First of all, welcome to the new Mad Dad website! This has been a long time in the making, but it's finally here and it looks pretty great. Also, I made it myself so feel free to stand in awe of my talents.
Secondly, 2018 is here. I've always been the guy to silently judge people when they say things like, "2017 just wasn't my year - next year's going to be better." There is absolutely no difference between December 31st and January 1st other than a change in digits on the calendar.
That said, 2017 kicked my fucking ass. It was so bad. I'm that person I used to judge, but instead of having a bad year, I had a musclebound meth head of a year just kick the shit out of me over and over... and over. It's like every time I went to round a corner, this guy was waiting for me ready to scream, "2017, motherfucker!" before stabbing me with a rusted shiv.
2017 started with a emotionally crippling separation. I lost my house, my kids, my things, my pets. Everything. The locks were changed and any picture with my face in it was taken from the walls and thrown away. Within two weeks, it looked as though I never existed in my children's lives or their home. Theirs. Not mine. My work suffered and I was passed over for promotion. Twice. Despite having worked harder than anyone in my peer group with the data to prove it. To cap it off, I got some mild, but permanent disfigurement courtesy of a jackass deer and jersey barrier. 2017 was a year for therapy bills, way too much alcohol, and a lot of sobbing in a corner wishing I was dead.
Saying it was all bad would be disingenuous, however. I met some wonderful people through this blog, built a sweet ass headboard, and adopted a found kitten. So I got that going for me.
That said, 2018 is going to be better. It has to be. Not because a new year is a clean slate and all that nonsense, but because 2018 literally cannot get any worse and I'm really looking forward to that. I've done a lot of bitching in this post, but I really do believe 2018 will be better. I've come a long way since last year as a person, father, and even a blogger and because of that, I'm starting 2018 with an uncharacteristically high amount of optimism. 2018 is a year for reinvention personally, professionally, and bloggerly.
So fuck off, 2017. You were the fucking worst. I'm ready for 2018 to bring it. Just know that if you want to get all stabby 2018 meth head on me, I bought a meth for Christmas and I will fight the shit out of you. So here's to a year of new connections, more content, a new website, bourbon, broader outreach, videos, more beer, and everything else that makes this blog better than every other parenting blog out there. Maybe I'll even write about parenting for once.