In Memoriam Anno 2012

As many have been doing over the last week, I thought I might take a moment to reminisce over the last year and think out loud about the next.  I wanted to post a top and bottom 5 for the year but you know…I just don’t have the heart for it.  I have had such a great time with the blog that it’s hard to believe I started it nearly a year ago.

Last year, I read 75 books, including graphic novels and 23 audiobooks.  In 2012, I read 14,769 pages (not including a few graphic novels for which I forgot to record the pages) and listened to approximately 306 audiobook hours (12.75 days).  I wonder how many bottles of wine I drank while reading?

I also participated in 5 challenges and 2 read-alongs.  So much fun.

I completed 45 book reviews, though not all were Hugo winners and also 1 movie review.

I achieved everlasting glory!

Oh yeah, I also ran a marathon (my foot still hates me), which thanks to almost a year’s worth of training, resulted in my having run approximately 329 miles this year. 

So how far is that?

Well, the Empire State Building is 1,454-feet tall so…laid down end-to-end, 329 miles would be roughly equivalent to 1,194 Empire State Buildings.  Or further than the distance from San Antonio (the site of the next WorldCon…but more about that later) to Dallas, TX.  OR, if you live on the water (which you probably do) it’s about 286 nautical miles.

329 miles is about .13% of the distance to the moon.

Emil would probably remind me it’s 529 Kilometers.

So what is in store for next year?

That’s a good question.  The easy answer is about 18 more Hugo winners.  As of right now, it seems possible that I can manage to stay on my schedule of 64 Hugo winners in 64 weeks.  Thanks to Connie Willis and the Blackout/All Clear two volume juggernaut, it will in fact be 65 Hugo winners, but hey, who’s counting?

Beyond that, I’m still trying to figure out.  I’ve set a goal of finishing a respectable but none too challenging 50 books in 2013 and to teach my beautiful but alphabetically challenged daughter how to recite her letters from A to Z.  But I know you really want to know what I’m going to do with this blog when I’m finished.  The easy answer is that I don’t know.

I like reviewing books and I still want to write but I also like setting and completing challenges with very specific and defined conclusions.  This one did and it seems like I should just put it down once it’s reached the end of its usefulness.

There are a couple of things, writing things, which I’ve been considering…but I want to be a little closer to the finish before I entertain them too much.

I don’t know, you have any ideas?  Go ahead, commit me to things.  Especially if the result can be converted to a very small fraction of the distance to orbiting bodies (actually, that’s a really important criterion).

AND BEYOND THAT, I really want to go to LoneStarCon this year.

I mean, I’ll have finished EVERY HUGO WINNER (even the dumb retros) and I also have some friends who live in Dallas who I really want to visit so I should just double down and hit both locations in one trip RIGHT?!  Mmm, that’s gonna cost some money though… convention cost, travel cost, hotel cost, intra-Texas travel, food, and of course all manner of stuff and nonsense which will require additional funds.  Erg.

Where my benefactors at?