I can't believe another year passed by, but here are some of the things that happened last year, which brought up a lot of changes in my life.
Well, there were many things happening during 2023. A lot of new cycles starting to turn, the end of going to University and taking courses. My internship, writing 100 posts in a year, getting my first proper job, acquiring a Nintendo Switch, there were wins, there were losses, but Iām still here.
Compared to what I wrote last time and in 2021, a lot of things of more substance happened, so there were a little too many things to keep track of, which makes me glad I wrote most of what happened in this website.
Note: I accidentally published this in an incomplete state at some point and I didnāt even realize, sorry for the duplicate RSS entry. On to the rest of the post!
These events are more or less in chronological order, but not necessarily, since some may happen during a span of time.
My last semesters
In January I started the last semester where I was actively taking new courses and going to University, it was quite a weird time where most of my classmates where either done with studies or taking completely different courses to me. Pretty much everyone was unknown to me which wasnāt as great of a time as I had hoped. After that I started my internship which made it even weirder the few times I showed up because I had to do a presentation or something similar. It was not the best of time to be at University after the pandemic, but it was the closest I would get to the old days either way.
Actually finishing games
This year of 2024 Iāve already beat 2 games and its just Januray. Last year I also managed to beat some games that had been in the limbo for many years. Jeanne DāArc and Ys Seven were two games that I wouldnāt have expected to complete after starting them like 4 years ago, but low and behold, it finally happened, and I had a great time with both of them! Very different games but still really fun, if you like Tactics RPGs or Action RPGs, you are in for a treat, great games for the PSP.
Another game I completed later in the year was Metroid Dread, it is actually the first game I have ever fully completed, my playthrough took 12 hours or so, which sounds about right, it was simply a fantastic, really enjoyable game. I am glad to have played it to completion. All these games are fully recommended.
The loss of my Grandmother
I didnāt write about this, but its something that happened almost as quickly as the year started, it was a sudden realization the night my father got that phone call and went outside, I immediatly knew there was something wrong. He came in and simply said āLetās pray, my mother passed awayā. We traveled by the next day, and we met the rest of the family on a house, that no longer had any owner. Despite everything, it was nice to be able to see my cousins and family once again and we had a good time to bond together a bit more. When everyone said their final good bye, our familyās turned arrived, and I couldnāt hold it any longer, we cried together.
After everything was done, things were back to normal pretty much, I still havenāt gone back to that house were an aunt now lives, I donāt know what I would feel but, I think Iāll be alright. Still, I miss my grandma.
Doing my internship
My internship was something that I really took for granted āof course Iāll do them! duh!ā and then I never looked into actually finding where to do so. I ended up working in the recruitment department of quite a big company in my city. The pay was great, and the opportunities were also on the horizon, but the actual work experience was not related to my field at all. Regardless I managed to stay there and do my job well enough, and it ended up paying off, so I canāt complain much at all. And I definitely gained some experience dealing with the human side of things, since I usually prefer to stick with machinesā¦
Buying a Nintendo Switch
The first console Iāve ever paid for, a truly fantastic device that has brought me a lot of joy and new games to finally experience, Breath of The Wild, Metroid Dread, Monster Hunter Rise, tons of indie games and titles still to try, I am really happy I got it.
I have had the change to play with a ton of friends, getting the Online subscription and adding friends and stuff. Getting 3rd party controllers, playing wherever and whenever I may want, getting digital and physical games of all kinds. And the beautiful screen of the OLED screen was such a joy too! Steam Deck at some point maybe? but this is plenty enough for me.
Reading my longest books
I did not read as many jobs as in 2022, but this year I read 3 of the longest books in my life.
One was Xenos, from the Eisenhorn trilogy, which was quite a nice sci-fi space thriller set in the Warhammer 40K Universe (the shortest of the three), then I also read the Mote In Godās Eye, which is a fantastic first contact story, and of course, Project Hail Mary. These three books are in the podium of the longest stuff I read, which was quite a great challenge and a way to prove to myself I may be ready to take on some long high fantasy story at some point.
Getting a job
Getting the job in the way that I did was not something I expected at all, everything seemed to be against me, or at least thatās how it looked in my head. Regardless, everything turned out alright and now I enjoy a job, in a company where I still have room to learn and grow further more. I still need to ask more questions and be more proactive but I really donāt want to mess it up either, I have a good workmate who helps me a lot but I also need to improve by myself and not just take things for granted, it is quite a journey, and I got a long way to go!
A great December at home
As Winter came upon us, I had a job, I had a family, and I had a ton of reasons to celebrate! I actually felt really good about the fact that this year I was able to give my family a ton of stuff. Thanks to living with them and making use of free transportation, I actually get to save quite a bit of my salary, and I was able to get good gifts for everyone in the house. I am aware that material things arenāt nearly as important as the meaning act itself and the meaning behind it. So yeah, giving stuff feels good, and I should keep doing it while it doesnāt really hurt me in any way.
I was seriously really really happy about the time I got to enjoy just a few days of vacation time after getting my job, it somehow felt longer than it was, and we watched a lot of movies together, I played videogames left and right (and bought videogames left and right), and had a great time with family and friends. We didnāt visit other family members or went outside our home, but it was quite a chill time and I am very happy about it.
Finished 100 Days To Offload again
After taking a break in 2022, I decided to try to do the challenge again, and I managed to succeed! I started in January 1st and ended in December 31st, quite a perfect finale in my opinion.
More things
There are always other things that happen in a year, I donāt think I can remember them all but still, hereās a quick list
Read more manga and more book pages, at the very least.
Got myself a new phone (Poco F4) that is pretty cool and has custom roms.
Did my first andācurrentlyāonly Ask Me Anything.
Witnessed how the Fediverse grow larger than ever.
Played more Monster Hunter in online lobbies and had a great time.
Discovered the Warhammer 40K Universe, and want to check more of its lore.
Organized my gaming backlog, to make better use of it in 2024 and forward.
Subscribed to stuff, such as Fosstodonās patreon and YouTube Premium.
Added simple nesting of comment replies to the website.
And many more things. And now I do have some time to finally write my blogpost on my favorite movies and games of the year, so you can wait for that next!
These past few months, the amount of posts in this website reviewing books or videogames and things has risen quite a bit, so I just wrote a bit about that.
