2023 Retrospective
As ominously discussed in this year's Oppenheimer, he warned there was a chance an atomic explosion would create a chain reaction that would not stop until the world burnt down. Less ominously, if the pandemic was the atomic explosion, my life would be the theorized chain reaction; unyielding, never stopping. Fortunately for you however I have no intention of destroying the world!
Reviewing my 2022 Retrospective and seeing how life hasn't slowed down is surprising. When I made the decision to move out of state in late 2021 I had no idea it would snowball into an entire new life. I'm endlessly grateful for everything that has come my way.
The Great Toe Injury of 2023
I started the year strong with an injury! These things are rare for me and I'm weak to body horror, so you can only imagine how much of a baby I was about it. In building a new desk I purchased, I dropped its frame (about 100lbs!) directly on my big toe. Shattered the nail, the toebed, and for a couple days thought I broke my toe. I'll spare you the pictures.
The challenge was we were in a 3 story apartment with no elevator and I couldn't walk! So in lieu of being put on a stretcher and carried down, I decided to tough it out.
Months later we were on a cruise. First day of the cruise my toenail decide now was the time to start coming off. I'm man enough to admit I started having a panic attack looking at it! Sooo I went to the onboard clinic and had them remove it. You will never know the feeling of judgement this doctor gave me. Clearly this was a waste of everyone's time.
Travel
Speaking of cruise, we went on a 5 week long vacation! It started with a 2 week transatlantic cruise from Miami, FL to Barcelona, Spain. From there we spent 2 weeks bouncing around Italy. Rome, Naples, then Sicily. Then another week in London!
I---like many young millennial boys---grew up with the movie Gladiator. Easily this was the start of my love for ancient Rome. It has been a lifelong dream to see the Colosseum and having visited I'm so proud of myself.
That being said, visiting Pompeii was way cooler. Seeing an entire city reasonably preserved is amazing. Seeing the art on the walls and how people lived in that time was wonderful.
Also spent some time in LA! Not sure I have any love for LA. However we went to Universal Studios which was a blast. Even accidentally was there for the launch of Super Nintendo World! An opening is probably the worst time to experience a theme park, but to be there for the launch was still special.
While in LA we also went to the Griffith Observatory. I knew next to nothing about the Observatory (other than it was featured in Grand Theft Auto), but having gone the space nerd in me was so happy.
Moving back to WA
In late 2021 I left WA for warmer pastures. Ultimately the reasoning was that I was deeply unhappy with my life. Some of it was pandemic-related craziness, sure. Most of it was self-inflicted after years of being asleep at the wheel of my own life. Needed a reset desperately.
In 2022 I spent most of the year in Mississippi and eventually moved in with my new girlfriend in San Francisco, CA. Now in 2023 I spent most of the year in CA before we finally decided it was time to go back to WA.
The decision was fueled primarily due to economic factors. CA was endlessly expensive and my girlfriend was having better luck interviewing in WA. SF specifically felt like a prison of our own making at times.
I left WA with a handful of reasons for my move. All of which I spent a lot of time justifying with my friends as I was leaving. Now that I'm back it has been a little difficult with the realization that the majority of my complaints were self-inflicted. WA was never the problem; I was.
Death doula & death meditation
I spent about 8 months on and off meditating on death and doing a variety of death doula training. In 2024 I intend to put some things in motion and bring what I learned into practice!
Silversmithing
I took an introductory class on silversmithing! Will need to do a bigger write up on this on a different page, but I enjoyed it quite a bit! Made a simple ring and will be making more things going in to 2024.