BOY MEETS 2025

1/1/2025 8:23 AM

Listening to: "Midnight Moon" by The Paper Kites

It felt like it took a few years, but we finally made it through 2024! Happy New Year! We had a pretty eventful evening on my side of the world. My daughter threw a party for a few friends and completely took over the basement. I left them alone for the most part, but from what I could tell, this party of 11 year olds included (but was not limited to) "candy salad", Super Mario Party Jamboree, karaoke, giggling, screaming, pizza, cake, Dr Pepper, etc. Meanwhile, my son and I had a low-key evening upstairs as we hid from the chaos. We enjoyed competitive games of Battleship and Jenga before watching the ball drop about 30 seconds late due to the streaming delay on Disney+. It was a pretty great way to ring in the new year as far as I'm concerned!

But let's talk about 2024! Man, this was a tough year for me. There are plenty of highlights that I'll mention, but I truly am happy to start a new year and manifest all the positivity and good things for myself and those that I care about.

2024 Highlights

1. Bowling League Championship + All time high score

I'm the captain of a bowling team that bowls every Wednesday night in a local bowling league, and as the 2023-2024 fall season came to a close, we found ourselves in the league championships. (Let's not get too excited, this is a Wednesday night drinking league in northeast Ohio) It was a very close match; each team had won a game a piece and it came down to the last game. A couple of our bowlers had a sub par performance which meant the rest of us had to pick up the pace. I answered the call and managed to get my all time high score! This was both exciting and devestating as that high score was a 299! ONE PIN away from 300. But it took every bit of that 299 because we barely squeaked by with the win. But we DID, and we won the championships! It was such a fun and exciting night!

2. New responsibilities at work

I don't plan to bore everyone to death with details about my job, but this particular change made a significant impact on my career in my opinion. I had the opportunity to start leading an additional team. Leading this team has given me a whole new set of challenges and a whole lot more visibility. I feel extremely proud of the progress I made with this team and the success we've had overall. As a result, I'm seeing myself lead more effectively and with more confidence. Most enjoyably, I was able to lead a first-of-its-kind all day workshop with my peer group which has brought about some really important changes for our company. It has been so cool to feel so excited and passionate about my job after the ups and downs I've experienced throughout the years. I don't care if I sound like a suck up, and I don't care if she's reading this, but I have the best boss in the world and I am grateful for her as she played a significant role in these opportunities as well as my growth.

Halloween costumes at work

3. New friend group

All of these changes at work led me to meeting a group of really great people that are now my closest friends. I don't know that I've ever really been a part of a friend group like this, but it's a group of five that gets along tremendously well and truly cares for each other. Some of my best nights were spent with this group!

4. Feels more like home

My divorce in 2023 was quite an adjustment. Not only for myself, but for my kids as well. (And I'm sure a few others in my life!) 2023 felt like a struggle. I didn't have much in my new house. Our routine was all out of whack. But something that stuck out in 2024 was that the arrangement seemed to have normalized. My house felt more like home, especially to my kids. (At least I think it did) The house felt more lived in. Our time together felt like it was of higher quality. I connected with my kids so much better, arguably better than I had when I was married. Despite a year riddled with struggles and sadness in my personal life, I feel like my kids saw a much better version of their dad. I'm so proud of these kids and I cherish my time with them immensely.

5. Photography

Pete's Pond Preserve in Wickliffe

Photography has always been a love of mine. Ever since I took those photography classes in high school, I couldn't get enough of it. Developing my own film and prints was so exciting for me. It made the experience feel so immersive for me. We're pretty far removed from the world of film, and as my life changed, my love of photography kind of morphed into taking photos of my kids. Don't get me wrong, this has been amazing. It was my first go at anything that resembled portrait photography or candid photography, and there are so many shots that I am super proud of. (Both as a dad and a photographer!) But in 2024, I found some new inspiration, and it definitely amplified as the year came to the close. I got my hands on a Fujifilm XT4, which is my first camera that isn't "entry level." I've noticed such an incredible difference just on the technology side of things. But most importantly, I feel like my creativity has been reignited. I still love taking pictures of my kids and that'll never change, but I've gotten myself out in nature a whole lot more and I feel like I rediscovered a part of me that has been dormant. It has been really great! On top of that, I have even been expirimenting with instant photography for the first time in my life, which has been really neat.

6. Travel

I did a bit of light traveling in 2024; nothing more than a few days here and there, but notable just the same! (Although one of them will likely sound like a lowlight)

Warm Springs, West Virginia - My uncle invited me on a guys camping trip in 2024 and it was such a great experience! The campsite did not have any cell phone reception and it was so refreshing to be completely disconnected from technology. It was great bonding with family and friends by day while having peace and time to reflect by night. I'm looking forward to joining again in the future!

Middle Bass Island - My annual trip to Middle Bass Island with some great friends (and a gracious host) was as good as it always is. A few days filled with food, yard games, kayaking, Ken Griffey Jr baseball on Super Nintendo... I look forward to it every year!

Bothell, WA

Seattle - This is the trip that was in some ways a lowlight, but I'm still so excited to have had this experience! I've always wanted to go to Seattle and the opportunity to do so came up at work so I jumped on it! This trip was honestly really good overall. I loved seeing some of the sights, like the Space Needle, among other things. The client we were visiting also recommended a really nice park for a morning hike in Bothell, WA. I shot one of my favorite photographs that morning! But back to the aforementioned "lowlight." (This is the 3rd time I've said this word already) After our first afternoon of sight seeing, our rental car was broken into. I consider myself lucky that I've never experienced this kind of violation before, but all of our bags, including work computers, my camera lenses, my Nintendo Switch, and a slew of other valuables were all taken. This definitely put a damper on the trip, but the rest of it was so good that I'm still happy I went!

Hocking Hills - I won't go into any detail here since I have a full post about this trip, but feel free to check that one out if you're interested!

7. Games, movies, music, etc.

If you're not interested in the nerdiest aspects of me, I'm surprised you've made it this far in this post!

Starting with video games, Astro Bot on the Playstation 5 is my undisputed game of the year, as I believe it was for so many people. This was such a whimsically wonderful 3D platformer. I've joked with my friends that it's the best Nintendo game that I've ever played on Playstation, because they truly gave it all of the love and care that I've come to expect from Nintendo. It was seriously so good. I also really enjoyed the second installment in the Final Fantasy VII remake project. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was a beautiful game and brought so many moments from my childhood to life. I'm so terrible at new games these days, so I play on easy mode, but I enjoyed every bit of it!

I didn't get out to see too many movies this year. I took myself on a couple "solo dates" and saw the latest Ghostbusters movie as well as Inside Out 2, but the majority of my movie time was spent at home with things that released long before 2024. I've really settled into Elizabethtown as a comfort movie. It was hands down my most watched movie of the year. I've also really enjoyed bonding with my daughter over her new found love for My Neighbor Totoro and the Studio Ghibli stuff in general!

When it comes to music, I didn't get to play very much outside of playing along to some of my favorite tracks in my basement, but I feel like I discovered so much great music this year. Due to some of the sadness/loneliness I've experienced, I feel like I connected much more deeply with music than I had previously. There was so much good music that helped me through this year. Hollow Coves and Wild Rivers were the most significant for me, but I even found myself clinging to some classics like Elliott Smith. In the past month or so, I was re-introduced to some music I had heard casually in the past. The Paper Kites and Novo Amor have been playing nonstop for a bit now, which has been really great. I love discovering new music, especially when it's something I can associate with people or experiences.

2025 Goals and Ramblings

Now that we've covered 2024, it's time to think about the new year! I don't think you'll get any cliche "resolutions" from me, and honestly, I haven't thought about 2025 as much as I should have yet. But here goes nothing!

Old Man's Cave hike in Hocking Hills

In 2024, I hiked a total of 129 miles which was a bit less than I wanted to do. I'm going to shoot for at least 150 this year, but hopefully even more! I also did not get out to go kayaking as much as I would have liked. I was under 10 miles for the year which is the least it has been since I started! The kayaking trips I did take were really great, many of them with my daughter, but I can do so much better this year! I'd like to hit at least 25 miles for 2025.

I already talked about having a great year from a work perspective, but I want to keep building on that. I want to continue reflecting on where I might have fallen short as a leader and try to show up even better for my teams. We have some big stuff coming up this year!

My kids are getting older and developing such cool and unique personalities. I continue to be so proud of the humans they're becoming, and I want to be intentional about embracing and encouraging them in every way that I can. I want to continue connecting with them in meaningful ways.

My daughter has been telling me for months that I need a girlfriend. Part of her is joking and just being super silly, but it's a topic she doesn't let go of. So, who knows! Maybe that's in store for 2025.

Happy New Year!