I think like a lot of bloggers, I'm constantly on the cusp of being a former blogger. Social media ultimately serves a more satisfying purpose for link-sharing with limited commentary. I certainly spent a lot of time on Twitter and Tumblr these days and, to a lesser degree, Google+. Facebook is where I share light-hearted PG-rated stuff because MY MOTHER READS EVERYTHING.
But if I want to take a little time and just ramble on for a spell, my blog is always here for me.
So this was 2013.
JANUARY
We rang in 2013 quietly, as has been the habit we've acquired this past few years, with curry and beer from thefrom our place.
I also interviewed for a job in Saint John. It was one of those remote interview things where I sit in a conference room and talk to people on a TV screen, Star Trek-style. Except Captains Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway never had to deal with the video feed just cutting out. I didn't get the position but over the past year, I noticed it kept getting posted and, twice, I was contacted via LinkedIn to see if I was interested in applying. The recruiter didn't know I had already interviewed.
So I'm not sure who they think they need for the job. I hope they found him or her but somehow I don't think they have.
FEBRUARY
We took a trip to Saint John in February to visit family and do some old school Maritime candle pin bowling. Seriously, It was like being back in the Maritimes in the 1980 s. I kept expecting to walk in and order a bottle offrom the bar where people still smoke indoors.
Pope Benedict XVI resigned and was replaced by an Argentinian who criticizes trickle down economics. And he was named .
So that was unexpected. That has pretty much been my reaction to everything he does as pope: "Oh, that was unexpected."
But I'm not a Catholic, nor a Christian, nor a believer of any kind, really, but I do find these things interesting.
MARCH
The first big concert of the year was Disney Princesses on Ice at the Bell Centre and en fran ais. Hey, the tickets were free, the plastic souvenir sword was stupid pricey and James was afraid of.
The second big concert of the year wasn't quite Disney on Ice but it was Sigur Ros.
Sigur Ros just played That New Song I Like.--
John Hansen (@jduncanhansen)
By the way, that song is this:
In addition to Sigur Ros, I also got excited about some new music again. Frank Turner released his fifth studio album, Tape Deck Heart in March and it took up residence in the car for Spring and Summer.
In less edifying cultural news, Canada got its own version of Big Brother which was like all the other worldwide Big Brothers in that it started with a lot of promise and then you realize there's no way you're watching this for three hours a week.
You know is Canadian when the HoH gets a bag of chocolate milk.--
John Hansen (@jduncanhansen)
I do know that a woman named Jillian from Nova Scotia won because the person casting the deciding vote messed up.
So that was a first. So..be proud, Canada?
APRIL
Was it a shit winter? Yeah, it was a shit winter. Luckily, we were given a free stay in a small beach condo in Ormond Beach, Florida. So, of course that meant taking the wee lad to Disneyworld.
He didn't know we were going until we got there, which is odd given that the minute you land in Orlando, you are reminded that the entirety of Central Florida is owned by that mouse.
It was a last minute, unexpected vacation and I hadn't been to Florida since 1981 and, really, after four months of winter, it was just nice to go somewhere with palm trees. Even without Disney or hand feeding giraffes at the Brevard County zoo, if I could sit quietly with a drink and look at the Atlantic Ocean, I would have been happy.
But Florida's a weird state. On one hand it's all tourist destinations like the theme parks, and the beach bars and Margaritaville and on the other hand, it's places where you can pawn gold to buy a gun before hiring your "males only" divorce attorney. I avoided turning on the local news.
MAY
After spending a small fortune in car repairs, the old Corolla was finally retired and replaced with a gently used Mazda 5. I'm not sure how long I've lived this long without sliding doors and seats that lay down flat. The stereotype is that middle-aged men have a crisis about their faded youth and run out and get a sports car but a) current family budget does not allow for impulse purchases and b) I've always had a thing for practicality.
Tuvok Shakur --
John Hansen (@jduncanhansen)
And that's pretty much what I was doing in May.
JUNE
In June, I received a beer kit for Father's Day from the . Kerry thought it would be nice for me to have a hobby and well, I do enjoy the beer from time to time. Beer making is a actually a very relaxing process that requires a lot of patience and attention to detail.
Because this is me we're talking about, naturally, the bottled beer exploded all over the kitchen. So that experiment failed. But I may want to do it again, perhaps with an easier kit until I know what I'm doing.
JULY
It has been one year since we got married. To celebrate, we went to the UK for the first time since James spent his first Christmas in Scotland. The main point of the trip was to attend which is basically an old home week for the Borders towns.
But we also spent some time in London, Somerset (to see Kerry's childhood home), and Edinburgh.
Seriously, go see Edinburgh. It's beautiful.
I also turned 42 in a in London where I enjoyed some real ales while Kerry and James were passed out in the hotel around the corner after a full day of walking around Covent Garden and Hyde Park, not to mention the bus tour and boat tour on the Thames. When James started falling asleep face first into his fish n' chips, we figured we were pushing our luck with an almost five year old. We were also around the corner from where Prince George was to be born but we missed it by three days, fortunately. I think our part of London would have been insane.
I watched the news of the royal birth from a hotel bar in Edinburgh (yes, pubs and bars often feature prominently in our trips to the UK). The Scots weren't quite as excited by news as the English but it didn't exactly go uncelebrated either. I did have an interesting discussion about progenitor laws with a gentleman in there. We both noted that Elizabeth is Elizabeth I in Scotland as they never had a Queen Elizabeth before. He bitterly pointed out that the mailboxes are all stamped "ERII," even in Scotland. Perhaps now that the Royal Mail has been privatized, that policy may change.
AUGUST
In August, my sister got married at our family church, followed by a backyard reception at our other sister's place. My new brother in law is a great guy and I'm very happy for them both.
SEPTEMBER
A new chapter in our lives began as our child entered kindergarten. It's more expensive than daycare, if that's possible.
Over the past year, we learned our child has a developmental disorder called Dyspraxia which explains a lot. Now that he's been diagnosed, he'll be getting some extra help at school. It's been a challenge and a bit of learning curve but now that we know how to approach it, we've already seen improvement.
He also has a renewed interest in Lego now that he can get his fingers to listen to his brain.
Also, Janelle Mon e released The Electric Lady and all was right with the world. It's like she's invented her own genre of science-fiction inspired R&B/Hip-Hop. More sci-fi concept albums, I say!
OCTOBER
The Mazda 5 had its first road test when we drove it from Montreal to Saint John for Thanksgiving. It still astounds me how long it takes just to get off the island of Montreal but when you're doing it at rush hour, you're just asking for trouble. We stayed the night in Rivi re-du-Loup and saw snow geese flying over the St. Lawrence River. That was pretty much the highlight of the journey. The stretch between Quebec City and Edmundston may just be the dullest in Eastern Canada.
James is obsessed with superheroes. I may have nurtured that a bit. For Halloween, he got a Captain America costume and insisted on wearing it for days before the big day. Which was a good thing because Halloween night itself was kind of a miserable, rainy affair.
NOVEMBER
I interviewed for a new job which would see me moving into an IT-related role. I had two interviews in which . That led to a second interview and that led to a third interview.
We're also looking into moving to Saint John but I think the reality of that is that it will be a much longer plan. The career opportunities just aren't as plentiful there as they are in larger centres.
For the first time since moving here, I wasn't able to vote in the Montreal municipal election because I no longer live in Montreal. But . For the first time, I voted for the guy who won. It was between Morris Trudeau, a long time councillor and former cop, and businessman with little public service experience. I went with the former.
DECEMBER
The Christmas season is full-swing at our house. The plastic tree is decorated with James's homemade ornaments, 2012 Olympics Sydney Crosby, and Captain Kirk. James still believes in Santa Claus, which is nice. This, however, being his first year in school, some kids are trying to convince him the parents do it, like the mysterious American girl in Grade 2 who has no friends and is mean to everyone.
My parents are coming up for Christmas this year for the first time. I'm sure my father will somehow wrangle a trip to for chopped liver.
Santa came early for us. The old PC and laptops were dying slow deaths (the latter was the result of an apple juice spill from someone who will not be named) so a new PC was ordered. And we got a Smart TV after 10 years of watching the old 27tube TV so we're all technologically advanced these days. We're running movies off the PC, we got the Netflix and YouTube and I'm getting caught up on movies I've been meaning to see.
Best science fiction movie of 2013? Pacific Rim. Hands down. I didn't expect this much character development in a movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters.
Or maybe Gravity is the best, but I haven't seen that yet.
Oh, yes. I also finally saw Star Trek: Into Darkness and Man of Steel because I will always watch Star Trek, even when I hate it (and boy did I hate it) and will always watch comics-to-film adaptations.
I don't so much hate the new movies (although they are aggressively dumb) so much as what they represent which is a discontinuation of the universe built by the shows and movies up until 2009. I have a long, really nerdy blog post about it but I'll leave it at that.
Man of Steel seemed almost embarrassed that it was about Superman so they made their title character kind of dick. It was also two hours of this:
I've been a member of the NDP for the past couple of years but lately I've been thinking about giving up the membership and going unaffiliated again. But then Tom Mulcair went and sent me a Christmas card so now I feel guilty for wanting to leave.
How could I break that heart?
. The only time I had ever been to Africa, he was still in jail but mere months away from being released. I was in Senegal, six thousand kilometers from South Africa but Mandela still loomed large there. I remember the taxis had one of two photos in their rear windows: Nelson Mandela or Marilyn Monroe.
Remember that third interview from last month? Sure you do. Well, that was the one that did it. I got me a job in a kind of/sort of I.T. field. It's a completely different background from what I've been doing for the past eight years. But it's a relief, in a way, to go into something that is completely new.
So there it is: 2013 turned out to be a pretty big year for us. Kid starting school, two big trips, a new career, and some new stuff. So what can we do in 2014?
How about a new member of the family?
A cat. I meant we're going to the animal shelter to adopt a cat.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
"You do realize that [INSERT CONDESCENSION], right?" -Internet Proverb.--
John Hansen (@jduncanhansen)
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