Best of 2010 - Books, Shows, Games, Life - Okie's recap

Time for my own "best of" lists for 2010.

Because of lapses in memory and just silly oversights, I really don't expect this to be considered totally comprehensive, inclusive or definitive by any means. This post is me looking back at the past year to come up with some of my favorites from the year in terms of people, books, shows, games, events and events. I don't have any TV, music, news, weather, animals, etc because frankly from my perspective and knowledge, I don't have enough to choose from to narrow down to a "best of." If you have other favorite categories from the year, I'd love to see/hear/read them. :)

If you disagree with my lists…great. If you felt like you were part of something that "should" have been my favorite, I apologize for neglecting to mention you…I'm sure you were my favorite but I just left you out so as to not make everybody else feel bad. ;)

Anyway, without further ado, here's my totally random lists.


People

OK…I have to just say that I absolutely love my wife and my family!!! And this year has been even more fabulous in bringing that realization to the forefront. Thank you Lynette for making this another fabulous year and for being so absolutely wonderful in everything you do. You really are my favorite person! And thanks to my kids for making each day a joyful new experience by bringing exciting new perspectives to life.






Books

So my annual goal each year is to read ~1 book/week or ~50 books/year. This year I read and reviewed 44 books. I certainly read more than 50 books if I include the various kids' chapter books and picture books I read, but I had to draw the line somewhere so I didn't include any book less than "middle grader" in reading level (though if a younger book is especially noteworthy, I'll probably mention it in the future). So of the books I read this year, here are the top books that especially resonated with me (with these in no particular order):

• To Kill A Mockingbird (sad it took so long to finally read this)
• The Hunger Games series
• The Graveyard Book
• A Tale of Two Cities
• Foucault's Pendulum
• The Great Divorce

Movies & Shows

I didn't see a ton of movies this year, so trying to trim the list to my favorites was somewhat difficult since I was already fairly picky about what I watched and thus had already eliminated movies I didn't think I'd like. While I didn't see a ton of plays this year, I figured I'd include plays in this list since sometimes I'd rather go to a play than a movie.

Anyway, I really enjoyed (perhaps more than I expected):

• Toy Story 3
• Easy A
• Leap Year
• Inception
• RED
• Despicable Me
• The Drowsy Chaperone (play)

Games

I was able to attend the Utah Board Game convention this year (in a slightly different format) and play some new games there. I didn't play much in terms of new video games per se, but did some playing of older games as well as one new release. So here are my top games and/or gaming sessions:

• The Day of Gaming at the Utah Board Game Convention
• Nuns on the Run
• Playing dozens and dozens of games of Scrabble…err, Lexulous, with Lynette online
• The Starcraft 2 beta (still haven't picked up the final release, but I will)
• Fable 2
• Forbidden Island
• A totally close game of Settlers of Catan where all the players were at ~8-9 points for the last few turns (Karla finally won)
• Playing Pirate's Cove again (thanks Josh for bringing it out)

Experiences


No intro, just a list:

• Graduation from the U of U!
• Family Vacation to Glenwood Springs
• Jason earning his Arrow of Light
• Creating a mystery/puzzle birthday party for neighbors
• The Rick Riordan meet-n-greet
• Christmastime

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So there you have it...the things that to me were most memorable/notable in 2010. What about you? What tops your list of memories for the past year?