Goodbye 2023, Hello 2024
Wow it seems like 2023 just flew on bye! As is tradition let's take a look back, and think a bit about the future.
I (kinda) failed both my goals
At the start of 2023 I had 2 new goals: observe Lent, and do more hiking. Welp... I definitely did not observe Lent, which is sad to have to admit. One thing that made it really hard to try fasting was that I was in the middle of training for a triathlon. I dont think thats a 100 percent valid excuse, but as someone who in general needs to put on calories instead of take in less, it was was easy to convince myself to not skip meals.
Am I going to try to actually do it this year? Maybe... I want to talk to my pastor about it at the very least. I would also need to figure out how to overcome the "fasting while training" problem. I guess I have until February 14 to figure something out!
The other goal was to hike more. My wife and I did go on a weekend hiking trip, but I think there's room in my life for more hiking. While talking with my wife, she brought up how she really enjoyed a time when she went with me to a park and hiked while I trained for my tri's. Bringing the whole family to places I can train while they explore seems like a good way to get more nature in our lives. I think that's the real goal for 2024, more nature.
Ran in 2 Sprint Triathlons, and a 5k.
Trishark Sprint, June 3 2023
| Swim 600 Yards | T1 | Bike 13 Miles | T2 | Run 5k | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:44 | 2:53 | 44:17 | 1:40 | 29:26 | 1:34:41 |
Lake Springfield Sprint, July 29 2023
| Swim 500 Yards | T1 | Bike 12 Miles | T2 | Run 5k | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:48 | 2:16 | 40:13 | 1:40 | 28:18 | 1:29:13 |
ISU Homecoming 5k, October 14 2023
| Total |
|---|
| 26:48 |
participated in 3 Game Jams
- "Messenger Boy" for Ludum Dare 53, postmortem here
- "Sprint" for the GMTK Jam 2023.
- "Astros Ladder" for Ludum Dare 54.
- "Titan Ceremony DX" just for fun. It was a remake of my very first game!
Overall I feel like my quality has continued to go up, which makes me glad I (hopefully) haven't peaked. I'm proud of every game listed here!
Played 18(ish) Games
I don't really set goals for the games I play, but it is interesting to note the increase from 12 games played in 2022. A part of that is because I've been playing smaller and shorter games, a trend I think will continue in 2024.
| Title | maker | Start | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Splatoon 3 Single Player | Nintendo | August 9, 2022 | January 14, 2023 |
| Outer Wilds: Echo of the Eye | Mobius Games | December 12, 2022 | January 22, 2023 |
| Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask | Nintendo | January 28, 2023 | February 16, 2023 |
| Wavetale | Thunderful | February 16, 2023 | March 4, 2023 |
| Metroid Prime: Remastered | Retro Studios | March 12, 2023 | March 26, 2023 |
| the Racheteer (Playdate Season 1) | Shaun Inman, Matthew Grimm, Charlie Davis | March 11, 2023 | April 1, 2023 |
| Zniw Adventure | Azure Mountain | March 15, 2023 | Abandoned |
| Portal | Valve | March 26, 2023 | March 30, 2023 |
| Portal 2 | Valve | March 30, 2023 | April 15, 2023 |
| Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | Nintendo | May 12, 2023 | Still playing... |
| the Order: 1886 | Ready at Dawn | August 1, 2023 | August 22, 2023 |
| Planet of Lana | Wishfully Studios | August 24, 2023 | September 3, 2023 |
| INSIDE | Playdead | September 10, 2023 | September 10, 2023 |
| Kirby and the Amazing Mirror | HAL Laboratory | September 24, 2023 | October 6, 2023 |
| Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories | Square Enix | October 6, 2023 | November 20, 2023 |
| Drill Dozer | Game Freak | November 20, 2023 | December 1, 2023 |
| Goodboy Galaxy | hot_pengu, exelotl, and friends | December 1, 2023 | December 24, 2023 |
| Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap | Nintendo and Capcom | December 24, 2023 | December 31, 2023 |
Read 11(ish) Books
This is up from the previous year's 8 books, which I'm happy about!
| Title | Author | Start | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairy Tale | Stephen King | I forgot... | February 10 2023 |
| Water from a Deep Well | Gerald L. Sittser | February 10, 2023 | July 22, 2023 |
| The Hound of the Baskervilles | Arthur Conan Doyle | March 5, 2023 | March 8, 2023 |
| Around the World in Eighty Days | Jules Verne | March 8, 2023 | March 24, 2023 |
| The Mote in God's Eye | Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle | March 31, 2023 | Abandoned |
| 50 Years of Text Games | Aaron A. Reed | June 15, 2023 | Abandoned |
| Dune | Frank Herbert | July 28, 2023 | November 25, 2023 |
| Hypermedia Systems | Gross, Stepinski, Akşimşek | August 1, 2023 | November 12, 2023 |
| the Hobbit | J. R. R. Tolkien | September 8, 2023 | September 23, 2023 |
| Out of the Silent Planet | C. S. Lewis | December 2, 2023 | December 11, 2023 |
| An Architectural Approach to Level Design | Christopher W. Totten | January 2019 | December 1, 2023 |
What's in store for 2024
The big event is that I'm expecting kid number 2 in June! I expect much of the year to revolve around him (yes, it's another boy).
For my hobbies at least, here's what I'm hoping to accomplish.
- Participate in 3 game james. Both Ludum Dare's, and the GMTK jam.
- Run the TriShark Triathlon, and the Crystal lake Aquathlon. Thankfully the Tri is before the baby is due, which means that I will be able to simply "maintain" my endurance leading up to the Aquathon.
- Read 12 books: thats 1 a month. To accomplish this I plan on turning off screens after 9pm and reading before going to bed. I tried this sort of thing in the past and it worked great. It's funny how good habits can just slip away..
- Play short games: and write about them. I've really enjoyed writing about all the GBA games I've been playing. So expect more posts in that format!
- Renovate my bathroom. This is less a hobby, and more just something that needs to be done. The plan is to do this in February with the help of my Dad. Hopefully I'll gain some new skills, spend some good time with my father, and have a fancy new bathroom.
Again, these "goals" are for hobbies. This to me means they come second to my family.
If I fall short on any of them, but am present to my family, that's the way it should be.