2011 just did not seem like it was going to be an exciting year for me. The number "2011" just did not seem exciting.  With the Big O in office, things were getting worse and worse already.  As much as I tried on Facebook, I could not change many of leftist friends minds on him.  So I left it to the Big O to speak for himself and boy, did he.  However, did change quite a bit for me in 2011 and despite a lot of the bad things going on, it was still a pretty good year.

2011 started out with more convention stuff than I have done in the past.  Attending SCARAB for a day and a half in Columbia did not make my pregnant wife happy but it still was beneficial for both MACE and ConCarolinas.  I was somewhat disappointed overall with the event but it has potential.  We'll see in a few weeks, when I return and see how their bold move to a 4 day event goes.  mini-mace followed and it was fun.  Biggest mini-mace EVER!  We used two rooms and had over 80 people.  It was a blast!

2011 was also the year I ended my gaming on the weekends.  I announced a hiatus to my Saturday group towards the end of 2010 and as time went on in 2011, I never really got back to it.  I have not officially ended my Saturday gaming but right now, I have too much I need to do at home to try to return to it.  I have gamed on Saturdays at or near UNCC for years - I dare to say since college.  Ending it was not an easy thing.  I am not sure that it's final or officially over, but for right now I am not returning to it.  Especially with certain people joining the group.  The good news is that the group is still being maintained.  The bad news is they have invited people I can't stand to game with.

2011 also marked my return to gaming in the Star Frontiers universe.  Despite ending my Saturday gaming, I still maintain a group on Wednesday night, which has grown and done real well.  Every month or so, I am running a highbred of Star Frontiers with Star Drive, using my new favorite system True20. I am running classic SF adventures in this merged game setting and having a blast with it. If I return to Saturday games, this is what I will run for them.  I also play in a game using Pathfinder rules in the D&D setting of Forgotten Realms.  This marks my first real return to fantasy gaming.

2011 also marked the start of a new tradition that I may or may not continue.  RonCon events.  Yes, I know it seems self centered and I did not intend to be, but they have kid of taken on a life of their own.  For my 42 birthday in March, I decided to run a board game day out of my parents house.   Well, that had about 10 people show up.  This was followed by a Fall version in September, where we had 6 people playing one shots of RPGs.  Both were awesome!

2011 also brought in a new little person to my life - Aubrey Jade McClung - our third and final child. This is by far the BIGGEST event for me in 2011 and can not celebrate it enough.  This has a lot of meanings to me.  It now means that our household will have 3 girls and 3 boys (2 boys after Jordan moves out).  It also means that I can say I am the father of 2 girls and one boy and that will never change.  The McClung clan (at least on my side) is now defined as my two girls and my boy.  It now marks the end of one phase of my life (making babies) and the beginning of a new one (raising children into people).  The fact that Aubrey was born on her mom's birthday really added spice to the whole thing.  She is a wonderful baby and I look forward to seeing her grow up with her two siblings.

Aside from the birth of our daughter, this 2011 was like most others - defined by conventions that I work on.  The biggest change to this schedule was MACE West, the new incarnation of the MACE series of gaming events.  MACE West, held at the end of March in Hickory NC, went VERY well for a first year con.  We had enough to pay the bills and make the hotel happy.  MACE West 2012 was a certainty fairly soon afterwards.  So now I have 3 major conventions scheduled and we are talking about another MACE on the coast.

ConCarolinas went well despite the down economy and it marked the end of my run as an executive for ConCarolinas.  I am still on the board but I am really letting go.  I have spent the latter half of 2011 letting go of much of what I used to do for CC.  I feel like I have handed it off to a capable person who understands what I built.  I think CC will be OK.  So I can say that 2011 was a year of letting go for me as well.

MACE went well also, despite the worsening economy.  I was very relaxed at this one, more relaxed than normal.  We did about the same as the year before and said good by to a hotel we have been at for over 10 years.  MACE will be in Charlotte in 2012 and I really look forward to that.

2011 was also the year of Cam Newton and the Panthers.  After several bad years as a fan, the new revitalized Panthers have given me new energy as a football fan.

Looking at 2011 from a career perspective, I can not say much.  The direction of my department from what I am comfortable with to methodologies I know very little about downright scares me.  But I am at a point in my life now that I have nowhere else to go.  This may be a corner I have written myself into but right now, things are stalemated until things get better.  Until then, Java is the direction they are pushing me and the people they have hired to guide us in that direction make me feel like an idiot.  I have no idea how to do the things they are doing.  But this also could mean opportunity but it's not completely manifesting itself yet.  I am waiting for the knock but only see him down the road right now. I hope 2012 will change all that and for the better.

From a personal and financial perspective, it has been a challenge for me.  With my wife all but completely out of work, I am looking at more and more credit card debt and no progress in bringing that down.  It's the sacrifice that I am willing to make for my kids but it remains a challenge.  We have already refinanced the house to roll up some debt into it, but now it appears we are owe more than the house is worth thanks to bad housing market. So I face quite a bit of money challenges over the next few years.  I take it on the best way I can and hope in the end that we can manage them when Steph starts working again.

2011 was also the year that my daughter gave her life to Christ, and her baptism was on New Years day 2012.  She is growing up so fast, it is hard to believe she was a little baby like Aubrey only 7 years ago.  She is a smart and wonderful girl.  I can't be more proud of her.

Thanks 2011 for an interesting year.  I hope things get better in 2012 for the economy