2024
Welp 2024 is now over. So long partner, but I didn't really miss you.
2024 (which will eventually be called Episode 5 of 2020) has really proven to be a turbulent year. A year of elections, a year filled with wars, and for some, a year of hope.
For me at least, it's hard to remember what happened in 2024. Jimmy Carter died (Rest in Peace), but that happened at the tail end of 2024. Wars raged on (and are still raging on), yet it seems like they've gone on ad infinitum with no end in sight and no beginning we can really pinpoint.
In the middle of World War 2, existentialists (basically philosophers) -- notably the absurdist Albert Camus -- wrote about the absurd and frankly upside-down time they were living in. To quote Nolen Gertz1,
"Millions of people were being killed. Nazism and Facism were spreading. The end of the world appeared to be imminent. And yet people continued to eat, to work, to gossip, to buy groceries, to sleep, to go on living as if nothing had changed" (83).
Clearly, absurd.
And yet, that's the sort of life that I feel I find myself stuck in. Countries are at war, norms are shifting, and overall, stability seems to be lost2. Sure, some philosophers would perhaps welcome this state of things as the world simply is constantly in flux, but without an anchor, things just simply feel uncertain.
Looking back to January, I can't remember a single damn thing. That's technically false -- I remember bits and pieces and scenes of my life over the past year (ex. Robotics Kickoff, looking at a tree in March, moments from my time in Houston), but there is no thread that connects everything together. Of course, life is not meant to be a story, but reflecting, 2024 is simply missing from my memory.
With that in mind, here are my highlights for 2024 (some of them at least):
- Moving in to a new house
- Vibin in Florida (Sea Base)
- Starting to read books again!
- Doing robotics strategy for the 2024 season (Crescendo) and becoming finalists at CVR
- and many more things that I've long forgotten....
In light of my failure to simply recount 2024, perhaps I'll start doing monthly or even weekly recaps of what I've accomplished. At the very least, they can act as guideposts -- posts that I can look back on once my ascension to the peak of the mountain has been reached, whenever that seems to be.
With that in mind, well, let Episode 6 of 2020 (aka 2025) roll, and I wish everyone both a happy new year and a happy rest of the year.