I figured I should probably write up one of those “My year in review” type posts that everyone seems to make. I don’t know if it will be particularly clever or unique because of that fact, but let’s take a trip through what has happened, and then see what we come up with for what I want to see happen in the future.
2018
The year of 2018 both was and was not especially awesome. Like every other year so far in my adult life it had its ups and downs.
The early part of the year saw a new roommate join the house. I had made arrangements and urged a good friend of mine to move in with us due to circumstances I won’t talk about here as the details are his to talk about and not mine. This brought the total to four guys living in the house. Anyway, moving on.
Not long after gaining the new roommate, he also got a puppy to be friends with The Landlord’s dog. So we have two Great Danes in the house as well.
It had been a long time since I’ve been able to take any sort of vacation, but the month of May was a particularly busy month for me in 2018, because shortly after gaining the new roommate, another roommate (The Landlord as we half jokingly like to refer to him, since he’s the one with the house) and myself had a wedding to attend to out-of-state for another good friend of ours. Hurrah, an excuse to take a vacation! To my knowledge, The Landlord had only ever travelled out-of-state once before (further than a 100-mile radius from where we are since we live near three different state borders, so those don’t really count) and so I got to show him around parts of Colorado where I grew up. Timing was an issue, though, because of our slightly different work schedules so the trip wasn’t as long as we had anticipated. Made the most of it and even managed to hit up a cool D&D themed bar a couple times!
After our return home from the wedding, we saw the departure of the other roommate on his way to trying out a new path in life. We wished him well and stayed in touch because we knew he would he back eventually, as his move was only going to be temporary.
After the first half of 2018 things weren’t really that exciting for me. I stayed home a lot, played lots of video games on stream and tried to think through how I would approach my goals. I started brainstorming and laying out some plans to try new things. I even tried painting tabletop miniatures on stream for a brief period (which I need to return to eventually.)
One of the things I had tried planning out was another vacation. The roommates and I had originally planned on attending TwitchCon ’18 but unfortunately that never happened. The Landlord couldn’t get the time off he needed. So the roommate and I stuck around but still took that time off. Honestly I should have probably saved that PTO, but oh well.
The final ‘major’ thing I did for 2018 was start this blog, and that’s about it.
Friendships were changed, gained, or lost. Small amount of travelling occurred. Tried some new things. Plenty of introspection and reevaluation. 2018 may not have been a banner year for me, but it might have paved the way for certain things to come.
2019 (and beyond)
Now let us talk about what I have planned for 2019.
I want to feel more accomplished. I want to feel like I’ve made an impact. I want to reach out and build stronger connections with the people I’ve already met, and then also make new connections. Expand my network and my influence.
How do I plan to do all that? By talking to people, for starters.
I’ve been discussing with people about doing interviews or segments here on the blog. Who would be the focus? Streamers and other influencers. Getting to know them and helping them share their stories.
I’d also like to actually meet some of the people I’ve connected with through streaming. So the hope is to be able to attend TwitchCon ’19.
Another thing I’ve mentioned previously is writing a novel. I’d like to have at least a first draft written for two different stories before the end of 2019. If I can take it a step further I’d like to make contact with a freelance editor who can help me figure out some next steps for at least one of them while I shelve the other to mull over. I would treat that one more like a time capsule of my early writing skills so I can look back and compare against it.
The ultimate plan there is to have a series of novels published some day. Do I want to be some literary rockstar like Rowling? That would be amazing, but not necessary (or totally realistic.)
Boiled down, 2019 will be all about streaming, blogging, and writing with an emphasis of networking on all fronts. Maybe I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, but I want to see where it all goes. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Let’s all try to be awesome, and keep pushing forward.
The Dragon's Grove 