Within the last couple of months, 2016 has widely been considered one of the shittiest years in recent memory, mainly for being a year of (to quote Jim Sterling) "political upheaval, death and tragedy and uncertainty and fear." However, as valid as all of that is (and please don't debate the how and why here), this thread is for posting up the good things that happened in 2016.

Good things that happened in your personal life, good things that happened somewhere, or even just coming across good pieces of entertainment; all are welcome here. This isn't to say that 2016 wasn't a shite year (for many it was, and rightfully so), but more to say that even in a year as terrible as this, good things still happened and you can find good things that make you happy enough to get through the metaphorical stormy weather. With that said, I'll list a couple of things, and maybe post more at a later date. Have fun!

Games:

Destiny - Yes, I finally got into this game after years of hearing about it. And you know what, it's really good. The gameplay is really satisfying, the story's pretty decent (bolstered by a voice cast that features the sexiest voice Dee Bradley Baker has ever mustered), Bounties and Strikes encourage me to come back to the game every day; it's just a very good game. I'd honestly say it's Bungie's best game since the original Halo.

Wolfenstein: The New Order/The Old Blood - I can take or leave the decent gameplay, but my love for these two games has everything to do with the storytelling. I love the conversations between the many characters you come across (including the surprisingly heartbreaking background conversation where a drunken Nazi has an existential crisis about not being able to protect any of his children or descendants from harm). The scene where BJ and Set Roth discuss religious faith and certainty in the face of Nazism contains a line I adore so much that I've taken to using it as a personal mantra whenever I'm feeling down. The facial animations convey so much subtlety that I was often convinced these were real people I was interacting with. God, the people behind these games' stories deserve a big damn medal; everyone of them.

Personal Things:

I started uploading music I composed onto Bandcamp, and have actually made money from it. For the first time in six years of producing creative things, I've actually profited from it. The feeling of seeing that receipt showing how much I've been paid is indescribably amazing.

Attending a Film & TV Production course at a local college, I've produced about four or five short film scripts and have even filmed one of those scripts. I don't think I'm terribly good at what I do (mainly due to being stupidly self-critical of my work), but the fact that I've done that at all is awesome.

(On a side note, I've also come across the soundtrack It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown, and it's surprisingly really good. This song in particular makes things pretty worthwhile.)

When I look back on this year I've actually had quite a positive year. I've made a lot of strides in my personal and work life that have left me a lot happier.

Work wise, I got promoted at the back end of 2015 and my contract was also made permanent this year. That was a massive weight off of my shoulders as I no longer had to worry about extensions or whatever. In addition to this I've taken on more responsibilities at work and continued to develop my skills and self. We also announced our next game this year, something that was very exciting to be a part of and I'm looking forward to seeing how it does when it releases.

Aside from that I continued working on my Evangelion fanfiction and feel like I've improved significantly with that over the last year. I've also managed to make more friends online through this which has been awesome. Also Evangelion related but my cosplaying has also continued to improve with me now adding a male variation of Asuka to my list of cosplays and also experimenting more with better posing and make up for my cosplays.

Generally feel that I've grown quite a lot as a person over the last year.

I sort of lost my love for gaming this year and went though a slump but I would like to thank Stardew Valley for renewing my fun in gaming and would like to tell anyone who has steam to buy it right now because its dirt cheap.

http://stardewvalleywiki.com/Stardew_Valley_Wiki

Well we had a lot of Anniversaries. Pokemons 20th, Star Trek's 50th, Batman's 50th, and dozens more.

The New 52 ended and DC Rebirth is kicking total ass in terms of quality of art and story.

Deadpool was awesome, and Star Wars: Rogue One, easily made this whole friggin' year worth it.

Other than that, I got nothin'.

Having gone part-time in the spring, I've been able to attend more to things that are neither work nor the bare minimum of domestic chores. That included enough time in the garden to do pre-emptive weeding, including suppressing the bindweed as it emerged, as well as time to do more in the kitchen than heat up ready-meals every day, while still leaving time to just kick back and unwind. I even managed to do a tiny bit of side-project coding, which is up on the zero I managed in 2014.

Well, let's see... it was a pretty good year for me overall. Certainly tops the past few years for me

> Got my second master's degree.
> Made some great new friends
> Started to write and post my EVA fanfic (Which is about half done by now)
> Joined evageeks
> Saw some great movies (Star Trek Beyond, Deadpool, Tarzan, Civil War, Doctor Strange, Independance Day: Resurgence, oh and Jason Bourne!)
> Watched a load of anime (too much to list)

So, all in all a great year.

I've been enjoying a fairly peaceful existence with my boyfriend and parrot. Some of the stink of 2014 and '15, like a relationship with Mom that had gotten rather antagonistic, is fading away. I was able to start working again. It didn't quite go as well as I hoped, but I think I learned and grew a substantial amount in that month and a half. I know what things are required (proper orthotic support, therapy for panic attacks, etc.) so I can get up and running once more.

This year has involved moving and starting a totally new career path, which has been ridiculously demanding but also somewhat satisfying to have taken all this bullshit and kept marching forwards regardless. Lots of pushing limits and overcoming personal obstacles sorts of things in general, though I've been an utter slacker again the last couple weeks and damn has it felt good.

Few pleasures greater than well-earned slackerdom!

Retiring when I did was definitely a good move, and life is good in spite of my not yet getting my long-term plans for activity in place (just because we had so much domestic stuff happening). My piano playing is coming back, but frustratingly slowly - which I guess is no big surprise at my age; still, I'm getting enough back to make it worthwhile, and having the time to do it every day helps as well. And in a surprise turnaround, Brexit has caused an appreciable increase in my pension, because of the parts of my pension pot which were invested abroad and the fall in the value of the pound.

Despite the sociopathic internet troll, 2016 has been the best year of my teenaged life so far. This is the year where I finally settled in to a solid boarding school after spending 2 years of hell in a really strict one. I've fully embraced my ambition as a screenwriter/director and am in the process of writing over 4 scripts. I am not finished with any of them, but hey, what do you expect from a lazy teen?

In addition, I have become really good friends with a girl I met in a writing class. I am interested in dating her and there's a chance that it actually may happen.

But most of all, I came across Neon Genesis Evangelion...which not only got me into anime, but saved me from almost killing myself after dealing with depression for 4 years. I'd never seen a show/movie - or piece of fiction for that matter - that had characters this rich and relatable, or had this epic feel.

I got promoted to a new, higher paying position after a couple years of trying. It's still frustrating in its own ways but I'm looking at it as a stepping stone to new job skills and better things.

I endured.

Personally it was a decent year with nothing notably good or bad happening... which made it immeasurably better then 2015.
Work in the winter semester was MUCH more peaceful then in the spring semester.
Got a new boss who is much more kind and easy to talk too.

In regards to Entertainment I watched the entirety of The West Wing early in the year and it became among my favorite shows.
Finally started reading novels again this last month which I haven't since late 2013/early 2014.

BobBQ wrote:I endured.

I like your avatar.

Relationship with gf notably improved, I feel it's maturing and becoming more and more a stable long term thing than the classic teen romance.

Performed in a piano competition, although I didn't win it was still a great experience. Watched some good ass movies and developed myself as a composer further than I had probably expected to.

All right year overall.

All of my colleagues and I lost our jobs when the company went under in July, which obviously sucked a great deal, but since then- I landed a new job in Poland. Started a new, exciting chapter in the life's story etc.

2016 was the year I discovered “The Big Lebowski” and with it- a new favourite film.

chazthesilencer wrote:I landed a new job in Poland.

I'll miss your Location being The You Kay.

Trump won. That's a positive for me. Granted, the sociological impact of his election is far from what I wanted, but things seem to slowly be heading in the right direction, as evidenced by these two things, which I mentioned in another thread but will now actually provide links to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2xv4fba65U&t=7s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuSDfVRGI54

Perhaps freedom of speech the culture of open discourse and the open exchange of ideas can be saved. Ultimately, that's the only consequence of Trump's victory that will have any direct impact on the lives of American citizens, at least for the foreseeable future.

And of course the comments remind me we have a long way to go.

Lets see...

Got a wonderful new car despite the fact I now have a car payment as a result. If my old car's head gasket would not have blown I'd still be driving it, but as the months since have come and gone and with me driving more for work and upcoming planned road-trips, I am very content with how things played out. I love my new car.

Got to travel and meet a bunch of other technicians in the company while doing installs all over the state. Was a lot of fun and I get to continue that this year when I get to go to Alaska, Idaho, Utah, and South Dakota for more of the same.

Made great strides in becoming comfortable with myself as well. Still have a long ways to go but everyday I feel less weight on my shoulders. I think beginning the process of coming out as I did last year was very much the right choice, even though I was nervous as all hell to do it the first time. Still have yet to come out to many, mainly the vast majority my family, including my parents and a few friends. With time I am sure I will come out to them eventually also. Though being Bi it's easy to hide in the shadows but I made it sort of a commitment personally not to do so unless my own personal well being is in danger and I highly doubt that would ever be the case if I came out to the aforementioned people.

Not everything in 2016 was bad for me. While there was plenty of bad that did happened a lot of good things happened also that made it better than what it would seem.