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2017 In Summary
Dec. 30th, 2017 10:56 amSo, what a year!
I wrote. Not a lot, but I didn't stop, and I haven't broken my fan flashworks streak, even though sometimes it's been... difficult. I've been writing more original poetry, which is, if not high in literary merit, then at least something non-fanfic, and a way of getting out things that mean something to me. And one actual fictional original story, which, woah. :D I've claimed all my waiting badges: I've earned six new badges in the last six months since I last claimed them: for maintaining my streak, posting more stuff, and for doing more of the things I'm good at: backstory, filling out canon scenes, and finagling a whole lot of prompts into one--and for continuing to write poetry in varied forms.
( Badge goodness )
I've posted 82,832 words of fiction on AO3 all up. Half of that in January and February for the Season 4 premiere, another 14,000 in July for JWP. The rest of the time I've been pretty much ticking along on a few thousand words a month. Which is good for the goal of not giving up on something entirely just because it's not my prime focus right now, but has definitely come as a result of dropping my write-every-day habit. I've got two more substantial Sherlock WIPs ticking along: The Blue Car Bungle's sitting at 8,388 words, heading towards at least 20,000, while the Spiritual Healing fic is at 3,572 heading for at least 6,000. Futureproof finished the year where it started, at 71,342. That's probably about all the WIPs I care about at the moment.
I've been working back through the unanswered comments on my stories--some of which have been left for a VERY long time, which is less to do with a lack of gratitude and more to do with god I don't know why something that gives me so much pleasure like reader comments can seem so difficult to respond to--but I'm hoping to start the new year in a state of grace. Maybe even keep up as people comment! *crosses fingers*
I've signed up for Get Your Words Out for 2018. I decided not to this last year, because I have discovered that focussing on the word count does bad, bad things for my genuine productivity, enjoyment, and satisfaction with the results. However, this year GYWO has 'days writing' goals, which I think may suit me much better in reinstituting the write-every-day habit. The actual word count comes naturally as a result of me committing to spend more time in that headspace. I've been tossing up between signing up for 240 writing days, which means essentially four to five writing days per week, or 350, which is essentially one non-writing day per month. Reality is, if I'm doing a challenge, I'll probably end up doing 365 writing days. But given my goal these days is achieving moderation and life balance in all things, 240 is a better goal for me as a whole person. Wow, that's a very mature decision from me. :)
This year I've reached tipping point of not frantically running from place to place whenever the kids were out of my face for a few minutes when Mr Three started three year old kindy. I now get a few hours to myself more days than not, and while there's still jobs enough to fill out three full time employees, I... feel that the tension has eased somewhat. The kids are old enough to make their own fun together, to wait for a bit if I and they mostly get along. And they're old enough to be actually helpful some of the time. Hubby and I had our first holiday away without them, for the 20th anniversary of when we met. Later in the year we had our first holiday at a place that had a kids club, so we could not only spend the family time together but recharge from the full-on don't-touch-that-omg-has-anyone-seen-mr-three-hang-on-have-we-got-towels-what-do-you-mean-you-need-a-poo-right-now?!-okay-everyone-hold-hands-nice-cafe-manners-please-not-in-your-mouth!... when we needed to. It was great. It all adds up to me having more time and mental space now to... delight in the positive moments with them, to play with them and listen to them, and to nurture and discipline them positively and thoughtfully when they need it--and of course engage in the consideration and follow-through of the increasingly complex and individually targeted support they need--rather than just running from crisis to crisis to task that needs doing.
I've been a good friend this year, mostly, to the people I love, and I've sorted through the shoulds and coulds of the social circle of mums and cut the fat of those that I actually can't be bothered interacting with any more than manners says I need to (which is, to be honest, everyone outside my family, online, and one other real life friend), and thus I've avoided adult-focussed gatherings and kept my own social circle lean and keen. I think I'm significantly happier for being able to spread myself thicker on the people who are important to me and still have some reserve for my own brain. I've learned more about how I think and what works for me, and I've tried to stop beating myself up about the stuff I don't do. I'm at least becoming more aware of when I'm donig that and have been trying to make the choice between actually doing the thing or reconciling it that the thing is not something I've put high on my prioirity list and thus it may not get done at all. I've even cracked a couple of mindfulness things that work for me which is big, because I hatehatehate meditation and mindfulness, it always makes me feel awful which is precisely beside the point.
I have taken some big long-term jobs I've been putting off by the scruff of the neck and shaken them into shape. One of which was my wardrobe: I'd been feeling awful in my everyday clothes for years, and now for all the compliments and requests for where I got my dresses that I get, I'm considering carrying cards for the brand I wear so I can just give them out. I've found and taken up a physical activity again, which has needed doing since I got depressed about the way I kept getting injured at Taekwondo. I'm pleased to have found tap dancing works really well with both my brain and my body. I've organised our wills, powers of attorney, and advance health directives, and they're all ready to sign on 2nd of January when we have ready access to some independent witnesses at Hubby's work. That will be a long-term niggling weight off the back of my mind. I've set up an appropriate financial investment structure for our growing savings to rest in and have researched appropriate investments for it to make. We've replaced our 15 year old TV despite the fact that it was still working, and my six year old phone because it was not. We've set to sorting out our garden, which has been falling to rack and ruin over the last many years, and piled up three loads of garden waste in Hubby's parents' trailer and taken them to the tip. And we managed not to escalate to divorce in the midst of this last one, although things got perhaps closer than they should have.
I've dodged a few bullets: there was the asbestos scare, the benign cyst in my breast, and our cat who misjudged a jump and needed a $6000 ligament repair operation which looked like it might have failed and we might need to have her put down anyway, but who is going to be JUST FINE thank fucking god, even if she doesn't like her physio exercises one little bit. And just my luck, our other cat developed a psychosomatic limp and a hissy attitude towards her injured sister, whom she used to sleep curled up with... (Seriously, we took her to the vet over the leg going omg please tell me its not both of them and he's like... yeah she's fine, there's nothing here.) She's less freaked out now the cast is off, and hopefully once they've finished working through their feelings over the whole Reichenbach thing, they'll get on again and live happily ever after.
Eldest has been in Year 1, and has had a very big year as far as getting to the bottom of what's going on in his head is concerned. We've been working hard on following the psychologist's targeted advice to start with, but have decided that we're not making positive progress with that alone and have an appointment on Jan 2nd to get started with medication to assist him. Aside from his troubles, he's been going along really well: he's reading encyclopedias for pleasure, did an amazing oral presentation, wrote two beautiful books, performed several times with his choir and at dancing, learned how to do a flip in the air (onto a mattress), advanced his skills in tennis to the point where the little backyard tennis net our family got for Christmas proves he's on a level with me (not hard, but he's seven!), and is currently working on putting together a challenging mechanical excavator out of Lego Technic. Hopefully next year will be another great year for him!
Mr Five learned to read! Pretty much all by himself, at least as far as we were concerned. He's reading Grade 2-3 level chapter books already, all ready to start Prep next year... :| He's going to be the best of all of us, I think. He's bright as a button, his glass is always at least two-thirds full, his emotional intelligence is through the roof, he's helpful and enthusiastic and eager to see others do well, and he's got an extraordinary work ethic. He loves to try, and it doesn't matter to him if he's failing, he just keeps on trying and trying until he starts to get it. I tossed tennis balls for him to hit for literally for hours every day since Christmas, and he wanted to keep going long after his shoulders were aching. He's significantly less hopeless than when he started. He wants to be either a doctor or a cleaner. And to go skiing. And tap dancing. And to play the cello. And... you know what, I think he's going to achieve everything he sets out to do.
Mr Three is our little cutie. He's had a really big year, too. He's an adrenaline junkie: two visits to A&E and countless attempts to hurl himself down stairs or ride his bike off cliffs, countless bumps and bruises and black eyes, but he's a sturdy little guy and is always back up and running full-tilt at the next obstacle within a minute or two. And, of course, the Nosebleeds Of Doom! Wow. He's still completely obsessed by vehicles of all kinds, but he's moved on to imaginative play with his train track, building it and pushing the engines around and having little conversations between them all as they create and solve problems. I don't think any of the others ever did that: Eldest just focussed on building super long tracks, whereas Mr Five's imaginative play tends to be with toy animals or play homemaking. His language is really great; I think he'll eventually be another advanced reader, or at least he will if he ever sits still for long enough to learn how. AND he's completely day-time toilet trained now, which is just... epic, to have everyone in our family responsible for all of their own toileting. \o/ He's been out of nappies since he was 18 months old and took off his nappy to take himself to the toilet for the first time, but it's been a very long hard road between then and now, filled with a very great deal of washing and wiping. He loves his dummy and his blankie, and despite his high energy during the day, absolutely adores sleeping. Never has any child been as happy to be put to bed as this one!
Hubby has taken on a big load at work this year, officially stepping up to be managing director of one of the two family companies, and stepping into a role doing more and more of the client meetings and relationship management. Not something he enjoys and a huge source of stress which he has been... more or less coping with. He's said no to clients he didn't want, and yes to clients he knew he needed even though he didn't want. He organised and won a big important contract which was super stressful. His parents have arranged to share the profits of the company group 50:50 with us, which is (at least at the moment) very very nice and rewards Hubby in a language he speaks for his courage in fighting his instinct to stay in his shell and say no to everyone. It was, however, interesting on our recent beach holiday to see that his resting heart rate according to Fitbit fell by 5 beats per minute and then bounced straight back up to its previous location when he went back to work. He is stressed, and drinking more than he feels comfortable with, but his priorities are firmly fixed as far as our family and his relationships with me and the children are concerned, as well as taking on a huge load of the practical home duties. And he's maintaining his daily jogging circuit and we are mostly managing to make sure he gets some brainspace each day to be an actual person as well as prioritising getting some adult time together, so... work in progress.
My mum had brain surgery to correct her tremor, which has been there since she was a little girl, but which has been getting steadily worse over time until she was what most people would consider disabled by it, but was managing to cope in her own inimitable style. ("No, of course I don't have trouble dressing myself. Can I do buttons? Of course not, I haven't bought anything except loose dresses that slip over my head for twenty years!") I think she hadn't realised how much it was affecting her quality of life until they asked specific questions about things she didn't do anymore because of the tremor; she just hadn't thought about how many of the things she loved she had stopped doing because they were too hard, because she's not one to dwell on things like that. So, they went ahead and implanted electrodes deep inside her brain which stimulate the area which was was causing the tremor to a consistent level, with wires running down to a control embedded in her chest, a bit like a pacemaker. The surgery has succeeded and her tremor is dramatically reduced, if not entirely absent. They're still working on fine tuning voltages and amplitudes and frequencies and pulse widths and which of the tiny electrodes on the end of the probes are in use, because her speech has been slightly affected (the speech centre of the brain is right next to the tremor spot), making her voice a little softer and slurry, but the payoff for her increased ability to do everything else has been worth it. Next year she's looking at having cataract surgery. Her vision has been getting extremely bad in recent years but for various reasons she's been ineligible for the surgery. But now her eye doctor has changed his mind and it looks like that's going to go ahead, which is also likely to significantly improve her quality of life, assuming it succeeds.
We've had a great Christmas, all in all, first with Hubby's family, then with with one of my sisters visiting from out of town, and another one who's from the same city, and of course my mum. We gave, we received, we ate and laughed and played and enjoyed one another's company. And given we were at Hubby's parents' house, then my sister's this year, we didn't even have to deal with the cleanup! :) Merry Christmas to us!
All in all, 2017's been a fantastic year. Roll on, 2018!
I wrote. Not a lot, but I didn't stop, and I haven't broken my fan flashworks streak, even though sometimes it's been... difficult. I've been writing more original poetry, which is, if not high in literary merit, then at least something non-fanfic, and a way of getting out things that mean something to me. And one actual fictional original story, which, woah. :D I've claimed all my waiting badges: I've earned six new badges in the last six months since I last claimed them: for maintaining my streak, posting more stuff, and for doing more of the things I'm good at: backstory, filling out canon scenes, and finagling a whole lot of prompts into one--and for continuing to write poetry in varied forms.
( Badge goodness )
I've posted 82,832 words of fiction on AO3 all up. Half of that in January and February for the Season 4 premiere, another 14,000 in July for JWP. The rest of the time I've been pretty much ticking along on a few thousand words a month. Which is good for the goal of not giving up on something entirely just because it's not my prime focus right now, but has definitely come as a result of dropping my write-every-day habit. I've got two more substantial Sherlock WIPs ticking along: The Blue Car Bungle's sitting at 8,388 words, heading towards at least 20,000, while the Spiritual Healing fic is at 3,572 heading for at least 6,000. Futureproof finished the year where it started, at 71,342. That's probably about all the WIPs I care about at the moment.
I've been working back through the unanswered comments on my stories--some of which have been left for a VERY long time, which is less to do with a lack of gratitude and more to do with god I don't know why something that gives me so much pleasure like reader comments can seem so difficult to respond to--but I'm hoping to start the new year in a state of grace. Maybe even keep up as people comment! *crosses fingers*
I've signed up for Get Your Words Out for 2018. I decided not to this last year, because I have discovered that focussing on the word count does bad, bad things for my genuine productivity, enjoyment, and satisfaction with the results. However, this year GYWO has 'days writing' goals, which I think may suit me much better in reinstituting the write-every-day habit. The actual word count comes naturally as a result of me committing to spend more time in that headspace. I've been tossing up between signing up for 240 writing days, which means essentially four to five writing days per week, or 350, which is essentially one non-writing day per month. Reality is, if I'm doing a challenge, I'll probably end up doing 365 writing days. But given my goal these days is achieving moderation and life balance in all things, 240 is a better goal for me as a whole person. Wow, that's a very mature decision from me. :)
This year I've reached tipping point of not frantically running from place to place whenever the kids were out of my face for a few minutes when Mr Three started three year old kindy. I now get a few hours to myself more days than not, and while there's still jobs enough to fill out three full time employees, I... feel that the tension has eased somewhat. The kids are old enough to make their own fun together, to wait for a bit if I and they mostly get along. And they're old enough to be actually helpful some of the time. Hubby and I had our first holiday away without them, for the 20th anniversary of when we met. Later in the year we had our first holiday at a place that had a kids club, so we could not only spend the family time together but recharge from the full-on don't-touch-that-omg-has-anyone-seen-mr-three-hang-on-have-we-got-towels-what-do-you-mean-you-need-a-poo-right-now?!-okay-everyone-hold-hands-nice-cafe-manners-please-not-in-your-mouth!... when we needed to. It was great. It all adds up to me having more time and mental space now to... delight in the positive moments with them, to play with them and listen to them, and to nurture and discipline them positively and thoughtfully when they need it--and of course engage in the consideration and follow-through of the increasingly complex and individually targeted support they need--rather than just running from crisis to crisis to task that needs doing.
I've been a good friend this year, mostly, to the people I love, and I've sorted through the shoulds and coulds of the social circle of mums and cut the fat of those that I actually can't be bothered interacting with any more than manners says I need to (which is, to be honest, everyone outside my family, online, and one other real life friend), and thus I've avoided adult-focussed gatherings and kept my own social circle lean and keen. I think I'm significantly happier for being able to spread myself thicker on the people who are important to me and still have some reserve for my own brain. I've learned more about how I think and what works for me, and I've tried to stop beating myself up about the stuff I don't do. I'm at least becoming more aware of when I'm donig that and have been trying to make the choice between actually doing the thing or reconciling it that the thing is not something I've put high on my prioirity list and thus it may not get done at all. I've even cracked a couple of mindfulness things that work for me which is big, because I hatehatehate meditation and mindfulness, it always makes me feel awful which is precisely beside the point.
I have taken some big long-term jobs I've been putting off by the scruff of the neck and shaken them into shape. One of which was my wardrobe: I'd been feeling awful in my everyday clothes for years, and now for all the compliments and requests for where I got my dresses that I get, I'm considering carrying cards for the brand I wear so I can just give them out. I've found and taken up a physical activity again, which has needed doing since I got depressed about the way I kept getting injured at Taekwondo. I'm pleased to have found tap dancing works really well with both my brain and my body. I've organised our wills, powers of attorney, and advance health directives, and they're all ready to sign on 2nd of January when we have ready access to some independent witnesses at Hubby's work. That will be a long-term niggling weight off the back of my mind. I've set up an appropriate financial investment structure for our growing savings to rest in and have researched appropriate investments for it to make. We've replaced our 15 year old TV despite the fact that it was still working, and my six year old phone because it was not. We've set to sorting out our garden, which has been falling to rack and ruin over the last many years, and piled up three loads of garden waste in Hubby's parents' trailer and taken them to the tip. And we managed not to escalate to divorce in the midst of this last one, although things got perhaps closer than they should have.
I've dodged a few bullets: there was the asbestos scare, the benign cyst in my breast, and our cat who misjudged a jump and needed a $6000 ligament repair operation which looked like it might have failed and we might need to have her put down anyway, but who is going to be JUST FINE thank fucking god, even if she doesn't like her physio exercises one little bit. And just my luck, our other cat developed a psychosomatic limp and a hissy attitude towards her injured sister, whom she used to sleep curled up with... (Seriously, we took her to the vet over the leg going omg please tell me its not both of them and he's like... yeah she's fine, there's nothing here.) She's less freaked out now the cast is off, and hopefully once they've finished working through their feelings over the whole Reichenbach thing, they'll get on again and live happily ever after.
Eldest has been in Year 1, and has had a very big year as far as getting to the bottom of what's going on in his head is concerned. We've been working hard on following the psychologist's targeted advice to start with, but have decided that we're not making positive progress with that alone and have an appointment on Jan 2nd to get started with medication to assist him. Aside from his troubles, he's been going along really well: he's reading encyclopedias for pleasure, did an amazing oral presentation, wrote two beautiful books, performed several times with his choir and at dancing, learned how to do a flip in the air (onto a mattress), advanced his skills in tennis to the point where the little backyard tennis net our family got for Christmas proves he's on a level with me (not hard, but he's seven!), and is currently working on putting together a challenging mechanical excavator out of Lego Technic. Hopefully next year will be another great year for him!
Mr Five learned to read! Pretty much all by himself, at least as far as we were concerned. He's reading Grade 2-3 level chapter books already, all ready to start Prep next year... :| He's going to be the best of all of us, I think. He's bright as a button, his glass is always at least two-thirds full, his emotional intelligence is through the roof, he's helpful and enthusiastic and eager to see others do well, and he's got an extraordinary work ethic. He loves to try, and it doesn't matter to him if he's failing, he just keeps on trying and trying until he starts to get it. I tossed tennis balls for him to hit for literally for hours every day since Christmas, and he wanted to keep going long after his shoulders were aching. He's significantly less hopeless than when he started. He wants to be either a doctor or a cleaner. And to go skiing. And tap dancing. And to play the cello. And... you know what, I think he's going to achieve everything he sets out to do.
Mr Three is our little cutie. He's had a really big year, too. He's an adrenaline junkie: two visits to A&E and countless attempts to hurl himself down stairs or ride his bike off cliffs, countless bumps and bruises and black eyes, but he's a sturdy little guy and is always back up and running full-tilt at the next obstacle within a minute or two. And, of course, the Nosebleeds Of Doom! Wow. He's still completely obsessed by vehicles of all kinds, but he's moved on to imaginative play with his train track, building it and pushing the engines around and having little conversations between them all as they create and solve problems. I don't think any of the others ever did that: Eldest just focussed on building super long tracks, whereas Mr Five's imaginative play tends to be with toy animals or play homemaking. His language is really great; I think he'll eventually be another advanced reader, or at least he will if he ever sits still for long enough to learn how. AND he's completely day-time toilet trained now, which is just... epic, to have everyone in our family responsible for all of their own toileting. \o/ He's been out of nappies since he was 18 months old and took off his nappy to take himself to the toilet for the first time, but it's been a very long hard road between then and now, filled with a very great deal of washing and wiping. He loves his dummy and his blankie, and despite his high energy during the day, absolutely adores sleeping. Never has any child been as happy to be put to bed as this one!
Hubby has taken on a big load at work this year, officially stepping up to be managing director of one of the two family companies, and stepping into a role doing more and more of the client meetings and relationship management. Not something he enjoys and a huge source of stress which he has been... more or less coping with. He's said no to clients he didn't want, and yes to clients he knew he needed even though he didn't want. He organised and won a big important contract which was super stressful. His parents have arranged to share the profits of the company group 50:50 with us, which is (at least at the moment) very very nice and rewards Hubby in a language he speaks for his courage in fighting his instinct to stay in his shell and say no to everyone. It was, however, interesting on our recent beach holiday to see that his resting heart rate according to Fitbit fell by 5 beats per minute and then bounced straight back up to its previous location when he went back to work. He is stressed, and drinking more than he feels comfortable with, but his priorities are firmly fixed as far as our family and his relationships with me and the children are concerned, as well as taking on a huge load of the practical home duties. And he's maintaining his daily jogging circuit and we are mostly managing to make sure he gets some brainspace each day to be an actual person as well as prioritising getting some adult time together, so... work in progress.
My mum had brain surgery to correct her tremor, which has been there since she was a little girl, but which has been getting steadily worse over time until she was what most people would consider disabled by it, but was managing to cope in her own inimitable style. ("No, of course I don't have trouble dressing myself. Can I do buttons? Of course not, I haven't bought anything except loose dresses that slip over my head for twenty years!") I think she hadn't realised how much it was affecting her quality of life until they asked specific questions about things she didn't do anymore because of the tremor; she just hadn't thought about how many of the things she loved she had stopped doing because they were too hard, because she's not one to dwell on things like that. So, they went ahead and implanted electrodes deep inside her brain which stimulate the area which was was causing the tremor to a consistent level, with wires running down to a control embedded in her chest, a bit like a pacemaker. The surgery has succeeded and her tremor is dramatically reduced, if not entirely absent. They're still working on fine tuning voltages and amplitudes and frequencies and pulse widths and which of the tiny electrodes on the end of the probes are in use, because her speech has been slightly affected (the speech centre of the brain is right next to the tremor spot), making her voice a little softer and slurry, but the payoff for her increased ability to do everything else has been worth it. Next year she's looking at having cataract surgery. Her vision has been getting extremely bad in recent years but for various reasons she's been ineligible for the surgery. But now her eye doctor has changed his mind and it looks like that's going to go ahead, which is also likely to significantly improve her quality of life, assuming it succeeds.
We've had a great Christmas, all in all, first with Hubby's family, then with with one of my sisters visiting from out of town, and another one who's from the same city, and of course my mum. We gave, we received, we ate and laughed and played and enjoyed one another's company. And given we were at Hubby's parents' house, then my sister's this year, we didn't even have to deal with the cleanup! :) Merry Christmas to us!
All in all, 2017's been a fantastic year. Roll on, 2018!
