As humanity follows the cyclical dance of our planet around its nearest star, marking the pinnacle of our temporal reckoning, I find myself compelled by tradition to reflect upon the passing solar cycle — a pivotal juncture that beckons us to revisit moments of significance.

January⌗

Dad and I

The year kicked off on a somber note with the loss of my father. After battling bouts of COVID and the onset of what seemed like Alzheimer’s, his passing felt merciful. He’d always been the smartest person I knew, facing his decline would have been too much. He was never far from my thoughts and this year since his passing even more so.

But as he’d say, “Never let the bastards grind you down.” It’s my way of pushing forward 😉

February⌗

February witnessed the transition from my old WordPress site to a statically generated HUGO one. Surprisingly, hackers still mistook it for WordPress.

My plans for MazeFodder stumbled in 2022 and remained unattended this year. However, I did begin sharing games on Itch.io and created scripts for streamlined updates, but I didn’t produce any new games 😞

Goals were set, and… let’s circle back to that later 😬

I proclaimed “The web is dead, long live the Internet,” bidding farewell to centralized platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Dropbox. Exploring Mastodon led me to contemplate a Fediverse version of my site, though I’m still tied to Google for email and guilty of spending too much time on YouTube. It took nearly two decades to dig this hole; climbing out will take a few more.

COVID caught up with me, a new phone was acquired, and books remained unread — perhaps next year 🤔

March⌗

March amounted to a self-proclaimed “nothing burger,” a sentiment that lingered through the year.

Consulting with a cardiologist about correcting my AF through cardioversion ended in a spectacular failure.

I tinkered with my HomeLab setup and accidentally obliterated it several times.

April⌗

I managed a few how-to guides for my HomeLab series:

Movies, games, and as predicted—things slowed down after COVID.

May⌗

Only one post surfaced for the HomeLab series:

The Lull⌗

Then, something shifted. I couldn’t muster the will and vanished for three months, accomplishing nothing.

Nothing was explicitly “wrong” I simply lacked motivation to write, play, or engage. I found myself merely counting days, anticipating something undefined.

Attempting to snap out of it with the customary I’m still here post felt half-hearted. A week later, a tutorial for spritesheets in monoGame 😁…

But the drive was absent. I couldn’t fathom a reason to post.

Discovering React for work in September rekindled my interest in crafting APIs in .NET. Slowly, I started delving into code as I had years ago.

Project ideas surfaced, yet I felt burdened and lethargic. Change was imperative, but its form eluded me.

Turns out the Bastard was me all along.

Then, one afternoon, I realized I couldn’t watch others live the life I aspired to. I pruned my YouTube subscriptions, slashing what was 200 to about 70ish (yes, excessive YouTube watching was no joke…)

In October, I crafted a post on Hosting a .NET Core API on Linux with Hestia, gaining substantial views—this brought joy.

Since then, I’ve been building an app never intended for public display. It’s a project to navigate React site construction.

I’ve been jotting notes for this site and processing Instagram’s takeout data for my timeline reference.

Speaking of, a friend shared a Basic Linux Commands cheat sheet with me. If you know the source, please inform me for proper accreditation.

Looking Ahead⌗

Reflecting on last year’s goal setting:

  • Weight loss: Minimal success, a mere 4lbs (1.8kgs) dropped instead of the desired 25lbs (11.3kgs)—at least, no weight gain!
  • Reading and reviewing books: Started three, barely progressed beyond a few chapters in each.
  • Site posting: Successful initially, but waned in the latter half.
  • YouTube cutback: A year-long endeavor culminated in over half the channels removed, retaining only those relevant to my endeavors and a couple of guilty pleasures (Philip DeFranco & vlogbrothers).

In essence, goal setting leads to self-criticism and spiraling disappointment when deadlines are missed.

So, for the coming year, NO FIXED GOALS. Let’s see where life takes me—could be stellar or a year of leisure.

Well, perhaps just one goal/suggestion: aim to enjoy myself. Oh, that sounds odd—just have fun.

And to you, dear reader, if you’ve journeyed this far, thank you. Here’s hoping you find joy in this upcoming solar cycle too! 😄