2016 in review
Dec. 31st, 2016 10:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordlj2016 has been pretty good for me. I know some people had a sucky one and I hope I have been supportive wherever possible. For me, this year has been one of the better ones, the highlight being Graham finally moving to Canada and gaining residency status. Nobody close to me died this year, though I have a feeling 2017 might not be so kind. I have one aunt who is visibly failing and that will be difficult whenever it happens.
I always make a goal to do/try/see new things. Some years are a stretch and all I can say is that maybe I visited a town I hadn't been to before but this year had a couple of cool firsts, we went whale watching and to a local sci-fi fantasy convention, Hal-con. Whale watching was overwhelming. The boats do not putter close to the whales, they have to stay at a specific distance and they do, cutting their engines so they float there while the people on board can watch but if the whales are curious and decide to come up to the boat to check things out, they have no control over that and we were very lucky in that respect. Hal-con was good fun and I think the next time we will go for the whole weekend and spread out the events. There were other things that were new, mainly new places visited including a cafe here in Halifax where you can sit and play board games!
Work was ok this year, nothing really exciting but nothing really bad either. I think 2017 might be interesting with the chance of using some new training we got last year. My coworker has just left so I do hope that isn't going to cause too much extra stress. I've already told my manager that if they expect me to do it all, they'll be looking for 2 positions to fill instead of one. They do know I can retire any time.
We are planning to go on a trip in November to celebrate G.'s birthday (a milestone) and our belated honeymoon. We'll be visiting Vancouver and Victoria which are not new to me but new to him and then flying to Hawaii from there for 4 or 5 days. That's the real honeymoon part. I've got Aeroplan miles for the east to west coast flights and the husband of my best friend has offered to get us tickets at a discount for Hawaii so that's excellent news if he can manage it. With the money saved there, Maybe we can book a hotel a little above the budget we'd planned. The Tall Ships will be here in the summer which is an event I always love.
January
Funeral - Bob Farrant
Virtual training
Movie: Star Wars: the Force Awakens
David Bowie and Alan Rickman die
February
Cineplex event In The Gallery (Uffizi and Florence) with Denise
March
Paint night with Staci
To the UK.
mini-ping Knutsford
Ipswich
April
Bring Graham home!
Ping
Movie: The Huntsman: Winter War
Patsy McManus 80 birthday
May
Our anniversary! Blomidon Inn overnight
Guitar festival
Movie: Captain America: Civil War
Gerrard Coutreau retirement do
June
Muhammad Ali dies
Denise and Bill visiting from B.C.
Graham's personal goods arrived
Notification that Graham is approved for Permanent Residency
July
Tattoo Parade
Movie: Independence Day: Resurgence
Movie: Star Trek: Beyond
August
Road trip to the US Border, St. Andrews
Graham officially gets PR!
Wine bus tour in the valley
Movie: Suicide Squad
Ping
September
Brier Island Whale Watching
UFO museum Shag Harbour
Port Royal
Yarmouth and southern tip of NS
Sherbrooke Village
Board game cafe with Denise and Robert
Mary and Stu's wedding reception
Tall Ship Silva with Telly and Garry
October
Movie - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Sharon Ernst 75th birthday party
Author Ami McKay speaking at the library
November
Hal-Con
Ping
Movie: Dr. Strange
Baby shower for Jonathan and Rachel's baby
Graham's birthday
December
Dartmouth Christmas Tree lighting
New Year's Eve downtown/Haliburton Inn
Stu and Mary's open house
Mammogram
Movie: Rogue One
New Year's Eve downtown, plus Haliburton Hotel for the night.
New things:
read 2 graphic novels
Visited Ipswich
St. Andrews, New Brunswick
Whale watching
Ufo museum
Sherbrooke Village
Hal-Con scifi convention
Board room cafe
Christmas tree lighting
New Year's Eve downtown Halifax
Movies/Performances:
Cineplex event In The Gallery (Uffizi and Florence)
The Huntsman: Winter War
Captain America: Civil War
Star Trek: Beyond
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Suicide Squad
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Dr. Strange
Rogue One
And in my reading life, I usually try to read at least 90 books. This year I upped the goal to 95 and went past that though to be fair, a handful at least were novellas and very short books including a couple of graphic novels which I can burn through in one sitting. Having said that, I've never read graphic novels before so that's another first. I'm going to try out an audio book this year, too as part of a challenge on Goodreads in a group I follow for fans of Canadian Literature. I don't know how successful that will be since my attention tends to drift listening to things like that. I guess audio books aren't a first actually, because I have downloaded a couple of books and radio plays in the past and that's how I know my attention drifts. I will have to make more of an effort. I've also started borrowing ebooks from the library, something I had been planning to do for years even though I'm still buying books, too! At year's end I have three books on the go and I won't finish them by tonight. Still, I think I'll still count them in 2016 books since I've read over half of at least two of them already and a good third of the other one.
And to wrap up my book list...
I read quite a few Christmas themed books as part of a Goodreads challenge and tried to make sure most of them were a bit different than the usual feel-good sentimental stuff.
Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie
Not bad, but not up to her standard, I felt. A classic locked room murder with a dysfunctional family.
Twelve Drummers Drumming - C. C. Benison
The only real relation to Christmas was the protagonist, Tom Christmas who is a vicar, aka Father Christmas. It's a mystery with a couple of murders to work out. Canadian author, too, and not bad at all.
The Christmas Train - David Baldacci
A journalist takes a cross country train ride to spend Christmas with his LA girlfriend. Turns out his former girlfriend is on the train. There is a bit of a mystery and a wedding and the train gets stuck when an avalanche closes the tracks. Not too bad a story but I had a few personal issues with it so it lost points.
This Christmas - Jane Green et. al
Three short novellas, Christmas for three different women, a bored housewife, a newlywed obsessed with her husband's first wife, and a single woman trying to live up to her family's standards. Wasn't keen on the first story but I liked the other two.
Mary's Christmas - Laurie R. King
A short story about Mary Russell telling her friend and cohort Sherlock Holmes about her childhood. There's a series of books by this author about Mary and Sherlock solving crimes apparently.
The Man Who Invented Christmas - Les Standiford
This was interesting. It's about how Dickens came to write A Christmas Carol and the effect it had. christmas was celebrated before that in various ways but this book really revitalized the celebrations. It is an interesting background view of Victorian life and culture.
A Highland Christmas - M. C. Beaton
A Hamish MacBeth story involving missing decorations, a missing cat and bringing Christmas spirit to those that need it the most.
Anne Perry's Silent Nights - Anne Perry
Two Victorian Christmas stories, one involving Inspector Runcorn and one involving the sister-in-law of Thomas Pitt, her other detective. One takes place in Ireland and includes a murder from the past and the other takes place in Wales with a murder discovered.
Those are the books I've finished. Ongoing are:
Garbo Laughs - Elizabeth Hay
Quicksilver - Neal Stephenson (struggling with this but I'll persevere)
Christmas at Pemberley - Regina Jeffers (A Pride and Prejudice story)
I always make a goal to do/try/see new things. Some years are a stretch and all I can say is that maybe I visited a town I hadn't been to before but this year had a couple of cool firsts, we went whale watching and to a local sci-fi fantasy convention, Hal-con. Whale watching was overwhelming. The boats do not putter close to the whales, they have to stay at a specific distance and they do, cutting their engines so they float there while the people on board can watch but if the whales are curious and decide to come up to the boat to check things out, they have no control over that and we were very lucky in that respect. Hal-con was good fun and I think the next time we will go for the whole weekend and spread out the events. There were other things that were new, mainly new places visited including a cafe here in Halifax where you can sit and play board games!
Work was ok this year, nothing really exciting but nothing really bad either. I think 2017 might be interesting with the chance of using some new training we got last year. My coworker has just left so I do hope that isn't going to cause too much extra stress. I've already told my manager that if they expect me to do it all, they'll be looking for 2 positions to fill instead of one. They do know I can retire any time.
We are planning to go on a trip in November to celebrate G.'s birthday (a milestone) and our belated honeymoon. We'll be visiting Vancouver and Victoria which are not new to me but new to him and then flying to Hawaii from there for 4 or 5 days. That's the real honeymoon part. I've got Aeroplan miles for the east to west coast flights and the husband of my best friend has offered to get us tickets at a discount for Hawaii so that's excellent news if he can manage it. With the money saved there, Maybe we can book a hotel a little above the budget we'd planned. The Tall Ships will be here in the summer which is an event I always love.
January
Funeral - Bob Farrant
Virtual training
Movie: Star Wars: the Force Awakens
David Bowie and Alan Rickman die
February
Cineplex event In The Gallery (Uffizi and Florence) with Denise
March
Paint night with Staci
To the UK.
mini-ping Knutsford
Ipswich
April
Bring Graham home!
Ping
Movie: The Huntsman: Winter War
Patsy McManus 80 birthday
May
Our anniversary! Blomidon Inn overnight
Guitar festival
Movie: Captain America: Civil War
Gerrard Coutreau retirement do
June
Muhammad Ali dies
Denise and Bill visiting from B.C.
Graham's personal goods arrived
Notification that Graham is approved for Permanent Residency
July
Tattoo Parade
Movie: Independence Day: Resurgence
Movie: Star Trek: Beyond
August
Road trip to the US Border, St. Andrews
Graham officially gets PR!
Wine bus tour in the valley
Movie: Suicide Squad
Ping
September
Brier Island Whale Watching
UFO museum Shag Harbour
Port Royal
Yarmouth and southern tip of NS
Sherbrooke Village
Board game cafe with Denise and Robert
Mary and Stu's wedding reception
Tall Ship Silva with Telly and Garry
October
Movie - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Sharon Ernst 75th birthday party
Author Ami McKay speaking at the library
November
Hal-Con
Ping
Movie: Dr. Strange
Baby shower for Jonathan and Rachel's baby
Graham's birthday
December
Dartmouth Christmas Tree lighting
New Year's Eve downtown/Haliburton Inn
Stu and Mary's open house
Mammogram
Movie: Rogue One
New Year's Eve downtown, plus Haliburton Hotel for the night.
New things:
read 2 graphic novels
Visited Ipswich
St. Andrews, New Brunswick
Whale watching
Ufo museum
Sherbrooke Village
Hal-Con scifi convention
Board room cafe
Christmas tree lighting
New Year's Eve downtown Halifax
Movies/Performances:
Cineplex event In The Gallery (Uffizi and Florence)
The Huntsman: Winter War
Captain America: Civil War
Star Trek: Beyond
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Suicide Squad
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Dr. Strange
Rogue One
And in my reading life, I usually try to read at least 90 books. This year I upped the goal to 95 and went past that though to be fair, a handful at least were novellas and very short books including a couple of graphic novels which I can burn through in one sitting. Having said that, I've never read graphic novels before so that's another first. I'm going to try out an audio book this year, too as part of a challenge on Goodreads in a group I follow for fans of Canadian Literature. I don't know how successful that will be since my attention tends to drift listening to things like that. I guess audio books aren't a first actually, because I have downloaded a couple of books and radio plays in the past and that's how I know my attention drifts. I will have to make more of an effort. I've also started borrowing ebooks from the library, something I had been planning to do for years even though I'm still buying books, too! At year's end I have three books on the go and I won't finish them by tonight. Still, I think I'll still count them in 2016 books since I've read over half of at least two of them already and a good third of the other one.
And to wrap up my book list...
I read quite a few Christmas themed books as part of a Goodreads challenge and tried to make sure most of them were a bit different than the usual feel-good sentimental stuff.
Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie
Not bad, but not up to her standard, I felt. A classic locked room murder with a dysfunctional family.
Twelve Drummers Drumming - C. C. Benison
The only real relation to Christmas was the protagonist, Tom Christmas who is a vicar, aka Father Christmas. It's a mystery with a couple of murders to work out. Canadian author, too, and not bad at all.
The Christmas Train - David Baldacci
A journalist takes a cross country train ride to spend Christmas with his LA girlfriend. Turns out his former girlfriend is on the train. There is a bit of a mystery and a wedding and the train gets stuck when an avalanche closes the tracks. Not too bad a story but I had a few personal issues with it so it lost points.
This Christmas - Jane Green et. al
Three short novellas, Christmas for three different women, a bored housewife, a newlywed obsessed with her husband's first wife, and a single woman trying to live up to her family's standards. Wasn't keen on the first story but I liked the other two.
Mary's Christmas - Laurie R. King
A short story about Mary Russell telling her friend and cohort Sherlock Holmes about her childhood. There's a series of books by this author about Mary and Sherlock solving crimes apparently.
The Man Who Invented Christmas - Les Standiford
This was interesting. It's about how Dickens came to write A Christmas Carol and the effect it had. christmas was celebrated before that in various ways but this book really revitalized the celebrations. It is an interesting background view of Victorian life and culture.
A Highland Christmas - M. C. Beaton
A Hamish MacBeth story involving missing decorations, a missing cat and bringing Christmas spirit to those that need it the most.
Anne Perry's Silent Nights - Anne Perry
Two Victorian Christmas stories, one involving Inspector Runcorn and one involving the sister-in-law of Thomas Pitt, her other detective. One takes place in Ireland and includes a murder from the past and the other takes place in Wales with a murder discovered.
Those are the books I've finished. Ongoing are:
Garbo Laughs - Elizabeth Hay
Quicksilver - Neal Stephenson (struggling with this but I'll persevere)
Christmas at Pemberley - Regina Jeffers (A Pride and Prejudice story)
