These blog posts are more fun to write than I give them credit for, as much as I may struggle with finding the inspiration for them.

And I consider these posts important to write, as, even as someone who is nearly 29 (...people at the Stetson coffeeshop act genuinely surprised to find that out, and I'm just as surprised as they are!), this upcoming chapter in my life has found me needing to learn more than I ever have. Not to mention, there's a certain sense of weird nostalgia that I hold for the writing assignments back at Stetson University. Yes, the writing prompts may have been much harder than you'd think an ordinary prompt would be. Yes, those prompts did lead to busywork and borderline-incoherent statements as the result of having to mindlessly jumble together sources and do the bare minimum to reword them to not count as plagiarism.

Where was I? Basically, my point is that writing is somewhat of an artform in of itself, which I've tried to incorporate in multiple projects over the last year.

Hard Learning Experiences:

2023 was already a very weird year for me, and 2024 is...definitely on track to give 2023 a run for its money. Not that weirdness is necessarily a bad thing, but 2024 saw the death of a beloved pet — one that honestly lived much longer than anyone thought she would.

Grief is a weird thing to mentally process, as The previous year, I had also found out about the unfortunate passings of two online acquintances. One of which was someone who had been the outcast of a (rather underground) online community back in 2008, and had continued to remain involved on-and-off from the outside until 2022. The other was a YouTube video and professional writer who had maintained a blog, and I remembered loving his videos and (somewhat awkwardly and especially ) consulting him for writing advice as (in a rather interesting "small world" moment, the latter was Facebook friends with another member of the aforementioned online community)

Time for More Postivity:

On a more positive note, work at the Stetson coffeeshop continues to be a rewarding experience — thanks to both how surprisingly fun being a barista is, and how supportive the social environment continues to be. Even with the same tasks, it feels as though I continue to learn something just a little bit different every shift.

Comments:

These blog posts are more fun to write than I give them credit for, as much as I may struggle with finding the inspiration for them at times.

Tough Learning Experiences:

Remember how I've mentioned that 2023 was possibly the weirdest year of my life? I'm not completely optimistic that 2024 won't steal its record. Not that being weird is necessarily a bad thing, but the time since 2023 saw its share of ups and downs.

As I previously posted, I had to face the loss of a beloved pet (who graciously lived much longer than we had any right to expect). While I detest playing favorites with pets, I will say that there was a special attachment that I had with her.

On the topic of tragic deaths, 2023 saw me learning about the deaths of two former online acquinatances. One of them was a video producer/writer who had operated his own blog, and I had semi-informally and somewhat geekily connected with him via Facebook Messenger for advice

The other was someone who had been involved on-and-off with an online community before becoming an outcast in 2008, who had still been involved from the outside on-and-off until 2022.

Time for More Postivity:

Guitar:

As you've undoubtedly seen, I'm getting back into guitar!

And after giving it some practice, I'm realizing that it's more of a natural progression for me than I would have thought. For starters, one of my growing "special interests" has been researching the overall classic rock scene, between the positives and the less savory moments of its history.

Additionally, the guitar has a pleasant sound to it compared to a lot of other instruments that I can think of. It's part of why I not only want to move onto the electric guitar, but also perhaps the double-stringed variant of it.