But 2013 was a pretty remarkable year for me. So instead of all of that fluff about The Wolverine and Pokemon X/Y, I'd rather write about a subject that is near and dear to my heart: Me.
So here's my Year In Review for 2013 as it relates to my life.
1) I got married!Yes, after a 7 year relationship with my girlfriend/fiancee, we finally tied the knot...on our 8th anniversary of being together. It was a fairly small wedding, as far as today's weddings would be judged, but hot damn if it wasn't awesome. Firstly, we got married in a movie theater, up in front of the screen, with our names up on the marquee and everything. We also had some freshly popped popcorn waiting for all of our guests. (No imitation butter, though, which was kind of disappointing.)
But probably the best part of the entire ceremony (you know, besides uniting with the love of my life) was the film that we made to show right before. Getting married in a movie theater gave us the opportunity to show a movie to everyone beforehand, an advantage we didn't want to miss out on. So we spent a few weeks before the big day and, with the help of the bridal party, put this little gem together.
And this brings us to "What Made 2013 So Awesome #2"...
2) We went to Walt Disney World!
As a wedding gift, my grandfather bought us a honeymoon to Walt Disney World and my wife's bridal party got us a Park-Hopper tickets to two of the parks. I hadn't been to WDW since I was 19 so I was really looking forward to the time away. Not to mention that my wife and I would be getting a real honeymoon, which we didn't expect.
We had a blast there, going to both Universal Studios parks as well as Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. But to top it off, the week we were there kicked off Star Wars weekends at Hollywood Studios, a full on celebration of all things Star Wars. Not only that but my wife got the chance to get her picture taken with Ariel.
3) We got our own place!
For the past 4 years, our financial situation forced us to live with my wife's parents because we couldn't afford a place of our own. However, in 2013, we managed to free up enough debt where we could get an apartment and live comfortably. It's a small place with just enough room for us and all of our crap but it's a step in the right direction and I couldn't be happier.
4) I published my first novel!
Self published actually but it still counts. The Non-Linear Flow of the Universal Tides is available in e-book format from Amazon. Pretty soon, I'll also have it up for Nook, iBooks and at Smashwords, as well as paperback but that will be something to celebrate at the end of 2014. For now, though, I'm proud that my work is finally available to the masses.
In addition to that, I finished work on a second book, one that I co-wrote with my wife. It's an illustrated children's book. We already have an artist on board and I'm just waiting to see what he has in store for me. I don't have more information besides that but again, hopefully we'll be celebrating its release next December.
5) I dusted off this blog!
I've always been proud of Caution: Idiot At Play and even though I went hard with it for a little while, there have always been long periods of neglect. But these past few months have shown me how much fun I have writing stuff like this so hopefully, I'll be able to keep up with it without the all of the downtime. I know that, as long as I don't burn myself out, I should do fine.
Anyway, those are my biggest accomplishments for this year and why I classify 2013 as a success. How was this year for you? Feel free to comment below and let me know!
And finally, we here at Caution: Idiot At Play want to wish you a happy and healthy New Year and if you're going out to party tonight, please be safe.
Happy New Year!
Damn Mike, that is one tremendous year you had! Congratulations on all of it. I'm happy and proud to have been a part of it too. Looking forward to more of our exploits (together and solo) in 2014.
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