By Dagon's scaly scrotum, this has been a rollercoaster of a year. Brainmeats have tried their best to break me repeatedly, I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, had major eye changes that were bloody expensive (my glasses ain't cheap, and my vision keeps changing as my body adapts to life without blood that tastes like molasses. Lost some people. Re-found some others. Made a bunch of new friends, and met more than a few online friends in real life. Which I think balances off in the end. I turned 46, which really doesn't mean much to me. I feel anywhere from 20-30something depending on what I have to get done, and how I feel about it. My allergies have been easier to deal with, yay for a year and change of needles.

Work has been a good chunk of why it's been a rollercoaster. I've gone through 4 managers, company being bought out without a guarantee of future employment, spent 2 months trying not to panic, while also being useful. Finally got an official offer with the new company, with my transition date having been 12/23. Nothing like waiting til the last minute. I've become a SME (Subject Matter Expert) for a software I loathe. Which means I'll be doing more with it in 2019. *eyeroll* New job = similar benefits, same pay, same seniority and a bit more PTO. So we'll see how things go in 2019.

I made 3 trips this year, Providence in Feb, Innsmouth in June (well technically Gloucester and nearby areas), and Portland in October. Providence was me geeking out over being in Grandpa Theobald's town, and meeting people via StokerCon. Definitely want to go back. Innsmouth was a kind of spur of the moment trip, spent a long weekend wandering around an area I've studied for years. I also managed to get a sail on a schooner around Cape Ann, which was probably the ultimate OMG of the year. Though getting to dip my fins into the Atlantic was a close second. Portland was my second trip to the HPLFF, and it was as much fun as the first. Nothing like being surrounded by a small horde of fellow Lovecraftians, and knowing that everyone you were near you could find _something_ to talk about. And some people I ended up talking to about bloody near everything. All 3 trips were solos, I think that's the best for me traveling. I have friends who know how to squeeze every last minute of seeing things, and have a bloody good time doing that. But I, I like to have plans, but I'm constantly rearranging things, taking side trips, deciding to just sit with a book and read, etc. Which would drive my more focused friends nuts. Luckily, my anxiety about new things and strange people seems to go on vacation when I go on vacation.

I've read an oodle of books this year. Couldn't tell you what my favorite was. Same with movies, though I can probably say that 'Black Panther' was one of the top 3. I've expanded my interests some in history, Victorian/ Georgian England, Renaissance Europe in general. Still a fanatical Lovecraftian, as my groaning bookshelves can attest. I really haven't done anything fancy with the computers, I think I'm mostly at the point where I have things that 'just work', and I really don't want to mess with that. I did pick up a NAS, and created a monster sized array for storage. I have some things I want to do, but I don't really want to spend the bucks for it. Especially given my book buying habits.

So that's my 2018 in a nutshell. I know I'm missing a ton of stuff. The fact I'm not blogging much compared to previous years is not helping. Maybe I'll figure out a way to do it better next year. Speaking of next year, here's to surviving 2019, and may it not suck as often as 2018 did.