I haven't made a new blog post in about a month and a half, but I returned to my neocities dashboard to write an end of the year retrospective, because this is my first year having a website, and I'm not gonna miss out on the chance for this kinda blog post.
Looking back seriously, it's a little hard to say this year was all good or all bad. I definitely had some good parts. Went to some good FGC majors this year.
- MAX MODE in Atlanta
- Combo Breaker in Chicago Schramburg, IL
- Climax of Night 6 in Atlanta again
Combo Breakere was a little touch and go at first, but it ended up being one of the best weekends of my life. I'm crying again thinking about what a great time I had meeting so many of the nice internet weirdos that have made my life better for the past 3 or 4 years IRL. OF course I was still suffering from Tendonitis that weekend
I would continue to suffer Tendonitis for another month or two, until I discovered the scientific marvel known as Devil's claw that knocked that shit out almost instantly
After another month or two of taking it of course.
.
That being said, all of that happened while a consequential presidential campaign was going on, While innocent Gazans were being murdered while I was powerless to do nothing but like and comment on Instagram videos while throwing 5 bucks to gofundme campaigns every so often. While the housing market in my hometown of Atlanta is still out of control and a Cop City still appears to be on the horizon.
And then there's work, and then there's home. I've felt so powerless and worthless in the waning months of 2024. Like so much of the misery in this world is a prerecorded film i have no way to change. No matter how well I react to the various QTEs thrown my way.
But ummmm...... There's still more good than bad I think. Me and alot of online friends got into blogging and shit after Cohost shut down and went into read-only mode. And that was a big step for me and alot of other folks. Cohost has a mixed legacy depending on who you ask. It was promising, but felt short in alot of ways.
Most of those ways were whiteness
Despite cohost's shortcomings, it really showed alot of folks there's more ways to enjoy the internet, and has helped people realize what they want from their time online more precisely.
I've also been learning more Japanese, and feeling more confident with the language. I've not been the most consistent with my practice, but I do feel this is the best I've understood the language and how it works in all of my 10 years of learning. This could've been a separate blogpost, but the things I'm having trouble with are a mark of how far I've progressed. I can still wrtie that blog someday I think
I have made more time for my hobbies, I've made more time for friends, and more time to connect with my coworkers for something bigger and better for all of us. I can't really wrap up the eyar in saying it's all good or all bad. That's something maybe for content creators and for platforms like Spotify to bump up engagement while they steal from the artists that make them.
Perhaps that's the lesson in all of this. Life is becoming more complicated and summarizing it all as good or bad isn't a useful exercise, but taking stock to remember the good times is something good. If the exercise of doing a good or bad year end round up is what got me there.... As we say in the FGC "we take those".
I think the more important way to close this blogpost is to think about the future. Things are gonna get hard again. A lot of vulnerable people are gonna get hurt, but there's still things to be done. I still can make a difference in my city and the country. The little changes here and there make a difference. I hope to keep that in the front of my mind in the coming year. Alot of what I do is gonna feel hopeless and futile. However, we still can make changes. I'm not one for fatalism. despite how powerless I've felt, I know that's not the truth. Remembering that will be the key to making next year
and the three after
a great one.