This year, I am happy to say, we are enjoying the latter part of New Year's Eve chilling at home, typing up the obligatory end of year post in bed :D. A far cry then from last year, when, having posted the corresponding post from the flight back, we proceeded to spend a good five hours or so trying to get back home from the airport, thanks partly to a lack of foresight on our part but mainly due to an almost complete shut down of public transportation from Oslo airport! We duly booked a much earlier flight this time around :D.
The last ten days or so were spent in the UK, enjoying lovely food and company. Not doing very much beyond cooking, eating, singing, playing games, swapping stories and gifts by the roaring fire, (poking said fire and enjoying being mesmerised by flames thereof was also a big part of it all) and the occasional walk or visit. All in all a very chilled out end to the year.
And unlike last year, I felt like I really really needed this one! In a somewhat extreme case of barely making it to the finish line, my head was just so not into work for the last week before Christmas :). Luckily work was somewhat chilled out, including the awesome in-the-office Christmas party :) so it wasn't too bad!
This year has been one of learning and adjusting. New job, new colleagues, new pretty much everything really, where employment is concerned. A very different type of company working in a very different type of industry. (I will hereon avoid the phrase "very different" for the rest of this post if I can :D.) I have to admit that it hasn't all been plain sailing, but all in all, it has been a very rewarding experience!
There has also been some travelling! Although waiting for that travelling just to travel trip, rather than family visits or weddings etc. Awesome fun though those were :). Maybe that's something to think about for the new year :). For one thing, there won't be a wedding in the immediate family for the first time in three years! :D
Thanks mainly to the new and elongated commute, there has also been quite a lot of reading :). And what amazing stuff the Malazan Book of the Fallen turned out to be! Seriously, not recap of my 2019 could be considered complete without a few words about Erikson's masterpiece! What a series! Without doubt something I look forward to re-reading in the not too distant future.
In fact, I think one reason I'm having a hard time getting as much into the Novels of the Malazan Empire is that Esselmont suffers by comparison to Erikson. And this is of course unfair. But when reading about the same world, sometimes the same places and characters even, it is very difficult not to compare.
Having said that, I did rather enjoy Stonewielder. Possibly because it is further away from any of the Book of the Fallen both geographically and in terms of character and plot lines than the previous two. Unfortunately that doesn't work for Orb, Sceptre, Throne which I am now reading :). Being set in the very town that large parts of Gardens of the Moon and Toll the Hounds is set in!
But yes, the more I read if him, the more familiar I get with Esselmont's style, and though I still miss Erikson, I can at least get into the stories a lot more :). In fact, I'm about halfway through the series already! I suppose it'll be good to get the book club started again, and read some different books for a change, eventually :D. One of the many things to look forward to in the new year.
A new decade too in fact! All those 2020 visions people had. I wonder how many of them are feeling the year has rather crept up on them! Is it really going to be that different than any other new year? I guess that's sort of in the same vein as saying how different is 1st of January from any other day. The significance is what we give it, in many ways. Regardless, I hope the coming year is one of joyful occasions and happy coincidences :).
I wrote of optimism at the end of last year, personally this has been mostly true through 2019! So maybe that's what's best to wish for, optimism with which to meet the days that are before us. Happy New Year!
