The year two thousand fifteen was, first and foremost, the year that they cut me open to replace the piece of my aorta resembling a boa constrictor that swallowed a goat with something that may or may not be a garden hose. For roughly two-thirds of the year almost everything seemed to circle back to that, which was a total pain in the butt. Still, I made it through, and apart from now having the physical fitness of an old man and my emotional stability being a unstable mess, it could have been a lot worse.
Twenty-fifteen was also the year I changed jobs. I started at wehkamp.nl almost six years ago, but after going back to work, I found that it was time to move on. I got into the whole web development scene with the ambition of making the internet better, one website at the time, and I can not help but think that after managing to wrestle the messy monolith into a somewhat responsive website and going the mobile-first webapp route all new platform, I was kinda done there. Around the same time, several companies approached me asking if I would be interested in discussing possibilities. With BCC I felt a click, and so far, I am having lots of fun.
Anyway, the lists.
The List of Books I’ve Finished This Year
- Joe Hill — NOS4R2 (2015-12-21—2015-12-31)
- Neil Gaiman — How the Marquis Got His Coat Back (2015-12-19)
- Neil Gaiman — Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances (2015-12-11–2015-12-19)
- F. Bordewijk – Karakter (2015-11-29–2015-12-09)
- Unidentified Funny Objects 2 (edited by Alex Shvartsman) (2015-11-02–2015-11-25)
- Unidentified Funny Objects (edited by Alex Shvartsman) (2015-10-05–2015-11-02)
- Clive Barker – The Damnation Game (2015-08-10–2015-11-29)
- Kelly Link – Stranger Things Happen (2015-08-03–2015-10-05)
- Gerard Ekdom – Ik zal kijken wat ik voor je kan doen… (2015-07-26–2015-08-10)
- Peter S. Beagle – The Last Unicorn (2015-07-23–2015-08-03)
- Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird (2015-07-02–2015-07-23)
- Stephen King – Finders Keepers (2015-06-30–2015-07-03)
- Nick Hornby – About a Boy (2015-06-23–2015-06-30)
- Fish (Edited by Carrie Cuinn & K.V. Taylor) (2015-05-11–2015-06-22)
- Stephen King – Revival (2015-05-10–2015-05-15)
- J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (first week of March–2015-05-10)
- ~ and the Philosopher’s Stone
- ~ and the Chamber of Secrets
- ~ and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- ~ and the Goblet of Fire
- ~ and the Order of the Phoenix
- ~ and the Halfblood Prince
- ~ and the Deathly Hallows
- Haruki Murakami – The Strange Library (first week of March)
- Kelly Link – Magic for Beginners (2015-01-29—2015-02-23)
- Holly Black – The Poison Eaters and Other Stories (2015-01-22—2015-01-29)
- Bradley P. Beaulieu — Upon the Point of a Knife (short story) (2015-01-02—2015-01-07)
- Bradley P. Beaulieu — Lest Our Passage Be Forgotten & Other Stories (2014-08-29—2015-01-02)
While 27 books is by no means a bad score, it is nowhere near what it could have been, with being hospitalized and recovering at home and all. So, apparently, 2015 was the year of short story collections and Harry Potter. Top three short story collections: Trigger Warning, Magic for Beginners, and, uhm, UFO1. Favorite Potter: Goblet of Fire. Best non-fiction: Ik zal kijken wat ik voor je kan doen…. (Easy choice: that was the only non-fiction I read.) Best Stephen King novel: Revival. Best Stephen King novel not written by Stephen King: NOS4R2. Favorite of the bunch in all other categories: The Last Unicorn.
At the moment, I am still re-reading Maarten ‘t Hart’s De Schrift betwist. For next year, I might need to take a crack at the heftier volumes of my list. You know, Moby Dick, The Count of Monte Cristo, Don Quichote, that sort of stuff.
The List of Performances I’ve Seen This Year
- – Mister & Mississippi + Postcards from Mars, FLUOR, Amersfoort
Just the one. Great show, though. Hopefully, I will be able to catch a few more shows next year.
The List of Movies I’ve Seen in Cinemas
- — The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (JT Amersfoort)
- — Minions (3D, JT Amersfoort)
- — The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (HFR 3D, Pathé Amersfoort)
- — Asterix en Obelix: De Romeinse Lusthof (3D, Pathé Amersfoort)
What I’ve Done from My List of 100 Things
- #47: Live to tell the tale.
- #80: Spend a week without touching a computer.
- #65: Read All Harry Potter Novels Back To Back.
- #67: Read books from my list of 40 books to read before my 40th birthday before my 40th birthday:
- Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird
- Ferdinand Bordewijk — Karakter
I did not get around to re-evaluating the list, but do not be surprised when eventually that happens.
The List of Places Where I’ve Spent the Night This Year
* Multiple, non-consecutive stays.
The List of Museums and Other Attractions I’ve Visited This Year
- — Rijksmuseum Twenthe (Gevaar & Schoonheid – Turner en de traditie van het sublieme), Enschede
- — Van Gogh Museum (Munch : Van Gogh), Amsterdam
- — Mauritshuis, Den Haag
- — 200 Jaar Staten-Generaal, rondleiding “Meer dan de plenaire zaal”, Tweede Kamer, Den Haag ()
- — Museum De Fundatie (Gevaar & schoonheid. Turner en de traditie van het sublieme), Zwolle
- — British Museum, London, UK
- — Tower of London, London, UK
- — Natural History Museum, London, UK
- — Madame Tussauds, London, UK
- — Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter, Watford, UK
- — The British Library Treasure Room, London, UK
- — London Eye, London, UK
- — Kunsthal Kade, Amersfoort
- — Safaripark Beekse Bergen, Hilvarenbeek
- — De Efteling, Kaatsheuvel
After a slow start — and I guess you know why — I managed to see some interesting sights. The Harry Potter Studio Tour was ace, both Turner exhibits were excellent, and being able to visit the Handelingenkamer in our houses of parliament (which features on many of those prettiest libraries in the world lists) was quite nice as well.
⁂
Since the road to hell is paved with good intentions, let me just add that I plan to do some website overhauling and, hopefully, produce more words than this year.
Be safe, and see you on the other side.