Alternatively Titled: Of Year’s End and Yawning

14,065 Days Alive

33rd Birthday of Mellon Celebrated

2 Jobs Held This Year

1 Year in Indiana Come the 2nd

What a year 2023 has been. It’s been full of new friends, new places, and new jobs; I’ve met some goals and missed others. Let’s do a not-so-quick review of what this year has brought to me and what I’ve achieved. 

My goals for 2023 were pretty simple and achievable for me: get a new job, survive the year, finish at least one yarny project, read more, and get some new, local friends after my relocation. 

I moved to Indiana just after the New Year of 2023 in the back of Uncle Comic’s transport van, sitting beside Spock as he napped in his carrier. Living with Mellon, Tom, and Dustin has been an adventure in the mostly positive. Sure, there are still dishes in the sink right now, but home is where the heart is. And between Mellon and Spock, this is home. It’s also where the yarn and books are, but that’s material goods and craft supplies. To be fair, half my worldly goods are books and craft supplies, all covered in cat hair. 

I started the year, having said goodbye to the amazing job at Chicago Costume Company, with a new job at the local grocery store. It was an amazing job but not financially feasible to support myself even in a cheaper town. I made friends in the Queerly Dearlies, Ashe, Jenn, and Karen, from the grocery store. I’m so lucky to have friends both near and far. 

By April, I was working at the hospital in medical records. Love this job, even if it comes with its very unique challenges. And I’m talking hurdles I didn’t know I had to jump in a professional environment, never mind from someone with more degrees to their name than I had. But change is on the wind, not just for the New Year, but for me as well.

I’m trying to go back to school to finish my AA in 2024. That’s the biggest goal I have. Going back to school eleven years after last attending is a little intimidating. But if my father, may he rest in peace, could do it in his fifties, I can do it now. I’m only a few credits from getting my degree, and I can do it a bit at a time. I just hate having to wait for further information from the college I was accepted to, Ivy Tech. 

I’m also hoping to get a new job, one that doesn’t have me feeling ill from stress at the end of the day. But maybe that’s just an anxiety problem, not an employment one. I’m supposed to go to therapy on Tuesday after work, at the Center for Positive Change. My biggest concern is affording therapy on a bi-monthly basis with all my other expenses like meds and my car payment. The money stress should get better if I get a better-paying job, one more on par with the cost of living. 

Also! Today is Mellon’s birthday! They say that if their birthday wasn’t the last day of the year, they’d have trouble remembering their birthday. They certainly can’t seem to remember when mine is, but that’s okay. They have about six months to remember before they have to worry about it. 

As for what’s to come, 2024 is going to be a year of gentle change. 

I’m going to try and read even more than the scant thirty-one books I read this year. Maybe even do a hundred. I’m not sure yet, but I have the Always Fully Booked planner to help me keep track of things as I go. I could probably swing two books a week, reading-wise, with my other goals. So maybe a hundred and four books, minimum? I still have my Kindle Unlimited membership and the local library to use, so it shouldn’t be too costly at all. 

I’m also going to try and lose about twenty pounds; get down to about 250 by this time next year. It’s about two and a half pounds a month; so it’s safely doable and is definitely smiled upon by my medical professionals. Up my water intake with the awesome owl cup Chele got me for the holidays while at work and try to eat a little more often than once a day. It won’t happen all in one go. I don’t have that kind of mental and physical stamina yet, but I’ll get there. 

I’m going to aim to write one hundred words every weekday for the year, not counting NaNoWriMo in November. So it will be at least 26,000 words written if I keep to that goal. Again, not counting on whether or not I participate in NaNo this year. That’s most of a novel or several short stories. Even if it ends up being “just” fanfiction or short stories, I want to get words on the page. 

I’m also hoping to have a finished piece by the Leap Day this year, February 29th, and be able to submit something to a publishing company or ten. I’m hoping to end 2024 as a published author of original fiction. It’s something I’ve been wanting for a while, but I struggle with finishing stories. I just don’t prioritize writing often enough. Hence the soft goal of 100 words every weekday. It’ll get words on a page and help me build the Pratchett-like habit of writing daily. A hundred words I could knock out on my phone while on my lunch break at the hospital. So it’s an easily met goal, but one I’m sure I’m going to struggle with anyway. 

Anyway, Mellon and I are going to celebrate like the giant nerds we are and play some video games or something. Maybe some Baldur’s Gate 3 to ring in the new year defeating enemies and working together.

Take your meds, folks!