The year 2023 is almost over â and it is now time to consider what I accomplished and didnât over the past year, with some assorted thoughts.
What follows are some thoughts in no particular order.
For most of the year, I thought was scaling back my photography, but I realize now that I created more images and had more âPicksâ than the last several years. Some of slower productivity in recent years was from me virtually shutting down during the Pandemic. Part of the bounty of images was simply being able to work Remote in 3 locations in 2023. That will be tough to replicate in 2024.
The flip-side to all this photography is how many images I never got around to processing. Some of you may be familiar with my Unprocessed Sunday blog series, where I look for old images to work on. I will need to pick that up with more regularity in 2024.
My favorite thing I read was a kids book called Prince Warriors. This wasnât because it was a great book for 46 year-old me, but because it was finally the first work I could read simultaneously with my daughter. She fought reading for a long time, but somehow, the fantasy genre turned a switch on with her, and now I canât keep up with her. I am under strict orders to quickly move to the Percy Jackson series. I will play along if it keeps her engaged. She has seen the English degree in her Dadâs office area. I look forward to reading more books with her. Maybe we have our own little Book Club.
My 3 Workcations were all excellent, and thank you to Vince, Danielle, Michael, Matt, and Bill, for making it happen. Also, I would be remiss if I didnât acknowledge my companyâs Work Anywhere policy that enables this. There are so many people who were given Return To The Office (RTTO) directives, and I am lucky to be at a place that letâs us be productive wherever we can be productive. I think I work harder as a result. If you donât think I am too much of a pain and would like to host me for 1-2 weeks next year, let me know!
Part of those visits allowed me to visit 14 States and DC in 2023 (California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania). Due to logistical issues, I just missed out on at least 6 other states. I still have a long way to go to complete all 50 US States, but this was quite nice.
I added Camden Yards and Nationals Park to my baseball parks. I may or may not want to strangle a couple friends who chose some Philly cheesesteak place over getting to their ballpark. This has motivated me to see as many of the West Coast parks as possible in 2024. Tyler, Vince, Vianney, Jeremy, Adam, etc;, letâs get these Ballparks done.
I got back to going to concerts this year, and both were excellent. The first was Pixies/Modest Mouse and that concert was great, particularly Modest Mouse. I had been waiting 3 decades to see The Pixies. The second was Built To Spill at the Belly Up. If you have been there, I think youâll understand I masked up for that one. And being the Official Old Man that I am, I also bought some concert ear plugs which helped a lot. Not to mention that the concert was fantastic. I hope to see more shows in 2024.
Now, letâs consider my annual goals that I never accomplish. While I always complain at the end of December that I should stop doing this, January 1 comes around and here we go again â I suppose that will be my New Yearâs 2024.
Goal # 1: 180 Pounds â I got halfway there. Getting all the way to my preferred weight probably wasnât going to happen in one year, but I still lost quite a bit. At first, I didnât feel I lost enough to believe it, but over time there were signs, including looser clothing, advances on belt loops, I even had to tighten my Apple Watch, which was surprising.
Now, I just have to do it again. While I made a big jump in exercise this year, the next step will be to actually improve my diet. I canât say I modified my eating that much, other than to cut down sugar, and that only happened due to my doctor yelling at me.
So while this isnât a goal realized, the improvement has been real.
Goal # 2: Average 7,500 Steps Per Day â This one was easy. I walk so much, and make it almost a daily routine, that my average was over 9,000 per day in 2023. The walking is such a habit now, that when I donât do it, I feel stir crazy.
Goal # 3: Ride my exercise bike for 30 minutes per day â This one surprised me, but I did over 200 hours on the exercise bike in 2023. One key was to get a more comfortable seat for it, which wasnât super expensive. I believe this was a big key to my weight loss, and I look forward to even more in 2023 â itâs nice to have the exercise bike without the gym full of people.
Goal # 4: 36 Blog Posts â I only posted 20 times this year. Full disclosure: I have 50 post drafts in my Dashboard. I would like to get on more of a weekly rotation, so we will see how this goes next year.
Goal # 5: Give Up Soda â HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. So, that didnât happen. In my slight defense, I am converted to Coke Zero Sugar Zero Caffeine, which is a little bit of a challenge to find, but at least I know what day the Coca Cola guy stocks at Albertsonâs now.
Goal # 6: Fast Food 12 Times in 2023 â Oof. This is an example of a completely unrealistic goal. I honestly forgot about it. I had Del Taco more than 12 times in the last few months. We may not do this one in 2024.
Goal # 7: Red Meat 12 Times in 2023 â Just copy/past the text from Goal # 6. What was I thinking?
Goal # 8: Save 10% of my income â This one didnât happen. The number is more like 1%. I probably need to make about 10% in side-income in 2024 to make this one happen.
Goal # 9: 100,000 Words â I let this one go. Iâve worked in a few things, with a couple thousand words, but I need to think about staying on track. If you love to read/write and want to follow my progress, let me know.
Goal # 10:Â Letâs forget about that.
Letâs move to 2024! Appreciate you reading my Year In Review. Thanks everyone.
Buy A Print!
T.M. Schultze Fine Art America Print-On-Demand Store
T.M. Schultze is a San Diego-based photographer, traveller, and writer. He writes, photographs, and draws things of the outdoors that have inspired humans for thousands of years. He co-authored the Photographerâs Guide to Joshua Tree Park which can be purchased here.