The Year in Review

Running a marathon is a big deal. Whether you’re a world-class runner trying to break the two-hour barrier or a slow middle-aged man who walks it in eight, crossing the finish line brings a unique feeling of, “Yes! It’s over!”

So imagine crossing the finish line and catching your breath only to have a race official approach you and say, “This isn’t the finish line. This is the starting line of the next marathon. Keep running! Go, go, go!”

That’s how I invariably feel about the turn of a new year. Time (or at least our tracking thereof) is nearly always cyclical: the minute hand running around a clock, the changing of the seasons, the earth making its full orbit around the sun (only to reach the end where the moon starts yelling at it, “Keep running! Go, go, go!”)

Harry Chapin put this concept into song very well:

All my life’s a circle.
Sunrise and sundown.
The moon rolls through the nighttime
‘Til the day break comes around.

All my life’s a circle.
But I can’t tell you why.
The season’s spinnin’ ’round again,
The years keep rollin’ by.

And here we are, another year has rolled by. And just at the point where I feel like, “Yes! It’s over!” I’m about to find myself at the start line again. I’m tired. I’d like to take a break before the next marathon starts. But unfortunately, the space-time continuum doesn’t work that way. No, the space-time continuum instead just says, “Sucks to be you.”

So before that race official finds me and tells me to go-go-go once around again, let’s at least take a minute to look back on 2015. I’ll begin where last year’s review ended:

So what will 2015 bring? Well, I have many, many goals as usual. I will continue to write, make a serious attempt to get back into the home recording studio, and maybe create some art here and there. But truth be told, if I just got that garage cleaned up, I’d call it a win.

January

I actually did get the home recording studio set up again and began recording. I also kept working on my NaNoWriMo manuscript. Wow! Looks like this just might be the year for the arts!

February

I joined the gym at work. Kept at the music and recording. Stopped working on the book. Went on my first trip to Cupertino.

March

Put all other creative endeavors on hold while I messed around with the Skyrim Creation Kit. Maybe I’ll explain that later.

April

Things got busy at work. Put most things on hold while I messed around with my day job, though I did manage to find time to start a new, non-fiction book.

May

Things got really busy at work. Put everything else on hold. For Mother’s Day, Laura said, “Let’s go look at houses.”

June

Things still busy at work. House hunting got serious. First trip to Tappahannock in thirty years.

July

Things still busy at work. House hunting turns into house purchase. Second Cupertino trip.

August

Things still busy at work. Third Cupertino trip.

September

Things still busy at work.

October

Things still busy at work.

November

Things still busy at work. Sometimes I don’t really like it.

December

And finally, things are back to normal. Whatever normal is.

So, all in all, it was a year. I didn’t quite do what I’d set out to do, creatively. And the whole move-in-progress is something I certainly didn’t foresee a year ago. But that’s life, isn’t it?

It’s like golf. You put your ball on the tee, you say, “I’m going to hit that cup four hundred yards away in three strokes,” and then you just take your best whack at it. Next thing you know you’re fishing your ball out of someone’s tomato soup at the clubhouse.

So! How about 2016!? Well, it’s the same list I’ve had for years and years and years:

• Finish at least ONE book, maybe TWO if I’m lucky.
• Get the recording studio set up. Again.
• And maybe produce some art.

No guarantees, but I’ll do what I can. Well, one thing is guaranteed. Since we’re moving? The garage will be cleaned. (Probably can’t say the same about the new garage, sadly.)