Before I begin looking back at 2014, here is a link to My Christmas Letter 2013, for those that are interested.

I had many goals for 2014, but I’ll likely review those in a separate post. The first thing you have probably noticed though is that I didn’t blog much this year. Thankfully, that doesn’t mean that it was a boring year, or that there wasn’t much that happened.

I moved out of my apartment on Main street, to rent a nice house from a family friend (my twentieth move in my life), only to end up back in an apartment on Main street less than half a year later (my twenty-first move). It knocked a bit of wind out of my sails, and I’m still trying to recover from it all. I think Annie feels the same way about the whole situation, but we did enjoy living in the family friend’s house while we could.

My career was just as in flux as I went from working at Rocketgenius, to being the Communications Manager for Envirotech Office Systems, to working for a short stint as a Web Developer for Solinst to finally landing in a position that fit my needs well as a Project Manager at 10up. I am working from home again, which has its advantages and disadvantages, especially in the current apartment, but I’m trying to make the most of it and I really love what I’m doing now. Annie continues to work at the same school, and her case load seems to be suiting her well. She has more days where she comes home excited to go back than days where she feels she isn’t getting paid enough. There has been more office politics for her to deal with this year, but she is handling it all in stride, and focusing on doing the best she can for the kids she works with.

On April 26th, Annie and I were married in Georgetown. My post about my perspective is on another blog, click here to read it. Most of my family were able to make it, and it was a nice, intimate ceremony and reception. I think most people had a great time, and once everyone was dancing to the music, I was able to relax. The music ended up coming from Mark’s speakers that he brought from Kingston in case they were needed, which they were, so I am super grateful for his willingness to do that for us. We shamefully still haven’t sent out thank you cards to everyone that provided us with such wonderful gifts, but it is on our list!

Annie and I also bought a new computer in the late spring, and we named it Valen. Annie built it herself, with only a tiny bit of help from me. It runs amazing, and meant that she mostly inherited my MacBook Pro. Her previous machine was a laptop that would create the dreaded purple smoke and we were certain it was hours away from being unusable or catching fire…which I suppose would have made it unusable.

Scream a Little Dream finally came out. It was a web-series crafted by Tom Leroux, my brother from another mother, and his friend Greg Murphy. I acted as a data wrangler (copying files off cards and backing them up), as well as the Thug in two short scenes. If you haven’t seen it, search for it on YouTube.

Once school was let out, Annie and I went on our honeymoon. Going to Florida with her was great, and we really enjoyed her mother’s condo. It wasn’t too close to anything, but we still made it work, and ended up having a great time. Apparently, no one in Orlando walks anywhere, and there were more than a few times where I thought I was going to be run over. We got to see the new Harry Potter section of Universal on its second day open, and it was a very immersive experience, despite being packed to the brim with people. I loved the daily storms that seemed to happen between one and four in the afternoon, and thankfully, Annie and I only got caught unprepared in them once during the two weeks we were there.

When we were back, we decided to use Kickstarter for our novel, Second Class Supers, so that we could afford to pay for some top notch editing and get the book in people’s hands, for real. We are still working away on it, although a bit more sporadically than I’d like, as we struggle through the editing process. I really had no idea it was going to be like pulling teeth! Our Kickstarter was successful, and so now, sitting in my bank account is the funds required to print a bunch of copies of the book, something I can’t wait to do.

In the fall, Annie and I tried to organize the purchase of a house. We found one that we fell in love with, but they wouldn’t budge on the price, and ended up selling to a property management company that now rents out the place for a bit more than the mortgage price would have been. The second house we put an offer on slipped through our fingers as well, causing me to be a bit stressed as we realized that we’d be stuck in our current apartment for longer.

I have also been struggling with depression this year. It is not something I publicly talk about, for fear of it affecting my career aspirations, but I am currently on medication, and hoping to go through some therapy to get some updated strategies on better managing it all. It has been a few years since my last bad bout, and I’m confident that I’ll get back to a place where I’m better able to manage my symptoms. The only stressful part right now is that where we are living is having a negative effect on my emotional state. Annie and I are looking at options to move to another apartment, but it might be tricky as we are supposed to be on a one year lease here. I should note though that my health has been really good otherwise, I’m a bit heavier than I’d like to be, but beyond that, things seem to be doing okay.

Just recently, Annie and I took advantage of an offer made by Kia Motors, and traded in her Kia Rio for a new Kia Forte. We knew that her warranty was running out on her Rio, and it worried us a bit as that car had been a bit of a lemon. The less entry level model, Forte, had many good reviews, and was reasonably affordable. So far, Annie has been enjoying driving it, and the winter package gave her bells and whistles she is super happy with, like a heated steering wheel.

Christmas is quickly approaching and we are looking forward to visiting as many people as we can. Other than the wedding, twenty-fourteen hasn’t been a great year for me when it comes to visiting, but I hope twenty-fifteen will be better.