2021 was a good year for us here at Primmlife. Between the blog and real life changes, life is pretty good for me and my family. While there have been some lows and some goodbyes, we got to say hello to a new member of our family.
Blog
Lots of reviews this year. Not as much essays as I would have liked, but I’m happy overall with the growth of the blog. Unfortunately due to technical issues which required a wipe and reload of my personal computer, I haven’t set up the python scripts that gather my statistics for the blog. What I can say is that I had a lot more books from publishers this year, and I’m so grateful for that. Publishers have been very generous sharing their books with me and my audience. It’s amazing that I get to write about and read new books. I love writing these reviews, and I hope that I’m helping authors in some small way. Because that’s the main goal. Yes, I love to read books, and I love reading new books. But in order for me to read the books that interest me, authors have to write them, and publishers have to want to sell them. So, if I can help an author sell books and find readers, then I feel successful. And as a bonus, I’ll get more of the books that I like.
Even though I’ve done them in the past, I’m not going to do a best book of the year. If I think about it, books that have been read recently tend to dominate my thinking. Therefore, it’s best not to even do it. I loved every book that made it onto the blog this year and quite a few that didn’t. Books that I didn’t love, did not appear on the blog. Maybe it’s bad to be a reviewer and not have negative reviews. But since I’m not getting paid for my opinion, I’ll review what I want to.
Reviews
2021 was another strong year for publishing. In particular, the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres are experiencing a golden age. There are so many strong, compelling, and just plain fun works coming out of these fields. There are so many books that I want to read and just can’t fit into my schedule. I read between 24 and 42 books per year in physical and ebook form. I don’t keep track of the audiobooks or graphic novels consumed in a year; the number varies depending on podcasts, music, etc. Working from home has really cut into my audiobook listening. Between the loss of the commute and the walk into the building, time where listening is the only option has dwindled. It makes me sad that there’s so many books I won’t enjoy.
Debut and mid-list authors are where I find most of my enjoyable reading. Currently, these authors are killing it. So much exciting work exists in the field today that readers are overwhelmed with excellent choices. Existing authors publishing new series after successfully completing their first, like Dan Koboldt’s Domesticating Dragons and Marina Lostetter’s The Helm of Midnight, will always grab my attention. Plus debut authors, like C.L. Clark’s The Unbroken or Christopher Buehlman’s Blacktongue Thief or J.S. Dewes’s The Last Watch or Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings, pop up to pull my attention away from ongoing series.
I began working with some new publishers this year, and I’m grateful for them taking a risk on a small blog like this. One publisher, Orbit Books, gets a special mention because this year, they’ve offered me so many opportunities and good books to read. I’ve even got a couple physical copies from them. Thank you to Orbit Books and to Angela Man, in particular, for all you’ve done this year.
French
In 2020, Sue and I stopped going on date nights because of the pandemic. We tried replacing it with a variety of activities, but nothing stuck. In late 2020, we decided that date nights could be us learning a language together. We thought we could find some online language classes to attend together. We picked French because Sue had already been learning it on Duolingo. After some research, we found that Alliance Française de St. Louis had online classes, but we were unable to attend until 2021. This year, we began classes with the Alliance, and it has been great. In the past, I’ve tried learning languages four distinct times, three seriously. I failed each time. Once was even French. This time, though, I’m getting it. The difference this time is that I have a partner, Sue, to speak with, and I’ve found a way that makes it fun. I listen to French music, read the lyrics in French, and try to translate. I’ll watch shows, read articles, and do the homework in French as well, but it was listening to the music that made it take off for me.
As I’ve wrote about before, I’m a goal setter. I have long and short term goals for the language. Long term, I’d like to live in France with Sue. Maybe when we retire, we can move there for a couple years. We both would love to travel around the country and see the various regions. Sue’s family and mine have roots deep in the French countryside. Sue’s family comes from the region near Germany’s border. My family comes from the Ypres region, which is now Belgium, but, as best I can tell, the Primm’s emigrated from the region while it was under French control. But who knows. Point is, we both have a historical attachment to the country that would be interesting to explore. Plus, we’d like to explore more of Europe as well, and it would be easier to do that without having to cross the Atlantic.
For my short term goals, I’d like to pass the A1 DELF exam. I had scheduled it for December, but other events got in the way. The DELF is a respected framework for language, and when I pass, it will go on my resume. (Maybe my employer will need a structural engineer in France for some unknown reason.) The DELF has six levels – A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2 – that indicate a progression towards fluency. A1 through B2 can be taken outside of France, but C1 and C2 are only available in France. My medium term goal is to pass the B2. Once that happens, I’ll have to reassess.
Saleen
In 2021, we said goodbye to my precious cat, Saleen. She was 16 and had a very good life. Saleen’s been with me thoughout a lot of tough and wonderful times for me. She was a strange cat that didn’t like anyone but me for a long time. When I first met her, she would sit on my lap, but I couldn’t pet her. If I touched her, she’d run off. Eventually, she began to sit on my lap and accept me petting her. She loved to sit in the window of our house and watch the neighborhood. But we got to be there with her in the end. She was a fantastic cat, and I miss her.
Programming
During the pandemic, I began to learn programming. I’ve always enjoyed noodling around with vba in excel and html. With the extra time at home, I found some resources, like Zenva, for learning how to code. I wanted to pick up python because we use it in some resources at work. I loved it, and at the end of 2020, I signed up for a certificate course that was an introduction to programming through Saint Louis University. I had even contemplated changing careers because I enjoy programming so much. Well, I completed that certificate course this year. The biggest lesson of that certificate course is that I don’t want to switch careers. I really enjoy programming, but as with engineering, a job in programming doesn’t mean I will do a lot of it because there’s other requirements such as documentation, versioning control, security, etc. These important but boring tasks are hard enough in a job that I know I love; so, I don’t think it’s worth the gamble that switching careers would be. Even though I could find a position with my current company, it’d be a drastic change in salary. I’d have to dedicate a lot of time and effort to get proficient to my own standards. While these two things didn’t deter me, another big life change did.
And last but far from least…
Baby Boy
2021 was the year I became a father. After four years of trying, we learned that Sue was pregnant in May. Baby Boy was scheduled to be here in January 2022, but he couldn’t wait. Actually, it wasn’t him. Mom was diagnosed with preeclampsia with severe features. So, for Sue’s health, she wasn’t allowed to go past 34 weeks. Baby Boy was born at 34 weeks and had to stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for a while. Hopefully he’ll be home soon. We’re very lucky in that this time was him being monitored mostly. There’s been no big medical interventions. His heart is good; his lungs needed some help for a week or two, but now he’s on room air, keeping his own temperature, and eating from a bottle. He’s made great strides, put on weight, and is eating well. Hopefully, he’ll be home by the time this article is published.
I’ve spent the month of December in the hospital. Between sitting with my wife and sitting with my son, it’s been a long, difficult month with moments of pure and utter joy. Sue and I are so happy. It’s still quite a bit of shock that it happened for us. But we wouldn’t change anything. He’s perfect. We can’t wait to get him home. He’s got plenty of books waiting for him.
The Year Ahead
Who knows? I have some reviews on tap that I think you’re really gonna like. From the little I’ve seen, next year will be another solid year for publishing. I look forward to getting some reading done. With the newborn coming home, it’ll be interesting to see how my habits change. My goal is to get 24 reviews up on the blog. Two per month is low but doable. Of course, I’ll try to exceed that goal, but until a routine develops with baby, everything is up in the air.
Sue and I will start French classes again later this year. I’m going to sneak up a level to A2, and hopefully this spring, I’ll pass the A1 exam.
I’ll continue to learn programming and to use it personally. But changing careers is off the table. Maybe I can return to it in a decade or so if I want. For now, programming is on the back-back burner. It’s the lowest priority in life.
My family goals are just to get Baby Boy home and adjust. We plan to start going on walks as a family when the weather gets nicer. Sue and I occasionally do this, but we want to make it a familial habit for when my buddy gets older.
2021 was a busy year for us, and we expanded our family. We’re ending it on quite a high. I hope you and yours had a great 2021 and have an even better 2022.