I keep thinking I didn’t do very much in 2011. It was an exhausting year, though. The earthquakes and tsunami in Japan hit everyone hard, and I helped put together the We Heart Japan charity group, which has held several successful fundraiser events. Our biggest one was an art show and signing less than a week after the quake, which raised $14k. I took a lot of pictures, too. I was at San Diego ComiCon (of course), but spent one night shooting every single DC artist and writer who came to the big DC Comics party. I also shot Wondercon (my first!), Comikaze Expo, New York ComiCon, and the Cowboys vs Aliens red carpet premiere. I also made a comic book about Substandard.  I ate the sweetest thing ever. I met and took pics of my favorite people from Doctor Who, Warehouse 13, Adventure Time, as well as George RR Martin. I won the October 2011 Deviousness Award at deviantART. I also won first place in the fake beard category of the DefCon Beard and Moustache Competition. We’ve been running the Pizzabagel room at turntable.fm for months, and there are usually people there on weekdays. I didn’t do a lot of food projects, but I made some intricate tiger cupcakes. NinjaPenguin was really fun, and we built an igloo filled with penguins. I also did a bunch of live art this year, and made my first acrylic charm on my newly launched etsy store. I also messed with shopify a bunch, designed some iPad and Facebook apps, and got a lot of freelance work. Also designed the Scavenger Hunt and Toorcon shirts. Threw TommEE a crazy 40th bday party in Vegas during CES. Flew to NY a couple times and got to know some of the NBC folks better. Went to Ava and Conor’s incredibly fun wedding and explored Japantown and a train tunnel. Played in Christmas snow in Wyoming.

There was also a lot of sadness this year, as people I know went through some difficult health challenges. I have spent far more time in hospitals this year visiting people than I’d like. Seeing the entire hacker community rally together to sign up to donate bone marrow was amazing beyond belief.

And 2012.. NinjaPenguin will be in Africa. In May. It’s time to explore the world again.

(also… I really really love my friends.)