Happy New Year! We’ve made yet another revolution around the sun! Amazing stuff. Good job, Earth.
I guess now would be a good time to reflect on 2023 and make some more tangible goals for 2024. Lots of things happened in the past 365 days. I finished my second year of university, played a lot of table tennis in the States, did some summer school, worked a summer job, went to visit my grandpa for the first time in about six years, started my third year of university, and made some progress in my mental health after experiencing Quite The Dip. Here’s a list-form summary of my 2023:
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- JAN: started collecting cute figurines for no reason other than to collect dust and make me mildly content with the cuteness, went on two dates, worked part-time during my second semester, went to Seattle to play table tennis. Overall mood: great time!
- FEB: did lots of table tennis-ing, friend outings, went to San Diego to play table tennis! Overall mood: lots of table tennis fun!
- MAR: watched lots of table tennis and continued practicing, fun sibling time, and Dad’s b-day! Overall mood: great!
- APR: even more table tennis, went to Round Rock, Texas for nationals, experienced true sleep deprivation, outing with Mom, brother’s b-day! Overall mood: happy and ended the school term with ease.
- MAY: summer break started, went on a date, played lots of games with my siblings, sticker collecting with friends, haircut and got a tea-coloured streak, started summer job + two courses, lots of outings with friends and siblings! Overall mood: sweaty but happy.
- JUN: continued summer job and courses, more sibling and friend outings, and my sister’s b-day! Overall mood: still very content… but also started thinking about the possibility of law school (so some self-caused pressure).
- JUL: night market outing with friends, brother took some table tennis lessons for fun, celebrated a friend’s b-day, and an IKEA outing with the family. Overall mood: fun times and bringing in some money (yay)!
- AUG: finishing up my summer courses and job, Pride Parade, more friend outings, visited my grandpa (!!!) with my mom and brother, played mahjong with my grandpa, and did the first donut sale of the season for the table tennis team. Overall mood: lots of feelings after visiting my grandpa (happy, sad, grateful, content, nostalgic, proud).
- SEP: talked a lot on the first day of school in order to advertise the table tennis team and almost lost my voice, ice cream outing with my siblings, got another short haircut, neighbour’s carport roof fell thanks to an Amazon truck, caught a cold, ran table tennis tryouts, went to a concert (!!), and watched movies with my sister. Overall mood: fun fun fun (at the cost of not organizing my school work).
- OCT: Thanksgiving dinner was Great, turned 20, bought a bunny headband for my brother’s Halloween costume and a sheep headband for myself, went to many lectures, held table tennis practices, and went with my sister to take my brother and his friends out trick-or-treating. Overall mood: felt busy but content, feeling a slight downhill in terms of my brain.
- NOV: midterms, went to Oregon for table tennis (by train, which was a new experience), watched my brother play volleyball, more table tennis events, and a close family friend passed away. Overall mood: frustration at self and Select Others, and really struggled with keeping organized and motivated.
- DEC: warm weather for winter (so no snow, only rain or clouds), saw my family doctor and made Christmas lights and tree setting up, went to a funeral, had many deadlines for final papers extended, completed two final exams, Mom’s b-day, made gingerbread houses with my family, Christmas day was very fun and happy. Overall mood: went from very unmotivated and sad –> slightly motivated to finish everything, much more content after school ended and I spent more time with my family.
So I’ve done a lot in 2023. Up next in 2024: finish year three without losing my brain! I have a lot of life planning to do this year as I go into my fourth, and possibly final, year of university. Some big decisions coming up. For now, my New Year’s Resolutions will look like this:
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- Spend up to 2 hours on Social Media a day.
- Read 2 books a term (outside of readings from classes)
- Write one blog post a month!
I also realized that I didn’t write last January! So I have no resolutions to look back on here. I guess surviving the year is already a win for me. Anyway, I hope this year will go by with more memorable and happy events! Until next time 🙂