2013: the year that was

JANUARY: Bought a new laptop and struggled mightily with Windows 8. Went to LACMA with G and his family, the highlight of which was standing next to Padre looking at a Mapplethorpe photo of a guy getting fisted. (Padre's comment: "Ow.") Got a nasty cold. Finished Resident Evil 6 campaign co-op mode and got all the bonus figurines. Went to a gastroenterologist for a second opinion on gallbladder surgery and liked her so much that I wanted her to be my bestie. Finished Braid. Read 4 novels, 8 volumes of manga, and 7 graphic novels; watched 13 movies.  

FEBRUARY: Went to Little Tokyo with G and C and was delighted to find that our favorite macaron place had reopened. Watched the Super Bowl. Had to get three fillings replaced. Made arrangements to get my gallbladder yanked out. Valentine's Day was lovely; G sent me flowers at work, and we spent the evening exchanging cards/gifts/sweet nothings, eating pizza, and playing video games. Finished The Testament of Sherlock Holmes. Got my gallbladder taken out, and was relieved beyond belief that they didn't have to do the much more complicated open surgery or a post-op endoscopy. The hospital released me that afternoon, and I spent the next several days recuperating under G's careful and loving eye. Read 7 novels, 2 nonfiction books, 6 volumes of manga, and 1 graphic novel; watched 11 movies.  

MARCH: Reluctantly returned to work. Finished Dead Space 3. Went antiquing. Got pretty far into the Saw video game until it got so frustrating and repetitive that we returned it to Gamefly. G got whomped by the flu, and although I remained unscathed, I got hit with allergies. Went to the crotch doc. Work drama, coupled with training for a new phone system, left me exhausted. Went to Santa Monica with G and M. Read 6 novels, 3 nonfiction books, 2 graphic novels, and 2 volumes of manga; watched 16 movies.

APRIL: Went to the animal shelter and loved up on kitties, including 15-year-old Siamese sisters named Silky and Fluffy. (Hey, I didn't name them.) Got a new phone system at work that's about as user friendly as a thistle covered dildo. Took a day off work to get some shit done. Spoiler alert: I didn't get shit done. Finished DmC: Devil May Cry. Lost my XBOX Live virginity and played Dead Space 3 co-op with a cool and mellow bro; the key to his easygoing personality can probably be explained by the fact that his gamer tag contained the numbers 420. Finished Ghost Trick. I wore my Teddie (from Persona 4) shirt to Red Robin, and when we stood up to leave, the kid in the booth behind G jumped up, said "Every day's great at your Junes!", and gave me a fist bump, which was bizarre but cool. Read 3 novels, 5 nonfiction books, 5 graphic novels, and 5 volumes of manga; watched 9 movies.

MAY: May was an unbelievably boring month; pretty much all I did was work and read. The California wildfires got so bad that work let us go home early. Mainlined season 3 of Game of Thrones and season 7 of Dexter. Read 5 novels, 1 nonfiction book, 4 volumes of manga, and 3 graphic novels; watched 8 movies.

JUNE: Work continued to blow goats for quarters. G and I went to a botanical garden and canoodled by the koi pond. Developed an intense crush on Ray Stevenson thanks to his awesome performance in season 7 of Dexter. Finished the Tomb Raider reboot. Got a mammogram, and fortunately everything is fine with my jigglypuffs. G surprised me with a piece of my favorite cheesecake (almond biscotti crust, represent!) after I tweeted about being sad. Madre and Padre came to California for Padre's military reunion, and we spent a nice day together. Scorching heat kept me inside as much as possible, running up my electric bill and loafing in air conditioned comfort. Finished the HD Collection version of Silent Hill 2. Read 5 novels, 1 nonfiction book, 4 graphic novels, and 5 volumes of manga; watched 10 movies.
  
JULY: Continued to be incredibly lazy due to the SoCal heat wave. A coworker kept playing and crying over a video of her son and pregnant daughter-in-law cutting their gender announcement cake, leading to lots of headaches. Received a moisturizer sample from Sephora that turned out to be self-tanner; fortunately I found out before the bright orange tint of my face became semi-permanent! G, C, and I had a shared birthday dinner. Finished The Last of Us. Spent G's birthday fawning over him, as is his due. Spent MY birthday off work, lazing about the house, and when G got off work, we went out for a nice dinner and then he gifted me with a Nintendo 3DS. Back at work the next day, my work bestie surprised me with a Hello Kitty decorated cube and lots of delicious goodies for lunch. Won two magazine contests (basically every Garnier hair product in existence and a bottle of Jurlique perfume) in the span of a week. Read 5 novels, 5 graphic novels, and 1 volume of manga; watched 11 movies.  

AUGUST: Finished Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic. Was startled to see an Aston Martin in front of me in the Wendy's drive through. Finished Resident Evil: Revelations. Went to a new dentist, who happened to be Japanese-American, and was mortified when my cell phone went off during my appointment; I wouldn't have cared quite so much if my ringtone wasn't "Turning Japanese". Had to call my landlady about my ornery toilet for the second time in as many months. Went to Little Tokyo, and in addition to my usual purchases like magazines and macarons, I bought a painting. Finished Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove. Finished Dragon's Crown. G and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. G, C, and I went to Washington DC, and we spent a lovely week visiting friends, seeing the sights, and eating fabulous food ranging from dim sum to homemade salted caramel Pop-Tarts. Read 5 novels, 2 nonfiction books, 6 graphic novels, and 2 volumes of manga; watched 6 movies.

SEPTEMBER: Was deeply saddened to find out that Winston, Padre's friend's gorgeous British shorthair that I was in love with, had died. Finished Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper. Came home from work to find that G had left me a surprise: avgolemono soup, pita bread, and rice pilaf from my favorite Greek restaurant, as well as a Godiva truffle for dessert. The NY Giants lost 4 games in a row, putting G and Padre into a deep funk. Read 5 novels, 1 nonfiction book, 5 volumes of manga, and 2 graphic novels; watched 10 movies.

OCTOBER: The Giants continued to suck. Went to Florida to visit Daddy-O; trip highlights included feeding a sausage on a stick to a grizzly bear at a rescue sanctuary, the Ringling Brothers Museum, Mote Aquarium, Selby Gardens, and a glorious dessert called Dreamsicle cake, as well as spending lots of quality time with my dad. We did have one nasty argument, and he worked my last nerve a couple of times, but overall it was a fun trip. Returning to work was not nearly as fun, of course, especially since I came back just as a colossal shitstorm erupted. Finished Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi. Went to C's mom's funeral. Got massively sick with sinusitis and an ear infection, and then I had a bad reaction to the first antibiotic I was on, so I was pretty miserable. Read 8 novels, 2 nonfiction books, 4 volumes of manga, and 2 graphic novels; watched 11 movies.

NOVEMBER: G and I went to D-Con, an art/toy designer convention in Pasadena. It was fun, although the traffic was awful and it took us forever to find parking. Spent a lovely day in downtown Ventura with our friend M. Finished Beyond: Two Souls. Spent a wonderful and gloriously lazy Thanksgiving weekend with G. Was shocked and saddened to hear that Paul Walker died. Read 5 novels, 4 nonfiction books, 10 volumes of manga, and 3 graphic novels; saw 14 movies.

DECEMBER: My stepmother effed up her knee playing tennis. SoCal was hit by a cold snap which forced me to bust out my Nanook of the North parka. Finished Deadpool. Went to Santa Fe with G and spent almost 2 glorious weeks socializing, reading, eating fabulous food, and catching up on my sleep. Read 5 novels, 1 nonfiction book, 7 graphic novels, and 1 volume of manga; saw 9 movies.