapsed really badly, perhaps unsurprisingly.

The parent who *didn't* have a history of heart disease (my mom) had to have major heart surgery at the age of 70, which was terrifying.

BUT.

Two Christmas gifts I make every year are (1) a calendar for all of Tim's family members, using photos from the past year, and (2) a ViewMaster reel for Tim of the highlights of our past year. Putting those things together made me realize that we had a LOT of highlights. There was a lot of good. Weddings of family and friends, a lot of concerts (more than in the last 15 years combined, literally), other shenanigans and outings. My brother and SiL were home for 2 weeks over the summer, and I got to spend a LOT of time with my brother, which doesn't always happen when he's in town.

We found our next kitty in our own backyard, literally. Murderbiscuit is the devil but also a source of amusement, and a BIG source of joy for Tim.

I started Prozac at the end of September, which has made a HUGE difference. I'm more motivated and more energetic and engaged.

Because my mom is healthier and in better shape than some people 20 years younger than her, she sailed through heart surgery with flying colors and recovered quickly and uneventfully and was back to teaching yoga in 2 months.

The daith piercing I got in November for my migraines seems to be helping, though it's only been 6 weeks, so it's still a bit too early to say for sure. I can say that, in the 6 weeks since I got the piercing, a migraine has tried to start twice, and I've managed to stop it within a few hours with meds, which almost never happened in the past year or two. So I'm cautiously optimistic about it. Plus, it looks cool.

In the past few years I've noticed a trend of people picking a word/phrase for the upcoming year (like "create" or "commit" or whatever). My phrase was "do the work." And my goal was to do the hard work in therapy, and at my job, and for my physical health. I can say I really did meet my goals in those areas. Therapy has been so fucking hard, but very helpful. Work was good this year -- I get good feedback and I'm sticking with the AMA for another year. When I walked the Flying Pig 5K in May, I finished in under an hour (57 minutes) for the first time, which I am so fucking proud of.

My word for 2018 is "focus." I want to really narrow in on what's important (my marriage), the areas where changes need to happen (I would like to get rid of half the shit in this house, and "half" is genuinely not an exaggeration), and things I want to continue (I'd like to beat 57 minutes in the 2018 Flying Pig 5K).

And as always, I'm so grateful for all of you.

I've been trying to think of one good thing from every month in 2017, it's challenging mostly because my memory is crap.

The year over all was horrible in the big picture, but not so bad for me personally.

Jan - The Women's March which did spark in me something and was a good day if not quite a march for me personally.

Feb - Moonlight won Best Picture which was my favorite and made me so emotional. Mac got his learner's permit. Nevertheless, She Persisted.

March - Spring Break trip to LA, saw friends, relaxed, visited Disney, good times. Started watching Walking Dead.

April - Started coloring a stripe in my hair. Started my Chris Evans retrospective (which I need to pick back up!). Old 97s County Fair for the second time, seeing Mavis Staples live was the highlight.

May - Covfefe. Garage sale #1. I got rid of an entire bedroom suite which was a big step in move prep.

June - changed the hair stripe to teal.

I can only manage half the year thus far.