Oh fabulous - I remember you in the Dating thread, good to see its working out. 
2014 was the year I successfully house-hunted with the new fiance, and now we have a rather comfy cosy house together with my daughter. Next year I’d like to create an occupant for our third bedroom, but even if that doesn’t work out, I’m sure life will be fun 
This year saw a lot of changes for me. After several years of dealing with my youngest son’s extensive medical, emotional, and behavioral problems on my own, with little to no success on the last two, he went in April to therapeutic foster care. I had built my whole life on caring for him and taking him to various therapies, specialists, counselors, and court appearances, and I had seriously neglected to take care of myself. I still go to all of his appointments and focus on him a lot, but I’ve also helped myself a lot in the last 6 months. I went to the doctor for the first time in 5 years, had a major surgery that I knew I needed for 5 years, and lost 40 pounds. I have a new perspective on myself, what he needs from me, and how my relationship with him should be. I don’t know yet what 2015 will hold for him, but I know that whatever happens will be healthy and functional for me as well as for him and that I’m important, too.
For 2015, I am going to focus on career goals and obtaining a love life. Getting more healthy, getting back to a size 7 (30 more pounds), and going on vacation, somewhere.
Sincerely sorry to those that lost loved ones this year- I’m thankful that I didn’t lose anyone in 2014.
Same here. I do kind of like hearing that 2014 was a better year for others.
The beginning of 2014 wasn’t so great for me. My dad passed away on Christmas Day 2013, and the first two or three months sucked for various reasons related to that (lots of stress and middle-of-the-night anxiety attacks and hypochondria).
Things got better as the year went on. By summer I finished another novel in my original urban fantasy series, and in August I found out that the game company I freelance for had accepted my novel proposal. I finished writing that and it will be published next year. I also got accepted into the Stanford Online Certificate Program in Novel Writing.
Financially we’re doing decently. Not early-retirement well, but well enough that if one or both of us got laid off tomorrow, we’d be okay for a while. That kind of security is very important to me.
Sold my parents’ house in the summer; that was giving me a lot of stress, which lifted when it sold.
Spouse, cats, and I are all in good health, which is probably the best thing of all.
Sincere condolences to all who’ve lost loved ones or had difficulties in 2014. I hope that next year is much better for you.
Well that’s easier said than done. But even if t’were true, I can hardly blame them for the unreliability. It’s a culture of unreliability these days, because the economy can’t sustain businesses or projects for any predictable length of time. Fortunes can turn on a dime, if that isn’t mixing metaphors.
Robot Arm, I’m so happy for you.
To those with losses, my sympathies.
May 2015 be good for us all.
2014 was a really good year for me – worked steadily, on interesting projects and making decent money, which in #lifeofafreelancer is far from a given. Fingers crossed that that continues.
Also discovered long-form improv, which is amazingly fun and satisfying. Just finished the core curriculum at the place I’m associated with, so need to hook up with an indie team of some sort – a couple of possibilities on the horizon, we’ll see what works out.
My health is good, and I have insurance should that change.
My sympathies to all who have had struggles this year – here’s hoping we all have a great 2015.
2014 started with all the hope in the world and ended in shambles. We moved to a new state so my husband could complete his internship and finally finish his Ph.D, I got a ‘‘dream job’’ and after years of delaying children due to career and financial concerns, we decided now is the time. After 7 years of struggle, this would be our victory lap.
I got pregnant in June, spent the entire time sick, despised my job and finally quit in frustration. A week after I quit my job, in September, we went in for a second ultrasound and learned we lost the baby. Our marriage, which has been damn near perfect for 8 years, started falling apart. I retreated into near-complete social isolation. My former (good) employer has been dragging me along for months about a contract position so we’re effectively losing money while I sit at home depressed and unemployed. My husband also hates his job and is miserable.
I expect 2015 to be full of win. I don’t have a choice because I can’t bear anything else. This year, the external circumstances are irrelevant. I will forge victory with my own hands. I’ve got a body to reclaim (since mine’s gone to shit in the midst of pregnancy and depression) and a marriage to rebuild (things are already on the upswing.) We are moving closer to family (good, healthy family - my Aunt is and always has been my best friend) in July. I really have very few problems in my life that I don’t have the power to address personally.
I fucking love this time of year. I love that we can hit the reset button. I’m hitting it now. Who’s with me?
2014 was not a good year. It was overshadowed by the death of one of my oldest and best friends, totally unexpected. He was kind and strong and active, like a brother to me, and I miss him so terribly.
Had a couple good friends decide they didn’t have time to have me in their lives.
My job continues to be the most stressful thing in my world. Got a new manager and he is a bully and deeply into micro-managing. The thought of going to work puts my stomach in knots.
A couple bouts of depression had me tottering on the brink of suicide. The only thing keeping me hanging on are my dogs.
My fostering English Setters was taken from me because the organization decided my home was too cluttered for the dogs. I can assure you, my house may be cluttered, but the dogs didn’t care. They were loved and fed and taught manners and were HAPPY. I miss being able to help them and make a difference.
Good? I got a new Papillon named Cyrus who has been thru some rough times but is a total sweetheart. He makes me smile.
2015? I can’t really see it changing all that much.
2014 was mostly steady-as-she-goes with the biggest thing being our son’s evaluation for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Even that’s a mixed bag since we were thankful to finally have someone recognize what we suspected (that something wasn’t right) and can move ahead with it. But our jobs are still steady, we continue to have enough to be comfortable if not flush, the bills are largely paid down, the older child is doing well in school and nothing else too major occurred.
We’re optimistic for 2015 as the younger son is starting pre-school on Jan 5th to address his developmental delays and get him on track for kindergarten in a couple years. Everyone seems really upbeat about his chances. As a small silver lining, the schooling is paid for by the district (my tax dollars at work!) and his daycare expenses will go way down so we’ll actually be better financially entering 2015.
Is the preschooler the one diagnosed with ASD? If so, I’m glad he is getting intervention early. This year my son was diagnosed with it (not mild, either), and he was almost 16. An early diagnosis and intervention could have changed everything.
2015 is looking like a reset-button year for me. I’ll graduate from college and turn 40 within a few weeks of each other, if that’s not a good excuse for a fresh start I don’t know what is.
2014 was just kind of meh. I finally broke up for good with my long-time boyfriend, been dealing with an annoying but not serious health issue, and have gotten severely burned out at work. I started dating someone else but as of right now I’m not sure it will last until 2015. I’m looking forward to 2015.
Shitty.
Less shitty.
I am! I don’t expect my job to change, but I like it well enough. And the new year will put distance between me and the loss of my father. Next year’s holidays will be great.
I always have a good year. Just seems to be a knack.
But there may be changes in store in the not-too-distant future. This next April will mark 30 years that the wife has served as a government researcher here in Bangkok, and she’s starting to make retirement noises. In her position, she can retire at full pension if she’s in her 50s and has served 25 years, and she’s met both those qualifications for a few years now. She doesn’t have to retire until age 60 – she still has a few years to reach that, and the longer she stays, the larger her pension. But she’s starting to think maybe 30 years is enough, and we’re starting to kick around retirement options. Probably won’t happen in 2015 or even 2016, but who knows? There could be a name change to Honolulu Harry coming down the road.
EDIT: Good luck to you, Baker. Things can only go up now. And to all of you with less-then-sterling 2014s.
Well, January saw the forced removal of a kidney stone too large to pass, and December brought a diagnosis of early-stage prostate cancer, but the months in between weren’t too bad. Financially and job-wise everything is fine, for the moment. There’s been a bit of family weirdness but it hasn’t really affected my directly
2015 so far looks questionable. If oil prices stay down for an extended period, there could be layoffs coming in my particular niche of petroleum exploration and development, and I will be going through a couple months of radiation treatments starting early in the new year. Perhaps I’ll develop a superpower of some kind.
2014 has been stressful and awesome.
I got back to working on my weight loss and fitness goals after slacking for about a year. That has gone extremely well if you don’t count December.
My husband and I spent close to a month in California in the fall. We combined a trip to Yosemite National Forest for some friends’ wedding (officiated by my husband) with my kidney donation surgery in San Diego. All the planning and preparation made me crazy, but once we were on the plane to go out there, everything was smooth sailing. I got to see mountains, the desert, and the biggest tree in the world. I went in the ocean for the first time (I had seen oceans, but never been in one!). I reconnected with a cousin I only met once or twice as a kid and just got to know on Facebook fairly recently. I got to have the once-in-a-lifetime experience of donating a kidney, which is easier than it sounds, but still makes me feel like a badass.
For 2015, I plan to start the process to adopt a child through foster care. I also think I will be able to get as skinny as I want to within a year and get some muscles.
October 2013 my brother Steven died. New Year’s Eve 2013 I had put my beloved horse, Bob, down due to complications of old age. We had been together 26 years. January 5 2014 my brother Brian died. My sister and I spent most of 2014 getting their estates settled. I had surgery, my sister had surgery, her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
2015 cannot come fast enough for me. I like the idea upthread of burning 2014 calendars.
2014 looked good on paper, but it sucked in real life.
I never had a full-time job, but each job I had improved on the last one. but it still maxed out on me still only making hourly money, and not much at that.
My girlfriend couldn’t find a job, then found one we thought would be great, she ended up hating it, and can’t really find anything else now…all the while being multiple states away from me and we can’t see each other but once every couple of months.
For 2015? I just want to be with her. 
Our leases end in July, and one of us is going where the other is, but I just want to be with her, and finally get a real job and start to live my stupid life.
T-Cups, didn’t you just move down here to Florida for a job? Or did that fall through?
2014 was probably my best year ever. I got to visit my homeland (the UK) again after a nine year absence, and take my wife to Paris for a few days too. My best friend (who spent most of 2012-13 dealing with her mom being in a coma and ultimately passing away) got engaged to a really nice guy after years of dating assholes. They are getting married in two weeks. My sister-in-law, who we long believed was undatable, got serious with a really nice guy who is planning to propose next month. I finished law school, passed the bar exam, and got the job I wanted.