such_heights | 2013 in review

The year started out with

fizzyblogic's funeral. I still miss Jason all the time. I took a bunch of commissions to help support his partner in the aftermath and have been incredibly slow on delivering them -- it wasn't a particularly productive year for me fannishly as it turns out. I'll try to do better this year. My grandmother also passed away in February - not that unexpected, but still sad.

Things started to pick up after that. Particularly, I went to

raven's birthday party, met

happydork in person, and by the end of January had ticked off one of my main resolutions for the year - go on a date. It just got better from there.

I managed to totally overcommit myself in the first half of the year, and although I don't regret it, it did get a bit ridiculous. I'm particularly proud of being on the concom of Vidukon for the first time and for getting back on stage after talking about it for ages. I did a series of shows with Lashings in Oxford and then we took it to Edinburgh for two weeks during the Fringe, which was awesome and exhausting.

Pouring so much energy into my interests and things I feel passionate about left my day job feeling decidedly unsatisfying, and a few weeks ago I finally made the leap and will be starting at a new place in the new year, working on mental health reform which should be much more motivating.

I got to go to the US this year! I had a fantastic time at Wiscon, where everyone I spent time with was incredibly welcoming and friendly and I got to go to a bunch of cool stuff, particularly the vid party. It was a particular joy to room with

aria and

filia_belialis and yell about the Avengers a lot. <3

Afterwards I went to Boston! I stayed with

pocky_slash and

mcwonthelottery and we watched a lot of Bomb Girls and I got to meet their cool Boston crowd and it was great. Fannish holidays are the best holidays.

It was a great year to be a Doctor Who fan in the UK - I got to go to so much stuff! The BBC prom, the live show of Capaldi being announced as the next Doctor, the 50th anniversary convention. All huge amounts of fun and full of brilliant cosplayers and adorable kids and lots of love for the show past and present. Watching the 50th episode in the cinema was pretty much the best.

Other fandoms were great this year too - I thought Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 were both stellar outings for the MCU, and I can't wait for next year's films as well. STEEEVE. NATASHAAAA. BUCKYYYY. GIMME. New fandoms I picked up this year include Elementary, Pacific Rim and Welcome to Night Vale. I also got super into The Hunger Games and thought Catching Fire was a fab film.

I've been sort of terrible at reading novels for the past few years, and this year I set myself a goal of ten, which I hit! They were:

Wild Seed -- Octavia Butler
Mind of My Mind -- Octavia Butler
Clay's Ark -- Octavia Butler
The Hunger Games -- Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire -- Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay -- Suzanne Collins
The Ocean at the End of the Lane -- Neil Gaiman
Monstrous Regiment -- Terry Pratchett
Summer Falls -- Amelia Williams (DW tie-in book)
The Princess Diaries - Meg Cabot (reread)
The Hobbit -- JRR Tolkien (reread)

I've also been reading Hawkeye and Captain Marvel on the comics front.

Musically, the albums I've listened to most this year have been:

Ulysses Dies At Dawn -- The Mechanisms
Aims -- Vienna Teng
The Electric Lady -- Janelle Monáe
Beyoncé -- Beyoncé

It's been a good year overall. I had a particularly bad flare up of SAD this winter, but adjusting my meds has helped a lot. Mostly, I got to do a bunch of really cool things surrounded by people I love, and that's all I'd ever ask for. I hope the coming year is as good!