2008 In Review, and Other Stuff

1. Operation:8 Shelf-A great idea, or so I thought at the start of this year. It actually worked for a couple of months, and then just fell flat. Of course, I didn't do a whole lot to keep it going, either. The concept was, as I recall, an attempt to get a group people together to play games on a regular basis. Part of the genesis of this was the fact that I continue to add to my game collection, but still have a number that I haven't ever played. The name derived from the 8 shelves of games that are on display in the main room downstairs. I really should try to revive this one this year. I think I had also attached a dollar amount per game played that I was going to donate to TAILS at the end of the year. Since that would add up to be some ridiculously small amount, I think I can cover it with the tiki I'm donating to the auction at Tropical TAILS.
   
2. Home Improvements-Done this past year was the downstairs and upstairs hall bathroom remodels, the front door replacement, the cladding on the foundation, the painting of the house, and the new furnace. Good to have that much done, bad to be sitting on top of the home equity loan that we got to finance the whole mess. If we can get that paid down, up next would be the master bath and the water heater. Then maybe some skylights in the living room.
   
3. Off the Meds, and Back Again-As usual, I made a try at getting off the pills in the summer. Thought I actually had a run at it until I dropped off the charts really early in the fall this year. So, I started taking the damn things again. Holding steady at the same dosage from last year, which is good in my opinion. I just hate the thought the thing that I am most known for seems to be having mechanical issues.
   
4. Class of '88-20 years later, and I summed this up to Nikki by saying it was exactly what I expected, and not at all what I wanted it to be. I had no real reason for what I was thinking it would be, except for a mega-gargantuan batch of wishful thinking. Instead I got a huge pop in the head from reality.
   
5. Tails Donation-I have until the actual day of the event to put whatever finishing touches I want to on the carving, as they really don't have anywhere to store it. Rather than put it on the back burner, I'm going to try and get it done this week. The sanding is already done, so up next would be the conditioning and staining. I think I managed to strike a decent balance between sanding as much of the really rough surfaces off as I needed to without removing all the tool marks. So now there are no splintery parts, and it looks just roughly/crudely done to really cool looking. Can't wait to see how much it goes for at auction. I'll get some pics up of this soon.
   
6. Project: No Mas-This went well for a couple of weeks, then the wheels fell off. More like they exploded off in some nuclear style fireball. This is another one I should resurrect for the new year.
   
7. Studio For One-At last I have managed to get all my stuff mostly in one place. I evicted Pinklady from the room, laid some new flooring, and viola! a studio space for me. It's a nice place to retreat to.
   
8. Bookless-This was a really off year for me as far as books went. I just didn't do a whole lot of reading. Starting to amend that, though. The pile of owned but unread books is starting to decrease for the first time in quite a while.
   
9. "Silence of the Lambs"-This was one that has been in my stacks for a while. I was really looking forward to reading it as my general experience with books that get turned into movies is that the book is usually much better (ie Christine). I didn't get that with this book. I remember that when I picked it up it seemed a bit thin, physically, that is. Fairly large print, and not a huge number of pages. I was a tad apprehensive. Then I read it. I ended up disappointed, slightly. The movie was almost lifted verbatim from the book, with a minimal number of deviations. The additional insight into the workings of Hannibal Lechter's mind that I was hoping to find just weren't there. Of course, that does keep him in that category of mysterious evil that makes him all that more creepy. I also have to give a huge tip of the hat to Anthony Hopkins and everybody else who brought this book to life and actually added something to it in the process. I guess this is ones of those exceptions that proves the rule.