2013 was generally better than 2012 which was infinitely better than 2011 which was arguably better than 2010. 2013 still wasn't outstandingly good in any way. Have probably reached the age when 'outstandingly good' doesn't happen much anymore- bar unlikely strokes of luck like winning the lottery- and one must be grateful for 'not outstandingly bad'. Spent it reading: must be happy that I *can* still read.

Buddhism however seems to have started to stick, in patches: am a lot less irritable than for most of my life and am learning to deal better with the nipping dog of anxiety. Would still love to be a dynamic effective vibrant person who gets what they want through sheer blind charm, but that's even less likely than winning a million dollars.

December stats

Gibson et al, The Difference Engine
Chodron, Living Beautifully
Iwasaki, Geisha, a Life
Lai, When Fox is a Thousand
Wilce, Flora's Fury
-Flora's Dare
-Flora Segunda
Miyabe, Apparitions
-- concerning which, another Lost In Translation tale. The forward mentions Miyabe's echoing of a famous line from a famous horror story- Podolo by L.P. Hartley. Yes-- what? and who? The author of The Go-between, who also wrote weird tales, one of which is called Podolo. Link takes you to the text of the story. Like The Great God Pan, I fail to discern any there there. As with that one, presumably it reads better in Japanese translation.