2016: yay, nay, or gay?

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Almost a decade of doing these, here are the past threads for reference:

2008: http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=27753
2009: http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=32813
2010: http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=35892
2011: http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=37640
2012: http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=39354
2013: http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=41295
2014: http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=42644
2015: http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=43888

Yay

+ Got a promotion and a big raise.  Income is finally at the Drinky Crow/dcharlie level.
+ Spent less time on the internet than ever.  Made it a point to do more social activities and reached my goal.
+ Delved into the world of escorts.  I don't do it anymore but oddly enough I'm good friends with one of the escorts I did see.  As in we hang out with each other even now.
+ Traveled to Spain for two weeks.
+ Pretty much done with gaming in general.  Now I no longer feel obligated to waste lots of money on games I don't want or care to play.

Nay

- Did less in terms of real accomplishments than the past couple years.  Not going to school anymore has made me lazy.

Gay

~ Went to two gay weddings this year

Overall a yay year although not as much of a yay this year as it was in the past couple years.

[Boogie]

The naaay-est of nays.

And it was mostly my own damn fault.

[CatsCatsCats]

2016 was a freakin struggle, but I came out on top

[Madrun Badrun]

Nay, but every year is less nay than the previous one.  Can't wait till I'm 102. 

[Tasty]

Yay:

+ Entered my first relationship ever in March and am still in it and happy. 💞
+ Have really honed my short filmmaking skills this year. Really happy with my progress. 🎥
+ Led a couple really big projects at work that are very user-facing and I'm proud of them. 💻
+ Despite a couple scares over the course of the year, my grandma is still with us. 👵
+ Pokémon Moon is a return to form and Pokémon GO as a social phenomena was ridiculously exciting for me as a long-time fan of the series.
+ Swam a mile without stopping, which has been my goal since I started in 2013. 🏊
+ Credit is much better now. I've also been better about saving money, mostly. Mint has been a huge help in tracking stuff. 💸
+ Update: WON AN AWARD FOR MY SHORT FILM 😆

Nay:

- Many of my closest friends have left the company. I'm happy for them but work is legit less enjoyable now. 😞
- Screwed up a project a few weeks ago and got sorta reprimanded for it. 🤐
- Company has contracted hard since the start of the year. 😨
- Still haven't really come to terms with the presidential election results. 😐
- Didn't put out more than two short movies, just like in 2014 and 2015. Need to increase my output next year. 😑
- Became much more dependent on alcohol. Need to change something here soon. 🍻

Gay:

~ Got a boyfriend. 👬
~ Went on a Gaycation with my him to Vegas. ✈️
~ Speaking of, attended the first of hopefully many Bore-cons. 🌈
~ Came out to 90% of the people I know IRL via Facebook. 😌

Overall: 2016 was going great for me until the one-two punch of the election and my work issues. Still, I feel I've personally grown a lot and made many pivotal advancements. 2017 is going to be built on some pretty solid foundations I think. 😁

[Cerveza mas fina]

Ż\_(ツ)_/Ż

[Your Stalker]

the greatest president since reagan got elected so yay

[TakingBackSunday]

fucking nay.  worst year

[Phoenix Dark]

Yay:

+Got a nice promotion and a (small) raise
+Lost 20 pounds and am in the best shape I've been in since my bball days
+Nearly cut all fast food out of diet in the last 4-5 months, outside of cheat days (TACO BELL or pizza/wings)
+Learned how to install windows and ended up redoing my bathroom window and helping my brother install new ones in his house
+Pretty happy with my lady friend
+Completed a couple 5k runs and races with my mom
+Got to do a lot of real cool things with my local Big Brother Big Sister group

Nay:

-Dealing with increased work fuckery now that I have more responsibilities/dumb people to deal with
-Spent nearly $2000 on the weirdest, most random car problems I've ever had over the entire year
-Intended to read significantly more this year and didn't come close to reaching my goal
-Dealing with demons from the past. Shout outs to Toku and GAF whatsapp for holding me down
-A year of family drama

Gay:

-Donald Trump

Overall yay

[Himu]

Yay. Year of reflection.

- had to let my Hollywoid aspirations go temporarily due to a certain studio being stupid who will not be named
- open racism and misogyny and xenophobia
- Donald trump being elected
- had personally harmful beliefs that hurt people and myself

+ realized that I could improve my art so I let go of my aspirations and started paying for online mentorship/schooling. Art has improved ten fold.

+ as a formerly fat nerd I am now in my 30's and the most fit I have ever been in my life. Between Brazilian jiu jitsu, bodybuilding and strength training, I am now in the best shape I've ever been. Doing bjj has also helped me realize how tough a person I actually am and am capable of enduring. I now consider myself an athlete and that blows my fucking mind because I never would have considered myself an athlete before this year. On top of that I have gained a confidence I never thought was possible. I am not as afraid of big tall men because I know now that I have the ability to choke him and rip his arm off if I needed to!

+ overcame suicidal ideation and depression. Now living a fulfilling live. This is partly due to BJJ and partly due to my man.

+ decided to give the dating game another shot. Tried OK Cupid and we've been dating 7 months. We live together and I think he's amazing. We talk about the future and kids a lot and I'm hopeful we will have a long relationship together.  We are currently saving up so we can have a three week vacation in Japan in 2018. Hoping to fuck in every province. I'm lucky to have found such a supportive and amazing man. And so sexy!

+ final fantasy XV was good?!?!?!

+ have become an absolute health nut and started a lifestyle that starts with "v"!

+ Donald trump got elected. This made me do a lot of soul searching. Through the reality of his potentially oppressive government I have realized that relying on government for protection is naive and foolish. I have realized that the first and second amendments exist to protect us in such times and that the founding fathers were right. Becoming pro-gun has given me pride in my country that never existed in me before because it allows me these things as a guaranteed right in situations such as this. It has also given me a new love for my home state.

+ SJWs are full of shit. The election result has helped me realize just how wrong they are, as well as most liberals and the left on many things. Cutting people out of your life because they have different views is toxic and petty as fuck. I've gone to the people I had made my peace with earlier this year and humbly apologized. I'm hoping to be more accepting in the future. The election helped clear my misanthropy. When realizing that the votes for Trump were multi-faceted and not just a vote for racism or sexism, I realized how small minded I was toward people and to give them more of a chance to have open dialogue.

~ - Saving up for an orchisectomy for next year.

Hard year but whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Probabaly the best year of my adult life. 30's > 20's.

[Syph]

+Learned how to install windows and ended up redoing my bathroom window and helping my brother install new ones in his house

before i read the whole sentence i was gonna be like breh you put the CD in and then enter a serial code how difficult can it be

[Tasty]

+Learned how to install windows and ended up redoing my bathroom window and helping my brother install new ones in his house

before i read the whole sentence i was gonna be like breh you put the CD in and then enter a serial code how difficult can it be

Had the exact same thought

[chronovore]

Yay:
+ Family is doing well. Sister seems more accepting that my stay in Japan has become an immigration. We lost my wife's 94-year-old grandmother, but it all went down the best possible way. We still have my FIL, which is some kind of miracle. Went to Idaho to help my Mom.

+ More work coming in than last year. My skill set is substantially improved. Looks like next year will be even better. My partner has been supportive as I transition out of games and appreciative of the benefits from my 20 years of dev experience.

+ Less lonely than previous years.

+ Healthier than previous years. I think I only caught sick twice. Previous jobs, it'd been very 5-6 weeks.

+ Made my "modeling debut" by prancing in front of 500-600 people at a fashion show. That was fun.

Nay:
- Trump. JFC, how do we shift from 8 years of Obama to this insecure, nacho-colored manbaby? Who were the idiots that thought this Hail Mary was an acceptable risk?

- Finding out I have relatives who preferred Trump.

- Still missing my regular paycheck. If I returned to game dev tomorrow, my tolerance for whiny animators trying to tell me they're underpaid would be nil. Fucking nil.

- Still unsure if this is the right career path, and 49 is an odd age to feel trepidation about something so fundamental.

[Oblivion]

Yay:

- Got a job at a major T.V. station
- Traveled to more places outside of L.A. this year alone than I have in all previous years combined.
- Made some really good friends and have been involved in more social outings than ever before.
- Passed all my classes without any difficulty, and I probably even kicked ass this most recent semester (grades haven't come in yet)
- Got me a big titted Asian girlfriend
- Got to see Obama up close at a rally
- Madre was gone for the first half of the year
- Got lots of networking opportunities at E3

Nay:

- Had to deal with some bullshit with my unemployment benefits that's looking to cost me a hefty chunk (though, this was mainly a self-inflicted wound, sadly)
- I have some weird issue that's been causing these blisters to appear on my scalp, chest and back all year that I haven't been able to figure out what the fuck is causing it.
- Prior to getting my new gf, I've been on very, very few dates at all this year
- My gym progress has been utter, utter shit this year.  I had some brief periods where I was kicking ass, but I lost the gains almost immediately, mostly due to school, but also fuckery on my end.
- My very first Vegas trip was mostly shitty
- I missed a good chunk of E3 all 3 days
- My post-finals Christmas relaxation period was off to a shitty start
- Madre came back in the second half

and of course, the worst nay of all:

- THIS FUCKING ELECTION

Gay:

- Nothing to report here, I don't think. The closest is that I hardly got a chance to hang out with a gay friend of mine at all this year.

[PlayDat]

Overall it was very good year for me.

I'm not sure which category to put this in: I no longer speak to someone who I considered my best friend a few years ago.  They weren't treating me right.  The last few times we hung out they sounded more than a little depressed.  I still worry about them occasionally, but I've mostly moved on.

Yay

• Got my bachelor's in May. I think I'm done with academia for good.
• Started my first full time job in August.  As I was thinking about what to post I realized literally no one in my family had achieved this much (career-wise) by the time they were 22.  I'm a lucky guy.
• Managed the little money I've earned so far pretty well.  I overhear coworkers (a lot of recent college grads like me) bemoan their reckless spending on occasion, but so far haven't had that problem myself.
• I discovered that I'm a lot better at attaining new friends and maintaining existing relationships than I gave myself credit for.  I'm also getting better at recognizing when and how to cut ties with trash people.
• Made a website this year and gained a bunch of other technical skills.

I might be able to add one or two new things to that list depending on how the next 2 weeks turn out.

Nay

• There's almost nothing I like about my job.  I had to move 500+ miles when I started and I'll be moving again in the next two months.
• I haven't been to the gym since school ended.  Used to be able to jog to the free one on campus.  Now that I can afford a membership, I can't realistically go since the nearest one is so far from me.
• Fractured a bone (right clavicle) for the first time in my life.
• Haven't been on a date in forever.  If I achieve the career goals I'm aiming for next year then I won't be able to have anything resembling a normal romantic relationship until 2018.
• I've been reading for pleasure more, but still not as much as I desire.

I feel like the world is heading in a bad direction and it's quite depressing. The next few decades are going to be fucked up.  But it was a good year for me despite that.

Yep.  Somehow I took social and economic progress for granted.  The fight never ends.  On the bright side, it's pushed me to become more politically informed and involved.  I even emailed one of my state's electors to vote for Clinton.  I voted 3 out of the 4 years I've legally been eligible.  This year out of the 23 people I voted for, 100% of them either lost or ran unopposed.   

EDIT: My birthday is in the summer so I've actually voted 4/5 times.  I was out of the country for the 2015 election.  I could have done absentee, but I was busy with all sorts of other stuff.

[Atramental]

I'll contribute to this thread after Friday. 

[bork]

Nay:

-My previous job became an absolute nightmare.  Was verbally-harassed and treated like dogshit by the manager I worked with.  Lost sleep over this and suffered emotionally.

-Got out of that manager mess and then watched as things just spiraled downward.  Was told I'd have to switch to a horrific 10 hour day late afternoon/night schedule and all weekend on top of that.  The latter again caused a lack of sleep and major stress.  Tried to step down as a lead and was screamed at by my boss, who previously had told me that if I needed to do that, she understood.

-The stress actually caused health problems.  My stomach hurt.  Had no time to eat properly so I gained back all the weight I lost in 2015.

-Started getting super-tired in the summer and was told this was likely sleep apnea.

-My right side started bothering me.  Found out that my liver had swelled in size.  Had to completely change my diet to avoid major problems.

-Had some outrageous bills and expenses.  Fortunately, I have a savings that covered it all without worry, but it has been one crazy thing after another. 

Yay:

-I got a new job.  A kick-ass awesome job.  Everything about it is 10000 times better than the old one.  My stress levels plunged downward and I could finally RELAX again.

-Said kick-ass job has given me a work schedule where I actually have free time to do shit after work and a regular M-F week.  No more Saturday mess.

-Changing my diet up has stopped my right side from bothering me and I'm losing weight again.  Lost like 15 lbs. already.

-Fatigue issues greatly diminished.  Enough so that I didn't get a sleep apnea mask.

-I got a car.  Lasted a while with only one car for my wife and I, but a second one has helped immensely and also means I get to avoid the shitty, nasty public transportation system. 

-Unsurprisingly, once I stopped riding the train and working at my former shithole, I stopped getting sick so often. 

-Ended up with some nice new toys.  Game systems, PCs, monitor, etc. 

Gay:

-The election.  We got fucked up the ass hard.  No lube.   

---

For me, the first half of the year was absolutely terrible.  Despite having some health problems surface after the much better second half, things got immensely better after I escaped the nightmare that was my previous job.  But I still think that this year overall was terrible and I'm hoping that 2017 will be an improvement. 

That said, I again cannot say how thankful I am for my new job.  I really feel like I truly ESCAPED from a bad situation that affected me mentally and physically.  I'm somewhere where I'm treated like a person and not like a worker-drone thing.

[Brehvolution]

Fucking A Nay and 2017 has the potential to be much worse.

[Human Snorenado]

+ had sexy times with a couple different ladies (not at once, we can't all be puppy)
+ slowly losing weight as I become more physically active (yoga, lots of long walks) and eat better

- have to find a new job
- shelled out over $5k in dental work, with more to come
- told the lady I had feels for that I had feels for her, got the "thanks but" talk (we're still friends because I'm beta as fuck)
- have to watch as civilization unravels over the next four years, all the while reading dumb shit like we need to be more sensitive to racists, misogynists, and xenophobes. NOPE.
- most of my remaining living heroes died (Ali, Bowie, Leonard Cohen)

The nayest of nay years, brehs.

[Steve Contra]

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

I could get into it more but this has been the worst year of my life.  At least my business is doing great.

[tiesto]

Yay:

+Got out of a 3 year toxic relationship and it was much easier to get over the girl than I thought. She was extremely needy, immature, whiney when she wouldn't get her way, low self esteem (fat girl issues), emotionally dependent on food, had serious family issues (brother a heroin addict with a child that he is barred by court from seeing) and would go off on me whenever she was stressed out, complain about silly things I did (like how I don't have a patio set), as well as trying to see how far she can go with pushing my buttons when it comes to my OCD.

+Took a break for the better half of the year from dating. Just rejoined Match, have a few women I'm in communication with, and the first date I've been on went very well and the woman has some serious potential.

+We split into multiple teams at work and I became a team lead and scrum master. Hoping this will reflect in my salary next year...

+Good year for the media I like, some nice tunes and games released.

Nay:

-The orange goblin seeking to undermine all the progress we've made economically, environmentally, and socially.

-My boss, the vision behind our software product, left for a competitor. In his place, we hired a project manager who has no idea wtf she's doing and has the personality of a stick in the mud. And I directly report to another boss (who has been with the company for a while), who is a bit of a tyrant. He never worked any other job aside from this one and is very strict about stuff. I took a sick day last week (more like a "mental health" day) and he called me over and said "I'm gonna be blunt, I think you're lying about being sick." (who the hell says shit like this?) He also says shit like "I don't understand why you guys take walks during lunch. Why not just eat at your desk and work? Don't you love your job?". Also a bit of a bully, which sucks because I'm pretty passive and a really nice person, thus I'm too afraid to tell him to fuck off.

-While dating my ex I was super busy every weekend with new activities and social events. Breaking up with her also coincided with a bunch of changes in my various circles of friends. A friend and former coworker, who was my main link to a large group of people (and usually the one organizing everything), had a baby, and thus I don't see that whole group nearly as much. And 2 close HS friends of mine had a falling out due to one of them marrying a woman the other didn't approve of (the friend actually didn't go to the wedding after being best friends since 11th grade!). The person who didn't go to the wedding was also the primary organizer for that group, so I've seen very few of them since the wedding. And a third friend who I would smoke and game with every 2 weeks had some serious issues at home and has sunk into a depression where he doesn't want to go out at all.

Gay:

-nothing really that gay this year. I did hang out with some cool trans people when users of a game creation program that I'm involved in had a meetup in NYC.

[Samson Manhug]

Nay.

Worst year of my life too. I'm hopeful that means 2017 will be better but I'm getting old enough to realize things could always be worse.

[Reb]

'kay i guess

[king of the internet]

2016 is the year I finally became one with The Void. 🙏

[Oblivion]

- shelled out over $5k in dental work, with more to come

Had to deal with this last year, myself. You have my sympathy, breh. 

[recursivelyenumerable]

it was mostly good for me personally till 11/8 fucked my mind over - i know some ppl probably think that's signaling or whatever but i'm not the most emotionally or cognitively stable person around and these events really do mess up my head.

[pilonv1]

Yay:
Got to go to some Warriors games with my best friend from high school

Nay:
Everything else

[Van Cruncheon]

yay:
  + pretty happy with my job these days
  + rode a lotta motormabikes a lot of places
  + kid has clearly inherited her old man's troll genes

nay:
  + rediscovered murka's essential dull shrieking monkey nature
  + kid has clearly inherited her old man's troll genes

gay:
  + got a tour of sf's bear bar scene by a couple bear friends

[Van Cruncheon]

it was mostly good for me personally till 11/8 fucked my mind over - i know some ppl probably think that's signaling or whatever but i'm not the most emotionally or cognitively stable person around and these events really do mess up my head.

i feel ya, fucked with my head, too. i'm still not through the intellectual thrashing period.

[studyguy]

I'm ready for it to be over fam.

The very worst was my aunt going into remission then cancer coming back so hard that they gave her months, weeks.
She's got 50/50 odds now so it's fucking wild fam, least we got hope now. Just let this year be over. Last thing 2016 tells me on the way out is that we fucked up because this leap year meant we go back a year and we repeat 2016 again or something.

[chronovore]

it was mostly good for me personally till 11/8 fucked my mind over - i know some ppl probably think that's signaling or whatever but i'm not the most emotionally or cognitively stable person around and these events really do mess up my head.

You're not alone! The election seriously fails to make sense on many levels. It has never been more apparent that our democracy doesn't serve the majority of voters, or that the Electoral College system has flaws that do not reflect our current populace. It is stunning and depressing to see just how lazy, vengeful, fearful, and hate-driven our neighbors and family can be. There was no logical scenario which led to a Trump Presidential election, yet here we are.

From the beginning of my life, I assumed everything would logically follow from one thing to another. I felt that logic should be able to answer all the questions about how we proceed from any position to another goal. It turns out human beings are emotional messes and can be duped into voting against their best interests. It turns out we can be selfish and spiteful.

All those vocal protesters who claimed they hoped Trump would win so it would usher in new change faster, well, here's their chance to put their money where their overly-active mouths are. I do think this is an opportunity, but then again every crisis is also one.

[I'm a Puppy!]

Keeping with my belief that your biggest strengths are your biggest weakness.

Yay:
+ Got a promotion at work
+ Report directly  to the CEO
+ In charge of several interesting projects
+ Getting a ton of very cool work experience
+ Threesome (oh yeah)
+ Doing some strength training and getting stronger slowly but surely
+ Rediscovered my love of rock. Classical has always been a staple in my life but for a long time rock wasn't in the picture. Now it's back and here to stay
+ Pallo so close to getting laid
+ Wife and I are way closer today than we've ever been
+ Technology is allowing businesses to do some cool stuff

Nay:
- Didn't get a raise commiserate to the promotion
- Report directly to the CEO
- In charge of several interesting projects (interesting because they're on fire)
- I came to the realization that I now have such highly specialized experience that no one really needs me as an employee. The only companies that need someone that knows the ins and outs of a dozen industries of the top of their head is another consulting firm. I'm starting to get seriously burned out on consulting, but I honestly don't see a way out.
- Doing the strength training because I gained weight
- Sure Pallo is likely getting laid soon but it's been a long slog of cringe (who am I kidding? that's a "Yay")
- While I love being closer to the wife, much of the impetus for that was some health problems she had throughout the year.
- This year has been a financial disaster for me. I've had to take on a lot of debt. Not happy about that.
- Finding out that America is just fine with Racism and Sexism.
- Tech is sorta out of control right now. Most of what businesses are doing now will have to be replaced in 5 years

Gay:
- I wish
- Daughter is still president of the LGBT club. Try to support that as much as I can. I guess that's something.

[Tasty]

+ Rediscovered my love of rock.

[Ichirou]

Yay:

Got a permanent position at my workplace along with a healthy raise.

Nay:

Trump got elected.
Puerto Rico in economic freefall, so I'm worried about my family's future.
Back problems seem to be getting worse each year.

Gay:

Started posting here again.

[I'm a Puppy!]

Puppy, you were ronito on GAF, right? Your posts always gave the impression that you felt rock was beneath you.

Which rock bands have you been getting back into?

thasa me!

Right now
Led Zepplin
Nine Inch Nails
New Order (lots of this)
Radiohead
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Weezer
Beastie Boys
Bjork (lot of this too)
The black keys
Brazilian Girls
Manu Chau
David Byrne
David Bowie (lots of this)
Caravan Palace
Johnny Cash
The Killers
Red Box (only their first album though)
Metric
Twin Atlantic
Ministry
Michael Penn
XTC
Mojo Nixon
Peter Murphy
Pet Shop Boys
Queen

[Tasty]

The Killers

[El Babua]

Yay

Did really well at a training event for my company - fingers crossed it leads to a promotion

Had a lot of cool experiences this year with new people

Radiohead making an amazing album

Meh

Other than the training event, it feels like I'm spinning my wheels where at work

Got some good gains in between periods of low activity for my lifting due to nagging injuries, sickness and just plain lack of motivation

Nay

Trump

All the teams I rooted for this year losing in spectacular fashion - which I feared would be a sign for the above winning - and I was right lol

Edit: Forgot to put I got into a car accident. I'm alright tho.