Your 2013 retrospect

[Scarim Coral]

So a year ago I made a 2012 retrospect thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.397406-Your-2012-retrospect] so this thread is pretty much the same thing.

With 2014 being hours away, it's time to think back to all the stuff that happens to you in 2013.

Just sum up your events in good, bad, other (others that you want to mention but it is neither good or bad) and overall.

Good
The deputy manager who run the store during the manager absent (see below) is an awesome guy to work for since he's a year younger than me and we both share the same interest of gaming. Sure he tend to rush stuff at work but he still have some work ethnics so I pretty much work harder for him.
I finally bought myself a 3DS (XL) in preperation for Pokemon X and I regret at why I didn't buy it sooner! Well ok if I did, I would of ended up with the original version and not the XL version!
My parent went on holiday for a month meaning I had the house to myself! I didn't went with them since a month trip is too long for me but I do admit I did kind of regret for not going in the end so I guess either way it was a lose to me.
I cosplay for the first time when I attended this year MCM Expo in Manchester. Needless to say I had a great time and I do got to admit I liked the attention I got for my cosplay-

Spoiler: Me cosplaing as Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes

Yes I did take my normal glasses off when someone took my photo, it was just annoying taking it off and putting on the sunglasses!

I met a couple of Escapist people in real life when I attended that expo!
The supervisor (see below) is going to be trasfered to another store near here in a few weeks time so that's one less person I have to put up with!
Lastly I have watched some good stuff in 2013 like Pacific Rim, Man of Steel, Jojo's Bizzare Adventure and Kill La Kill.

Bad
For one thing it didn't start of good in the new year. The manager had passed away in January (she was diagnose with cancer in Autunm and while she did went for chemo treatment and did show sign of recovery, I guess it was too late. I was quite dishearten by this since I had hold her in high regard since she was the one who broke my unemployment cycle for given me the chance to work for her. It was a shame I can never thanks her for that.
At April time, head office had finally got a manager to run the store and it turn out they had transfer the deputy manager (see above) back to the store he was in and we got the original manager instead which I came to learn was a bad idea. Needless to say, the info I was told about the original manager (awful to work for and also incompetent at running the store) were true. She had pretty much turn my content working time into a dreadful time.
Not only that but she brought her trusted co worker aka her lap dog with her who soon became a supervisor of the store aswell. He's a grumpy git who is pretty much has an negative remarks when it could of been a normal remark.
My prospect of being transfered to the new store that they had build this year has shattered. The new store was alot closer to my house (cut down my walking time in half) and best of all, my solution to still be at work but not under that manager! Turns out that no one got the transfered and I heard rumour that the manager was resposible for it (I heard from someone at work that she lied to head office saying no one had asked for the transfered despite most of us had expressed desire to worked in the new store)!

Others
I got a new member to the family and no it's isn't a baby. When my parent went on holiday (see Good), they arrange for their friend daughter to enroll to a boarding school over here in the UK and she lived with us during the school holiday. She learning her English but overall she's a good kid and I admit she is alot braver than I am (she work hard at school and far from home etc).
I bought, played and quit Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The game was good and bad in many way so this is why I mention it in others.

Overall
While this year, quite a things didn't go my way but I ain't complaining about it per say. I still working in the same store I'm in but I have been looking elsewhere. I do admit at times it is fine working for that manager but either way what make my day is either that manager no longer worked at the store or I got employed somewhere else! I guess it had made me somewhat more durable in a way (or just putting up with it).

So how was your time in 2013?

 

[Euryalus]

The first half of it was amazing. I got to go to Germany for study abroad, partied, Hung out with [user]Calibanbutcher[/user] while there, and had an amazing time. When I got back I was able to mesh my work schedule with a good friend much and hung out Downtown. I don't get to go as often as I'd like and its a great city. I also made some great new Friends here on the 'pist I'd never really talked to before.

Shout out to [user]Skarkrow[/user], [user]Colour Scientist[/user], [user]Imp Emissary[/user], [user]Beffudled Sheep[/user], and sorta kinda [user]EeveeElectro[/user].

You guys are all right.

EDIT: I meant that I've known eevee since the end of 2012 XD

...The second half... has been terrible. Everything fell apart at once :/

I'm now friendless, poor, and a bit of an academic failure, among more personal things.

Can't waste time dwelling on shit though. Time to pick up the pieces and start over. Here's to a much better 2014!

*raises beer*

Prost

 

[Elfgore]

Good- I discovered Japanese entertainment this year. Manga, VNs, Anime, JRPGs, and the lot. This made for a fun six months as I got to enjoy all this stuff for the first time.

Bad- I did really, really bad my first semester of college. Academic Probation bad. Out of five classes I withdrew from one, failed one, and passed three. One was a pass or fail so grades don't matter and the other two I passed with Cs. Work has gotten really terrible the past couple months. My boss has been constantly getting on me for no reason, besides the fact he dislikes me. I used to enjoy going to work, now I dread going in on the weekends because I know I will have to deal with him for eight hours.

Overall- Not the best year. Sure I discovered a new way to pass the time, but I did really bad my first time at college and my job went from being enjoyable to total shit. Hopefully I'll do better next semester and my boss may finally get off my ass or retire.

 

[Barbas]

Good: I got my friend to start playing Company of Heroes.

Bad: I still live here.

 

[Remus]

Good - My extended family has moved out and contact is now limited to phone calls and facebook slander.
Bad - I spent a large part of the year under the watchful eye of surgeons, leading to bouts of depression as I considered THE BIG QUESTION.
Conclusion - Still an atheist, still in perfect health, except for a couple of notable scars. I'll have to incorporate them into next year's Halloween somehow. Also a lot less stress going into 2014.

 

[teqrevisited]

It's been a rollercoaster of a year.

From the early months I fought against the ingrained ignorance of my mum's partner, moved out because of it, got a job in late october and shook hands with him not long after. I took on a job at Amazon beforehand and left because everyone there was a condescending prick or just an awful human being in general, but I found a great job and a great lot of colleagues to work with. The biggest downside to the year has been the passing of my grandad, but realistically it was for the best that he didn't suffer for too long. It doesn't matter who you are, cancer will do what it desires. I've inherited a lot of mannerisms from him. A quiet manner, a silent laugh conveyed entirely by my shoulders moving up and down and the saying "Aye". I'll never forget him and his kindness and I'll do whatever I can to keep my job, earn myself some proper cash and do him proud.

Yeah that was corny. I don't give a single shit. Here's to you, *lifts pint of bitter*, Grandad Jim.

 

[wooty]

Bad: Broke up with two girls, failed my driving test, had to move back in with parents, gained weight, got a dead-end job which I absolutely hate, still live in the UK, never got to go on holiday this year.


Good:...........I saw Pacific Rim at the IMAX twice.

Yeah, 2013 can suck my balls and die slowly.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

The good: I got a job

The bad: Job was part time and gaming still remains as dreary as usual.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Good-Upgraded my rig, finally have a good PC(and 1080p too!), started College(last two years of high school for americans) and I feel more "accepted"(I can speak to anyone about anything in my college which is great, I no longer feel like "that guy" like I did in Secondary School), finished my GCSEs, got 3 A*s, 5 As, got into Shogun 2 and a bunch of other games I wouldn't usually give the time of day, saw Pacific Rim and Cloud Atlas in theatres(both of which now qualify for spots in my top 10 movies of all time), also The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey and Desolation of Smaug, both of which were fond returns to middle earth, got a kindle and the entirety of Game of Thrones on it too, I also got a lot of PC help from DrunkOnEstus, not to mention a copy of Bloodbowl during the giveaway thread, and also my new avatar from CaramelFrappe(The Escapist community is awesome!)

Bad-I've never felt more broken or lonely as a person, both my Aunt and Grandad died this year, so it was an emotionally taxing year for my mother, which makes me feel damn bad, my brother seems to be confused as to what he is doing with his life and is acting reckless, I am drifting further away from my secondary school friends, games are becoming worryingly exploitative and cash-grabby, got DDoS'd and then later threatened to have my details leaked(which I still think was trolling), I also got harrassed by a dickhead in a nearby park with my 2 friends, and I feel ashamed that I didn't just fight back, I got more paranoid, I feel like it is impossible for me to get a girlfriend, I've been becoming more unhappy with my body.

Overall-A mostly shitty year, and I am glad that I can abandon it for 2014 instead.

 

[Mech__Warrior]

Hrm, I was juggling 18 credit hours in college and end up having to drop Physics because the load was too much. Still ended up having trouble in school after dropping it because it was already halfway into the semester. Didn't get a job going into summer break, which led to my parents badgering me nonstop and I eventually got one at McDonald's. I never, ever want to work there again and when that time comes around in 2014, I'm going to push everything aside and get something better. I also failed the two classes I said I was going to pass this year; Calculus-based Physics (Again) and Physical Chemistry. The reason why I failed was about halfway through the semester, my teacher broke my will. She gave me a lab notebook back that even though I missed two things in the notebook, I essentially had to redo the entire thing. That mentally broke me and after taking how unhappy I was in my current situation, I decided 'Screw it, I don't care anymore.'. I stopped going to class, still did the work though because I still wanted to pass. I seemed to understand Physics well enough, though his quizzes sucked. I just wanted to be done and when everything was done, I failed both. At least I'm going to get different teachers the next time around, so I'm hoping things will be different. Otherwise, I'll have to change my major and I don't really want to do that.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

The good:
I've meet more awesome people through here, and some I even talk to outside of here. I'm actually doing something about my shitty work situation by going back to school to go further in my field and not be so confined to one area. Not that that was a bad thing, it's was just keeping me in limbo without any room of growth in my state, and I would have to move for that to happen.

Also, I was a lot less stressed out and depressed this year than the previous year. So that's a plus.

EDIT: I feel like a jackass for not including this, but the highlight of my year was seeing Black Sabbath with my dad. It's one of my dad's favorite bands and he hasn't seen a concert since the 70s, so taking him to one was just awesome.

The bad:

There was about a month's time of serious bullshit at work. I was seriously close to quitting, but it did leave me to go do something about it. Which lead me to positive part of the year, so, yeah? I was in a car accident that I caused, thankfully no one was hurt, but it was just a real shitty series of events that lead up to it that even the cop that cited me said that there was nothing I could do about it. Sucked though.

Overall, I gotta say it was a good year. I mean, I'm still bummed that I'm still not in a relationship, but whatever. I've learned that that's not important right now, and it was foolish of me to hope for one at the start of the previous year. I'm taking the positive momentum that I'm having right now and carrying it along with me into 2014, and keep making improvements. Will it all be sunshine and roses? No, but I'm gonna try to make the best of it since that's about as much as I can do with things that will go out of my control.

Gonna make it one hell of a year though.

 

[Stryc9]

Year started out pretty shit under the threat of becoming homeless if I didn't find a job, found a job part time cooking in a retirement community. Not bad work overall really. The director that hired me was kind of squeezed out her job in a really bullshit fashion and things have been deteriorating there since so not sure how much longer it's gonna last though.

Used money from said job to build a new PC, really needed to do that as the old one was pretty shit by today's standards. Now I can play games released in this decade. I haven't really had any problems with it that weren't entirely my fault and easily fixed. The case is almost complete, just waiting on one custom decal to arrive.

 

[Queen Michael]

Good

I managed to finish In Search of Lost Time, the world's longest novel.

I got my hands on a pretty darn big lump of money.

I read my 3,000th manga book.

I discovered that Amazon sells used manga books for one penny.

I got back into Doctor Who.

I read the fantastic manga series Twin Spica from start to finish. Out of all the roughly 670 manga series I've read, less than ten can beat it.

I made a new friend.

I got medicine to help with my enormous anxieties and let me live a normal life.

My best pal came out of the closet as lesbian and lost her virginity to a girl.



Bad

I kept ruining my eyes by browsing the Internet too much.

Still didn't get a girlfriend, or laid.

My ex never got me the cookies she said she was gonna bake me.

I'm in love with a girl who's lesbian and thus won't return my feelings ever.

 

[Shocksplicer]

Good: Joined a student acting company, did a play, had a great time.
Bad: I still have next to no friends, no future, no girl/boyfriend, and I'm still pretty much exactly as depressed and alone as I was this time last year.

 

[Tamashikiri]

BAD
I unfortunately had to say goodbye to two good friends of mine, as both had to move away, one for university, the other, more recently, for placement.

GOOD
I got a job for the first time in my life, giving me a source of income other than disability pension, and everyone at my work in pretty nice and give me a hand when I need help understanding what to do (and besides, it's certainly not the WORST first job one could have). Also, Pacific Rim and Kill la Kill came out this year. Hard to top that.

 

[JoJo]

Been a mixed year for myself, had some of the greatest highs I've ever experienced but also some lows. Not quite sure what the future holds but I'm glad for what I've got.

Good

[li]Graduated university[/li]
[li]Had an awesome summer working in the States[/li]
[li]Finally passed driving exam[/li]
[li]Done some great writing and work on various projects[/li]
[li]Cut back on some bad habits[/li]

Bad

[li]Disappointed with final degree grade[/li]
[li]Unable to find work since August[/li]
[li]Unsure about future career path, which isn't helping the above point either[/li]

 

[shogunblade]

This year, in a wonderful twist, has been more ups than downs:

Spoiler: Happy stuff

- I appeared in a short film that will soon see life on the internet (and no, I can't advertise it, but I'd be too embarrassed to admit I was in it) for the first time in my life, and as an actor, that kind of makes me happy.
- I went to a town three and a half hours away to go party for my 23rd birthday, something I have never done before, jumped on a stripper's pole for .6 seconds, got hammered, punched in the face and fought my first hangover (and succeeded) and ate pancakes. Totally worth it.
- Found a friend I haven't seen or heard from in 10 years on Facebook. I'll be seeing her next year, hopefully.
- Went to Seattle and Oregon within 11 days by myself, a first for me in both of those states (Beautiful places, I want to go back soon, riding within 18 hours and three Greyhound Buses to get there and not get bothered or mugged by anybody)
- Saw Pacific Rim in IMAX 3D (A first in 3D and a first in IMAX, totally awesome)
- Went to a bar and did dancing, which, living in a small town, is a big deal to me.
- Had a random conversation with a girl on a train (Nothing suggestive, so don't ask).
- Slept in a Lookout tower during the middle of a thunderstorm.
- Went to see The World's End and simultaneously met a girl from a dating site (Didn't work out, but...)
- Found another girl who likes me, ending my 5 year dry spell from dating.
- Got the lead role in a play, which received a ton of praise from everybody within my community for my ability to act better than the director who usually casts himself within the lead role.
- Went to my first midnight showing of a movie (The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug), and it was AWESOME.
- Got into PC gaming a little bit.
- Weight in last year: 269 Pounds. Weight in this year: 186 Pounds

Spoiler: Bad stuff

- Lost two friendships.
- One girl turned me down (See Good stuff for more)
- Lost the job I had for 2 and a half years
- Failed College Algebra class, will have to move to find a better job to continue school (But I will be closer to my girlfriend, so positive as well)
- Threw up from drinking too much Kahlua, 1/2 of my favorite alcoholic beverage.
- Battled severe depression this year, but I did win, so I guess a positive.
- I realized how expensive PC Gaming is (But I bought myself RAM for my computer, so hopefully that will help)

All in all, I welcome 2014

 

[FPLOON]

I... have no idea... I'm going to say "neutral" before I start listing the good and the bad...

The Good:

[li]"Metaphorically" celebrated my birthday with five other people (including No Right Answer's Chris, my best friend's father, and my best friend's next door neighbor...)[/li]
[li]Finally joined the Escapist forums (after watching Zero Punctuation since the beginning as well as lurking the forums since just last year...)[/li]
[li]Still ended up liking any movie that premiered at a theater near me... (including Equestria Girls, Anchorman 2, and Pacific Rim... just to name my top favorites from good to awesome... Now You See Me gets an honorable mentioned from me...)[/li]
[li]Became a proud owner of one of my all-time favorite anime series: Tenchi Muyo! (The OVA Collection)[/li]
[li]Finally got my driver's licence... only to barely use it... (I have a habit of mostly walking than driving...)[/li]
[li]My favorite shows are still going strong, despite one of them had the most mixed fandom reactions between seasons...[/li]
[li]Introduced one of my mentors to Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Studio Ghibli... (Another anime fan is born...)[/li]

The Bad:

[li]I can't think of anything too bad, honestly... (Irony incoming...)[/li]
[li]Haven't been on Skype since July...[/li]
[li]The more I think about it... The more I really do not want a romantic partner...[/li]
[li]I'm legally became an adult... yet I really do not feel like it... (I need a new job...)[/li]
[li]Wasted up to $200 on 2013 games I ended up not liking in the long run... (Traded most of them back...)[/li]
[li]Gave away my Collector's Editions to Arkham City and the Soul Calibur 5 strategy guide... (Net gain not worth it, anyway...)[/li]
[li]Keep forgetting other people's birthdays... (on Facebook...)[/li]


Overall... I got nothing else to say about 2013... (I'm sure 2014 would be the year I watch more movies in theaters... or something... I don't know...)

 

[Drummodino]

2013 was a pretty good year for me, punctuated with a few low points.

Good
- Moved out of student accommodation into a comfortably sized unit
- Became roommates with one of my best friends
- Completed the final year of my undergraduate degree
- Obtained a respectable gaming PC and 3DS
- Discovered the wonders of JRPGs and anime
- Became an active member of these forums
- Played The Last of Us and Persona 4 Golden

Bad
- My grandmother died with completely no warning
- Living with my sister (Worst. Roommate. Ever)
- Said sister totaling Mum's car, putting two people in hospital and losing her licence

All in all a pretty good year. Not as good as 2012 was, but hopefully 2014 can be even better than that.

 

[Vale]

With every passing year I regret more and more things. I make the barest minimum effort to change the way this entire trainwreck of an idiotic life is going, and as is fairly obvious, I achieve nothing whatsoever. Sometimes I hate myself for failing to live up to standards that I never had, other times I just wish I was dead. In general I just immerse myself in whatever self-destructive habits I have and pray for all the pain to go away while begrudging others for being lost, depressed, and alone.

Good times.

Spoiler: Happy New Year, everyone