I fell way short of my short story goal, even let my subscription to the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction expire for a while in an effort to get out from under the rising stack of issues I haven't read yet. The number of novels I finished this year is nothing to boast about, although I did manage to read more classic novels than modern novels, including a reread of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," one of my favorites of all time, and squeezed in my annual reread of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol."
I did read a number of Information Technology books, articles, and essays in an effort to keep up with the industry that pays my bills. Then on a personal level, I kept my head buried in a lot of cookbooks and woodworking books. I lived through a total top-to-bottom bathroom remodel, and adopted an Olde English Bulldog (named Zeus by the previous owner, which sort of brought to my attention that the past three out of four animals I've owned have been named after mythological figures, and five out of the last five pets have been named from fictional characters -- I'm sensing a theme here).The blogs continue on, not regularly, but enough to let folks know I'm still alive. I tweet at least once per day from at least one of my accounts, but for all purposes have practically sworn off Facebook completely - the last time I logged on to that bit social media was pre-November election, I just couldn't stand the bitterness and hatred BOTH sides were throwing at each other. All I learned from that was how hypocritical both sides can be - each thinking of themselves as "open minded" when in fact, neither of them are.
Other than those little tidbits of news, life for me has remained pretty normal - the novel continues, the poetry continues, and I've brought my book hoarding pretty much under control.
So that's it -- the Year 2016 in Review.
Until Next Time...
If you have a bit of scrap wood around you're wanting to find a project for, I've linked in two videos on how to build your own Tardis. (If you have to ask what the Tardis is, you're reading the wrong blog). The first one is more instructional by a by a man in Oakland, and the second one is by a nerdy English woman who enjoys poking fun at herself.
Annually Yours,
Michael
