Well, January 2024 is almost done, so I might as well write a summation of how I recalled 2023. In short, it was a tepid year.

Activism Work⌗

I rolled back a lot of my activism work, mainly because of other committments that were overly pressing, and kept taking up my time. I still try to keep tabs on the happenings, just not activley participating in most of them.

Its one of those things that often happens with activists: Our lives are split between work, home, etc. You can burn yourself out for a few years on end, but it catches up, and the longer you go burning out, the longer recovery takes. Maybe 2025 I’ll get back to it. Except…

Hacking Projects⌗

In December 2023, I finally pulled the ripcord on starting work on tilde.red. Lessons learned from being the custodian for Thunix (A public UNIX system), and some new, and exciting ideas I’ve been percolating for a while are coming together. You can check out my mastodon post for details there.

Also, starting the work to get my ham radio station back on the air, after a few years of silence. I think this is going to be super neat to get back into, personally, as I quite enjoyed hacking on radio for a long time. A close friend of mine are both going to get back at it, and help each other out 😀.

Professional⌗

Some changes at work, nothing major, and things are generally quite there. I’m getting to test the waters of a new team that I’m on, and quite enjoying it. More hiring happening to, to make up for deficits left by folks retiring, which is almost always a good thing. In at least two ways:

Firstly, its fun meeting new people, frankly, and new ideas are always good to add. Secondly, that people can actually retire is good to see. Excited to see people get away from the alarm clocks, packed scheduled, etc. Get to do what life was meant for: Living.

Home Life⌗

Home life has been a bit of a series of large waves. Replaced a basement drain, about to replace some gutters due to the storm, and all the other things that come with home ownership. Adding to this, is all the things that come from living in a multi-generational home, which I love, but its challening to navigate at times.

This past year, I’ve gotten into two accidents, all within December. I’m hopeful this streak of luck doesn’t hold!

However, I finally did get re-rated with the VA, and got a far more appropriate disability rating. Coupled with this, I’ve finally reconciled the fact that I should at least carry a a cane, and that yes, it’s ok for me to get a handicapped parking placard. Yay for aging, I guess 😭

2024?⌗

I’ve got good vibes about 2024. Let’s see if they hold up.