Last Post for the Year

 I thought I'd join the bandwagon and have a wrap up of 2021. 

Counting up the number of yearly posts, 2021 is tied with one other one since I started this blog. There are lots of reasons why I didn't post, but its been another year where life got in the way of my hobby, particularly during the second half of the year. None of there events were particularly good ones. My bout with Covid did not free me up to do more. In fact, I did very little for the two weeks that I had the symptoms.  It did not help that my bosses felt that I could still efficiently teach remotely.  

The water disaster was a major game changer as well. In my November post, I predicted that we would have our new floors in. It turns out that that won't happen for another two weeks. So, we are still walking around on our subfloor and our garage and second floor of the house is packed with stuff from the first floor. 

Even without all the issues I mentioned above, work has become very stressful. I enjoy the teaching aspects, but the all the nonsense in dealing with not only administrators but even some of my faculty colleagues has become soul crushing. I thought I'd never say this, but some of my colleagues are as much idiots as the administrators. My college is not the same as the one I first started. The ideals that the school prided itself on are now lip service. The college has become a business. I get the need to be financially competitive, but the school has definitely lost its way. For the first time, I am looking forward to retirement. I'm looking at between five to seven years depending on were I am at financially. 

Even though my original goal for 2021 was to game more, I think my biggest success was whittling down my pile of lead. Painting made up for the lack of gaming mainly because it emotionally or psychologically allowed me to escape the real world, even if it was for a half an hour each night. I did manage to have a few games. Most of them were with my son. They were all prior to the various disasters. We had fun, but I don't think I have sparked any interest in him. I can't seem to compete with Fortnite and these other online games. 

I am not going to give any resolutions regarding the hobby, but I am currently on  a much overdue sabbatical. Already, I feel less stress! In addition to finally getting to do some major research (I have a lot of projects that have been languishing for the past 5 or more years), I plan to do some gaming in there. 

The last thing I want to say is that I greatly appreciate all my fellow bloggers out there. I live vicariously through their after action reports, and I really get inspired by there various projects. If you are reading this, thank you for your posts. They keep me going during dry times.