So I originally wanted to make this journal before 2025 but that didn't end up happening, mostly due to busyness of work and since it seems like my nights off are about the only time I feel I have the time to get anything substantial done. Then once we neared the new year it's very common for people to make journals about the new year or holidays, and though in general most watchers don't read journals, I didn't want to risk this getting buried for my friends.

2024 was a pretty decent year for me even if I didn't have much major happen during it, Work is still fine and I like my job and coworkers still. I received a $1/hr raise during the summer, which technically marks it as the largest raise I've had the past decade (my boss had put me in for it at the end of last year but only found it had never gone through when talk came up during the summer of raises that were being put in then- so it might just be another indication of the less than great HR and employee benefits my company offers). My mom and oldest cousin came up for a visit in May and it was fun getting to do a lot of the touristy stuff that's either not as fun to do solo or where I couldn't really justify the cost at the time (or just the overall risk during the height of the Pandemic), and I got to take a short vacation in September for an overdue trip that was really needed. The only other significant event of 2024 for me was officially dropping out of my in-person game group over the summer after having had very limited contact by them through all of 2023 and the first half of 2024. One of the DMs contacted me afterwards and we've run into each other a couple times out of luck at the store where I work but he's been the only one in the group that tried to contact me after I left (so it's now been over 2 years since I've seen most of them even though everyone is local).

I've come to realize that one of the reasons I soured with my group was I was unhappy with my situation here in OKC even before I left to go down and take care of my mom for a month in 2022 after her second foot surgery, and when I came back afterwards I more than had the finances to afford to be able to move to somewhere better without touching my truck fund but I'd thought the unhappiness was just from me being burntout at Sam's Club due to the Pandemic. As I noted in a few of the journals in 2022 and 2023 poor coincidence on timing just meant I already had plans weeks when there was a game and there would either be no game or it would be a ttrpg system I had no interest in when I was available so 2023 started with me seeing how long it would be before someone in the game's telegram chat asked me something or sent me an IM. The April 2023 accident and deep depression I experienced for weeks afterwards didn't encourage me to reach out to any of them (especially with not having a vehicle to drive for some 4 weeks so it wasn't even worth it to do any job hunting during that time and ultimately not working for a full year was rough on my physical, mental, and financial health) so by the time 2024 started it was just a matter of me deciding when to leave my game group and whether to say anything before I left. Procrastination can be a bitch but I ended up just dropping out without a word in June. I have some regret since one of the group members had been among the first furries or therians I had met online all the way back in 1999 but he and I living together for a year and half took a toll on our friendship and time during the Pandemic didn't really give us a chance to patch and repair things.

It's of course never too late to try to repair things but it also doesn't change the fact that 2024 was mostly just a holding pattern for me. I've also been finding that with working nights it's really tough for me to get anything done during the day since 9/10am to 5/6pm is often my sleep time. I'd like to get my own place again though with how the cost of living skyrocketed the past few years that has made it more expensive than just trying to make it work for the remaining time before I do leave Oklahoma. Also with any place that you're doing more than subleasing like I've been doing here the past 6 years there would be a mandatory lease and I'd like to leave Oklahoma by June or July of this year (we also had a new roommate last year for about 6 months and it was often quite stressful, in part due to regular fighting between his dog and my other housemate's dogs). I'm hoping tax season will be kind to me this year (I'm pretty sure I have too much withholding being done on my pay but last time I tried to have my tax withholding reduced so I don't have a large refund during tax season I ended up owing) and give me a little more wiggle room since as it is now I could either afford to move and resettle or replace my 2003 truck finally (or get it fully repaired with the intent to hold onto it for another year or three).

I want to do a furcon this year at a minimum, and since I ultimately had to skip making 2024's MFF I'd really like to make it or AC's 2025. I know there are getting to be a number of local cons, though I tend to find out when they are only a few days before they happen and the panels and events that interest me tend to be so limited that I can't justify the cost to myself of even a one day pass. I haven't been as negative as many people here about what 2025 is bringing to American politics but I know a lot of people are uneasy because of the 2024 election results and the uncertainty of what to expect with unpredictable leadership.