2023 in Review

Summary of 2023: I mostly took photos of our cat because Zoe is of the age where I want to respect her privacy and she mostly just hangs out on her bed with her headphones in and then comes out of her bedroom and says there’s no food in the house and then eats an entire bag of dried mango.

January

After extensive allergy testing (we had to drive to Berkeley!), we rescued a cat. The cat seemed very sweet when we first met and not at all super weird.

We quickly learned that she’s not a pick-up-and-hold cat, or a cut-her-nails cat, or even a lap cat, but she is a chases scraps of paper, give lots of love bites, meows a lot, likes to be brushed, and loves to sleep under my covers cat. So, like, a normal cat.

She doesn’t seem to like anyone except me, and then not even that much, so I think we really understand each other.

We had an indulgent meal at Burma Superstar.

The only thing I don’t like about my dear friend Ambrosia is that her birthday is so close to the Christmas holidays.

February

I don’t know why it looks like Zoe brought a pillow to the dog park. The sunset looked awesome though.

I went through a flashlight phase.

March

Zoe turned 13.

I walked to get coffee with Zoe a bunch.

April

We went to the big city to see Sabrina Carpenter. I felt at home with all the other parents who accompanied their teenage children to the show. (We went to Taco Bell on the way home.)

I turned 50, which pretty cool because I can now say “…as a 50 year old man [some bullshit about why I don’t want to do something or go somewhere]…” I did say “yes” to Ambrosia taking me to a magic show in the city.

May

I took TPK’s “Gorgeous Botanical Letter Tutorial”.

I found out that I really like listening to “Bad to the Bone” while playing pool with my friend Dani.

We found DORITOS® MINIS, which isn’t that big of a deal, but they were really cute.

Zoe thrilled the audience in the school’s production of Mulan.

July

I confronted some personal fears and took myself and Zoe on a roadtrip to Sea Ranch.

• The place we rented was way too big for two people.
• As a result of worrying we’d get murdered in our secluded cabin, I slept very poorly.
• It was a 10 minute drive to get to anything.
• I don’t know if I’m a secluded vacation spot person. It was a little lonely, though we did play games, eat pizza, make chocolate covered strawberries, and go to little shops in little towns.

We visited a lighthouse of some historical significance.

We did take a long walk on the beach.

August

I wanted to see some places I’ve never been, starting with San Luis Obispo. I found out on this trip that Zoe had never had a taco salad before. We would enjoy two over the course of three days.

This is how I felt after doing a lot of driving, only spending one night in each place, and not really relaxing that much.

Our final stop was in central California, which I thought was going to be charming, but it was 93 degrees and felt sketchy, so we watched a lot of Friends in the hotel.

After all that driving, I needed new tires, and to not drive for a bit.

September

We drove up the coast to Eureka for a friend’s wedding. I was hesitant about making the drive, but my friends Coffee Will and Lt. Commander Nicole convinced me to go.

Staying with friends in an isolated but not scary cabin was what I was hoping all summer would be:

• Cooking a festive group meal (ratatouille)
• Making and enjoying coffee with my coffee buddies
• Finding out the pre-ground Dunkin’ brew was better than the pour over
• Fire pit/s’mores
• Exploring bits of the sleepy town of Arcata
• A wedding in an apple orchard and the ability to ask the owner as many questions about apples that I had

September

I have been enjoying the new Highwire when I do go into the office,

November

Through a series of positive events, I was offered the opportunity to move from the tiny, noisy, expensive apartment we’ve been living in for eight years. It was a shoebox of an apartment that bummed everyone out and offered little to no privacy, storage, or space to move around. The new place is a palace compared to where we lived for way too long. Great vibes, great light — plants are able to thrive here, it’s still within walking distance to the library branch I like, and I don’t hear multiple fire trucks drive by.

My friend Shawnee gave us a smudging kit.

I can finally burn incense without neighbors complaining to the property manager, or it violating my lease.

The first Chipotle dinner.

Everyone settled in and enjoyed the higher view.

“Does it look like I work here?”

I looked at many pieces of cheap/garish furniture with my friend Kelley. I finally decided to look at every item at the Pottery Barn Outlet and found a dresser.

December

We found a new-to-me bakery. Around this time, I switched from an iced cortado to a dry cappuccino.

I enjoyed a meal with Scott at my new favorite place: just some local diner with bad lighting and the fries aren’t salted, due to the mostly elderly people eating there. My people!

Zoe had a “Sour” Christmas via Dani and Jules.

We returned to this diner to have my Christmas Kelleybration

On Christmas Eve Day, I met up with my trusty pal Ambrosia.

The day-after-Christmas Target trip.

Final Thoughts

• I started taking guitar lessons so I could get better at trying to practice stuff I should have taken the time to learn when I was 15.
• After talking to Jordan and Billings, and watching the Nick Reinhart RR, I may buy the cheapest Super-Sonic I can find Unless I’m a gigging musician, I don’t see the purpose in having more than one guitar. Change my mind.
• There’s never a perfect time to pack up and move, but if people you love push you to do it and even recommend you take over their apartment, and walk with you to fill out the application…do it. Also: hire movers.
• I should probably get a second cat.
• Can someone recommend a quality lamp?
• I used Cologuard for the first time and really liked the entire process, including holding the box with pride at the UPS Store.