I'm excited! Tomorrow I'll post a summary here of 2019, now that it doesn't depress me as much. Ha!

quester! Your card finally arrived today! It's lovely, thank you so much.

Slightly belated thank yous to Theodosia and Epic - your lovely cards arrived a few days ago.

(This was so much fun!)

Posting super-late here is a thing, right? Almost tradition for some of us?

Firstly, all my love to the folks who've had rough years. Even if I haven't been posting, you're in my thoughts.

2019 included:

- Launching my Patreon, and while there was a nice response, it wasn't enough to make it the don't have to get a day job thing I was hoping. But I'm still doing it.

- The 10th anniversary of the Gothic Charm School book!!! It's still in print, I'm earning royalties, and apparently I'm a good influence on people's lives.

- I applied to a tech writer job at the strangest company I've ever considered, and they fell over themselves to interview me and give me a job offer. I now work for someplace where our direct customers are law enforcement and government agencies, but our company goal is to be a force for good and make the world fairer and less deadly, so I don't feel my ethics are being compromised for a paycheck.

- Finally, on Dec. 23rd I had a muscle & nerve spasm in my back that won me a ride in an ambulance and a night in the hospital. Being carried down stairs while strapped to a backboard 0/10, would not recommend. I'm mostly better, but I'm still dealing with my left leg being weak and occasionally not working.

May 2020 be a hell of a lot better for all of us.

Holy shit, Atropa, in both the good and the bad way. Being carried down something while strapped to a backboard is very scary. May your back and leg get better quick. Muscle & nerve spasms are no joke.

But your new place of employment sounds great. Um, are they hiring

Oh! Hey! Thread still here! And I skip these most years because I feel like the update is mostly the same every year, but then I see everyone else's and delight in hearing from people I don't hear from all that often!

2019 started with fleeing a job I really really loved at one point, that turned really toxic. Over half the software team left within 3 or so months. That kind of toxic.

My current job is... not really a dream job either, thanks largely to a couple of fairly stereotypical techbros in particular, but it pays more and I care about it less. I can stick it out there for a bit.

In the mean time, we were found by a third cat by our usual method of "oh hi sucker humans I am starving on your back porch and you appear to be a sucker". I have gotten deeper into my expensive habit/hobby of building guitars which I one day will get good enough at to sell. Spouse is still heavily involved in fencing as a coach, referee, and (now that he's finally over 40) newly-successful competitor in what we lovingly call the old-farts division. I'm out of the sport for a few years now, and I miss it like fire but also don't miss the level of both joint pain and competition burnout. I bake a lot of bread.

2020 began with our offer on a SHINY NEW HOUSE [link] , which we close on in a month and holy sheepdip how are we ever going to get ourselves together to move even a mile away dear lord I do not have msbelle-level gtd superpowers. Like at all. But it's very pretty and we'll have enough room to actually have people come by! Including wandering buffistas!

But it's very pretty and we'll have enough room to actually have people come by! Including wandering buffistas!

Yay house! (Also, I swear that one year on our way to Topsail, we'll actually stop to see the NC-istas.) (I doubt we're going to the beach this year, though, since Tim's time off is already spoken for.)

What a terrific house, amych! So much light. And yes, msbelle does indeed have superpowers. If possible to swerve in your direction on my annual FL-NY-FL treks I will do that.

(Also, I swear that one year on our way to Topsail, we'll actually stop to see the NC-istas.) (I doubt we're going to the beach this year, though, since Tim's time off is already spoken for.)

Please tell Tim to use his recovering-from-heart-surgery time off to its best benefit, because next year I will remind you again that we are -- no longer a block from the interstate, but a mile from the interstate, which oughta be close enough!

Ooh, nice house!!