The Year of Change

This is one of those years when everything is going to change. Okay, maybe not everything. I mean, I suppose the sun will continue to rise in the east and all of that. However, a lot is going to change. In my house, anyway. It's like this big shift is going to happen.

1. My oldest is going to turn 18, graduate from high school, and, presumably, go on to some form of higher education. We're still working on what form that will take. There's the issue of the girlfriend that complicates the whole school thing and where he will end up since, of course, what they're trying to do is make sure they end up at the same place or, at least, places that are close together. Probably, though, he will continue to not drive, so that won't change.

2. My younger boy is becoming a teenager! Like next week! And he will be moving on from middle school to high school. Assuming he gets his applications finished. Yeah, applications for high school. Which is not to say that he won't be going to high school if he doesn't finish his applications; he just won't be going to where he wants to go. But he's going to be a teenager NEXT WEEK!

3. My daughter will be becoming a middle schooler. The days of elementary school will be behind us. She's already not looking forward to having to take creative writing from me, because she does not want her dad as a teacher.

And the cat.. well, I'm pretty sure the cat has been going to super villain school and is well on his way to trying to take over the world. I'm not sure when he's taking classes since I'm pretty sure it's not at night. I am sure, though, that keeping people awake all night is going to be his strategy. He's practicing on me.

Of course, none of that really has anything to do with science fiction other than that it makes me feel as if my life has veered into some alternate dimension where I don't have kids anymore. I mean little kids. I'm supposed to have little kids that want to cuddle with me and take naps and be sweet and lovable and stuff and, instead, what I have are these pre-adults that just want to get away from me in the morning without any of their friends seeing them getting enforced hugs. Okay, that's just my daughter. My younger son actually doesn't mind giving hugs to me in front of his friends. And, well, my oldest son wants to do his best to make sure that we never even see his friends. He talks about them, but we have no proof they exist. I'm sure there's something sci-fi in that.

But, okay, what's coming in sci-fi and fantasy in 2014 that I'm looking forward to? That's a good question. In general, there's nothing I'm super excited about. I want to be excited about Guardians of the Galaxy, but I'm worried that this is the one that Marvel is going to screw up. Admittedly, part of why I'm worried is how badly DC handled Green Lantern. Of course, Guardians does have Chris Pratt, which is pretty exciting all by itself. And there's the rest of  the Marvel movies for the year (not all by Marvel, but still): Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Come on Sony, you can do better than that. Everyone else gets a cool subtitle, but you left Spider-Man with just the "2"? I thought we were past those days.

I also want to see Robocop, though I'm not expecting much.

I am the antithesis of looking forward to the next Hobbit movie.

Mostly, though, if I'm going to talk about what I'm looking forward to this year, it is getting back to work on Brother's Keeper. It has been sitting and waiting for far too long. Besides, if I don't, Briane Pagel might disappear me in one of his time travel plots. Of course, then, he would never get to read it. Maybe, I'm safe after all. Maybe, I should never finish it? That would keep me safe forever, right? If I could just persistently dangle it out there at him?
No! This is the year Keeper gets finished, and that's what I'm looking forward to.