2004 Recap
Dec. 31st, 2004 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lathanySo, what happened to me in 2004? I've had a look back over my calendar and LJ to come up with some monthly highlights (and lowlights).
I started the year running a Swordsmaster game (Athory), playing in a Swordsmaster game (Monde) and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cardinalsin's Warhammer 40,000-like Daedulus and running a character (Dr Jewel) in Patchwork Universe (Beta Test). The kids were at home all the time and writing-wise I had just begun on my third book (later named Empty-handed) although the second book (Roland versus Sophie) was still in first draft and needed much work.
January
* The twins and I began our first Mother and Toddler group (Thursday mornings). Beatrice loved the toys, Ryan clung to my leg and I got to meet Jo - who had identical twin girls.
* Angel (Series 5) began on Sky One and I began reviewing the episodes in my LJ (as I had done for previous seasons). 24 also began, but whilst I watched it, I didn't write weekly reviews.
February
* The most memorable event of February was the death of the Musical Snail.
However smaller news included :
* the kids starting a second toddler group
* TheHattedOne and I going wedding dress shopping with/forcuthbertcross
* Bea having her last special physiotherapy session.
March
* Too much of March was spent lying in a heap feeling poorly. I had colds, I had food poisoning. It was naff.
* There was the "boxes" LJ sheep (invented/mutated) byventa where I got to design boxes and other people got to guess who they represented (see here and here).
* I met up with some friends from work and had a nostalgic evening remembering all the good stuff (and forgetting all the panics).
April
* Much of April was spent preparing for May. Namely BaCon and Georgia's Hen Night.
* I think there were Easter Eggs too.
May
* BaCon (hurrah!). Reviewed here and here. Plus the grannies had to deal with chicken pox in our absence.
* Monde ended.
* And Bea was bought her first skirt.
June
* Wasdr_bob and cuthbertcross's Purple and Blue (Green!) Wedding.
* Angel finally ended after five seasons. I liked Not Fade Away more than I liked Chosen, but still felt it was too cliff-hangy (review here).
* Alias 2 came out on DVD. I watched it. I loved it. I'm looking forward to the next season and Alias is now one of my most favourite TV series ever (currently better than Babylon 5, Angel or Buffy). I can't wait to find out how they explain the cliff-hanger, but no spoilers please!
* I got to see Twelfth Night in Kew Gardens withfrax and cardinalsin. 'Twas my only Shakespeare (or any other, for that matter) play of the year, but was a good one.
July
* I spent some of July pretending to be a proper mother. I took the twins pond dipping and baked fairy cakes for the Mother and Toddler group parties.
*bateleur and I spent our wedding anniversary eating yummy, expensive food at La Trompette (veal with frothy gravy!).
August
* The main event of August was posting Empty-handed (well, a synopsis and a few chapters) off to a handful of publishers and agents. The more amazing event was getting a (negative but encouraging) response back by return of post (from someone who had obviously read at least the synopsis).
* Baby Pom arrived - Florrie had the Fimbling feeling and found her.
* Liz's Hen Night happened. Well, more of a Hen Day really. An enjoyable walk, a delicious meal and, even better, no twins!
September
* September brought the end of Athory campaign.
* It also brought the start of The Wheel.
* It was alsotriskellian and smiorgan's Red and Gold Wedding.
* Which brought a certain godmother, the lovelyunknownid, over from the States.
October
*chrestomancy and TheHattedOne left for their world tour (I'm reminded of Twisted Metal...). I still missed them.
*bateleur and I had our yearly long weekend holiday on the western side of the Cotswolds in Amberley (four poster bed and champagne). This year the weekend in question also happened to be the (twelfth) anniversary of our relationship.
* Roland versus Sophie arrived back from the bookbinders. My Dad loves it (fortunately - I wrote it partly for him to read 'cos he's not a fantasy fan and thus hasn't read Mourn's Gift). Mum also liked it, but prefers Mourn's Gift (which she's currently reading for the third time).
* Peter Payne (from work) died. I wasn't that close to him, but he was a kind, gentle man and I'll miss him when I get back to work.
November
* Next door finally put up The Fence.
* Duplicate Bridge was played (when we got to meetfrax's aunt and uncle and invited to stay with them next summer).
* I (rather amateurly) decorated the lower part of the hall.
December
* The only month when I wrote a daily LJ entry (mostly on the subject of advent windows).
* Too many toddler Xmas dos.
* Christmas!!!
Plus I got through a fair number of books and computer games.
The reading stuff.
* The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
* 84 Charing Cross Road (and the Duchess of Bloomsbury Street) - Helen Hanff
* Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
* Sabriel - Garth Nix : I loved this book. It's the world used bysecretrebel and triskellian for their Stain and Sable game and it's a nice piece of children's fantasy. Easy to read, some strong ideas about death and demons, plus a heroine who it's easy to empathise with.
* The Athenian Murders - Jose Carlos Somoza
** The Shipping News - E Annie Proulx and The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith
* Tears of the Giraffe - Alexander McCall Smith : The sequel to No.1 Ladies Detective Agency is enjoyable if you like the first one.
* The Dark Side of the Sun - Terry Pratchett : It's Pratchett! Fun, clever and involving sarcasm.
** On Broadway - Damon Runyon and The Man Who Loved Only Numbers (Paul Erdos) - Paul Hoffman
** Bridge of Birds - Barry Hughart and The Eyre Affair - Jasper Ffords
* Maxie's Demon - Michael Scott Rohan : From the same world background as the Chase the Morning trilogy, although not as good. Probably only worth reading if you've enjoyed that original trilogy.
* Lirael - Garth Nix : The second book in the Sabriel trilogy.
* Stravaganza : City of Masks - Mary Hoffman : Children's fantasy set in an alternative history seventeenth century Italy. The main characters are likable and easy to follow. As well as being the start of a trilogy, it's also a good story in its own right.
* Strata - Terry Pratchett : Pratchett again - see above.
* The Blue Castle - LM Montgommery : Slushy romance with humour and sarcasm. But then I'm a Montgommery fan.
* Morality for Beautiful Girls - Alexander McCall Smith : Book three of No.1 Ladies Detective Agency.
* Shadow of the Seer - Michael Scott Rohan : Like Maxie's Demon, Shadow of the Seer is from the same world as the Winter of the World books (it's the sixth, in fact) and isn't as good as the original set. It's still readable, though and has a decent twist in the story.
* The First Men in the Moon - H G Wells : Interesting stuff. These days, it's dated, but still worth a look.
* The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester : I loved this book. One man is trying to get away with a crime in a society of telepaths, the other is trying to find the evidence that he did it. I believe (for extremely obvious reasons!) that it was also the inspiration for JMS's telepaths in Babylon 5.
* The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester : Some lovely plot developed from the initial idea that man has learned to teleport. I didn't find it quite as gripping as The Demolished Man, but I would still recommend it.
* Bitten - Kelley Armstrong : Nice idea, shame about the book. The werewolf hierarchy stuff was interesting, but the werewolves all seemed too human (despite the author periodically insisting that they had moved away from human traits) and the heroine's obsession with her former boyfriend was extremely annoying.
* The Elementals - Morgan Llywelyn : Weird, enjoyable. Four stories following the elements from the distant past (the sinking of Atlantis) through history (Ancient Greece, the American South) and then into the future.
* The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown : Everyone else has reviewed this. A fast moving book which is fun if you don't know too much about the Templars conspiracy theories.
* Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett : Pratchett again. The usual. I loved it.
* Abhorsen - Garth Nix : The final part of the Sabriel trilogy.
* The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon : Nice concept, rather lacking in plot. The author has done a beautiful job of describing autism from the inside, but the rest is Adrian Mole territory.
* Eragon - Christopher Paolini : Rather cliched high fantasy. It's easy to read, the hero isn't too annoying but, as one of the Amazon reviewers says, Paolini has nicked the plot to Star Wars and added a few elves and dragons.
* The Murder Room - P D James : James' usual stuff. Much more upbeat than the depressing Cordelia Grey stuff and with, for once, a happy ending.
The screen and controller/keyboard stuff.
* Jade Cocoon 2
* Final Fantasy IV
* Summoner
* Final Fantasy X-2
* Disruptor (strictly speaking, a replay, but the first time I finished the game alone)
* Final Fantasy V
* Broken Sword : The Sleeping Dragon ("He killed my Snooky." "He did?!")
* Gauntlet : Dark Legacy - It's Gauntlet! Multi-player monster bashing. Lots of fun if you like that sort of thing. I do; and I particularly enjoyed the Dream Realm.
* Dynasty Tactics 2 (my favourite bit being Sun Ce's intro) - Strategy and puzzles (in the form of moving battlefield troops) set in Ancient China. Sun Ce won me over to the game.
And that's that.
I started the year running a Swordsmaster game (Athory), playing in a Swordsmaster game (Monde) and
cardinalsin's Warhammer 40,000-like Daedulus and running a character (Dr Jewel) in Patchwork Universe (Beta Test). The kids were at home all the time and writing-wise I had just begun on my third book (later named Empty-handed) although the second book (Roland versus Sophie) was still in first draft and needed much work.January
* The twins and I began our first Mother and Toddler group (Thursday mornings). Beatrice loved the toys, Ryan clung to my leg and I got to meet Jo - who had identical twin girls.
* Angel (Series 5) began on Sky One and I began reviewing the episodes in my LJ (as I had done for previous seasons). 24 also began, but whilst I watched it, I didn't write weekly reviews.
February
* The most memorable event of February was the death of the Musical Snail.
However smaller news included :
* the kids starting a second toddler group
* TheHattedOne and I going wedding dress shopping with/for
cuthbertcross* Bea having her last special physiotherapy session.
March
* Too much of March was spent lying in a heap feeling poorly. I had colds, I had food poisoning. It was naff.
* There was the "boxes" LJ sheep (invented/mutated) by
venta where I got to design boxes and other people got to guess who they represented (see here and here).* I met up with some friends from work and had a nostalgic evening remembering all the good stuff (and forgetting all the panics).
April
* Much of April was spent preparing for May. Namely BaCon and Georgia's Hen Night.
* I think there were Easter Eggs too.
May
* BaCon (hurrah!). Reviewed here and here. Plus the grannies had to deal with chicken pox in our absence.
* Monde ended.
* And Bea was bought her first skirt.
June
* Was
dr_bob and cuthbertcross's Purple and Blue (Green!) Wedding.* Angel finally ended after five seasons. I liked Not Fade Away more than I liked Chosen, but still felt it was too cliff-hangy (review here).
* Alias 2 came out on DVD. I watched it. I loved it. I'm looking forward to the next season and Alias is now one of my most favourite TV series ever (currently better than Babylon 5, Angel or Buffy). I can't wait to find out how they explain the cliff-hanger, but no spoilers please!
* I got to see Twelfth Night in Kew Gardens with
frax and cardinalsin. 'Twas my only Shakespeare (or any other, for that matter) play of the year, but was a good one.July
* I spent some of July pretending to be a proper mother. I took the twins pond dipping and baked fairy cakes for the Mother and Toddler group parties.
*
bateleur and I spent our wedding anniversary eating yummy, expensive food at La Trompette (veal with frothy gravy!).August
* The main event of August was posting Empty-handed (well, a synopsis and a few chapters) off to a handful of publishers and agents. The more amazing event was getting a (negative but encouraging) response back by return of post (from someone who had obviously read at least the synopsis).
* Baby Pom arrived - Florrie had the Fimbling feeling and found her.
* Liz's Hen Night happened. Well, more of a Hen Day really. An enjoyable walk, a delicious meal and, even better, no twins!
September
* September brought the end of Athory campaign.
* It also brought the start of The Wheel.
* It was also
triskellian and smiorgan's Red and Gold Wedding.* Which brought a certain godmother, the lovely
unknownid, over from the States.October
*
chrestomancy and TheHattedOne left for their world tour (I'm reminded of Twisted Metal...). I still missed them.*
bateleur and I had our yearly long weekend holiday on the western side of the Cotswolds in Amberley (four poster bed and champagne). This year the weekend in question also happened to be the (twelfth) anniversary of our relationship.* Roland versus Sophie arrived back from the bookbinders. My Dad loves it (fortunately - I wrote it partly for him to read 'cos he's not a fantasy fan and thus hasn't read Mourn's Gift). Mum also liked it, but prefers Mourn's Gift (which she's currently reading for the third time).
* Peter Payne (from work) died. I wasn't that close to him, but he was a kind, gentle man and I'll miss him when I get back to work.
November
* Next door finally put up The Fence.
* Duplicate Bridge was played (when we got to meet
frax's aunt and uncle and invited to stay with them next summer).* I (rather amateurly) decorated the lower part of the hall.
December
* The only month when I wrote a daily LJ entry (mostly on the subject of advent windows).
* Too many toddler Xmas dos.
* Christmas!!!
Plus I got through a fair number of books and computer games.
The reading stuff.
* The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
* 84 Charing Cross Road (and the Duchess of Bloomsbury Street) - Helen Hanff
* Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
* Sabriel - Garth Nix : I loved this book. It's the world used by
secretrebel and triskellian for their Stain and Sable game and it's a nice piece of children's fantasy. Easy to read, some strong ideas about death and demons, plus a heroine who it's easy to empathise with.* The Athenian Murders - Jose Carlos Somoza
** The Shipping News - E Annie Proulx and The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith
* Tears of the Giraffe - Alexander McCall Smith : The sequel to No.1 Ladies Detective Agency is enjoyable if you like the first one.
* The Dark Side of the Sun - Terry Pratchett : It's Pratchett! Fun, clever and involving sarcasm.
** On Broadway - Damon Runyon and The Man Who Loved Only Numbers (Paul Erdos) - Paul Hoffman
** Bridge of Birds - Barry Hughart and The Eyre Affair - Jasper Ffords
* Maxie's Demon - Michael Scott Rohan : From the same world background as the Chase the Morning trilogy, although not as good. Probably only worth reading if you've enjoyed that original trilogy.
* Lirael - Garth Nix : The second book in the Sabriel trilogy.
* Stravaganza : City of Masks - Mary Hoffman : Children's fantasy set in an alternative history seventeenth century Italy. The main characters are likable and easy to follow. As well as being the start of a trilogy, it's also a good story in its own right.
* Strata - Terry Pratchett : Pratchett again - see above.
* The Blue Castle - LM Montgommery : Slushy romance with humour and sarcasm. But then I'm a Montgommery fan.
* Morality for Beautiful Girls - Alexander McCall Smith : Book three of No.1 Ladies Detective Agency.
* Shadow of the Seer - Michael Scott Rohan : Like Maxie's Demon, Shadow of the Seer is from the same world as the Winter of the World books (it's the sixth, in fact) and isn't as good as the original set. It's still readable, though and has a decent twist in the story.
* The First Men in the Moon - H G Wells : Interesting stuff. These days, it's dated, but still worth a look.
* The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester : I loved this book. One man is trying to get away with a crime in a society of telepaths, the other is trying to find the evidence that he did it. I believe (for extremely obvious reasons!) that it was also the inspiration for JMS's telepaths in Babylon 5.
* The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester : Some lovely plot developed from the initial idea that man has learned to teleport. I didn't find it quite as gripping as The Demolished Man, but I would still recommend it.
* Bitten - Kelley Armstrong : Nice idea, shame about the book. The werewolf hierarchy stuff was interesting, but the werewolves all seemed too human (despite the author periodically insisting that they had moved away from human traits) and the heroine's obsession with her former boyfriend was extremely annoying.
* The Elementals - Morgan Llywelyn : Weird, enjoyable. Four stories following the elements from the distant past (the sinking of Atlantis) through history (Ancient Greece, the American South) and then into the future.
* The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown : Everyone else has reviewed this. A fast moving book which is fun if you don't know too much about the Templars conspiracy theories.
* Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett : Pratchett again. The usual. I loved it.
* Abhorsen - Garth Nix : The final part of the Sabriel trilogy.
* The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon : Nice concept, rather lacking in plot. The author has done a beautiful job of describing autism from the inside, but the rest is Adrian Mole territory.
* Eragon - Christopher Paolini : Rather cliched high fantasy. It's easy to read, the hero isn't too annoying but, as one of the Amazon reviewers says, Paolini has nicked the plot to Star Wars and added a few elves and dragons.
* The Murder Room - P D James : James' usual stuff. Much more upbeat than the depressing Cordelia Grey stuff and with, for once, a happy ending.
The screen and controller/keyboard stuff.
* Jade Cocoon 2
* Final Fantasy IV
* Summoner
* Final Fantasy X-2
* Disruptor (strictly speaking, a replay, but the first time I finished the game alone)
* Final Fantasy V
* Broken Sword : The Sleeping Dragon ("He killed my Snooky." "He did?!")
* Gauntlet : Dark Legacy - It's Gauntlet! Multi-player monster bashing. Lots of fun if you like that sort of thing. I do; and I particularly enjoyed the Dream Realm.
* Dynasty Tactics 2 (my favourite bit being Sun Ce's intro) - Strategy and puzzles (in the form of moving battlefield troops) set in Ancient China. Sun Ce won me over to the game.
And that's that.
