# 2023: Reflections
2023 was a good year. I think I can say that because the highs outweighted the lows of most of the rest of the year. It wasn't all good, but the good times were great, indeed.
I turned 30 this year! The big three oh. I don't feel that old, but I'm sure the zoomers would disagree.
A lot happened this year so I'm going to reflect over it in this post.
# Japan
The year started out great. I was sticking with my plan to remain consistent, for the most part. I was working out, cooking, streaming and generally just taking care of myself.
Things were stressfull at work, however. My boss pretty much hated me and I was being told I was not performing to the level they expected from me. It was pretty toxic, honestly. All of that came to a head when, right before my 3 week vacation I had been planning with my friends to Japan, I was let go.
This cast a dire shadow over my vacation but I decided to continue to go despite this because I had worked so hard planning this vacation.
Realizing I would have to move back home to Florida, I checked the parking garage where I had my car parked to see if it had a hitch. I found the rear passenger window had been smashed in and the ignition switch was all fucked up. This was just another stone to add to my burden, but I would deal with it when I got back from Japan.
I ended up staying up all night to catch my flight because I don't trust myself to wake up early to my alarm clock (notoriously late sleeper). I watched the Jujutsu Kaisen movie because apparently there was a Jujutsu Kaisen ride at Universal Studios Japan.
I flew to Canada first before flying to Tokyo, where I would meet everyone else on the trip. It would be me, Dougie, his girlfriend-- Sierra, Matt, Kyle, Mikey, and Sierra's friend Jasmine. Jasmine was in the military stationed in Japan so she met us at the domestic airport.
Unfortunately, it's been a while since the trip and I never wrote an extensive article on my adventures like I planned to, so instead I'll summarize it as much as I can, talking about a few specific photos that I took from the trip that I liked.
This was the itinerary. It was a part of a much larger Google Sheet that I encouraged the group to use to plan. We followed it pretty much to the letter, except later in our 3 week journey as fatigue got the best of us.
# Tokyo
After we all met at the airport, we made our way to a pod hotel. There was a mishap with the bus we took so we ended up having to walk back to the bus station so by the time we made it to the pod hotel, we were all pooped.
The next morning we walked over to a little coffee shop called Glitch Coffee & Roasters (opens new window). It was literally the best coffee I've ever had!
# Beppu
We took a domestic flight down to Beppu, which was a city known for it's "Hells" hot springs. It was a fun tourist attraction and I had an onsen egg. Delicious!
# Kurokawa
We then took a bus further inland to Kurokawa, were we stayed at a Ryoken, a traditional Japanese inn. We had some of the best multi-course dinners here and it was great checking out all of the different onsens! As beautiful as all the onsens were, there's not a lot of photos of them because we were all nakey-nakey! ðŸ¤
# Hiroshima
Hiroshima was awesome. It was a surprisingly modern feeling city. The AirBnB we stayed at was very chic. We took a ferry to Miyajima Island which was very cool. There were a lot of deer walking around and lots of delicious street food!
# Osaka
We took the Shinkansen to Osaka. We all were responsible for planning one city during the trip and Osaka was my responsibility. We walked to Dotonbori and checked out all the cool street vendors. We even got conveyor belt sushi! (Would not recommend; two of us got sick from it.)
# Nara
We were staying in Osaka for a few days so we had a few day trips planned out. The first day we had the Nara Bike tour, which ended up being my favorite thing we did on the trip! It was so cool to be guided by a local to these beautiful destinations full of cherry blossoms in full bloom.
# Universal Studios Japan
The next day we went to Universal Studios Japan! I was so looking forward to it. It was pretty fun. The Jujutsu Kaisen ride was pretty mid but Super Mario World was cool.
# Himeji
The last day trip we had planned was visiting Himeji Castle! Not gonna lie, I had hella blisters at this time and having to take our shoes off to walk the hard, wooden floors of the castle was brutal. I think I enjoyed it from the outside more than I enjoyed it from the inside.
# Kyoto
At this point in the trip, I think we were all feeling a little burnt out. We had a bunch of temple visits planned but the only one I was interested in was the Fushimi Inari Shrine, or the Thousand Gates Shrine. That was honestly such a climb but it was totally worth it. We got a bunch of great pics.
Besides that, we pretty much chilled and did whatever. Me and Matt went shopping and found a Gundam store which was pretty cool.
# Tokyo
Finally: Tokyo. The grand destination on our trip. Tokyo was huge but I loved the cities inside of it that we visited, namely Shinjuku and Shibuya. I really fell in love with the night life. I won't go into all the details but suffice it to say: Tokyo was lit.
I had a few drinks at the Golden Gai, a really tightly packed area full of bars with both locals and foreigners alike. One of the owners of a bar beckoned me in as I walked past and I ended up having the most wonderful time with a bunch of strangers. There was nothing but good vibes all around!
I also had the best ramen I've ever had at a small ramen shop I found. I don't even remember the name of it it, but I got in a conversation about Dragon Ball Z with the owner while he made me ramen. I still miss that ramen.
It's really hard to summarize the entire 3 week stay but I tried to do it justice with a little TikTok I made.
@rockzombie2 Spent my 30th birthday in Japan with friends and it was awesome 🇯🇵
♬ original sound - Christofer
# Utah (Melissa's Graduation)
The Japan trip was awesome, and it's one of those things you'll never forget. I hope to make it back there someday.
I was gonna write up all the shit I had to deal with my car but I decided I don't need to rehash all that bullshit. Suffice it to say, my car ended up being stuck in the shop, meaning I would have to go through PODS once more to move cross-country.
In the meatime, I had already paid for the next month of rent of my very expensive apartment, so I decided I could afford to go visit my sister in Utah for her graduation. We were all very proud of her and this would be a family reunion of sorts.
I'm thankful I got to visit my wonderful little sister for her graduation.
# Florida
I finally moved out in the beginning of May. I'm grateful to my good friend Doug for having a spare bedroom I could move into while I get on my feet. Also grateful that there was an opening at his company for a Java Engineer which I applied to and ultimately got hired for a month later. So I didn't end up out of work for as long as I was in 2022.
I managed to build back my savings working out the rest of the year. I didn't have my car (still don't) but I'm working on getting it back as soon as it's fixed. This gave me a lot of time to really work on myself since I didn't have anywhere to go.
# Utah (Thanksgiving)
I made plans to visit my sister once again along with my twin sister, her girlfriend and my mom for Thanksgiving. We decided to rent out an AirBnB to do Thanksgiving in and it was such a good idea! We had a blast just cooking dishes and watching festive movies. They even had a hot tub!
# Walt Disney World: Galaxy's Edge
For Christmas, Matt and Kyle were coming down to Orlando to visit Family. We all wanted to get dinner sometime and I suggested that we go to an amusement park for fun! I had never been to the Star Wars part of Disney (Galaxy's Edge).
We decided to do it so I invited my brother Carlos and another friend of mine from high school, who I'd reconnected with when I moved back to Orlando, Justin.
It was awesome! I signed up for the Savi's Workshop experience, where you get to build a lightsaber because I thought it'd be a fun way to commemorate this event and even this year as I turned 30.
Of course, I immediately made a TikTok of my new toy when I got home.
@rockzombie2 I see thru the lies of the Jedi! #lightsaber ♬ original sound - Léa Martinez
# Reflections for the New Year
I noticed towards the later half of the year, my mental health started to really improve. I was taking better care of myself, I scheduled an appointment with a therapist and I'd been getting back into my hobbies like table top RPGs, working out and cooking.
I think, now that I'm 30, it's time I start establishing myself a little better. Even though I'm still not entirely sure on where I want to settle down, I think I should work towards owning a house. Living here with Dougie has made me appreciate owning a home. My credit score went up this year, which is a huge relief as I can realistically start working towards a mortgage. I think given two years time, I will have enough saved up for a mortgage down payment.
So while I think my financial goals will span two years, I've come up with a few goals for 2024.
- Workout consistently
- Practice my Japanese
I think I want to be hunble with a few manageable goals. I think I can continue in keeping with my consistency theme from last year and forgive myself for not keeping with it considering I had a major life event happen that disrupted my consistency.
Overally, 2024 has been off to a great start. 2023 was great and I can't wait for what's in store for the new year!