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This Christmas season was bittersweet. I couldn’t help but think that it’s the 1st Christmas without my boy Reese since 2007. Max is a great companion, however.

I had Thanksgiving dinner with Josh and Aaron again this year. We watched Disenchanted after we ate. We had ‘dim the lights’ at work the first part of that week (work from home, no meetings) and of I was off Thursday and Friday.

I was ready for Christmas this year. I listened to more Christmas music. I saw some holiday commercials on TV and at the movie theater that made me a little emotional.

We had a ‘dim the lights’ week at work the week between Christmas and my birthday. We had Christmas dinner at Josh and Aaron’s, but there was about 7 of us this time. We played video games and did our while elephant exchange. On Christmas Day we had Chinese Dinner and my friend Nir’s place. There were about 5 of us, 2 who I had never met before.

I started feeling a little sick late on Christmas day. I’ve been sick since. Covid tests have all been negative. When one things starts to feel better, something else starts to get worse. Overall, I’m better than I was at the beginning of the week. It sucks because this was my vacation week and I’ve spent it all isolated inside. I’m probably going to miss the NYE party I’m supposed to be going to tomorrow.

I didn’t get as much this year as normal. I still have 3 exchanges that were moved to January because of the hectic holiday season. What did I get?

• a rainbow-colored beanie
• several video games (purchased for myself)
• God is Disappointed in You by Mark Russell and Shannon Wheeler
• Arboretum board game
• Finding Me by Viola Davis
• some soaps and creams
• Nike gift card

Update: 12/31/2022
I realized that I usually give end of year thoughts in the Christmas post and not in a separate post like I thought. At the past few years I’ve done it that way. So I’m updating this.

2022 has been challenging, most because of death. Reese passed away and exactly 1 month later one of my oldest friends died. My aunt passed away last month and last week we lost a cousin (I think he’s a cousin, but I’m not sure. I have a large extended family). Some people who I knew of in the local community passed and of course some celebrities I liked did to.

It wasn’t all bad. I got a new job, which is an FTE position like what I was hoping to find this last year. I’ve made some progress and adjustments healthwise and I still have a long way to go. I started playing guitar again. I incorporated PDX Gaymers as a nonprofit. I’ve met tons of cool people. And so much more.

I’m a little bummed out that I’m too sick to go out tonight, but the rest will be good for me. I know that likely nothing will be different tomorrow, but I am looking forward to seeing what 2023 holds for me.

Christmas was last Friday. It was another day in quarantine with not much happening.

I worked half a day. I streamed Overwatch for a few hours after work. I had Chinese takeout and watched Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max. The food was good, but the movie wasn’t nearly as good as the first one.

Hoping for better times next year. And snow.

What did I get for Christmas and my birthday this year.

a map of Portland neighborhoods poster

lots of fish food

fish cards and stickers

a bristlr worm trap

star wars card deck

an exercise ball

a pack of Reese’s trees

Star Trek: Picard Season 1

Overwatch Monopoly

Wakanda Forever board game

Star Trek Five-Year Mission board game

I treated myself to an Oculus Quest 2, an Xbox Series X, and a PlayStation 5, though the PS5 won’t be here for another couple of weeks.

I’m at a point where I’m tired of hearing about how rough this year has been. Hopefully this will be one of the last times I mention it. Everyone can go into the new year with a new outlook and attitude

There were many positives this year: finally getting a new job, making health a priority, getting to see Xander again, getting into a streaming habit, taking part in all the virtual events with PDX Gaymers, helping elect a new president elected, getting new gadgets, spending so much time with the dogs, and so on.

As soon as the pandemic hit, I decided I wasn’t going to stress over that list of goals I set last year. It’s okay if I wasn’t productive as I wanted to be. I did meet a few of them I think. I’m not going to bother setting any for next year. Hopefully before the end of the year we’ll be able to start having game nights or going to happy hours again.

Time will tell.

Unfortunately, I had to work today and I’m working a half day tomorrow. Tonight, I finished a book to meet my book goal for the year. Now I plan to play video games, watch TV, and chat with friends while enjoying the most expensive bottle of wine I’ve ever bought.

As always, have a great year and take care of each other!

Overall, this Christmas has been much better than last year. We actually decorated a tree this year, which we didn’t do last year. There were times when I wasn’t feeling the spirit much, but it always came back. One of the things that helped me get back into it was Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland event. The music, skins, and map decorations are so festive it’s hard not to feel happy, at least until the match starts.

I won’t go into too much detail, but someone close to me is having a hard time and it has put a damper on my mood at times, but we can usually turn things around.

I took a 2-week vacation from work and 1 week is now over. I think I think this is the longest vacation I’ve ever had professionally. So far I’ve done exactly what I planned: played lots of video games, watched a lot of TV, worked on my podcast websites, worked on projects at home, and spent time with friends. I listened to my Christmas mix all the way through this year, but I don’t think I heard “Last Christmas” at all, which is a shame.

I know material things aren’t the most important part of this time of the year, but gifts are still one of my favorite parts of Christmas even though the excitement isn’t the same as it was when I was a kid. I always feel fortunate that people think about me. Here’s my haul this year:

• Princess Mononoke on blu-ray
• Marvel trivia box
• Dancing Groot pop vinyl
• Lucio and Junkrat pop vinyls
• Jupiter’s Legacy Vol 1
• Lunch bag for work
• Card game and emoji toys (I regifted these)
• Rainbow socks
• Tardis fish tank ornament
• Many Christmas cards (I’ve forgotten to mention these in previous years)
• Some stuff I treated myself to:
  • Gloomhaven, Founders of Gloomhaven, and Spirit Island board games
  • a new car (post coming soon)
  • an Instant pot

Overall, this has been a fairly good year. There were difficulties, but I think I got through them okay. Professionally, I was thrust into a leadership position around mid-year, and recently I got great feedback about how I’ve been doing. I think I surprised a lot of people. Health-wise, there have been ups and downs, but I’ve done well these past few weeks. I’m eating more home-cooked meals and less junk food. I think I’ll have a workout partner in January, so that should help keep me motivated.

I’m so ready to take on 2019! I think some good changes are coming! I know that January 1 is just another day and it doesn’t mean that anything is going to change, but I think it’s a good opportunity to start over or make a course correction.

As always I hope everyone has a happy holiday season and a great new year! Take care of each other!

Christmas has been different this year.

I didn’t do much for Thanksgiving. I’m not that big into holidays, but Xander and I had made it a point to hang out on holidays. That changed earlier this year. On Thanksgiving, Xander was working his new dog sitting/housesitting job.  We did have lunch at My Father’s Place and ate breakfast food.

I wasn’t feeling the spirit this Christmas season.  I never even got all the way through my Christmas mix once, which I think is a first since I made it in 2006. It did snow on Christmas Eve and there was some left on Christmas Day. My vacations is Dec 22-Jan 1.  I let Xander borrow my car for work, so I was basically here by myself for 6 days in a row, Christmas being the 5th day of that.  It would have been difficult for him to do what he needed to without a vehicle. He didn’t come back home at the end of the day on Dec 24 and Dec 25. I wasn’t too happy about being alone and stranded on Christmas day.  My vacation has been better since the 26th.  It’ll have a strong finish.

Since presents are one of the few things I still like about this holiday and I always document my gifts, here is what I got this year for my birthday and Christmas:

• beer mug
• Reese’s, Kit-Kat, Skittles
• Rocks
• The Incredibles on blu-ray
• Texts from Dog calendar
• Armada by Ernest Cline
• Artemis by Andy Weir
• Mississippi State socks
• Guardians of the Galaxy expansion for Legendary
• Vanilla bean and warm tobacco pipe scented candles
• Star Wars droid storage containers
• Thor and Hulk pop vinyls
• voucher for Naked Wines
• several Christmas cards
• Pandemic and Shadows over Camelot board games (gifts from myself)

Once again, my friends did well.

Overall, I think this has been a good year personally.  Lots of fun, but some of what I’ve gone through and what close friends have gone through has made it challenging at times.  Hopefully, 2018 will be easier.

The main goal I have for next year is to live a healthy lifestyle again.  My success criteria will be having normal cholesterol and glucose levels when I have my annual exam in December.

I hope every one has a happy New Year.  Take care of yourself and each other.

The Christmas season has been fun this year. Even though the snow was an inconvenience at times, it was nice getting an unusually high amount of it for Portland this year.  I’ve spent a lot of time at home due to the snow and the fact that people work from home a lot during the holidays.

I didn’t have trouble getting into the spirit after the great Friendsgiving I had at my friends Matt and Zach’s place.  I may have dialed things back a bit because I’m living with someone who is not really into Christmas.  I think Kysen was going through some emotional stuff at the Friendsgiving celebration, but he had a good time.  We even went to see a movie that night. During the Christmas season, I still listened to music, sang songs, watched Christmas specials, etc., but I didn’t do it much around him. He was a good sport and tolerated it when I did.

We decided we would have more of a Solstice celebration. We decorated a little potted tree that Kysen normally keeps in his room.  We crafted some ornaments and even hung John Lennon and Yoko Ono sock puppets on it.  We took a photo in front of the tree with Reese, who wouldn’t be still.  We put the tree up the night of my accident. A little later that night, Kysen got a piece of headlight from my old car and put it at the base of the tree.

I gave Kysen his gifts on December 21. He gave me my Solstice gift on my birthday because my birthday present hadn’t arrive in the mail yet. He gave me my birthday present on Christmas eve because it came in the mail that day.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were on a Saturday and Sunday.  We spent Saturday grocery shopping, art supply shopping for a class I’m taking soon [I think I forgot to write about the class I took in the fall], and getting some stuff for a tank Kysen bought (I think he got it the day before). I actually got a nano tank while we were out.  We spend Saturday organizing and cleaning and getting the tanks ready for fish. We had salmon and rice that Kysen cooked for dinner. One Sunday we finished organizing and were really lazy for the rest of the day. Kysen did some painting and I played video games. I used my slow cooker for maybe the second or third time to make Indian food. It turned out well. We watched Sausage Party while we ate.

What did I get for my birthday and for Christmas:

• a homemade candle
• a mermaid bathroom hook
• Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
• Weird Oregon: Your Travel Guide to Oregon’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets
• 12-month PlayStation Plus membership card
• a Broadcast tank top
• Game of Thrones shot glasses
• Imploding Kittens (the Exploding Kittens expansion)
• Drawing the Head & Figure
• a bag of cleaning rags
• a Super Mario Christmas tree ornament
• a video game centric drinking cup
• MacBook Pro (gift to myself)

It wasn’t a traditional Christmas, but it was great to spend it with someone I care about. We spoke the other night about New Year’s Eve. Neither of us have plans, but we’ll figure out something.

This year has been a mixed bag.  Some of it’s been really great, and some of it’s been really difficult.  Life is still good though.  I met all the goals I set for myself last year. I think the last time I met all my goals for the year, I didn’t set any goals for the following year.  I think I’ll just wait a few weeks and see if I want to set any goals for 2017.

I hope everyone has a happy New Year.  Take care of yourself.

Another Christmas has passed and another New Year is coming. I was thankful not to spend Christmas alone this year. Thanksgiving was a little tough. Seeing everyone post pictures of food and family while I was sitting at home playing Fallout 4 was a little sad.

Luckily, my friend Joel invited me to a Christmas dinner party that he was going to. He’s in the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus and some of them had a fun party that night. My company and my runner’s group had Christmas parties the week before, so this was my third one this year.  I had a great time and it was fun connecting with new people.

What did I get for Christmas?

• Blue Snowball microphone
• Star Trek shirt
• The Firefly board game
• A wooden box that I plan on painting and keeping stuff in
• A pair of briefs
• Guitar Hero Live
• Game of Thrones coloring book
• Game of Thrones season 4 soundtrack

I hope I remembered everything. I’ll be getting something from my sister and family later.

This year I decided to end my tradition of watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy in December. It’s just becoming harder and harder to find the time and this December I was trying to re-watch all of the Star Wars movies (The Force Awakens was awesome, btw). Last year was I believe the 10th consecutive year, so it’s probably a good time to end it. I’m a little sad because my favorite traditions are ones that I’ve started myself. I always said that the year couldn’t really end until I heard that Annie Lennox song at the end of the third movie, which I always watched on New Year’s Eve.

I think I stopped setting goals for the upcoming year after I moved to Portland. In case I’ve never said this before, I hate calling them resolutions. I posted some 2016 goals on Facebook the other day and figured I would post them here to make them easier to find. Some are repeats of things I did this year. #1 will be completed on January 1 and #2 may happen before the end of basketball season.
1) Go on at least 1 real date
2) Attend at least 1 pro sports event
3) Get more sleep
4) Get organized again
5) Keep doing the good things I started this year
6) Take more pictures
7) Not forget about this list

Usually I don’t do out on New Year’s Eve, but I am tonight. It might be the first time I’ve ever done so. I’m going to a private party at my friends Ez and Andrew’s place. I was also invited to hang out with the Chorus people I spent Christmas night with, but I had already committed this one. It should be a great time. I guess this will end my tradition of buying a bottle of wine for myself on New Year’s Eve.

I had such a great 2015. I put myself out there more and made many new friends. I don’t have a lot to complain about, and what I do I hope to change in 2016. I hope everyone has a happy and successful 2016.

Leading up to Christmas, there were times when I was really into the season and times when I wanted it to be over. Of course, the traveling was what I was dreading. I hate flying and driving gets old after a while.

I flew to Mississippi on the 23rd. This is the first time I’ve flown United. I had already made plans to fly to Jackson months before I knew everyone would be in Georgia for Christmas. I was going to cost around $1000 to change the flight to Atlanta, so I figured I would drive the rest of the way since I had already planned to rent a car. I spent the night in Jackson and drove to Decatur the next day. I had a blast in Georgia. I hadn’t seen my sister, brother-in-law, and niece in a little over 2 years and my mom since February. My niece is almost 3 now. She is adorable. I never got tired of her calling me “Uncle Will”. She wore me out a few times. I don’t see how parents do it. Seeing her joy at opening her gifts made me happy. It was great seeing everybody again and getting caught up.

The day after Christmas it was time to return to Portland. I drove back to the airport in Jackson. I ran into a high school classmate at the airport. Our plane was late leaving Jackson due to the plane arriving late in Jackson due to bad weather in Houston. I think we made up some time in the air, but it wasn’t enough. Between leaving late and being stuck waiting for a gate to open up after we landed, I missed my connection. I rushed through the airport as fast as I could. When I made it to the gate for my next flight and handed the lady my boarding pass, word came over the walkie that the door had closed. It was too late in the day for another flight. I was put on standby on the first flight out the next day. I didn’t like the fact that the customer service guy made it sound like it was my fault that I missed my connection. United put me up in a room in Houston, but I had to pay for most of it because my missed connection was caused by something beyond their control. This will probably be the last time I fly United, though other airlines would’ve probably done the same thing. I got a seat on that flight the next day and was glad when I finally made it home. Overall, a great Christmas, but I may be trying to convince everyone to come to Portland next year :).

What did I get this year?

• How to Be Black by Baratunde Thurston
• Super Fly on DVD
• Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlen
• A Best Buy gift card that I’ve already spent
• A nice shirt that I’ll probably wear on NYE
• The Bourne Legacy on blu-ray
• A Tardis cookie jar and Texas cookie cutter
• One gift that I still haven’t received yet

With everything going on lately, I had kinda forgotten that Christmas happened this year. Since neither my mother and nor my sister were in Jackson this year, I didn’t even go home. It’s the first time I’ve ever spent Christmas alone.  I wasn’t completely alone.  Reese is always here, but you know what I mean.

What did I get this year?  I got Darksiders on the Xbox 360 and the first book in the Dresden Files series from a friend.  I got usual movie theater gift cards from my boss at MSU before I left there.  I got the Dresden Files TV series from a kind friend on Twitter. I participated in Twitter Secret Santa again this year and got an awesome USS Enterprise pizza cutter.  I don’t think I’m going to use it.  I think I’ll keep it as a collectible.  If last year is any indication, my sister will probably find the time to send her gift to me around February.

Overall, I just wasn’t into Christmas this year.  I hope it’s different next year.  I hope that whether I’m in Oregon or Mississippi I get to spend Christmas Day with people I care about.

I’ll start with my birthday the week before. I’d been saying all year that all I wanted for my birthday was TRON: Legacy, which came out on the same day. Well, I got it. I got off work early and drove down to Brandon to hang out with my friend John. It was good to catch up with him since I haven’t seen him much lately. We went out to eat, saw the movie, and got drunk afterwards. It was a blast. The hangover the next day wasn’t fun, however. It was only the 2nd time all year that I’d drank any alcohol. The last time was in Austin.

Christmas was good. It was hard to be away from my dog for 47 hours, but I enjoyed spending time with the family that was there. My sister and brother-in-law were stuck in Atlanta with the flu. My mom seems to be doing better, after being not-so-well for a couple of months. Thank goodness! There are some things she doesn’t remember, but otherwise she’s her normal self, which means she’s driving me crazy :).

I think I said this last year, but I do miss getting presents. I’m a little jealous of all the cool things I saw people getting on Twitter and Facebook. My sister and her family are the only ones who regularly get me gifts now, but they weren’t able to come. They’ll be mailing their presents later. I did take part in the Twitter Secret Santa that one of my Twitter friends organizes every year and I got an awesome Walking Dead t-shirt that I will be wearing during warmer months, if not before. I’m grateful for that. I will say that watching my cousin’s kids open their presents pretty much made up for any disappointment I had.

Even though it was an odd Christmas and disappointing in some ways, I think this was one of the best Christmas seasons I’ve had recently.

I really enjoy these 2-week Christmas breaks we get every year.  I know the dog likes having me around more.  I spent the first few days working on a few projects but since then I’ve been in full enjoyment mode.

I went to Jackson for Christmas, but stayed for only a day.  Once again I just wanted to be in my own home and the dog was unhappy being cooped up.  I didn’t have a lot of Christmas spirit this year until Christmas Eve.  I’ve enjoyed having a low-key year in terms of holidays and not doing much to celebrate.  Next year I think I want to start some of my own traditions.  Maybe I’ll do that traveling thing I keep telling myself I’m going to do.  One of these years I want to spend Christmas in my home even if I have to buy tickets for everyone.

Once again there weren’t a lot of gifts because people didn’t have money to spend.  I know Christmas isn’t all about getting presents, but I do miss getting presents.  I like being surprised.  Maybe things will be better next year.  What did I get?

• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1 on blu-ray
• A new wallet to replace the one I accidentally washed a while back
• Dexter coasters (early present that I got a few months ago)

I did buy myself some CDs, clothes, video games, and blu-rays.  Every time I tried shopping for others, I found good deals on stuff that I wanted for myself.  I’m going to get good use out of everything.