2006-in-Review: The Massive List
Filed under: Books, Comics, DVDs, Games, Movies, Year in Review
Usually, I do separate posts for each topic, but time’s running short! Here’s my year-in-review in a single list:
Libby Gets Her Wish
Here’s my answer to the Open Question about Ask Me Something:
Libby asks: Q: What is your relationship with God?
Libby’s been asking me this question twice a year for twelve years. She first asked during a weekly pre-class dinner at a greasy spoon near Concordia. I was having my usual submarine, she had French fries. She’s asked me to pass the salt, and then asked if I believed in God.
This didn’t take me by surprise. We always have BIG QUESTION discussions, like “Is democracy the ideal form of government?” or “What are the moral differences between euthanasia and assisted suicide?” or “How would you reform the Canadian Senate?”
I dodged the question with a funny remark, and Libby parried with a different phrasing, and I dodged again.
At that moment, I decided that it would be amusing to answer the question as literally, glibly and non-commitally as possible, just to see how long I could prolong the debate.
Besides, this is perhaps the biggest BIG QUESTION there is, and no answer, no matter how extensive or nuanced, can ever feel complete, correct or certain. I’d much rather be certain about trivial matters, like the best episode of a TV show or favourite flavour of soda, than get sucked into an bottomless well of debate about something so fundamental, yet fundamentally unknowable.
Which doesn’t mean that I don’t have an answer (though not the answer):
So, here’s my answer:
What’s my relationship with God?
It’s a healthy Created-Creator relationship.
Happy Birthday, Naomi!
You are 14 months old today!
And you have 11 teeth – you’re ready for anything.
Christmas Weekend…At Last
Here are the bullet points describing a simply fantastic Christmas weekend.
Friday:
- Dina finished the baking. Fresh cookies are yummy!
- I finished the Christmas wrapping. We went through a lot of wrapping paper.
Saturday:
- Visited Maggie and Andrew in the morning for Christmas cookies and the gift exchange. Everybody loved their presents. Naomi is quite good at unwrapping.
- Ben and Naomi both had naps, which is highly unusual. Dina and I took advantage to get even more cleaning done.
- I spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening finally clearing out the spare room. And I mean clearing it out.
Christmas Eve (Check out the pictures):
- Ben and I braved the grocery store early in the morning to pick up last-minute party supplies. We also bought flowers for table centerpieces.
- Dina’s folks arrived first, followed by Scott and then my parents. Ben ran up to give hugs and shout “Merry Christmas!” to the guests.
- Mom, Tilly, Dina and I took the kids across the street to play in the park. There was no snow. The kids were playing in the sand in their snowsuits, and had a blast. Funny weather we’re having.
- Scott helped me bring up the Christmas tree and the decorations. Ben and Naomi helped decorate the lower branches.
- After dinner, the kids had their baths and we gave them their first Christmas gifts: new pajamas. Ben started jumping up and down when he realized that his present was Superman pajamas. Naomi laughed at her Curious George jammies.
- After story time, we organized the sleeping arrangements, filled the stockings and tried to put all the presents under the tree.
- We quickly realized that there too many presents and not enough room. Gift-opening would have to go in waves. That’s pretty funny, because all the adults swore up and down that they restrained themselves during the Christmas shopping.
Christmas Day (Check out the pictures):
- The kids didn’t sleep particularly well Christmas night – I think there was too much excitement – which meant that Dina and I didn’t sleep very well. But at least Ben and Naomi slept in.
- I sat at the kitchen table with Dad and Scott over coffee and had a great visit before everyone else got up.
- Gift-unwrapping was a blur of activity. Everybody spoiled everybody else.
- Ben’s favourite gifts were all the Superman, Batman and Spider-Man related stuff that he received.
- Naomi loved her stuffed animals and clothes.
- Dina was surprised to receive a DS Lite and Brain Age from the kids.
- Dina gave me plenty of decoy gifts, where she packed my actual gift in with ordinary household objects. I got a stack of coasters and a PSP game, for example, but the best was getting my own shoes along with an iPod Shuffle (engraved with a message from Ben and Naomi. How cute!)
- Christmas brunch was French toast. Yummy!
- I put the turkey in the oven just after two o’clock and waited for our additional guests to arrive: Jon and Tanya, and Bill and Cecil.
- This was by far the largest Christmas party we’d ever entertained – good thing the turkey was 20 pounds!
- We had to move the kitchen table into the dining room and work only on the kitchen counter. This meant being super-organized at every stage of the meal prep. Dina helped me keep everything together, and everyone pitched in to set the tables and clean up, etc.
- Dinner was amazing. Everyone was happily stuffed and drowsy.
- I ran off to play with the kids and relax after dinner while everyone else took care of the dishes (chef’s privilege).
- The visiting continued until the evening drew to a close, and then I gave everyone a lift home, picked up some milk, and collapsed. Ho-ho-ho!
Boxing Day:
- Snow! Finally!
- Quiet morning, and a simple breakfast.
- My folks left shortly after breakfast. They had to get back into the working routine.
- We set out the many, many leftovers for lunch.
- After lunch, Scott and I went on a game-buyin spree at Quantum. Scott wondered why we took the car, until he saw everything that I bought (and I was only 23 cents over budget!)
- Lou and Tilly headed home after the shopping excursion, and Scott left a short while later.
- Dinner was in a much lower key.
- Once the kids were asleep, Dina and I had pina coladas made in her cool new mixer, watched Talledega Nights and laughed ourselves silly.
Let’s do this again next year!
Gifts Keep on Giving
When I dive headfirst into a new CCG, I always ends up with stacks of extra common and uncommon cards. Usually I give these away to friends as a way of getting them hooked on the game. Sometimes this works, and sometimes not.
Jon is one of the regular “beneficiaries” of my self-interested largess over the years. He’s accumulated quite the stash of CCGs, but now he’s moving and needs to cut down his collection to the bare minimum of games he’s going to play often.
Who better to help him cut back than me, the guy who got him hooked in the first place?
Going through all these boxes of cards and building sets for sale or donation is a surprising amount of fun.
Memo to Self
What, pray tell, is the point of having a thousand business cards if you don’t keep any in your wallet to give to old friends whom you’ve just met in passing at a mall after five years or so?
Honestly!
Reinventing Tolen Mar
You can ignore the previous four posts, if you like. They’re the shopping posts from my Tolen Mar gaming blog. I’m in the process of streamlining Tolen Mar to focus on gaming references and reviews, and less on spur-of-the-moment, stream-of-consciousness bloggy stuff.
Why?
Basically, I’ve never quite known what to do with the Tolen Mar blog. It started off as a space to post my CCG recaps from the now-defunct Ritualized Tuesdays/Wednesdays, then turned into a news blog, and finally turned into a repository of gaming resources (most CCGs, but also including stuff for the odd video game, board game and RPG), with the occasional rant thrown in for good measure.
It’s a bit of a mess, frankly. I’m hoping that a narrower focus on the three Rs of reviews, resources and writing will save it.
Video Games to Buy
PS2
Guitar Hero 5
PSP
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny
Wii
Lego Harry Potter (1-4)
Mario Kart
Hobby Games to Buy
This could easily be an endless list. There’s so much good stuff out there!
Citadel
Dominion
Kill Doctor Lucky
Ra
Tsuro
CCG Singles
I’m still looking for the odd card to complete my sets or enhance my decks.
7th Sea: Iron Shadow
The Wayward Solider
Initial D CCG
RX-7 FC (#158)
Zack (#201)
Trueno 86 SE (UR)
Middle-Earth CCG The Lidless-Eye
The Lidless-Eye
Legend of the Burning Sands: Awakenings
Shiva