My Year in 2017

So, the end of 2017. It's been an interesting year, if nothing else! After flirting with the possibility of a change, in the end I decided to stick with my normal format...

My Year in... Blogging

This year I set myself a sort-of goal of posting an average of 10 times a month on this blog, and a further five times a month on the Imaginarium - enough for both blogs to be vibrant, but not a record-beating number. And I've achieved both targets pretty much exactly. I'm happy with that.

My Year in... Work

There's not much I can say about work - all the same things I couldn't talk about last year are pretty much as un-talk-about-able as they were last year.

For the rest... in some ways this has been a great year, in others it has fallen short. There's the prospect of some of that being made good in the near future, but then I thought that this time last year (I even had a whole goal about it). So we'll have to see.

Once again, there has been no call to travel this year. Under the circumstances, my ability to travel next year is limited. So I don't know when next I'll be away.

My Year in... Health

This year has been much the same as the last few - mostly fine, with the IBS never really being too bad. I did have to have a root canal treatment on one tooth, which wasn't fun. But that's done now.

My Year in... Gaming

2017 has been a very quiet year for gaming - I enjoyed a grand total of five sessions, I think, one of which was "Star Trek" and the others "Pathfinder". My main conclusion is that Pathfinder is not for me.

I expect 2018 to be largely devoid of gaming.

My Year in... Band

2017 was a bittersweet year for band. I enjoyed my last season with Camelon & District (well, I mostly enjoyed it) and then bowed out. I've since joined Uphall Station Pipe Band, which is a local, non-competing band. The standard is much lower, which is inherent in 'non-competing', but the pressure is also much less. I've played two events with them so far, and it's a good fit.

My Year in... Resolutions

As always, the wrap-up of annual goals, and setting of goals for next year, are handled in another post.

My Year in... Travel

I made two trips in 2017, and LC made a third. During the Easter holiday, we took a short holiday in York, which was good fun. And then in October we visited Copenhagen. This latter trip was also good fun, with the highlight being seeing the polar bear (in the zoo), though it was really quite expensive (and, to be honest, I preferred Amsterdam).

I didn't take a summer holiday this year due to the house move, but LC spent a week in Croatia. Which is deeply unfair - maybe I'll take a holiday by myself next year to make up for it.

On the other hand, the big movement of the year was also a very short one - the move from Falkirk to Livingston. We finally moved out of the flat at the start of June, and into the new house at the start of July (while LC was in Croatia, no less). This was all a bit of a nightmare, so it was a huge relief to have it finally over and done with!

My Year in... Faith

Following the house move, LC and I have done a tour of the churches in and around Livingston, and settled on a new base of worship. It's very new at the moment, but looks to be a good start.

Other than that, there's not much to report.

My Year in... Sadness

Of course, the end-of-year review couldn't pass without mentioning the passing of Grandma, on the 1st of April. I wrote about this at some length at the time, so won't reiterate it here, but it's sad that this was the first Christmas in twenty years when she wasn't visiting (albeit in hospital last year).

My Year in... Great Joy

But, of course, the most significant event of the year was of course the start of Project Tadpole, which is now in the middle of its eighth month. This is actually something I've been hoping for for a very long time, and also something I'm very much looking forward to in 2018.

My Year... Overall

I know that a lot of people have found 2017 to be extremely trying, and there is certainly reason to wish it done. However, for me, 2017 was a very distinct step forward from the horrors of 2016. It was really good to finally complete the house move, developments at work have been largely positive (though not without their problems - but I can't talk about that), and so it has been a generally okay year.

2018 promises to be a year of major changes. That being the case, I'm not entirely sure what to expect. I guess we'll find out.

And with that, I bid farewell to blogging for 2017. I hope you have a good New Year, and that 2018 brings every blessing.