My Year in 2023

To get the most important thing stated up-front: 2023 has been a vastly better year than 2022, 2021, or 2020. It was not without its challenges, but all-in-all it has been a good year.

My Year in... Blogging 

I've managed both 120 posts here and 55 on the Imaginarium, so that's good. My expectation is that next year will see much the same here, but will likely see The Imaginarium becoming fallow once the "Isles of Dread" campaign comes to an end.

My Year in... Work

Work has been mostly good this year, but not without its frustrations. There's not much more I can say here, so I'll leave it at that.

My Year in... Health

2023 was mostly a good year, up until October, and then I was suddenly struck down by some sort of nasty cold/flu/Covid type Bug. That basically incapacitated me for most of October and November. Surprise! has likewise had a recurrence of his vomiting bug, and Funsize has had some minor illnesses. All in all, it hasn't been terrible, but the recovery from my illness put a major dampener on that.

My Year in... Gaming

The "Isles of Dread" campaign remains ongoing, though it is now closer to the end than to the beginning. I have now definitively decided that this is the final campaign with this group, which also means it is my final campaign for a good long time, perhaps ever. I remain on the fence regarding the 2024 revision of D&D - if it were published in PDF I would buy it sight-unseen, but I'm really not sure I want another set of thick hardcovers taking up limited shelf space, especially as I'm unlikely ever to play it.

My Year in... Band

Band has been fine, if unspectacular.

My Year in... Resolutions

As always, the wrap-up of annual goals, and setting of goals for next year, are handled in another post. I set a very modest set of goals for the year, so unsurprisingly they have been largely achieved.

My Year in... Travel

We made it away for one overseas trip this year, introducing Surprise! to the joys of France. That was a pleasant holiday, and a good chance to get some Sun. We also enjoyed a short break in York at Easter, which was most notable for Surprise!'s amazed reaction to seeing the Railway Museum. The wee guy loves trains!

Perhaps most of note, LC and I also spent a little time away by ourselves. Which was nice, to say the least - I'd forgotten what a solid night's sleep felt like.

My Year in... Faith

As with many things, this has seen a small but meaningful improvement. This came in two main fronts: I actually managed to spend some time working on the church website, which has therefore alleviated a lot of the guilt I was facing - there's still quite a bit to do, but at least there's some movement.

The other is that in November I was made an elder in the church. Which is a big change, though I'm not yet quite certain of just what I've let myself in for.

My Year in... Love

2023 has mostly been a quiet year, which means that the only thing I really have to mention is the arrival of Lion in our family. She has settled in, and has gradually found her voice over the last several months. Unfortunately, much of that voice consists of her saying "I'm not going for a walk in that!", but never mind.

Otherwise, 2023 has been an in-between year - the children are another year older and another year further on, LC and I marked 11 years married, but 11 doesn't end with a '5' or a '0', so... Which is fine - some years are less momentous than others.

My Year in... Frustrations

For all that this year has been good, there has been one area where I've been trying to tell myself something doesn't matter and that it doesn't bother me. But the truth is that it does, and it does. I'm not going to go into it any further here for... reasons. Probably my biggest frustration here is that this could be quite a simple fix, but those who could make the fix seem absolutely determined not to acknowledge the problem (and, indeed, to insist on the opposite). Which is annoying, because I think it does need resolved, and the alternative resolution isn't the one I would choose.

Oh well.

My Year... Overall

As with last year, I find that my summary doesn't really capture my overall feelings for the year. Unlike last year, that's for a very different reason - I found 2022 to be extremely difficult on a number of fronts, and 2023 has been a vast improvement. It's just that it has been a smallish but noticeable improvement across the board, rather than one or two things that I can point to and say "it's that!". But that's no bad thing, and for the first time in a number of years I can go into the next year with some optimism that things might improve. Which is nice.

And with that, I'll sign off for the year. I hope you all have a very Happy New Year. See you in 2024!