end of the year 2022

hahaha.

Well it's been a while since I've done one of these.

Last year was a bunch of sitting inside and kind of focusing and getting things right. So this year, I decidedto get out and explore a little. In general, it was a yera of opening. My first company opened up the offices, and when I got to my current job, many people were also back in the office.

I probably met more new people this November, than the entirety of last year.

I saw the first of my friends get married. I found a new job. I made new friends in the Bay Area, explored old places in my home and found new things to do. It's been a good year.

The biggest change over last year has to be the travel. I started the year jetting to New York, then rolled around the midwest to see my cousin graduate, went back to New York, then went to Detroit for a wedding. Looking back on this: I'm hoping my midwestern travel time goes down next year — there are many people I love in that region, but the region makes it hard to love them.

Then I went to New York again, meeting online friends for the first time while watching the League of Legends World quarterfinals. And I ended the year by hiking in the Grand Canyon for my friend's birthday.

That's a lot. I think I'm good for next year. We're gonna cut down the travel a bit and settle down, get things in order. The world economy is slowing down so it's probably time to hunker down and chill out a bit.

And while I'm sitting and chilling out at home and around the Bay Area, I think I'll set some goals and reflect on a few more going into the new year:

blogging

So last year I wanted to write 100 blog posts. This year, I think I've written less than 20. The assumption was gonna be that I would write like one or two a week but I started to realize that ... writing was immensely tiring. I felt like I had to do a lot of research and that mental block kind of led me to giving up.

But that was with the security tuesdays newsletter. To be frank, managing two different newsletters while living my life and working full time was pretty tiring. Maybe we'll see a return of security tuesdays in the future. But for now, I think setting a goal of 50 posts next year will be pretty good. I think more than 30 is already reaching Twitter microblogging levels of unhinged, but if it's what gets me writing, I'll take it.

I also want to do a bit more ... focused writing. I want to talk to people in different industries and write about them. Like, talking about what jobs my friends have. Have you ever met an industrial designer? Comms specialist at a school? A wildlife researcher? Doing small interviews like these, I think, would help re-invigorate some journalistic ... something in me. Keep an eye out for that!

photography

Photography will, and has been, a very large part of my life. Over the last year or so film photography has really taken over my life and evolved to be the main photography format I use (as opposed to digital). I really experimented with medium format this year, but mainly stuck with  35mm film.

This next year, it's time to up the ante. Time to do some printing. I'm not sure what to do, I'm considering setting up a darkroom in my bathroom, but the easier option would be going to a local college that still has their darkroom. But ... the cost to set up a darkroom isn't even that expensive. Maybe it's worth it?

The second part of next year's challenge will probably be shooting exclusively black and white (when shooting film). I love the qualities of black and white film, removing the color element of photos makes the image more abstract, and really allows e to focus on lighting and composition. Additionally, developing color film is just a pain in the ass with the C-41 process taking a lot of time (and a sous vide).

career

beep boop keep programming

health

There was a period this year where I was constantly working out. I need to go back to that. I want to go back working out every day (be it morning or night), biking to work twice a week and biking 15+ miles on Saturdays. I'm trying to get back into that groove these days, but as all patterns go, we shall see if it sticks.

in conclusion

It was a good year. Lots of big changes, but the thing I'm happiest about is how I was able to connect with so many friends, new and old. I was able to see a few friends from Purdue these last two weeks, as well as meeting new ones in October and reconnecting with friends from way back over the summer. Here's to meeting more friends this year!!! And to more memories!

if ur not in the gallery sorry lol