Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Year in Review: 2015

It is time for my 2015 year end wrap. I don't go looking for my most popular posts of the year. Instead, I pick my favorite two or three posts for each month to revisit. You can read the 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011 editions if you really want to walk down my memory lane. I probably will, because I find it fascinating to see how my ideas, opinions, and worries have changed over the years. It took a huge amount of self-control not to go read them all myself right now, in fact. I took a peak, and I have to say, my 2011 post about weeding in my garden is still one of my favorites. It also made me miss some of my old commenters. I love my new ones, don't get me wrong! But as my blog evolved away from writing primarily about parenting, and as various people stopped blogging... a lot of people I thought of as online friends disappeared. It isn't that different from real life, I suppose. People change and move on.

Anyway, I suspect most of you don't want quite that much Wandering Scientist nostalgia, so let's just get to this year's posts, shall we?

January opened with me doing some navel-gazing about how getting a PhD helped me evolve into who I am now. This was related to a larger discussion underway about the purpose of the PhD and who should get one, so it is probably not surprising that some people took my post as advice. It was not. I wrote a follow up post about that discussion, and the difficulties of giving actual advice. It wasn't all serious topics here in January, though. I also wrote about my Twitter rules.

In February, I wrote a second part to the "becoming me" post from January. There has, as of yet, been no third part. I wrote about learning to embrace marketing (an ongoing process....) The post has some bonus recommendations for things I've really loved, so go check it out for those, if nothing else. And I wrote about the somewhat depressing realization that my original career path had been derailed by the same things that derail a lot of women's career paths. My sorrow about that is at least somewhat mitigated by the fact that I love what I'm doing now, though.

March saw me meltdown about a dress... but not really. I'm happy to say that all of that uncertainty resolved in the most satisfactory way possible, but boy, that was a stressful time! I was also working on rebuilding my professional confidence (another ongoing process....) And I really like this somewhat fluffy post about bookish things, so I'll include it, too.

In April, I contemplated some mysteries of the universe and also a book about what women can do to keep their career on track despite the drag of bias. And I negotiated a difficult wardrobe problem- a post that also includes a favorite story about Mr. Snarky and Tiffany's.

I didn't post all that much in May, because I spent a week and a half in France, which I think is an excellent excuse. I talked about how I've borrowed the concept of "offering it up" from my more religious relatives. I still find this a useful concept. I also wrote about "worry work" and the possibility of rebalancing how work gets done in your household.

June was a busy month, blog-wise. I wrote what is surely the most trafficked post of the year: about playing a game that is rigged against you. I reviewed Laura Vanderkam's latest book, I Know How She Does It. And I wrote a post that I can summarize any better than I did in the original title: On Saying Stupid Things and Internet Outrage. I have to squeeze in a fourth post, too: the "awards show" version of my trip to France.

In July, I wrote about a parable from the summer camp parking lot. Pumpkin got email, and I got a lot of awesome emoji-filled emails for awhile. I also thought about how maybe I need to stop looking for wisdom from others, and start practicing the wisdom I already have.

August opened with some thoughts about the risks of trying to cram messy life events into a neat narrative. It was release day for Annorlunda Books' first release. (Incidentally, that book and all the other Annorlunda Books titles are on sale right now for just $0.99....) And I talked about the start of a new way to celebrate success.

In September, I wrote about muddling through as a parent and about companies behaving badly and how the big scandals may just be extreme examples of some unhealthy aspects of our culture. And I wrote an extremely lightweight post about the two sides of living in the moment, that I still really like.

I continued the lightweight vein in October, with a cautionary tale about living with someone who does not have allergies. I celebrated another Annorlunda Books release day. And I talked about the "just keep making progress" approach to projects that are so big they feel overwhelming. (Update on the home renovations: we're still making progress.)

November saw me continue to think about the role of marketing in growing my business, and also the final Annorlunda Books release day of the year. I had a beautiful walk on the beach to celebrate it, and came home to find that horror had been unfolding in France. I didn't know what to say about that, but I tried anyway.

In December, I talked about tea storage and problem avoidance and about focusing on the good things, and I wrote about how they have always misunderstood our heroines.

And now... onward to 2016! May it be good to all of us. Thank you for reading, and for commenting when the mood strikes you. I can't believe I'm heading into my ninth year of writing here. It has been great, and has brought so many good things to me. I am not sure if I'd have kept this up so long if I hadn't found a community here. Thank you for being part of that.

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