Howdy, people! How’s everyone doing? Good? I sure hope so.
Wouldn’t you believe it, it’s freaking 2023! Crazy, right?
I feel like I’ve said it in each of my last few monthly blog updates, but for real, December, and by extension 2022 as a whole, kind of flew on by. It feels like only yesterday I was hopping to a different concert each weekend in April, or spending Fourth of July weekend out east with my family, or having pretty much the best Spooky Month of my life (minus the cancellation of When We Were Young Fest on Saturday—no, I’m still not over it).
The December Recap
Well, given we just wrapped up December, I figure that’s a good place to properly start this update, because the past month alone had loads going on. Most notably, Christmas and New Year’s! While I got to spend Christmas Eve with some of my family, Christmas day plans got sidetracked since someone in the family got COVID. Which did indeed suck, but, in turn, I got to see The Whale with my mom, which was absolutely phenomenal. The film serves as a strong character study backed by sensational performances all around. It plays with perhaps one too many ideas to the point that some of the focus gets a little muddled, but all around, it’s well worth at least one viewing, and it was certainly one of the best films to come out of the year.
For New Year’s weekend, I was upstate with my entire friend group, thus marking, I believe, the first time ever that we’ve all actually been able to hang out together. Because when you’re a group full of young adults of various age and proclivities, your schedules don’t tend to gel together naturally, so getting together on a regular basis becomes something of a challenge. But, in any case, it was a blast anyway, filled with laughter, booze, and a whole lot of ungodly snoring (you know who you are).
If there was any other event to top everything else that went down in December, it was the World Cup. And sheesh, what a Cup it was. I completely forgot to bring it up in my November update blog, but hey, I’m getting to it now, because holy shit, it was fantastic all around. So many entertaining games brimming with thrills and drama, none more so than the final game between Argentina and France. Nice to know we can (probably) put the argument to rest about Messi being the true goat. Although, I will say, I’m still not entirely sure if I’m more pleased because Argentina won or because France lost. Fuck France.
Although, I will say, I’m surprised there’s not more chatter going around about the whole thing being rigged for Messi and Argentina. I saw it circulate quite a bit during the semi-final, but after the final, pretty much nothing. Unless I missed something. But if anything, I would’ve expected it to be rigged in France’s favor, given they were the defending champs. And, let’s be honest, if anyone was going to buy the title, I feel like it would be them. Hell, the president of France was getting cozy with a lot of the royalty in Qatar for the whole match. I feel like that’s got to mean something.
Eh, maybe I’m just blowing steam out of my ass. This is why I try not to focus on a lot of that stuff and just watch and enjoy the game instead. I had fun watching the final. Messi and Argentina won. At the end of the day, I was a happy man.
Other than the obvious big notes of December, I came very close to finishing “Soul Survivor.” I mentioned it should have been finished by the end of December in my last update, but with other work popping up and life just getting a little crazy during the holidays, it got pushed back a bit. I mean, it really is done, more or less, but I need to make a few small, final edits, and then it’ll be good to go. Ain’t no way it isn’t finished by the end of January, though, that’s for sure.
And speaking of finishing things, I’m also setting myself a deadline for “Vial,” aka the next Blood Sisters story. I’ve been sitting on it for a while now, but I really want to deliver it for you all to read as soon as possible, so I’m basically giving myself until the end of February to get it done. As with the previous Blood Sister stories, I’m not too worried about perfection with this one, as it’s more of an exercise in creativity and villain writing for me. Still, I imagine it’ll go through a round or two of careful editing prior to me uploading it. In any case, stay tuned for that one sometime in either February or March!
So yeah, December was fairly chill, all things considered. Literally. It got unnecessarily cold in the middle of the month, there. Thankfully, though, I managed to not let it dour my mood all that much. It’s no surprise that December, and the rest of winter, by extension, tend to get a bit glum, what with being inside more often and the outside world looking less pleasing to the eye. Still, I’m thankful I was able to keep positive. I think it helped that I had lots to enjoy and good company pretty much all around. Which, I know isn’t a guarantee for everyone, so for whatever it’s worth, I hope everyone else was able to have a happy and healthy holiday season.
Best of 2022
Okay, now, with all of the proper update stuff out of the way, I think it’s time for some obligatory “Best of 2022” items now. Just because. I don’t really have a specific list in mind. I’m making these up as I’m writing this.
Favorite Book
First one is a given. When I think about it, I actually got through quite a few books this year, most of which were some outstanding comics, and a handful novels. If I were to pick one of each, my favorite novel for the year would definitely be World War Z, while my favorite comic would be East of West. Fantastic storytelling and worldbuilding in both books, and each are accompanied by an impeccable atmosphere and rich characters.
Favorite Album
Next up, also kind of a given for me: Favorite album. There were a lot of great tunes to listen to this year, with no shortage of stellar albums from many of my favorite artists. And yet, despite that, my album of the year is one I never even mentioned on my blog. In hindsight, I don’t know why I didn’t write a post for it, but Scoring the End of the World by Motionless in White has my vote, without a doubt. This is easily a contender as the band’s best album, as it perfectly blends everything they’ve mastered on previous albums and delivers a plethora of graceful yet heavy instrumentals and vocals.
A close, close runner up, however, would absolutely be the soundtrack to The Batman, from composer Michael Giacchino. Literally spotless.
Favorite Song
As a follow up to that last one, I’m going to also go with: Favorite song. Because while the Motionless album definitely stole the spotlight for me, none of those songs come close to touching either “Sol Absentia” or “Nigh to Silence” by ERRA for me. My favorite song is tied between these two, because they’re both utterly perfect, but they hit hard for me for different reasons. The former is a soaring symphony of energy, while the latter is a somber, melancholier tune with a really kickass breakdown.
Favorite Movie
Dial it back to the aforementioned The Batman. I think this one goes without saying. Just read my blog about the movie if you haven’t already, and things should become quite obvious.
Favorite Video Game
Another big one for me. I didn’t really play too many new video games this year, but of course, I played God of War Ragnarök, and that quite obviously stole the show in my book. The Game Awards say Elden Ring was Game of the Year, which I suppose is fair, given the grand scale of the game and the immense effort it took to make it, but as someone who has grown more interested in story driven gaming, Ragnarök stands fairly uncontested. Still, from what I understand, it was a good year for gaming, overall, so I hope everyone else had something fun to play.
Farewell 2022
Well, those are all my “Best Of” items off the top of my head, and I’ve basically covered all the proper updates for December. So, I guess there’s nothing left but to just say goodbye to the year of 2022.
It really was a solid year. For me, at least. Aside from having loads of fun every month, I think I made some great progress over the course of the year, both professionally and personally. I began writing this blog in March, I started a new job at the end of May, I made tons of progress on my many personal writing projects, I made some new friends, and I’ve just generally been feeling more… up. It definitely wasn’t all smooth sailing, especially at the start of the year, but I’m truly grateful for where I landed at the end of it all.
And now, we look forward to 2023. I’m already lining up concerts and conventions to go to, and I’m eager to accomplish a handful of writing goals this year. Above all, I’m saying it right now: this is the year I get my first professional publication. By the standards of the publishing industry, I’m technically already published, having dropped stuff here on my site. But I’m aiming to nail my first proper publication in a literary magazine in 2023. And from there, we keep pressing onward. As always.
So, farewell 2022, and hello 2023. Let’s see what you got.
