changing it up - post 124

having been on quite the non-fiction kick over the past 3yrs± - i've decided that i will embark on a minor quest to read a number of fiction series that i've been planning on, but neglecting.

just based on access alone, i'll be starting with Ken Follett's Pillars series:
Pillars of the Earth
World Without End

next up - the Millennium Trilogy:  
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Tolkien is next:

The Hobbit
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King

Douglas Adams made the list with the intentionally misnamed Hitchhiker's Trilogy 

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life, the Universe and Everything
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Mostly Harmless

His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman:

Northern Lights (The Golden Compass)
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass

finally, Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos ed.: August Derleth wraps up this year's *planned* reading.

plus, i still have about 10 or so non-fiction books on my shelf that i need to wrap up as well...

not a packed year, but there's still a fair bit to plow through.

official 2012 wrap up - post 123

this is going to be a little tough to do, so i'm going to rely on some odd formatting for me to make sure i hit all of the highlights.

1.)  Challenge 2012 (from post 68 - 06 jan 2012)

•  break 100 posts on this blog - FAIL.  
• 59 total.  nearly 60% complete towards the goal, but not quite.  posting died hard in march with the abrupt end to my success in "meeting" women interested in going on a date with me.  following the 2nd set of "dates" w/ munchkin in early / mid march - i only managed to go on one other date all year.

•  have sex w/ a young woman >120mos (10yrs) younger than me - FAIL.
• i only had sex w/ 1 girl in 2012. 
• she was only (est) 84mos younger.

2.)   Women

•  as mentioned above - i only had sex 1x all year.  that was kind of fail.
• 7 women total that i went on at least 1 date with for a combined total of 12 dates.
• more in-depth numbers are in order here though:
• dating site #1 - messaged 92 women.
• I went on dates w/ 5 different women from this site - only 3 of which replied to my initial message (munchkin, the violinist and the post-doc).
• 8 dates total - munchkin accounts for 3 of those and we went out 2 separate times.  1 date in jan when we met.  2 in march after we ran into each other again.
•  I messaged munchkin back in 2011 - it took her a while to reply
• 2 initiated contact with me
•  the bi-girl and the unnamed one i went out with in late november
•  bi girl is the one i had sex with.  sex was terrible. i didn't actually like her.  2 dates.  she never replied after blowing me off for what was supposed to be our 3rd date.
• the one from late november has traded a few additional messages with me, but has been out of town for almost the entirety of the time we have spoken.  now she's heading out of the country this month.  i don't see anything there.
•  dating site #2 - messaged 5 women with no replies.  
• 4 messaged me 1st.
• 1 date with 1 - it was a bad experience.  the others - either no interest in or they couldn't carry on a conversation and were not worth talking to.

• IRL
• i went on 3 dates with 1 woman i met through a buddy - pikachu.  multiple previous posts indicate how that went.

3.)   Employment 

• rife with rejections.
• many dozens of positions applied to including nearly 3doz w/ various coffee shops - all rejected - only one management training spot replied with that rejection.
• positions in my field were few and far between.  the ones i applied to were met with an abundance of applicants.  quite often, i was one of 180-220+ applicants vying for one single position.
• the only one willing to take me on was a PT/Seasonal position operating heavy equipment doing snow removal (and various other maintenance tasks).  that position is now in its final 90 days until it ends for the year.

4.)   Misc.

• i've failed for a 2nd year in a row to focus on my knitting to make it work as a revenue generator. the vendor i had that was interested in selling some of my wares was too flaky to decide on what to buy and was painfully slow in returning payment.
• i lost the freedom of living alone.  unemployment nearly bankrupt me to the point that i needed to move into a spare bedroom with my friends.
• the financial situation caused me to rely on family to an extent that i seriously have a hard time thinking of myself as an adult.
• insomnia continues to torture me.
• my one attempt at a relaxing trip backpacking turned into an unmitigated disaster.
• i met Lindsey Stirling... that was cool.
• i couldn't afford to see TSO this year... that was not cool.
• it's looking like i'm not going to be able to afford my season tickets for our local footy team.  and i've been going since 2007 and a season ticket holder since 2008.
• some volunteer opportunities have presented themselves & i'm trying to make the most of them.
• i began the process of enlisting into the military as an officer.  still in the process of that.  we shall see where that road leads.
• the list titled "my friends" has grown shorter.  as has the list titled "living relatives".
• there was a month that i had a total of $25 to feed myself.  ramen noodles were consumed far too frequently.  sometimes, 2pks / day for lunch/dinner. while brekkers consisted of graham crackers & milk.  mac&chz every now and then.  it was eye-opening in terms of how i took notice of all the wasted food i saw everywhere i looked...
• hands down - 2012 was one of the lowest years of my life.