So 2023 for us has been kind of... well, shit. My partner's freelance art career did not take off the way they were hoping for, in large part because of Elon Musk taking over Twitter and promptly fucking up everything. I didn't get the promotion I was hoping for, much less a simple raise, and my job hunt so far has been unsuccessful. My partner's brother has been having on and off mental health issues, most recently hitting a peak within the past 2 weeks, and has been relying heavily on us to get him through it. Their mom's boyfriend was recently diagnosed with cancer, and while it is one of the more treatable ones it is still fucking cancer and we're waiting to see if it's spread or not. My mom was laid off and then my step-dad's dad died and they had to put money up front to cover cremation costs. I had to spent approximately $11,000 on car repairs and am still paying off my credit card as a result, all of which prevented us from moving this year. Since we didn't move, we are now dealing with the noisiest, most obnoxious neighbors below us that I have ever encountered and it is very quickly driving us insane.
On some more positive notes we have spent more time with friends this year than in a long, long time, including pre-COVID. My partner now has a solid friend group that actually supports them and makes them feel loved. I've been fortunate to keep my job (fully remote no less) through apparent economic struggles for my company despite other coworkers being fired. We had a super fun Taskmaster themed birthday party for my partner, and had an amazing Thanksgiving with friends (since family was all sick) and it turned out to be one of the best we've ever had. I participated in the Secret Santa event on Anime-Planet and actually watched all of the anime I was recommended (a first) and seem to be getting along with several people on the forums there after posting more often. I made several friends through the Discord community I joined (initially an ESO guild but branched out to multiple games and rapidly grew pretty large).
As shitty as the year has been, and depressing as the end of year holidays have been, I am hopeful for 2024. We've found a townhouse that's in our price range once the credit card is paid off. The basement has a washer and dryer and is large enough for us to get rid of our storage unit, and not having neighbors above or below us will eliminate a significant amount of stress for both of us. The kitchen is larger (we love to cook and bake), and there's enough room overall for us to not be forced to have our computers in the living/dining room. Our cat will finally get to experience stairs and I'm sure he'll love all the extra space to zoom around. The credit card will be paid off in February, so we'll likely just eat the loss of breaking our lease so we can move and get away from our neighbors. I'm still on the job hunt and am trying my best to find something before then, which will just make everything easier (but isn't completely necessary either). My partner managed to get Star Seller on Etsy this month, so for the next 3 months their shop will be listed as that and easier to find via the site's search algorithm, which I'm hopeful will help them take off even more. We have a trip planned at the end of February to see Zach Reino and Jess McKenna do live musical improv, and other trips planned for the year to see out of state friends. I'm really really hopeful that 2024 will be fulfilling for us personally and financially.
Some things I'm looking to do on Cohost for the year will be writing/posting more. I managed to read 26 books this year according to Goodreads, some of them graphic novel volumes but still, and am aiming to read more in 2024. I'm going to put effort into writing proper reviews for everything I read and posting them here. On top of that, I've been feeling very inspired lately and am looking to write more often in general. I think I'll start with poetry again as that's always been my go-to, and maybe work my way up to short stories or microfiction, and potentially start on a full novel idea at some point. All of it will go here as I at least feel comfortable on Cohost that the owners/creators won't try to claim ownership of the content I produce. I also feel comfortable here because I've had very few interactions (not that I've been trying super hard to get them) and it helps it feel like I'm screaming into the void, but in a private and comfortable read.
Anyway, nobody is going to read this, much less read this far. If you do, thank you I suppose. For anybody who does read this and everybody who doesn't, happy new year and hopefully an amazing 2024 is in store for all of us.
