a Symple creature unlettyrde

Twelve things that happened in 2012, fannish and otherwise:

1. My grandfather, who is over 80, retired from his dental practice after a series of strokes and other medical problems. Cue major family drama.

2. My job became a hellish nightmare, as much as I continued to enjoy parts of it and appreciate my co-workers. Eventually I had several soul-searching conversations with my supervisor, and by the end of the year we had found a good balance. I really hope things continue to improve, because I do love this job.

3. I dropped more or less off the face of the internet.

4. I fell in love with my cello instructor. This was a bad idea. I then tried to fall out of love with my cello instructor. This is still a work in progress. It probably doesn't help that we're still spending almost an hour together every week in what's really an unavoidably intimate context, but I've never claimed to have much instinct for emotional self-preservation.

5. I participated in Sherlock Remix. The story I wrote was tricky but thoroughly worth it, and I loved the story I got in return.

6. I took two weeks of vacation in the spring: a long weekend in Boston followed by almost two weeks in Scotland, visiting several of my best friends IRL. It was amazing.

7. I met up with verity in person! From there, I embarked on a cross-country roadtrip with a college friend. I couldn't really afford the vacation time, but it was still worth it. Our route was gorgeous, and I now have a shortlist of places to go back and visit once I have some serious camping and hiking time available.

8. I had a good year re: the MS, but I exchanged most of the usual anxiety issues for what I'm now ready to admit was a nasty bout of depression. This wasn't a great trade. I seem to have switched back over the last couple of days, though; not sure how I feel about that.

9. I moved downtown. This was an excellent decision. My new housemates are wonderful (thank you, Craiglist), and I am in walking distance of many of the things I love most about this city.

10. Despite moving much closer to my church, I have stopped going on a regular basis. This was not an excellent decision, and it's something I need to work on this year. I miss it so much.

11. I was absorbed into the current fandom zeitgeist--yes, I mean Teen Wolf. I'm still just lurking, but it is the best kind of crack.

12. I participated in Yuletide. My offering was fun to research and to write, and my gift was the Magicians fic of my heart.

So, not a great year, though the high points were quite nice. Things do seem to be getting better. I'm cautiously optimistic about 2013.

From a relative, of whom I am actually very fond:

"I hope things are going well for you and that you feel ok most of the time and the rest of the time it's tolerable."

I just...really? I had to think about it for a minute before I understood what she meant. For the record, I'm feeling perfectly healthy. Well, my neck's a little tight, but I think that's just from poor keyboard positioning.

I'll be doing much better when The Good Wife comes back for the fall season, how's that?

(Relatedly, Sherlock authors, you can't look at someone and know they have Multiple Sclerosis. I have seen this in more than one fic, and the odd specificity of it confuses me.)

Mildly saccharine takeaways from Wiscon, because the residual giddiness hasn't dissipated:

There are lots of lovely, friendly people out there writing great things and being wonderful human beings. I want to write better and be a better human being. This works out nicely, because they want to help me do that.

Nisi Shawl is amazing, and I'm a bit in love with Amal El-Mohtar.

Totally volunteering next year.

More detail later--I took notes in some of the panels, and I want to get my thoughts down before I start forgetting things.

***

The weather has been ridiculous lately, but it seems to have finally decided it's time for summer. This heat sensitivity thing is no joke, by the way--ten minutes' walk to lunch and back, and I felt like someone had stepped on me. I've had a mild hand tremor for some time now, and it was considerably worse this afternoon. My balance was fine this weekend, though, for which I'm grateful.