By all metrics 2017 should be worse than 2016, but I honestly don't feel like it has been for me.
Like last year I wanted to go through and put together a brief history of my year, along with a list of some of my favourite things from this year.
So, let's fire up the WABAC Machine and take a look, shall we...
January: Ma's shoulder was still messed up after her fall. I replied to a 22 year old letter from myself.
February: Good Game came to an end after 10 years. On reflection, it's still a dumb decision. My job at The Nut House finally got advertised. The modem I've had for several years passed away quietly in the night. Fringe started.
March: Fringe continued, culminating in 22 Fringe shows and 2 Festival shows. I turned 43. We found out that Ma's shoulder operation from last year was a flop and would require another try. I had an interview for the job.
April: I didn't get the job. I left work a week later.
May: I started growing a beard, at first through laziness, but then on purpose. I got new glasses, which look exactly the same as the old glasses. I checked out the Wonderwalls artwork at Port Adelaide. I posed nude for a group of artists. Ma had her second shoulder operation.
June: Ma's 70th birthday. We went to 3 Cabaret Festival shows. I threw my back out slightly, again.
July: I went to play Dungeons and Dragons for the first time. Ma started driving again.
August: I had iPhone drama. I went to see the folks from My Dad Wrote a Porno live.
September: Ma drove to my place for the first time in ten months. We saw yet another version of Macbeth. I played DnD at a convention, my character died. The modem I replaced in February died.
October: Nothing much of interest happened, although we did go to more theatre.
November: I DM'd my first game of DnD. We went to Fork on the Road for the first time since July last year.
December: The usual Christmas insanity happened... putting up the tree, making goodies, having Christmas at Ma's place. I played DnD at one of the DM's houses, as well as a charity game.
See, it should have been a shit year, I lost my job and spent over half the year unemployed. But Ma is definitely on the mend, and DnD became something major in my life (more on that in a sec).
Like last year, I didn't get laid a lot (am I surprised, no, not really), but unlike last year there were relatively few "major" health things that sprang up, beyond the occasional issue with my back and the recurring ear problems.
I also wore my glasses a whole lot less this year, not because my eyes got any better, in fact my prescription got stronger, but it now means I can't view things close up while wearing them as well (as opposed to far away, which is what they're for), and most everything I do is close up stuff.
I also feel like I didn't gain much weight this year, due in part to being out of the house three times a week, and not eating quite as much generally.
I've also been generally a lot calmer, part of which I attribute to the lack of work stresses.
Moving on to things I really liked this year...
yani's favourite things 2017
In no particular order...
Dungeons and Dragons
It should be pretty fucking obvious given the number of times I've mentioned it in the above rundown, but DnD became pretty important to me this year. It's something I've wanted to do since at least 2003. But I never had anyone to do it with.
That all changed when I discovered Adventurer's League, I've now played 68 games and DM'd 14 more. It also makes me leave the house three times a week and talk to actual real live people face to face and everything.
Acquisitions Incorporated: The C Team
Closely linked to the previous thing, The C Team is an offshoot of the long-running Acquisitions Incorporated DnD podcast/live show which premiered two days after my birthday (or 16 March) and has become a weekly ritual.
AI has always been yet another reason why DnD seemed like an amazing thing to do, but the main game episodes were always few and far between. Being a weekly show though, C Team really stoked that fire in a big bad way.
It also contains some of the best roleplaying I've seen, and has attracted some of the most amazing fan artists. Hell, I even broke an incredibly long creative writing drought to write some NSFW fan fiction.
The combination of this and me not working and finding a local AL group really got me through the door to play DnD.
To quote myself from the last C Team AMA on Reddit:
And a very big and specific thank you to Kate... Rosie's great grandson, Belben Beestinger (of the Silverymoon Beestingers, the ones with the bakery), is now a L8 Arcane Trickster Rogue with entirely too many magic items. I've met more people I now consider friends in the last six months than I had in the last ten years, and it was your generosity in allowing us to play Beestingers that finally got me so excited about playing that I got off my butt, out the door and into a game. I've also DM'd a bunch of games and love doing it. AI and the C Team got me almost all the way there, but playing a Beestinger was that last push I needed. Stay awesome.Firewatch
Firewatch was an indy game I'd had my eye on for a while, although I don't remember when or where I first saw it... it may have popped up in either YouTube "Let's Play" videos or a list of the top games of 2016, but I didn't get around to playing it until 2017.
It's amazing. And I love it. It also has one of the most interesting ways into a game I think I've ever come across.
I'm also very excited about the game they announced recently, In The Valley Of Gods, although that won't be out until 2019.
Uncharted 4
I never got around to writing anything up for it, but I also played Uncharted 4 this year. In many ways it feels like a game that nestles neatly into the Assassin's Creed universe, even though it's from a completely different developer.
And yes, there were probably a ton of references that I missed given that this is the first Uncharted game I've ever played, but none of it got in the way of me really enjoying myself or the absolutely stunning visuals.
Movies
We're still not up to the "every other week" model of movies, but I did see 14 movies actually at the cinema this year (as opposed to last year's 10). Still not enough for it's own post anymore I don't think, but there were definitely some standouts.
In no particular order, Hidden Figures, Moana and Thor: Ragnarok (although if you wanted to push me, I'd probably rank them in that order).
They're all very different, but what they have in common is a great story and memorable characters.
So that's that... 2017, done, dusted and in the bag.
All I really want for 2018 is "good changes"... I have no idea what that looks like on the ground, but I just want things in general to be better this time next year.
And as always, tonight just before 5:30pm marks my Twitter anniversary, this one being my 8th.
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