2022: message_topic.aspx?topic=653033
2021: message_topic.aspx?topic=652487
2020: message_topic.aspx?topic=651849
2019: message_topic.aspx?topic=651155
2018: message_topic.aspx?topic=650451
2017: message_topic.aspx?topic=649505
2016: MIA
2015: message_topic.aspx?topic=646551
2014: message_topic.aspx?topic=643933
2013: message_topic.aspx?topic=639963
2012: message_topic.aspx?topic=632553
2011: message_topic.aspx?topic=620902
2010: message_topic.aspx?topic=605245
2009: message_topic.aspx?topic=584031
2008: message_topic.aspx?topic=552174
2007: message_topic.aspx?topic=506882
2006: message_topic.aspx?topic=447821
2005: message_topic.aspx?topic=375305

Career: B
I took a new role within my company towards the end of last year but pretty quickly found it wasn't all I had hoped it would be. So I started looking elsewhere in February. I had spent 3 years more or less coasting at work, between waiting for covid to end and choosing to focus more on family and personal stuff rather than pour myself into work as much as I had grown accustomed to for most of my career. I wanted to be a bit picky on the job search because I was eager to find something new that I could sink my teeth into and didn't want to end up in another dud job, but it ended up being bad timing because there were a ton of layoffs in tech in the first half of the year especially, so every job I was interested in had hundreds of applicants. So by May I had put the job search on pause. But 3 months later my company went through their own layoff round, and I got cut. So I had to scramble a bit to find a new job. Ended up finding something within a month, but a few weeks into the job the red flags became evident and a few weeks after that I left. Not great timing to go into the holiday season without a job, but that's what savings are for I suppose. The effects of the current AI boom and what I see coming in the years ahead have frankly been pretty shocking even though I've been predicting and waiting for it all for years. As a result I've been giving a lot of thought to how I want to spend the remainder of my income-earning years, as well as how I want to spend my life generally. I'm considering doing some solopreneur stuff in 24 and have spent most of the last month doing some prep work for that, but I may end up deciding to take a 9-5 next year as well. not sure yet.

Family: B
Year after year my dad struggles with a variety of health challenges, and 2023 was no different. My parents always handle the cards they are dealt as best they can, but it's tough seeing them go through it, wishing they could begin their golden years with more carefree circumstances. My youngest started middle school this year
Every year that goes by and my kids still love me, I count as a success.

Love Life: B
Hard to believe, but my wife and I have been together for 5 years now. I still have no idea what I'm doing.

Social / Friends: C
I joined a softball league this year to try to be more active and make some new friends, but didn't really vibe with anybody enough to turn into a close friend. When I was job searching I was somewhat looking for local rather than remote options, as it's easier to fall into friendships when you're working in-person. I quite enjoy my alone/personal time and I'm ofc eternally online so it's not like I'm starved for social interaction, but growing up seeing my dad not really have many close friends as he got older, and being aware of the general loneliness epidemic (especially among guys) in the current culture, I am trying to be more intentional about being more irl social. When I was in NJ/NYC I was always going out with friends/coworkers or hitting up house parties, and since moving back to NC I'm just not finding the same scene. covid obviously impaired that for a long time. my kids have switched schools/neighborhoods several times since moving here so that has prevented school parent friendships from becoming a thing. My neighborhood is relatively small and there's only a few people who actually make an effort to socialize, and it's very surface-level, so that's been a bust too. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? AI Chatbots, anyone?

Health: B
Pretty happy with myself this year. Dropped 10 pounds. Stopped drinking as much as I had been the last few years. Also drinking less coffee and more water. Joined a softball team. I put up a basketball hoop in the driveway last year and when the weather's good I'm out there most evenings shooting around to unwind or playing with the kids. I go for a lot of long walks at night. I'd like to do more strength training so I can LOOK fit, but I'm generally content with my health.

Money: A-
Trying to time the market and the recession that never comes (or we've been stuck in the entire Biden administration depending on your information diet) has been exhausting. Housing market is bonkers and keeps preventing me from making moves I might otherwise make. Was worried about how getting laid off would impact my savings, but then I found a new job relatively quickly so that was a relief. Plus I got a decent (and long overdue) raise so that felt good too. But then that all didn't work out, so it's been a very up and down year mentally as it relates to my financial goals. I'm not at the top of my earning potential so I still have some work to do. My kids are starting to talk about college more lately, so I'm trying to focus more on putting myself in a position where I can help them with that when the time comes, should that be the direction they go in life.

Overall: B
The last number of years have been the most challenging of my (otherwise very privileged and comfortable) life, and my 2023 goal was to be focused on deliberate and purposeful action to be the best version of myself and let the rest fall where it may. I'm pretty happy with my efforts this year and the results I've gotten.

Looking forward to 2024. Hopefully the world doesn't fall apart.

12/21/2023 11:52:49 AM

Career: D-
My title and pay grade haven't changed in five years, and remains two levels behind everyone else on the team even though my workload now matches or exceeds theirs. Is this because I'm shitty at my job? No. Upward mobility is halted by a promotion freeze my boss' boss put in place, and workload increases because said boss refuses to hire anyone to backfill positions that have come vacant. Meanwhile travel - the only thing about my job I still like - dried up all year due to budget mismanagement by the same boss. Haven't had much luck finding a better gig elsewhere in the organization, and can't leave behind the benefits. Besides, the one silver lining of this role is flexibility, which is important now because...

Family: A-
My daughter was born in September! Naturally I think she's the most perfectly adorable creature who ever lived, but she's also just an objectively easy baby. No colic, only wakes up once a night, flexible in terms of schedule, feeding, etc. This unalloyed joy is only slightly offset by the fact that my wife and my mother have fallen into the classic in-law conflict with me stuck in the middle.

Love Life: B+
We're adjusting pretty well to the baby but it is an adjustment. We've never disagreed on much but a baby opens up a whole new realm of possibilities.

Social / Friends: A
We made a deliberate, active effort to socialize as much as possible before the baby arrived, so even taking into account the last three months of relative isolation, we did a lot more with our friends this year than in the previous few.

Health: C-
I feel great, but according to my doctor I have inadequate blood, which is...disconcerting. Nobody can find any reason why that should be the case. For now I'm chalking it up to over-testing, but it's got the wife all agitated.

Money: A-
Right now at this exact moment, I feel very comfortable. But I'm also cognizant that daycare starts next year, and with it goes half my paycheck.

Overall: A
Work and anemia be damned, it's hard to look back negatively on a year in which all of my cajoling, pleading, incepting, and grovelling finally paid off and resulted in offspring.

12/21/2023 3:48:13 PM

Career: B
Quit without any notice not only my job but area of work after about 15 years in the field. Just wanted something new, more exciting, fulfilling, different, etc

Family: B.

My parents are still alive. I don’t have a wife or kids luckily.

Love Life: F

Wouldn’t mind a vagina to dump a load into every now and then

Social / Friends: C

I kind of like being by myself for the most part. I have so much disdain for most people, etc. Job I took after quitting other job does offer me more opportunities to meet a few folks I have less disdain for.

Health: B-

I need to eat less sodium. Cut drinking down, only cheat every now and then. Sleep much improved. Would be quite easy for me to go from B- to A

Money: B

No kids help this. A woman would help split bills if we lived together. New job better paying so able to build up an emergency fund. Quarterly bonuses going down next year I got a feeling so that may suck.

Overall: B-

Sure as fuck better than 2021 or 2022

12/23/2023 9:06:36 PM

Career: C
My demanding but cush remote job will not be remote starting next year. Have been asked to move to Seattle. The stress of moving with family obligations has been not fun. Having to tell your wife with newborn I have no idea where we will be living isn't a good way to celebrate a new baby.

Family: A+
Had a new baby in July, in the front seat of our brand new minivan. Wife wanted a natural birth, but not quite like that. They still charge you full price if you are the attending on the certificate and it happens outside the hospital.

Love Life: A+
Imported my mother in law who has played babysitter, so we've gotten a lot more date nights and quality time. Married 13 years.

Social / Friends: D+
The second baby nap schedules make it difficult to do anything. Coordinating with family is hard. Our hobbies have not been very kid friendly so it's been difficult finding other social outlets. Shit posting on TWW isn't good for that either. Do a bit of neighbor hanging and cookouts.


Hobbies: F
Just flew my plane to the broker we bought it from 8 years ago to list it for sell. Based on hours flown after kids and maintenance I could have flown private. I haven't made a skydive since beginning of covid. Been dabbling in some RC stuff so my toddler can chase mini quad copters and RC cars.

Health: C
Had some weird stuff pop on blood tests. After some debugging back normal. Digestion always feels off if I'm not on a healthy diet. Probably drink too much, also a terrible hobby. Could stand to lose weight. Only able do 5 pullups and my 3k time is total shit even for an old guy. I was in better shape than high school 4 years ago.

Money: A-
After tumultuous last 2 years, finally back to where I was a year ago. Trying to make a retirement plan that doesn't involve eating cat food.

Overall: A
Know lots of people laid off and facing difficulty. Things could be worse.

12/27/2023 2:17:36 PM

Quote :

"LIST IT FOR SELL"

GG

12/27/2023 3:32:03 PM

Your welcome.

12/27/2023 4:14:36 PM

I was assuming you did that on purpose and complementing you on your troll. It's a Classifieds classic.

12/27/2023 5:34:02 PM

First quarter - neutral
second quarter - bearish
third quarter - bullish
fourth quarter - neutral

12/28/2023 8:51:31 AM

Career: B
Boss went off the deep end because I refused to do the jobs of a partner org in addition to my own. He decided to "promote" someone over me in order to get them to do it (they don't get any more money or title). I now have less responsibility (90% less meetings and documents) but the same money/title The work still sucks though

Family: B
Family is mostly good, just don't visit enough. They might all be moving to my city next year though

Love Life: A
Got married

Social / Friends: BSee my existing friends very rarely but can't seem to meet anyone I could hang out with on a semi-regular basis. Race track friends are a bit closer

Health: C+
Had to stop eating meat, which improved pain from nerve damage. Still less active than I'd like.

Money: A-
Made a shitload in stocks. Bought a mountain house near the race track that's actually making a fair bit more than its costing me. Couldn't get a couple commercial deals done but that might work out better in the long run. Lost on a duplex even though I had the best offer that would have been perfect for my family to move in to but not liquidating the stock to be able to make a cash offer has paid off 3x

Overall: A
Much less fulfillment at work, but much more things to care about outside work than any year previous in the last decade+ and finally in a position to be able to walk away from work soon. This year I hope to get much more racing in with working cars, better eye on fitness, and take some actual vacations

12/28/2023 10:31:16 PM

Can't break my streak of doing this shit for five years in a row now.

Career: B

Same job that I have had for several years now. Lost my best employee to a promotion in another area, but was able to promote from within and then replaced that guy with a really motivated young guy who was our temp in the interim. Still enjoy what I'm doing.

Family: B-

Grandfather is still with us but in an assisted living nursing home due to being basically bedridden from the stroke last year. His memory has improved quite a bit but he's still a shadow of the person he was before the stroke. Mom has still struggled with her hip problems and ended up breaking the other side and having to get a total hip replacement on that side. Also looks like the partial replacement last year was a fail so they have to go back and replace that as well sometime in early 2024. Mom was in rehab for a while again but just came home this week. She has better mobility than she did before, but I'm looking forward to her getting the other part replaced so maybe she can get back to some sense of normalcy.

Oldest is still in community college, youngest is a Junior in HS and continues to take part in marching band. His primary interest is culinary arts though so want to see if he can find a part time job in a kitchen somewhere to see if that is really what he wants to do professionally or just for a hobby. He fixed dinner for us tonight.

Love Life: B

Still good. Over 20 years now, but due to health and finance issues we did not get to do anything for our anniversary unfortunately. Wife's coworker was out for the first three months of the year, so she had to cover for both of them. She put in a ton of hours but since we are state employees, she didn't really get much out of it unfortunately, just comp time that she ended up using when she had to have surgery. Hopefully we can do something in 2024.

Social/Friends: C+

Still go out to the same bar pretty regularly. One of the owners of that bar opened another one across the street, so I hit his place up some as well. Have a regular group of friends from up those places. Other then that I haven't really hung out with my old friends or even former coworkers in a while, so that is why I dropped the rating a bit this year.

Health: C

First part of the year my wife started having pain in her right arm and shoulder that ended up being from a herniated disc. Took months of screwing around by doctors suggesting PT, massage, letting it subside, trying medication, etc. After none of that worked she finally got an MRI which immediately showed the problem. Only took about a week from that to get her surgery scheduled and after fusing that disc, she is all good and back to normal with no pain. Missed a decent chunk of work, but since I am a state employee too I gave her like a month of my sick leave.
I'm the same weight as last few years, and still know I need to do something about it. Otherwise my health is fine.

Hobbies: A

Still pretty active in the photo groups, which is fun, and I've made some good friends from that. My Discord stays quite active and I chat with everyone there throughout the day, so that gets me social interaction pretty often.

Money: C-

Still no raises at work aside from what the Legislature gives us. Picked up more responsibility from my boss to use that as a justification to get me a raise, but so far no dice. Bigger personal financial issues though, at the first of the year my car engine overheated and blew the head gasket and cracked the head. Only about 80k miles and just a little 4-cylinder Mazda engine. So that took damn near all my tax check and dented our savings pretty hard. Follow that up with the wife's neck surgery and that was several thousand dollars more. That plus the time off cost us any chance of a vacation.

Overall: C

Pretty rough year, but it could have been a lot worse. Nobody passed this year.

1/1/2024 7:05:31 PM

B, b, f, c, a, b, c

1/1/2024 9:51:13 PM

My 2023 was horrible. I genuinely hope I don't have a year worse than this for a long, long time.

1/2/2024 2:03:31 AM

^


[Edited on January 2, 2024 at 1:56 PM. Reason : no homo]

1/2/2024 1:54:48 PM

Dude that no homo is seriously tacky

1/2/2024 6:56:52 PM

it's ironic

1/2/2024 9:42:20 PM

https://lawrencechronicles.wordpress.com/the-lawrence-family-2023-year-recap/

1/7/2024 11:05:34 AM

^

The "Wellington Family" poster was super funny

DC looks cool. I'd like to visit the Library of Congress whenever I end up going.
NYC seems nice. Can't say I care much for San Francisco, but that's just me being obstinate.

Enjoyed reading that. I like blogs.

[Edited on January 7, 2024 at 8:26 PM. Reason : oh and congrats on the house]

1/7/2024 8:26:34 PM