One month down! Hello 2024
Dear reader,
We are more than 1/12 of the way through 2024! 2023 was quite an intense year, and there's a buzz of anticipation (or a weary readiness?) for 2024.
I have, frankly, been fairly depressed the last … two? three? months? I keep myself busy to ward off the sad, and have a pretty good set of strategies for taking care of myself (gym classes! meal kits! aggressively scheduling social things!).
In the book Easy Crafts for the Insane (which I adored, and resonated with a whole lot) the author recounts someone telling her that you still brush your teeth when you're depressed so that when you're not depressed eventually, you still have teeth. I've thought about that a lot lately as I do my maintenance-y things where I take care of my body and my house and work on things … but it also means it's probably very not-obvious that I'm dealing with a bit of the dépression.
For the last few weeks I've felt like I'm hanging on the inside edge of the cereal bowl, anxiously afraid to lose my grip and slide back down into the center of the current dip that I'm riding out. I think I'm perhaps standing on the edge now and out of the dip, but ~ only time will tell ~
With that cheery intro, I've written a couple things (and some tech thoughts) and am on a stage in a couple weeks.
On the blog: Year in Review
Last month I published my annual year in review post. I have been doing these for ten years! Wowza. The ritual has evolved from bulleted lists of the things I accomplished in the year to a much squishier set of reflections and thoughts on the passing of each year.
A technical post! Computer things!
Small act but significant for me since we last spoke is I published a little technical blog post on interpreting npm error output.
Not so long ago, I thought I would never do software engineering again … I interpret getting curious about computer things as a positive sign. I even went to my first meetup since the Big Burnout, January's Data Viz meetup:
I had a very nice time, and won a book in a raffle.
My Favorite Breakup's live event
I've submitted a few tales to a newsletter you should be subscribed to, My Favorite Breakup. It's been around for 3 years (!!!) and is having a story slam to celebrate, and I've signed up to Do a Thing. It's the day after Valentine's Day and if you're intrigued at all, I suggest getting your ticket as they're goin' quick.
I'll stop there. I'm reading a few non-fiction books right now, and I should write about those thoughts in blog posts!
A very merry leap year to you all,
Pam