2024.exe
Reflecting Over the Past Year
this is for the 32-bit cafe's new year's 2025 event.
2024 was supposed to be our first year slowing down. my boyfriend and i agreed to cut down our travel, take things slower in the pacific northwest, and establish our roots.
it couldn’t have moved faster.
i became a homeowner. in august, we were officially owners of the house we put an offer in on. the first house we looked at, the first offer we put in on any house. we feel so incredibly fortunate. i feel grateful that we're able to live below our means, to weather through whatever economic shit is coming our way, in the trade-off of being a bit farther away from his friends and the big cities.
i continued in the healthiest relationship i’ve ever been in. i'm deeply in love with someone who genuinely takes care of me, wants to, and makes me feel more beloved than i ever have. he's the most supportive partner. meeting grey has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. :) we're entering our third year together this april.
i actively maintained and fostered my friendships both online and off. our "family reunion," what we call our annual-so-far meetup, was a delightful romp in a cabin near mt. rainier. it was wonderful to have my longtime friends experience the place i live now. despite the distance, i have friends that i care for and care for me, and understand when i need a social break. i'm feeling very socially fulfilled. speaking of...
i felt incredibly fulfilled working on websites, web projects, and encouraging others to participate in their ownership of the web. 2024 was a busy year for the 32-bit cafe: we launched multiple services like a pixelfed server, our discourse forum, a monthly newsletter, and a ko-fi shop with stickers and buttons after so many members wanted to support (which, yes, i did cry about, thank you). this year was the first cohesive, event planner-run events roster, and it ran so smoothly and beautifully! i'm so proud of our community and the people that are involved. it just warms my heart to know that we're helping each other, and folks new to coding, get inspired.
i was officially diagnosed, and treated, for ADHD and OCD. i am now medicated. my symptoms have been up and down since starting medication, but now that i've stuck to a consistent schedule and began treating my ADHD as well as my OCD, things have been on an upward trajectory. my moods have stabilized, thank goodness.
my job was not a good fit. last year was also the first time i’ve taken medical leave after having a post-burnout mental breakdown in october. instead of returning to work today, i tendered my resignation. corporate life is awful.
i didn’t do as much writing this year as i would’ve liked. i’m finding it’s harder for me to creatively write when everything feels like it’s going so well. there’s been bumps, of course, but everything is fixable. that's definitely a new concept to me (not immediately catastrophizing and spiraling!). i plan to pick this back up in 2025, especially as i take my sabbatical from working.
other creative projects ended up okay. i was afraid since we were taking things slower in our lives, posting less and taking less photos/videos when we go out, i thought i wouldn’t be able to do a nice monthly video compilation of moments throughout the year as i've done for the last two. i actually was able to complete that for the third year in a row. pretty nice! i’ll have it up on my website soon.
my website is now to the point of maintenance and updating. there's little new content types that i want to add to my website, although i do have ideas, so 2024 was the year my personal website went into a “maintenance mode” of sorts. i’m finally able to just update the content i’ve already outlined and styled so i can easily keep it up while i do other web projects. it’s definitely never “finished”—personal websites never are—but it feels like i’m managing it now without feeling like i need to refresh the layout four times a year!
my boyfriend and i still traveled quite a bit! despite saying we wanted to slow down (and now i definitely do), we kicked off the year with a road trip through the south, visiting our families and eating amazing food. we went on a christmas cruise to mexico and the dominican republic. i went to idaho for the first time (the land of birth of my best friend) and stayed in a castle.
finally, i lost a matriarch. though my relationship with my family can be a bit distant, my loving grandmother passed away last year. seeing my family in texas was bittersweet—great to catch up but wishing we had been closer. i wish she could’ve met grey, but i suppose she did in her own way.
2024 was a year of change. 2025 will be about making decisions.
today is my 34th birthday. it may feel like just another day, but i’m so grateful for this year around the sun.
thank you, 2024, for the lessons you taught me.