Saw a bunch of people doing those, figured hey, it's been a while since I wrote a journal, so here goes.

2024 was... perfectly fine honestly. Nothing super crazy or memorable happened. No major milestone. No big international travel, just a few short trips here and there with the boyfriend, or for work, or to see friends. I'm nearing 5 years at the best job I've ever had, and things are still solid, though the last few months have been taxing. There were some medical scares in the family, but everything has been sorted out at this point.

Overall while I'm still a bit of a mess like we all are, I think that, for most metrics, I "got my shit together" as they would say. Finances are doing great; I got to enjoy my first full year of living rent free, what with the mortgage being paid off in 2023. Been cooking healthy stuff more than usual, and have been slowly resuming my working out. It's still a far cry from when I would bike an hour a day as commute and be at the gym 3 times a week, but it's a start.

Fandom wise, I got to do 5 cons this year, which is starting to become a bit much. Finally got a freakin' ref sheet I'm happy with (after many failed attempts). Got some great commissions this year! You'll get to see them... eventually (more on that below). Got myself a proper lizard outfit too so I can look my best at cons!

Gaming wise, it's been a low-variety year, with a few games monopolizing most of my playtime. Finally took a deep dive into Monster Hunter, mostly World, with a side trip into 3U to experience a bit of the old-school jank. No regret, it's a fantastic series full of tight fights and scaled hotties. I'd always been afraid of jumping in for fear of wasting hundreds of hours obsessively grinding gear. But I instead stuck around for hundreds of hours just cause the fighting is that good on its own.
My other obsession has been Total Warhammer. Never played a Total War, but it's always been on my radar. It's got insane breadth and variety, wrapped in some of the most flavorful fantasy universe there is. It's basically an old school fave of mine, Lords of the Realm II, on steroids. And with scaled hotties. Bok.
A few other highlights of the year include Euro Truck Sim 2, Songs of Conquest, Against the Storm, and finally starting on Satisfactory. And many mindbending puzzle adventures experienced alongside the boyfriend, like Taiji, Animal Well, and currently Void Stranger.

Recaps are nice, but what of this new year? Well, I can think of a few things:

Be more active online As I said before, I'm terminally offline, which isn't ideal in this fandom. I'd much rather grab a beer with friends than hang out in a discord server. But these days I'm not doing either, so I should at least try a little harder at this online thing. If anything, it gives me more people to potentially meet IRL at some point.

Be more intentional about the games I play As someone with a case of OCD completionism (I'm working on this...), starting a new game can be a significant investment. The last thing I need is to jump into a 50 hours game I only kinda mildly like but feeling committed to seeing it through.

Make a second character I've toyed with ideas over the years (minotaur, snake, raptor, shark, demon...) and feel like I should finally sit down and design something nice and fresh. A new, less personal canvas to play with, to try wilder ideas with.

Post my commissions. Like, seriously I got over 60 unposted pics. Not all of them are worthy of the spotlight, but there's plenty of good stuff to share. This lizard needs to show off more!

Well that should cover the most of it. Let the chaos of 2025 begin!