Forty Three

[flwyd]

I turned forty-two on the final day of Element 11, Utah's regional Burning Man event last year. It was the first big organized gathering I attended after the pandemic, a welcome return to hugging people and talking to strangers. (I'd gotten a little practice a few months earlier at Fourth of Juplaya, an un-organized gathering.)

In the intervening year I have

• Seen at least half a dozen live concerts
• Visited Arkansas to scout eclipse-viewing locations
• Attended two pagan festivals in Colorado
• Attended two Burning Man Decompression events
• Visited friends and family in California
• Traveled to the Black Rock Desert twice (OMG was Burning Man hot and dusty this year)
• Gotten an Amateur Extra ham radio license, bought two HF radios, two HF antennæ, a CB radio, a couple software-defined radios, and a bunch of radio gear
• Made ham radio contacts from national and state parks in Arkansas, California, Nevada, and Colorado
• Soaked in at least four hot springs
• Gotten an assigned desk back at work, and don't need to wear a mask all day
• Started accepting production data for the thing we've been building at work
• Played four seasons of softball
• Participated in three Congressional lobby meetings about climate legislation
• Helped my parents clear 35 years of accumulated stuff out of a storage unit; filled my garage and sun porch with boxes I need to sort this winter
• Made some progress at organizing and filtering all the photos I've ever taken
• Did very little homebrewing
• Maybe only baked one pie
• Got far too little sleep while completing Advent of Code in Raku
• Got a mild case of COVID
• Hosted a few monthly game days
• Bought a king-size mattress and frame; failed to buy any dressers
• Drove the final mile in my first car; bought a pickup truck
• Slept outside for 36 nights, plus 2 nights in a cabin and seven in recreational vehicles
• Ate quite a bit of sorbet and dairy-free ice cream