Every year has its ups and downs, its achievements and its misses. Given this past election season, and the anxiety I harbor about the year ahead, I thought I would take a moment to remind myself of all the awesome in my life in 2016.
Concerts & Shows
This year I attended more concerts and shows than I have in any year of my life
- March 30th – Attended Ask Me Another show/ recording in Orlando with Karen
- May 5th – The Play that Goes Wrong – with Toby
- May 6th – Lush concert – The Roundhouse – with Toby
- June 3rd – Weird Al Yankovic Mandatory Fun World Tour – with Toby, Ron, Dave, Tessa, Zachary and Leo
- July 7th – Welcome to Nightvale show Ghost Stories, Tampa – with G.W.
- December 2 – Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain – University Auditorium, UF – Allyson, Nick, Lila, Kendra, Carlos, Allison
- December 11 – A Night with Amanda Palmer, Jason Webley, and Jherek Bischoff – Culture Room, Fort Lauderdale – With Toby and Ron
Travel
Places I went – Some for work, some for fun.
- Hattiesburg, MS- IRDay (April)
- London, Paris – Concert and vacation (May)
- Orlando, FL – ALA Annual conference (June), FL- Scholarly Communications Interest Group conference (June), visit friends (Various)
- Alaskan Cruise with Melson family (July)
- Seattle
- Juneau
- Skagway
- Glacier Bay
- Ketchikan
- Victoria, BC
- Indianapolis, IN – GenCon (August)
- Columbus, Ohio – USETDA conference (September
- Bok Tower Gardens, FL – day trip on Homecoming holiday (October)
Books Read
Over on Goodreads, I set up a challenge for myself to read 40 books. I met my goal, and you can see Goodreads’ summary here. It’s a very pretty visual. There are some books I feel are worth highlighting:
- Borderline – Mishell Baker
- The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennett – Kate Rorick, Rachel Kiley
- The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race – Edited by Jesmyn Ward
- I, Robot – Issac Asimov
- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing – Marie Kondō
- The Midnight Queen – Sylvia Izzo Hunter
- Moody Bitches: The Truth About the Drugs You’re Taking, The Sleep You’re Missing, The Sex You’re Not Having, and What’s Really Making You Crazy – Julie Holland, M.D.
- Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged – Carrie Bebris
- Shadowshaper –Daniel José Older
- The Raven and the Totem – John E. Smelcer (still reading)
- The Geek Feminist Revolution – Kameron Hurley (still reading)
Learn and Grow
- Attended Mindfulness Retreat weekend in January
- Attended two Writing The Other masterclasses, transcribed a third
- Writing Native American Characters: How Not to Do a Rowling!
- Writing Deaf and Blind Characters
- Writing for Trans and Non-Binary Narratives
- Read from a banned book at ALA for Banned Books Week series videos
- Walked with PFLAG in Pride Parade
- Attended UF Quest conference
- Became board member of PFLAG
- Attended PFLAG Transgender symposium
Celebrations and Connections
- Treated myself to a spa day in January for my birthday
- Visited friends who live in England when they were in Orlando
- Attended Toby’s godson’s HS graduation party
- Attended Bobby and Lee Kirby’s wedding
- Attended Stephani and Vince’s wedding
- Attended Birthday lunch with Tempest
- Went with Allison to get her tattoo
- Went to the 30th anniversary showing of Labyrinth in theaters for Karen’s birthday
- Went with sib to start the legal name change process for them
- Hosted Thanksgiving for my family
- Visited Toby’s family for Christmas
Random Tidbits
- Attended the UF home Gymnastics season
- Attended several UF home Football games
- Started office hours as IR Manager – Fall term
- Early Voted
- Got rid of a lot of paper in my office – scanned a bunch then recycled
- Created shelf / necklace holder
- Created art for Amanda Palmer, gave it to her, and got a kiss on the cheek in return
Live at 1:45 12/31; I’ll come back later and add photos.
