2023 Reflections and 2024 Hopes

2023 was a funky year for me. Not bad, not the best, just kinda "yeah I guess this is alright." The high points were definitely getting Benben working as well as it does, playing through Cyberpunk, and getting approved and on the wait list for an orchie. Getting past my creative block and back into mapping is also a huge win for me. Then there were the not-as-fun parts: finding out I have fibromyalgia, and all the stress I go through at home. It really just averaged out to an average year.

There's a few goals on my mind as I think forward to 2024, but I mainly just want to wait and see how it goes. I do feel positive for 2024, though. Finding balance between my programming and mapping is one thing I definitely need to work on, and I also want to get back into Quake mapping and get better at it. Getting back into music would also be really nice, but if it doesn't happen I wont' push it, as I don't want to do it until I feel ready.

On a more personal level, I think my wife and I are both hoping to expand our polycule this year (well, "polycule" - it's just the two of us right now :-P). Life is definitely better with more love in it. Too bad we're both socially awkward, *especially* when it comes to telling other people we're interested in them 😅 Maybe one of our crushes will come to us first and break the ice.

I'm also hoping my disability claim FINALLY goes through since it would give us a way to live independently again. Maybe the addition of fibromyalgia to my claim will help nudge it over the edge into approval territory - not that it should need the nudging 😒. Every therapist I've seen sine 2013 has been like "oh god yeah, you're definitely not able to work" when evaluating my mental health. Oh well, we'll see.