There were several times you were like that one relative in the family that you don't want to invite to holiday dinner or other gatherings but you have to because some other member of the family feels that no one should be excluded no matter how much no one wants them around. There were other times though that you weren't bad and some where you were pretty damn cool. For me, it was mostly in the area of movies.

Thanks to The Loft Cinema, I got to see a bunch that I hadn't had the chance to see in an actual theater before like The Last Unicorn, Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, and Army of Darkness. I got to see a couple I had but not for a long, long time like Tron and Disney's Sleeping Beauty. And I got to see Shin Godzilla, the first Japanese Godzilla I got to see in a theater since Godzilla 2000. I also got to see Deadpool and Zootopia with susi - one for the second time around and other other for the first of two times I saw it.

Finding Dory was another film that stood out. Usually when I go see a movie, at some point I'll begin to wonder about lunch or some errand I'll have to do after the movie no matter how good the movie is. Finding Dory was so good beyond that that I was totally lost in the film until the last of the end credits and only then did I think about what else I had to do, which was to turn around to the next showing of Suicide Squad.

Movies were also a big part of my Christmas. I gave my mother a list based on several entries to my wish list, some on there for years, and she got me everything I sent her. I was totally not expecting that second season of Agents of SHIELD and the blu-ray set of Star Trek: The Animated Series seemed like an outside shot. I was also pleased that I got to see The Flight of Dragons for te first time in years and the best copy of it I've seen yet. This gives me hope that eventually I'll get to see that Man from Atlantis set that's been lurking on the list for well over five years now.

While movies were a big thing this year, the area of computers got a big boost just in the last month. Thanks to susi , I was finally able to make use of a new computer he built for me with the help of others. Thanks to all of you who donated to the cause. The wolf also made sure I had the proper connection to go with it. What a difference high speed makes now that I can use it for my things here at home. It sure beats sneaking quick peeks and other furtive forays when no one was looking at work.

I also want to thank dragonsintheattic once again for the awesome gift of ArtRage4. I've been a bit distracted with the folder system here on FA but that's winding down soon and I'll be ready to tackle some much needed shading on the first project I've been working on. At least I've been getting the hang of the program, its shortcuts and finally where to find the tool settings just before I started the folder project. How novel that the tool settings are in the pod marked "settings". And here I thought I read the manual before starting.

I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to 2017 but it will likely have its ups and downs just like any other year. It would be nice if it took things easy on the deaths though. Give that Grim Reaper some paid time off or something.