Year in Review

This has less to do with newsworthy events, and more to do with my personal life. You may or may not be interested.

I don't usually post a lot on my personal life, so a whole year can go by with very little blogging on life events.  Then I decide to do a year-end wrap-up, and I end up having a ton of stuff to share. So, let's begin.


January - I began the year by moving into a new apartment, in a very nice old house in Medford.  For the first time in a long while, I had roommates again.  That proved to be a challenge.  I also received payment for a story sale to Black Gate.  That was very exciting--and still is.

February - Valentine's day, and the first time I actually had a date for Valentine's day.  That made it much more fun.  Valentine's day is also the anniversary for this blog, which should tell you all you need to know about my love life pre-Kristin.  This month I also attended Boskone, my third ever writer's conference.  Sadly, however, this was also the month in which our small group died.

March - In March, I sent my new story to John O'Neill at Black Gate, a requested sequel to my previous sale.  I'm still waiting for a response.  Kristin also had her birthday party this month.  It was a good time for all.

April - While I'm certain things happened in April, I can't for the life of me remember what they were.

May - In May, Kristin started her own blog.  In addition to adding her own brand of bloggy goodness to the blogosphere, she also tends to write about more personal stuff than I do, so I now have a reference to figure out what I was doing each month.  So, let's see . . . Kristin and I took a lesson in Medieval sword fighting (which we registered for at Boskone), we went for a hiking trip, and we went to New Hampshire for a writing retreat.  This was a weekend trip where we stayed in a cabin and spent most of our spare time in separate rooms writing. So, a very romantic weekend.  (I wrote over 2,500 words each day.)

June - In June, I had to move again.  Our landlords decided they wanted to renovate the house and rent it to a family rather than a bunch of individuals, so they wouldn't be renewing our leases.  I had only opted for a six month lease.  Fortunately, Kristin's house had an opening in the upper apartment (her house is divided into two apartments, one on the bottom two floors, and one on the top two floors).  I took the room, and now we live in the same building.  Also this month was my 36th birthday.

July - In July, Kristin and I both attended the Readercon writer's conference.  It was fun.  At this conference last year is when we decided to start dating, so it was also our anniversary, of a sort.  Kristin and I also went camping, with a dose of hiking added in.

August - This month, Kristin and I went backpacking (this, for those who don't know, is camping where you carry all of your equipment on your back, usually up a mountain).  All the previous camping/hiking trips were supposed to build to this, but we still weren't really prepared for it.  Backpacking is hard work (and renting camping equipment is expensive).

September - This was Kristin's and my longest trip together this year, beginning with a wedding of one of Kristin's friends in Texas, then a road trip to visit my parents in Louisiana.  It was good to see them, but my allergies were pretty miserable.  During this time we went to Baton Rouge, Avery Island (where Tabasco is made), and Rosedown plantation (in St. Francisville).  We saw my parents, sisters, nieces, and brother-in-law to be.

October - This month we visited Montreal, where we stayed with Kristin's friend Rene (my friend too, now).  We also went to the World Fantasy Convention.  While the other conventions we've attended together are small and local, this is a big one.  I met John O'Neill and the rest of the Black Gate crew, and took part in a reading they had.  This was the first reading I ever gave, and it was pretty monotone, but otherwise went well. 

November - For Thanksgiving this year, Kristin did the cooking.  I helped.  It was pretty intense, really, but we then had Kristin's friend Bob over, and had a nice time.

December - In December, Kristin and I cooked a Roman meal together.  That was a lot of fun, although the ingredients weren't exactly easy to find.  We also visited Kristin's family in Nova Scotia for the second year in a row.

You've probably noticed that Kristin appears in this post an awful lot--so much so that you'd be forgiven for thinking that my life revolves around her.  Well, that's for a couple of reasons.  First, I've been using her blog to remind me of everything that happened this past year, so I've had an easier time remembering events in which she took part.  Second, anything that's fun to do is more fun to do together, so I haven't done a lot of solo outings. Kristin also tends to be more interested in traveling than I am, so she was the instigator for most of it.  Finally, well, there's some truth in your thinking.  Kristin's a very important part of my life.  That's the sort of thing you should do something about, so I did.  On Christmas Eve I asked Kristin to marry me.  She said yes.

And on that note, I'll wish you all a happy new year.