2023 was expensive, but fun posted

2023 was a strange year. It felt gluttonous and hard to catch up, but it was always gonna be tough to follow the year of free boi summer.

We had lots of good stateside travel, a couple annoying financial issues, and I accidentally bought a Bronco.

We hosted fewer events and I made a conscious decision to only hang with folks who also invite us to things. This turned into spending time with new sets of great people but also seeing old buddies less than I'd hoped.

Travel

We didn't get to leave the country, but did take lots of road trips and I got to see 20 states.

We also did a bit of camping.

House

Man. We had a failing retaining wall replaced and some foundation issues that continue to make me want to burn the place down. While we were tackling the foundation, we also had a giant, dying ash tree removed and expanded the driveway. I don't believe that our foundation issues are actually resolved... and I've lost any drive to maintain or continue to improve my house at this point.

But I did muster up the energy to re-finish the cedar above the garage. I also built a little firewood storage shed to store all the wood from the ash tree.

Work

I'm finally starting to hit my stride after a year at my new job and really enjoy the teammates that I get to build with. Learning literally everything (new languages, infrastructures, tools, domains, teams, etc) has been a lot - and pretty humbling. But I seem to be doing something right because I survived a couple rounds of right-sizing layoffs and got promoted. 💥

Money

I still don't feel caught up after taking 7 months off in 2022 and having tens of thousands in tax mishaps + foundation repair bullshit.

Buying a Bronco and expanding my driveway certainly didn't help either, hahah. Money is so dumb.

Health

I was kind of all over the place physically and mentally. I joined a weekly golf league, which has felt incredible. Spending a few hours outside, walking 9 holes and carrying my bag across a rolling course has been a nice throwback to high school.

I learned that my cholesterol is trending poorly and has reached a level in which my doctor said that i need to make some diet changes... and God, I really, really hate being told what to do like that, hahah. wtf. He also told me that I'm getting fat and that I should stop, which ... I knew.

Going to the doctor during the holidays is maybe not the best time to go, haha. We were very gluttonous and binged on all the food and drinks the last few months of the year. It was honestly disgusting.

Finally, after 3 years off, broomball is back, and holy shit. Running around the ice has really highlighted how out of shape I am. I apparently need regular sporting activities in my life to keep me moving.

Weddings

We got to see one of my long-time internet / soap shoe buddies, Tanner get married in Madison - which came with a surprise pop-punk concert. My cousin Jourdan got married at her parents' home in Connecticut, and we were 2 of 6 people invited to our friends' Trent and Maurizio's courthouse wedding.

Oh! and there was also Red and Rik's 3rd wedding, lol.

Shows

We're finally starting to get back to a decent show cadence post-covid. We got to see:

We also got to watch a Cubs spring training game, Red Sox game, the Beetlejuice musical, and saw plenty of local concerts, DJs, and drag shows.

Oh, and I got a romper!

All-in-all, I think we made the best of the year. I'm hoping for fewer stupid expenses, less gluttony, and more, active travel in 2024. I'm also hoping that this election season doesn't break us all again.

Check out my 2023 stats, map, and highlights!

Tags: Retrospective

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