It's still New Year's Eve here in the US as I write this post, but a lot of the world has officially changed their calendars to 2024, and the HIVE clock on UTC has as well. I got a little head start to Hive Power Up Day because I was able to bump my Hive Power stake over the 50,000 mark before the end of 2023 and still have enough to add another 100 for today's monthly event. I owe a huge "thank you" to everyone who has read and upvoted my various posts since I joined this platform to make this possible. So...

THANK YOU!

That's as big as I can make it using the markdown code I know.

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December

I wrote more than has been my usual monthly average this year. Here's a quick list of December's content in reverse chronological order.

Dark Humor & D.I.Y. Gifts: how I made a morbid parody present for a game group birthday gift.

Change, Memory, & Chaos at the Library: a look back at a memory triggered by a recent conversation at work.

Three Laws Away from Utopia: critically examining a common political trope.

A Christmas Mashup: link to a video of Deck the Halls but it's War Pigs.

Cool Creator Spotlight: Mentour Pilot: videos about aircraft and air incidents from the perspective of a commercial pilot.

Boots: Traditional, Military Surplus, and Budget Options: wherein I review three different boots with their pros and cons.

Fixing and Making Things at the Library: a few little glimpses into the life of a librarian with its various ups and downs.

Big Sky Brewing Hazy I.P.A.: An Amateurish Beer Review: reviewing a beer with suggestive photos.

Showing My Receipts: Millennials and the Wider Economy: data supporting my angry rant against smug, condescending baby boomers and their ilk.

Dungeon Masters Offering Dangerous Gifts: a Dungeons & Dragons tip for fellow dungeon masters and how it affected the fame I run at the library.

A Holiday Request to Our Elders: the aforementioned angry rant against smug, condescending baby boomers and their ilk.

Beyond the Supernatural: a review of a tabletop role-playing game from the late 1980s.

Inflation, the Cantillon Effect, and the Wealth Gap: yet another attempt in my quixotic quest to get people to think more deeply about economics than the typical social media post.

A Missed Opportunity: Cowboy Crocs: a link to a humorous review of an objectively silly product.

A Gift-Giving Guide for the Perplexed: ways gift givers might avoid giving bad gifts.

LEGO 31134 Space Shuttle: A LEGO set review, because being serious all the time is not fun, and LEGO is always fun.

Shrinkflation, Store Brands, & Allergens: how reality in the grocery aisle undermines rosy proclamations about the economy, and how food allergies make this problem even worse.

Secret Santa Necklace Conundrum: I gave her the blue one.

How I Made Christmas Gifts for My Co-Workers: I swapped the skull for a winged rose pendant.

Reviewing Two Seasonal Beers and a Can Crusher: What it says on the tin.

If I'm counting right, that's 20 posts in addition to the usual HIVE Power Up Day retrospectives I have been writing. I think it's a reasonably eclectic mix, too.

2023

That covers December, but what about the rest of the year?

November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

Ramblewrite

Well, it's been a year. There have been a lot of challenges. I haven't written about all of them. Honestly, I'm just tired. I feel burned out. Drained. Long overdue for a sabbatical from life in general. I don't have any real plans for 2024. At this point, I feel like 2024 is just something to survive. My work outlook is frankly bleak, family chaos continues, and there is no end to the fight just to find food I can eat without falling into a depressing rut of sameness.

I don't want to make it sound too gloom-and-doom, but things are bad out here in the real world while we all try to show digitally-airbrushed faces online and fake our way to looking happy with our curated self-presentations.

I am taking steps to maintain a healthy balance. I try new recipes now and then. I have added more social activities to my weekly calendar. I have good friends. I am exploring options for changes I may make. But I have no long-term plans to share for 2024 as a result. Everything feels unbalanced. I don't know where I'll go from here. But I'll plan to stick with HIVE regardless, because I think this project is worth supporting.

So have a Happy new Year, whether 2023 was happy or not, and whether 2024 looks better or not. Be ready to make changes. Plan what you can, but be flexible enough to pivot when inevitable change strikes.

HIVE | PeakD | Ecency

If you're not on Hive yet, I invite you to join through PeakD. If you use my referral link, I'll even delegate some Hive Power to help you get started.