Farewell 2005
Dec. 31st, 2005 03:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orikesAll in all, 2005 has been a pretty good year for me. I didn’t find the love of my life or win the lottery, so I’m still waiting for those things to show up, but otherwise, things went better than they have in the past few years.
I began the year unemployed. Again. But by the end of February I had been hired for a job that I am, amazingly enough, still working today. Fortune really favored me by having this job land in my lap. It’s a ten minute bus ride that I could probably walk if I was ambitious enough to get up early enough to do it (and the weather wasn’t total crap). I’m getting paid a decent wage for the first time in five years, and I’m actually starting to make some headway on my bills. They seem to like me too, since they’ve given me slightly more responsibility than the average rep in the same position I’m in.
I’m really hoping that this job goes permanent. I know the minimum time someone has to put in to even see a glimmer of hope at being made a real Kodak employee is eighteen months. That’ll be coming up next fall, so it’s not really that far off. If I’m lucky. Either way, I do have a possibility of getting a raise come my anniversary, which will be at the beginning of March. The whole situation may not be perfect, but with what I’ve gone through in the last few years, I’m pretty content right now.
Part of that contentment may be from the fact that I’ve been utilizing my creative skills doing work for TPK. For those that don’t know, TPK is my friend Jason’s e-publishing company. We got Escape from Alcatraz! out at the beginning of September, and we’ve got another book due out this January. I’ve really enjoyed getting to stretch my creative muscles doing the design and layout for these books. I was really intimidated at first and thinking I was in way over my head, but the look of Alcatraz has gotten good reviews, and I’ve already gotten compliments on the look of the new book. And while the monetary payout isn’t nearly enough to qualify as even a part-time job, it’s still happening. It helped with Christmas, that’s for sure.
On top of those two ‘professional’ things, I’ve gotten more into my photography this year. Having a digital camera (as well as access to a wide variety of digital cameras at work) has really opened things up for me. The last couple of months have been a little slower because I’ve been so busy with other things, but it’s been a blast just being able to photograph what I want, when I want, and see the results immediately. I do have to do something about those undeveloped rolls of film, though.
Another momentous occasion in the realm of gaming this year was that I actually GM’d face-to-face for the very first time ever. The gaming group wasn’t about to take ‘no’ for an answer, and pushed and prodded me into actually setting up and running a game. I’m still very nervous about GMing, and I’m never as prepared as I’d like to be (that whole procrastination thing), but it’s not nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be. I don’t suck!
In addition to that, the gaming group’s Eberron game is going really well. TJ is a great GM and I love the character I play in his game. We’re hopefully going to be getting into a little more role-playing than just roll-playing soon, but the hack-en-slash end of things has been a blast, even if my dice hate me.
On the virtual side of gaming, it’s been both a good year and a bad year. I’ve pretty much stuck to the same MUX. I was asked to staff in April, and ended up stepping down in December. In that time frame, I reaffirmed to myself that I can be a pretty damn good staffer. I also learned there is a limit to how much crap I’ll take before even I have to say it’s not worth it anymore. When it’s an up hill battle every day to do the right thing for the game, it’s time to call it quits.
I’m not sure where my virtual life will be going in the next year. I know there’s going to be some big changes, but what they’re going to be, isn’t exactly clear. Jason’s Worlds of Wonder will be opening in the next few months, and while I don’t have a character idea on hand, I imagine I’ll be throwing something together to play over there. We’ll see.
When it comes to my family, 2005 has been a bit of a mixed bag. My brother is doing pretty well for himself, in that he has a decently paying job as the head cook at a bar and grill. He mentioned something about them being nominated for the Best Nachos in New England. I wish he’d cut back on the drinking and be a little smarter on how he handles his money, but one step at a time, I guess.
Dad is doing good for himself. He was in a car accident this fall and suffered some pretty major whiplash because of it. I think he’s finally starting to get past the worst of that, but he is getting older, so it’s taking longer and longer to bounce back from injuries like that. He finally got a good, full-time job at the hospital, though. He still occasionally works the info desk job there too, but he seems to be slowing down at least a little. I still wonder where his workaholic genes went when it came to me and my brother. I still get to have Christmas with him sometime this coming month. Hopefully I get to see him soon.
Opposite to my dad, things with my mother have been pretty scary. She’s sixty-three going on eighty-five. If it weren’t for my Uncle living with her, she’d probably have to be living in an assisted care facility right now. Between the Parkinsons, the developing Emphysema, and the heart trouble… It’s pretty scary. They’re going to be doing the surgery on her heart this January. I’m hoping for the best but bracing for the worst.
Of course, all that makes me worry about my own health issues. My weight is a pretty scary thing, and even though I’m not experiencing any overt problems with it right now, it’s the type of thing that can start happening fast. I try and keep things relatively under control on that front, but it’s never been something I’m good at. Mostly I’m healthy, though. I’ve had a couple of serious colds this year and I twisted up my knee really good last March (don’t wear your sneakers on a snowy day), but beyond that, things are okay.
On a lighter note, I got a chinchilla this year. I adore the little fluff ball even if he has attitude to spare and the cats aren’t sure what to make of him. Pippin (the chinchilla) and Pashenko (the fat cat) tend to take turns taunting one another. They make for some amusing company.
While I still don’t have any small people of my own, it’s been a great joy this year getting to be buddies with my friends’ small people. The year started with them having two small people (a four year old and an eighteen month old) and has ended with them having three small people (a five year old, a two and a half year old, and a six month old). One of the best things in the world is to talk to a two-year old on the phone who says, “Ang, I miss you. I want come to your house.”
Anyway, I think I’m done rambling on the merits of 2005. Overall, it’s been a good year. No year will ever be perfect, but looking back things seem to be on the upswing. In 2006, I hope to have a car on the road again (hopefully by Spring), get more done with TPK, grow a bit further with Kodak… Well, you get the picture.
If anyone’s even still reading this, may you and yours have a wonderful and safe New Year’s Eve, and a great start to 2006. Happy New Year!
I began the year unemployed. Again. But by the end of February I had been hired for a job that I am, amazingly enough, still working today. Fortune really favored me by having this job land in my lap. It’s a ten minute bus ride that I could probably walk if I was ambitious enough to get up early enough to do it (and the weather wasn’t total crap). I’m getting paid a decent wage for the first time in five years, and I’m actually starting to make some headway on my bills. They seem to like me too, since they’ve given me slightly more responsibility than the average rep in the same position I’m in.
I’m really hoping that this job goes permanent. I know the minimum time someone has to put in to even see a glimmer of hope at being made a real Kodak employee is eighteen months. That’ll be coming up next fall, so it’s not really that far off. If I’m lucky. Either way, I do have a possibility of getting a raise come my anniversary, which will be at the beginning of March. The whole situation may not be perfect, but with what I’ve gone through in the last few years, I’m pretty content right now.
Part of that contentment may be from the fact that I’ve been utilizing my creative skills doing work for TPK. For those that don’t know, TPK is my friend Jason’s e-publishing company. We got Escape from Alcatraz! out at the beginning of September, and we’ve got another book due out this January. I’ve really enjoyed getting to stretch my creative muscles doing the design and layout for these books. I was really intimidated at first and thinking I was in way over my head, but the look of Alcatraz has gotten good reviews, and I’ve already gotten compliments on the look of the new book. And while the monetary payout isn’t nearly enough to qualify as even a part-time job, it’s still happening. It helped with Christmas, that’s for sure.
On top of those two ‘professional’ things, I’ve gotten more into my photography this year. Having a digital camera (as well as access to a wide variety of digital cameras at work) has really opened things up for me. The last couple of months have been a little slower because I’ve been so busy with other things, but it’s been a blast just being able to photograph what I want, when I want, and see the results immediately. I do have to do something about those undeveloped rolls of film, though.
Another momentous occasion in the realm of gaming this year was that I actually GM’d face-to-face for the very first time ever. The gaming group wasn’t about to take ‘no’ for an answer, and pushed and prodded me into actually setting up and running a game. I’m still very nervous about GMing, and I’m never as prepared as I’d like to be (that whole procrastination thing), but it’s not nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be. I don’t suck!
In addition to that, the gaming group’s Eberron game is going really well. TJ is a great GM and I love the character I play in his game. We’re hopefully going to be getting into a little more role-playing than just roll-playing soon, but the hack-en-slash end of things has been a blast, even if my dice hate me.
On the virtual side of gaming, it’s been both a good year and a bad year. I’ve pretty much stuck to the same MUX. I was asked to staff in April, and ended up stepping down in December. In that time frame, I reaffirmed to myself that I can be a pretty damn good staffer. I also learned there is a limit to how much crap I’ll take before even I have to say it’s not worth it anymore. When it’s an up hill battle every day to do the right thing for the game, it’s time to call it quits.
I’m not sure where my virtual life will be going in the next year. I know there’s going to be some big changes, but what they’re going to be, isn’t exactly clear. Jason’s Worlds of Wonder will be opening in the next few months, and while I don’t have a character idea on hand, I imagine I’ll be throwing something together to play over there. We’ll see.
When it comes to my family, 2005 has been a bit of a mixed bag. My brother is doing pretty well for himself, in that he has a decently paying job as the head cook at a bar and grill. He mentioned something about them being nominated for the Best Nachos in New England. I wish he’d cut back on the drinking and be a little smarter on how he handles his money, but one step at a time, I guess.
Dad is doing good for himself. He was in a car accident this fall and suffered some pretty major whiplash because of it. I think he’s finally starting to get past the worst of that, but he is getting older, so it’s taking longer and longer to bounce back from injuries like that. He finally got a good, full-time job at the hospital, though. He still occasionally works the info desk job there too, but he seems to be slowing down at least a little. I still wonder where his workaholic genes went when it came to me and my brother. I still get to have Christmas with him sometime this coming month. Hopefully I get to see him soon.
Opposite to my dad, things with my mother have been pretty scary. She’s sixty-three going on eighty-five. If it weren’t for my Uncle living with her, she’d probably have to be living in an assisted care facility right now. Between the Parkinsons, the developing Emphysema, and the heart trouble… It’s pretty scary. They’re going to be doing the surgery on her heart this January. I’m hoping for the best but bracing for the worst.
Of course, all that makes me worry about my own health issues. My weight is a pretty scary thing, and even though I’m not experiencing any overt problems with it right now, it’s the type of thing that can start happening fast. I try and keep things relatively under control on that front, but it’s never been something I’m good at. Mostly I’m healthy, though. I’ve had a couple of serious colds this year and I twisted up my knee really good last March (don’t wear your sneakers on a snowy day), but beyond that, things are okay.
On a lighter note, I got a chinchilla this year. I adore the little fluff ball even if he has attitude to spare and the cats aren’t sure what to make of him. Pippin (the chinchilla) and Pashenko (the fat cat) tend to take turns taunting one another. They make for some amusing company.
While I still don’t have any small people of my own, it’s been a great joy this year getting to be buddies with my friends’ small people. The year started with them having two small people (a four year old and an eighteen month old) and has ended with them having three small people (a five year old, a two and a half year old, and a six month old). One of the best things in the world is to talk to a two-year old on the phone who says, “Ang, I miss you. I want come to your house.”
Anyway, I think I’m done rambling on the merits of 2005. Overall, it’s been a good year. No year will ever be perfect, but looking back things seem to be on the upswing. In 2006, I hope to have a car on the road again (hopefully by Spring), get more done with TPK, grow a bit further with Kodak… Well, you get the picture.
If anyone’s even still reading this, may you and yours have a wonderful and safe New Year’s Eve, and a great start to 2006. Happy New Year!