2024 In Review

I’m sitting at home this New Year’s Day. We just arrived back yesterday after a 9 hour drive from my parent’s house. Everyone is in bed. I just finished a bad movie (Carry-On). I thought I’d reflect some on 2024.

Table of Contents

Highlights

We had a belated Anniversary getaway at the beginning of September.

My wife and I were able to slip away to DC and stay at a nice hotel for a couple of nights and explore the museums. DC is great - great food (we were able to eat at two different Ethiopian restaurants), great sites (and many of the museums are free!) and easy to get around. 10 out of 10 getaway…just not long enough.

The total eclipse.

We went to Indiana to my parents house which was in the path of the totality. My mom hosted an eclipse party (with space themed treats like Mars bars) with us and my brothers family. It was a big hit and the eclipse was truly breathtaking.

I was able to visit the country and town we once lived in.

A work trip took me nearby and I was able to steal away for a few days to visit friends and get some closure. Our movie was fraught and traumatic in many ways so being able to return and visit was somewhat healing.

Other moments worth mentioning:

• We got to two Renaissance fairs: Maryland (randomly on our anniversary getaway) and then the Carolina Renaissance Fair in October. For the latter we dressed up as a family and had tons of fun.
• For Thanksgiving, we went to some friends house and had a lot of fun being with people. It felt somewhat like what we were used to overseas which was fun.
• Fireworks with the cousins. We visited Indiana for the fourth of July and shot fireworks with the cousins which was particularly fun for the kids.
• We had a fun beach getaway to Wilmington in June, which had lots of fun moments like a trip to the Aquarium, a ferry ride and the best gluten-free sandwich I’ve ever found at a restaurant.

Lowlights

The biggest lowlight was just sickness.

• My daughter got a bad case of pneumonia at the beginning of November and my son later got a not-so-bad case of the walking variety.
• 3 of the 4 of us got Influenza Type A over Christmas which means we didn’t have a very fun christmas. Our daughter thankfully stayed happy and healthy this go around.

Books - Games - Music - Other

My favorite media moment of the year was beating Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

This happened in late February if memory serves. It was such a great play. Explansive, imaginative, great storytelling. It harkened back to its spiritual predecessor (Xenogears) in good ways but was definitely it’s own thing.

Unicorn Overlord re-awakened my love of strategy games.

Despite the name (which I still think is kind of silly) it’s a really well done strategy game. I’m still playing and going through it and having fun.

Foxing by Foxing and Lust for Gold by Starflyer 59 were both unexpected musical treats this year.

I already posted my albums of the year and those were two on it that really surprised me in great ways. Take a listen to Foxing if you are into post-rock sorts of sounds with some harsh vocals and SF59 if you are into shoegazing music.

My in-laws got me Reobrix #66023 - St Andrews Church and it’s the best building block build I’ve ever done.

I’ve never used reobrix before - they are a lego alternative that is really well done. They aren’t one of the ones that exist from stealing lego designs - they make their own! - and this set is one of the best. It was so fun to build and it’s stunning put together. I have another post with pictures and a review planned for later in the week or next week. Suffice it to say it’s a favorite moment of 2024.