Well here it is 2017. Time for the yearly state of the union address (OK not really
). This time I'm going to look back on the past year also.2016
The year started out on a VERY sour note with all of the roof and house insurance problems going on. That debacle cost me around $2,000 ($1,100 of which I had to borrow out of my 401K) to fix, and I had to blow through half of my vacation days from work to do it. I do consider it my greatest achievement of the year though: Single handedly replacing the entire roof on my house. And with that I got the insurance problem mostly solved (there's one more thing I still need to work on but it's not as important). Plus the insurance is finally in my name instead of my dad's (now if only the damn mortgage company would add my name to the mortgage).
My victory celebration for it was attending the Black Sabbath farewell concert in Kansas City in February. Once again I went up there with my metalhead friend (and his metalhead friend). Awesome concert by Ozzy (Rival Sons opened for them and I loved their 70's style sound).
another bright spot was Feb. was my 10th anniversary of my job. Didn't seem like it had been that long. My gifts for it were an award, personal day off, jacket, and 2 $100 gift cards for GiftCertificates. com (used it on 2 K-Mart ones).
With things getting brighter, it was time to plan for Midwest Brony fest. This time I went all out and got the $200 Flutter level badge so I could really make a contribution to it (full report on it: Midwest Brony Fest 2016 ). Sadly that was the last year for the con (from what I gathered after I made my journal on it (End of the Line: Midwest Brony Fest) , the con staff just kind of fell apart, and that was it.
Aside from MWBF the spring and summer didn't offer much besides some railfanning and storm chasing trips with my friend Eric. The only hiccups were my washer croaking and my car's fuel pump going out, which could've been a major problem.
I was going downtown, and I got about a block from my house when it croaked and left me dead in the water. Luckily a neighbor and a couple other guys pushed me back to my driveway. Right then and there I went down to the auto parts store on my bike and got the new pump. $30 and 1 1/2 hours of work later and my car was running again, and I was able to run my errands. Another reason I'm so glad I have an older car. The fuel pump was block mounted and easy to get to (because of this I did have to change the oil again because gas got into it). Had it been the Pontiac I used to drive or any newer car with a tank mounted pump, it probably would've been a several hundred dollar repair bill and been without a car for a couple days.
Not much else happened until September when I started planning my trip to Nightmare Nights Dallas. Then I find out the guy I was going to ride with couldn't go, and I had to figure out what to do (all explained in this journal: Nightmare Nights Dallas 2016 ).
I worked one night of overtime to get the money for it, but suffered a major setback when one of my cats broke his left rear foot, which was a $240 vet bill. Luckily he was completely healed in a mere 3 weeks (when my brother broke his ankle in 1999 it took 2-3 months for it to heal). Because of this I had to work another night of overtime to make up for it.
In my journal on the end of MWBF I mentioned I didn't think I could drive myself that far. Well I proved myself wrong
.After that, the rest of the year was uneventful. Though I was dreading the end of the year. Why? I was scared at the idea of Hillary becoming president. For the record I had issues with all of the candidates, but Hillary was the worst of them all. Though there's stuff he said I don't agree with, I'm glad Trump got in (ANYBODY would've been better than her).
And now the DNC is throwing a S-fit over it, when it was their fault. If they had picked Bernie over her he would've been the winner. But nooooo they wanted her and no one else and went above and beyond the call of duty to get her in.
And it failed. Don't call it a grave, it's the future you chose DNC.
Anyway screw politics. Christmas was a little interesting. Instead of cold temps and snow, Kansas had warm temps (60's) and the threat of SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS (including a slight tornado threat)
. There was even a t-storm watch issued for central Kansas ahead of a front. When the front reached my area there was no severe storms aside from some strong winds. And I bet the temperature dropped 20 degrees after the gust front of the storm passed.2017
As for MLP art this year: As I type this I'm almost done with a large project I started in November. I should have it up here in a couple of days. It's another Equestria HO scale building. I also want to do a few smaller ones.
As for brushable customs: The only one I'm planning is a Countess Coloratura. Of course if season 7 or the movie bring new characters that will change.
There is one other custom I'll make: a 2nd Pacific Glow brushable. I have everything I need for it so I can start at anytime.
There is one thing different though: I won't be keeping it. For the first time I am selling one of my customs. After it's done I'll put it on Ebay and see where it goes (I'll announce it when it's time).
As for art: I really need to get back into it. I've got tons of ideas I want to make a reality. One will be a series of ponified fictional and real characters/persons. the other is my Shipping Wars comic series. I may just break down and use other people's vectors in addition to my own to speed things up. Finally (though I hate that site for being overrun by SJW's) I may start an art blog on Tumblr dedicated to a certain angle on 2 certain sisters.
I still need to finish my Ace Combat: The Wolfpack Missions fanfic also (I'm just burned out on writing fanfics).
And there's still a massive project I want to do. Something to go with my expanding collection of NLR 1:144 aircraft.
As for cons: With MWBF gone, I have nothing to look forward to this summer except for Planet Comicon in KC. If Andy Price is there again I'll go to it as a 1 day trip. I will do a cosplay for it. Either Eric Draven, my NLRAF pilot one, or a new one I have planned (an MLP crossover one).
I still want to go to Bronycon just once, and maybe this will be the year. Again I'll be reliant on hitching a ride with someone else. and if I do, the trip won't be just about pony. I just now realized the USS Constellation is a mere 2 blocks from the con to the east, and the B&O Railroad Museum is a mile to the west. I estimate if I can find a ride, the trip would run me around $800-$1000.
As for Nightmare Nights: I am planning on going this year also. Wherever or not I'll be riding with someone else or driving myself has yet to be determined (and probably won't be until around July or August). If I do drive myself I'm going to stick to the interstate both down and back this time.
As for other stuff: I think it's time to get a good camera. So I'm planning on getting a good used DSLR one so I can really nail night time shots, and get superb daylight ones. I may try doing some more train drawings, and even paintings this year also.
I'm sure there will be some railfanning and storm chasing trips this year also. At leas I'll have more vacation and personal days to work with.
Well that's about it. Onward with the year!
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