On The First Quarter of 2025
Well. that was a hard three months. Between losing Clyde so suddenly, and lots of shake-ups and responsibility increases at work, and Brian hitting a bit of a busy season with his job, and keeping up with family and friends, I feel like those first few months of 2025 flew by. We’re still adapting to this new silence in the apartment without Clyde, but that just means Brian and I are spending more time together. Chores have become a two-person job, simply because neither likes being alone in the silence. But that also means we’ve been rather productive. When we’re not reminiscing about good times with Clyde or complaining about work or discussing upcoming plans, we’ve been reading and cleaning and finding new ways to fill the space. The Lego train platform is nearly finished, for now, I’ve read quite a few books, and I’ve started mulling over an idea for a novel - a lot gets done when you quit TikTok and have a lot of big feelings to deal with.
I thought I’d use this opportunity to check in on some of the goals for the year that I made back in January, and possibly add some new ones to the list:
Read 25 books - Very in progress! Since January, I’ve finished 13 books, and I’m about a third of the way through book 14. Should a book review come soon? I’m also very open to recommendations despite my 40+ book long TBR.
Visit one new NHP (bonus points if it’s in a new state) - Not yet, but we’re working on it. I’ve discussed taking some time off around my birthday for something special (it’s my golden birthday this year) so hopefully this one will be accomplished by the end of May!
Re-start learning a language, preferably Spanish - Well. It wasn’t Spanish. I started up on Duolingo and also got Brian to join, which subsequently meant we got a family plan, so there are a handful of friends learning alongside us. I’m re-learning French, while Brian is learning German.
Finish a Legacy game (we have two ongoing right now!) - So close to being complete!! One legacy game has a single round left, and the other has quite a few rounds, but we’ll be finished this one likely before the end of April. Thoughts on the legacy game process coming posthaste.
Get the website to 1000 views - Work in progress, but getting there. We’re up to 124 unique visitors and 221 page views, so that’s not too bad! Not to get into the details of analytics, but I can see why people pull the sympathy card for clout. 32 of those visits came after Clyde passed. Maybe we’ll have to do a Cat-urday picture and story time or something…
Do something for Dad - still very “to be determined” but I’d really like to something meaningful. More than just a donation in his name. Maybe I can see how much those benches cost in OCMD or what it takes to get a plaque on a tree somewhere.
Travel to a new state. This one is ever so slightly different than number 2 on the list, but I’d really love to get to a state that I’ve never been to before. The list isn’t all that long (PA, NJ, DE, MD, VA, NY, CT, MA, FL) but maybe I can add a WV, OH, or something in the New England-ish area.
Write more. I have this idea for a novel. I’ve had a lot of ideas for novels. Maybe I can make that into something.
Take the ATP exam. I’ve been studying and learning and preparing, but I took a break from it all when work got hectic. I need to get back to this.
Anyway. That was a lot. I’ll try to check in again in July and see how we’re doing with all of this, but that being said, I’ll be gearing up for the extended school year starting, so maybe I’ll be a little preoccupied.
-G