From an exterior standpoint, 2016 was bad to meh. I am a huge Olympics dork and all of the problems with Rio made it difficult to enjoy without guilt. None of my favorite sports teams accomplished much of anything major. I have always had a high engagement level with politics and current affairs, but I think this time out it was too high, and not just because I have spent the last few weeks trying to rationalize why the Trump administration doesn't constitute an existential crisis for American democracy.
But enough about that, since this isn't the place for such discussions.
From a personal standpoint, it hasn't changed dramatically, but that's not necessarily a good thing. I've been in a new city since August of 2015. I had hoped the change of scenery would open up avenues socially and maybe romantically, and that really hasn't happened at all. Working five nights a week, including Friday and Saturday, doesn't help, but I also think it may be a built-in crutch, too. I've tried to extend a hand of friendship to other local media people in hopes of knowing folks that work similar schedules and have similar struggles, but that hasn't gone much of anywhere either, primarily since I work copy desk now so it's not like I'm sharing a sideline with them. Mostly just light Twitter jokes that don't go anywhere. The only people in my apartment building who know me by name are moving out this weekend. My younger sister had her second kid this summer and I'm the only unmarried guy in my fantasy league, all of which I remember on Saturday nights after my weekly pint or two (but never more than that, since I have to drive myself home). Sorry for the downer, just spitting that out.
There have been a few recent highlights. I'm active in a church where I can really express my talent for music but yet I'm not buried in activities like I used to be. (I'm a choral tenor, so that's not going to improve anything in the previous paragraph.) I decided walking and golf while walking weren't getting it done, so I've been hitting the local Y 3-5 times a week since the weather turned. I have run a mile without stopping twice in the last week (Monday was in 10:08?!), have a strength program with Nautilus machines that I follow, and though I'm concerned that I may lose more weight this week by getting a haircut than I have achieved thus far at the Y, I do feel like I have accomplished something.
As far as work, today was a big relief to find that our copy desk's hub integration process will not keep me from occasionally doing the paper I moved here to do, nor does the final plan appear to be as brazen a plan to ratfuck the Guild as the one we were floated last week. We'll see if any of them work, but it's nice to know that, at least if I'm in a clusterfuck, it's not an intentional one? (That probably doesn't make any sense.)
So, in short, 2016. Not very good, but not particularly bad.
