It’s hard to believe, but it’s now 2020! And just as I’ve done every year for the past decade, it’s time to take a look back at 2019 with my annual year-in-review post.

Overall, 2019 was a decent year for me, even with its challenging times (the day job, especially!).

Fitness-wise I regressed terribly, due to not making the time to exercise enough, and not getting our treadmill fixed. That’s on my to-do list for 2020 😉 Despite that, I’m still reasonably healthy, albeit with the usual aches and pains of age.

Last year we lost another beloved family pet. Our old cat (15 years) had been kicking around for several years now with poor eyesight, no purr, some strange nerve issues, and at least 3 close brushes with death, one of which we think might have been a stroke. The latter event finally put an end to his outdoor adventures, since he had no further desire to go outside. In his final few weeks he seemed to be more affectionate than usual, right up until his last moments. My wife and son witnessed the end and knew he was gone before they even took him to the vet. He leaves behind a family who will greatly miss him, along with two other cats that occasionally seem to wonder where he went. Hopefully they will stick around for a good many years yet!

I still enjoy my Magic: The Gathering card game hobby, though I haven’t played in any tournaments since last summer when my local game store closed down. That was a tough blow, especially since there are no closer stores that I enjoy visiting. It’s the 2nd store that’s closed since I’ve started playing! I still play online via MTG Arena (on PC), but it’s not quite the same as playing face-to-face. Recently a new game store has opened further afield, started by one of the guys I used to play against in tournaments over the years. I’m hoping to at least be able to attend prerelease events there in the coming year.

My Magic card unboxing / gameplay YouTube channel is still around, surpassing 7000 subscribers in 2019. It has had over 6 million minutes watched since I started it in July 2017, and over 1.2 million views. I still find these numbers staggering! With strong support from patrons (via Patreon) and modest ad revenue, the channel mostly covers its costs. I’m hoping it’ll continue to grow this year, despite the challenging and ever-changing landscape that is YouTube.

My second YouTube channel (started in May 2018) is another unboxing one related to Funko Pop figures. Aside from the unboxings, I also typically add some silly skits (with special effects) in each episode. That channel passed 1.2k subscribers last year, though it still has a long way to go to reach the minimum monetization thresholds. While this channel is a lot of fun, I’ve started to neglect it lately due to lack of time. Thankfully views haven’t dropped to zero yet, so the YouTube algorithm must still be promoting my older videos!

As with 2018, my fiction writing was non-existent. I simply didn’t have the time or motivation to get back into it. The only way that’s likely to change is if I wind down my YouTube channels, along with the ongoing work on my apps. I feel a bit sad about this, since I’ve spent a good many years of my life wanting to be a writer, yet making little progress.

Last year I again took part in the Goodreads Reading Challenge, but ended up miles from my goal. My reading was exclusively in eBook form. Here are my (paltry) reads for 2019:

Fire Water by Domino Finn
Death March by Domino Finn
Shadow Deal by M. L. McKnight

Can you tell I like to read Urban Fantasy?

Now for some stats:
2019 Stats:

My iOS, Mac and PC app sales continue to decline. I only released 3 app updates last year, including one for Bonsai Album PC, and updates for the Lite and paid versions of the iOS version. I’ve been struggling to update my apps since the iPhone X release, since there are now a whole slew of new iPhones and iPads with different screen variations. It didn’t help that my old Mac was no longer supported by the development tools, and I had to scrape together funds for a brand new Mac mini this year. Now that I’ve got the new Mac and have spent a bunch of time on the Bonsai Album iOS updates (released last week), I’m finally in good shape to get to work on updating my remaining apps. If only the screenshot automation tools worked and I didn’t have to manually take several hundred screenshots for each app in multiple languages! Since revenue was way down and expenses were way up (hello new Mac!), 2019 was a bad year for my apps. From past experience, updates unfortunately don’t move the needle on sales either. And people wonder why my apps don’t get updated very frequently these days!

Like 2019, my bonsai hobby pretty much just consists of keeping my remaining trees alive. I’m down to a handful of tropical trees, with the rest having perished due to harsh winters or pests. I didn’t attend any bonsai shows, though we did visit Morton Arboretum several times to see the magnificent Autumn colours.

I spent a fair bit of time in the garden this year, growing the usual selection of veggies (tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans, cucumbers, and zucchini). We had some crop failures, including the peas, beans, and peppers. I suspect that was due to planting them so late. I didn’t bother with potatoes this time around either (too much work). Still, there’s nothing like veggies picked fresh from the garden!

Last year was another good year for travel. In addition to our trips back and forth to Michigan (including one work trip for training), we also went on a great American road trip with my parents! I visited Canada for the first time, driving to Niagara Falls and doing all the touristy stuff there, including visiting the town of Niagara on the Lake and the nearby fort. Back in the US, in Michigan we visited the Motown museum, Ford Piquette Avenue plant, and Frankenmuth. We also spent some time touring Niagara Falls on the US side, Old Fort Niagara, the Amanda Gish B&B in Elizabethtown PA, the chocolate museum in Hershey PA, the Civil War battleground town of Gettysburg, the Historic (and haunted!) 1757 Fairfield Inn, Harpers Ferry WV, George Washington’s estate in Mount Vernon VA, and the Frank Lloyd Wright architectural marvel that is Fallingwater, in rural Pennsylvania.

So that was my 2019. Not half bad! I’m long past setting New Year’s resolutions, but I would like to exercise a great deal more this year, and read a bunch more books than I managed last year.

I hope everyone had a great year, and I wish you all the best for 2020. Happy New Year!

Tags: apps, Bonsai, fiction, Funko Pop, goals, Magic the Gathering, New Year, travel, writing, YouTube