As tradition dictates, with another year passed I again return to the blog to summarize the time. In a break with tradition I am just going report what comes to mind and not break it down into different categories like I have done before.
I am pretty happy with last year. It is nice to be out and about again, after almost two years of isolation. ConnectiCon 2021 in September was my first convention back and I forgot somewhat how much I missed the steady flow of conventions throughout the year. I brought a new panel to that convention: Does Star Trek Porn Make Good Star Trek, and it was well received. I am hoping to run the same panel this year at ConnectiCon and hopefully other conventions. As far as other panels go, I have a few ideas percolating that I hope get accepted.
I completed a very ambitious live action AMV this year. There will be a larger blog post about it soon, in addition to a video retrospective, but suffice to say I am quite chuffed with how it turned out. I do think it however marks the end of my foray into live action AMVs, as I do not see how to go from here, but it was a fun journey none the less. Luckily, I have plenty other live-action-less ideas to pursue.
My gun collecting has slowed a little compared to last year. I suspect I am becoming more discerning about what I get. There is a still price point I will buy anything (sub $200), but at the high end I seem to be buying less. It has not helped that the market seems to have risen quite a bit in the past few years as well. Regardless, I still acquired a number of cool new pieces last year ( C96, Dreyse 1907) with more on the way this year. I am also hoping to get into some more active shooting sports (like clay or skeet). Something more active than target shooting.
On the topic of guns, I have a number of projects I am hoping to get to this year. My C96 requires repair, so I need to find someone who can do that, having failed to fix it myself. I also need to do some more research on my Vetterli, since something is not right with the cartridges I loaded for it. Finally, I am hoping to get through a couple of the firearms history books that have been sitting around here for too long. Most notably Jonathan Ferguson’s book on British bullpups and Neil Aspinshaw’s book on the Martini-Henry.
On a final note, I have been doing a lot of paid online surveys via Prolific. It is generally very small money, but it is oddly satisfying and I can make an extra hundred a month doing them. A strange development to be sure.
Ultimately, not a whole lot went on last year, but it was still a pretty good year none the less.