2017 - A year in review

2017 was an interesting year, below is a list of events that occurred this past year:

• Watched a new Star Wars movie again.  The movie is divisive among fans, but I enjoyed the film.

• Lost my sister Jessica to cancer.  I don’t want to discuss this one.
• Traveled with work to Arkansas 9 times, ~9 more than I really would have liked

• My son is now 3 years old!  Holy cow, where does the time go?  I seems like we were bringing him home from the hospital yesterday.

• I am still enjoying my ipad

• Started playing World of Warcraft, again...

• Stopped playing World of Warcraft, again...

• Read a lot of good books, We are Legion (We are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor, Rise of a D-List Supervillain by Jim Bernheimer, 13 of the 20+ Honor Harrington series by David Webber, The Last Coven (final book of the Tome of Bill Series) by Rick Gualtieri, Agent of the Imperium by Marc Miller (more on Mr. Miller later), and last but not least…Persepolis Rising (The Expanse Series) by James S.A. Corey

• Finall broke down and started using Audible and listening to audio books.  I am now a big fan of audio books but the quality hinges heavily on the performance of the narrator.  So far I have tried the following books:  Armada:  A Novel by Ernest Cline, The Collapsing Empire  by John Scalzi, Star Wars:  Ahoska by E.K. Johnston, Three books of the Velveteen Series by Seanan McGuire, Thrawn (Star Wars),  by Timothy Zahn, A Closed and Common Oribit  by Becky Chambers, and The Columbus Day:  Expeditionary Force Series by Craig Alanson.

• Went to GENCON 2017 the 50^th Anniversary.  Met with several of my favorite authors and RPG creators:
• Marion Harmon – Wearing the Cape book series and the RPG.  I picked up my Kickstarter books form him at the convention.
• Marc Miller – The creator of the Traveller RPG, we had an opportunity to sit and discuss traveler and I had a great time.
• Greg Stafford – One of the Runequest creators and Jeff Richard one of the men responsible for the resurgence of Chaosium and Runequest 2^nd Ed. Material.
• Interviewed for a new position in my company again.  I didn't get the job but I feel this is still moving in the right direction to get my family back to Kentucky and closer to family.

• Played several new board games:  Scythe, Terraforming Mars, Mansions of Madness, Star Trek Ascendancy, Charterstone, RISK:  Game of Thrones,   Tiny Epic Galaxies, and Tyrants of the Underdark.  There are are a few more and I will work to get some reviews posted.

• Started an ongoing Marvel (FASERIP) campaign on Roll20.

Thing that I didn't get to do this past year but want to change in 2017:

• Work in the wood shop.  I did make it out there a few more times than last year.

• Slacked off on my blog for the past couple of months.  I got very busy with work, and I know, excuses…excuses. 

•  Visit old friends, especially the ones that are fairly close.  Such as some old Army buddies in Atlanta.

• Take my son to the Zoo, he still wants to see an Aardvark!

• Take a family vacation in an RV to the Grand Canyon. 

• Convince my mother to come and stay with us and when that doesn't work, talk her in to staying for a couple of weeks.

• Just so I can be like everyone else at New Years, loose about 20 lbs.

• Write more, practice practice practice!

• Continue my Marvel RGP campaign on Roll20 and perhaps add a second RPG campaign.  

I know its quick and just a list of experiences but I feel better getting them down on paper.  I do have a few game reviews that will be coming up in a couple of weeks.  I promise!  I also am going to strive to be more regular with updates, and share more of my thoughts and stories.  Happy New Year!

- Jeremiah