Saying farewell to 2014 and hello to 2015

To say 2014 was a year of change for me would be a mild understatement. The last three months have been pretty crazy, mainly with the shift into a new job and all the rippling changes that come from that.

It's been a crazy-as-hell year:

• My previous employer had an utter meltdown from a transfer in ownership that made most of 2014 an unpleasant and somewhat nerve-wracking experience.
• Job-hunting (see above) taught me no small amount of humility.
• A dizzying number of friends moved on to other phases in their lives and friendships I'd assumed were solid were solid seemed to be shockingly-fragile while others remained just as shockingly solid, if not more-so. People always surprise me.
• The Bike Gods unleashed their wrath upon me for reasons I cannot fathom.
• Some damn good books came across my path ("The Martian", "Tower Lord", "Skin Game", and others).
• I concluded a role-playing game campaign that was a good thirteen years long (give or take).
• Said gaming group lost and gained members. New faces around the table. New dice in the hand. New campaigns going on.
• I got to visit England for the first time in ages.
• Bad habits have started to catch up with me but now I'm inspired to fix them, so there's a silver lining in that cloud.

So now I'm sitting in my apartment to greet the New Year. We're suffering a mild cold-snap here in the Bay Area and it turns out my apartment's wall-heater is dead as can be, making my apartment akin to an icebox. Thankfully I have a space heater that works nicely. I'm suffering from a mild cold/bug/something that discourages me from going out. The mail just delivered Guardians of the Galaxy on DVD and I believe I've managed to kill off the ants invading the bar in my kitchen, so I think there's a movie and some sipping bourbon on the menu to greet 2015.

Whomever you are and where-ever you are, may you have a very happy New Year and may 2015 bring you more good than bad in your life.

Cheers!