2023
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I posted a year in review for 2022 and wanted to get one of these out for 2023 as well. I'm trying to motivate myself to write more and it helps when there's a specific topic and deadline. I took some time off from my computer so this is when its getting posted.
I also wanted to try something a little different this year. Here's some background music that I think fits the theme of my 2023.
Welcome to Family of 4 - Aska Matsumiya
Personal
2023 was an eventful year. It was the year I became an American citizen. We bought our first car. It is also the year that our second kid F was born. O started preschool.
I was hoping this wouldn't happen, specially so soon with a newborn but we all got COVID for the first time this year. Masking, vaccines, and boosters have helped us not get it this long and I am very thankful for that. We all had different symptoms and were testing negative within the expected time frame. My cough didn't get better until a week after testing negative so I was extremely cautious just in case. We will continue to mask and get updated boosters as they become available as that has kept my family healthy so far.
Code
Work has pretty much remained the same which I appreciate but it has still been busy. I'm excited for some of the tasks we have scheduled for this year as well as potentially working on some additional projects on the side for some of the other teams in the company.
Sparkles has been my main source of posting to my site and it turned one in December. In the past year I have mostly been working on fixing bugs that others have been kind enough to point out. I also quietly released additional post types support for listens and play in December. I haven't used these on my site yet but hope to include these soon.
I have been working on some minor redesigns to this site too but am not happy with the changes just yet. It's mostly some homepage changes as well as header and footer for better navigation.
Lastly, after discussing it at several Homebrew Website Clubs and IndieWebCamp San Diego I started planning my next IndieWeb related project and will hope to start working on it soon.
Movies
There were quite a few movies that came out or were showing in theaters this year that I wanted to see but did not have a chance to actually go see them. In total I saw 6 movies in theaters which is better than last year so theres progress.
I watched 100 movies in 2023 (77 new and 23 rewatched). I did not log every rewatch of The Grinch, Cars, Wall-E, or Ratatouille as we usually watch those when O and for some reason Disney+ does not have a way of checking watch history so I guess the number is technically a little higher.
Here are some of my favorites that I watched this year:
TV
I'm still keeping track of all my watched TV on trakt and surprisingly, other than Schitt's Creek and The Office, most of what I watched this year was not a rewatch.
There was so much good TV but a few stand outs for me are:
- Mrs. Davis: Might not be for everyone but I recommend it.
- The Bear: S02E07 "Forks" was pretty perfect TV.
- The Last of Us: Great adaption of an amazing game.
- Our Flag Means Death: I want to watch this show forever.
- Reservation Dogs: Sad its over. It really was a special show.
Music
I wish I had something interesting to say here. I did not really have much of a chance to listen to any new (or new to me) music this year. 3 year old pretty much drive the music decision and O has pretty much consistently been listening to The Beatles, Queen, and Ray Charles. Current favorites are "I am the Walrus", "Under Pressure", and "Hit the Road Jack".
I was hoping Sybris' new album Gold on Hold was going to be released in 2023 but based on their first single, that might be a 2024 entry for me.
Please send me playlists. I need to do better about listening to music.
Read
Ever since I added book posts to sparkles, it has been so much easier to keep track of what I have been reading. That plus a newborn and audiobooks have helped me read a lot more this year. This might not make sense but trust me when you're bouncing a baby for 30 minutes to try to get them to sleep, you get through some books.
I have been slacking on my comic books this year but I have some things already queued up that I'm excited to start.
Games
I played a few games this year but didn't finish most of them. I get too distracted with non main quest stuff.
