I was reminded of two quotes recently that probably best summarizes 2022 for me. The year has reminded me over and over again that life is both fragile and resilient. Above all, life is fleeting. Consider... What would you do, and how you would live life, if you only had five good years left? What if you knew it too? What if you didn't? Is there a difference between five years or ten? Or twenty?
Although I am still personally in good health (as far as I know), 2022 was an eye-opening lesson that life is short and can change at any moment. We are mortal. Health shouldn't be taken for granted.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
—Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement ceremony, 2005
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
—Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
COVID-19 Summary: Even though fully vaccinated and boosted, I contracted COVID-19 in December, at a time when I was foolishly less cautious about mask-wearing in public. It was awful, albeit relatively "mild." I started feeling cold/flu/COVID symptoms on December 10, starting with a sore throat, only testing positive two days later on December 12. Apparently, I had been exposed to COVID-19 during an on-site construction meeting on December 6, four days before developing symptoms. Fever broke by December 14, lasting only two to three days. After my initial recovery, I found out that a contractor who attended the same meeting was also infected. Both of us got it from the same person who was actively coughing maskless during the meeting. My sense of smell has somewhat returned but is still recovering.
Also in December, my sister was diagnosed with ependymoma (a type of spinal cord tumor) located in the cervical spine. The prognosis for this disease is generally good in young adults. Open surgery is scheduled for January 11, and only then will we have a real sense of the long-term prognosis.
What specifically came to mind this year was how many more times will you get to spend time with certain friends, family, or loved ones. I suppose, at my current age, and for those of us living away from "home" and seldom have the opportunity to spend quality time with family, we are rapidly approaching the point where the number of remaining opportunities to be with your parents can be counted on two hands.... the finiteness of remaining family Christmases and New Years. And of those, how many of them will be actual good memories? Of those, how many of them will be mundane or spent arguing over trivialities? While I have not come to terms with my own mortality yet (am I still young?), I have started preparing myself for a time my parents (or even my sister) won't be around, to say nothing of freak accidents and other unexpected random causes of death.
What is legacy anyway? Kids? With the impending global upending of society due to climate change; forever chemicals (PFAS) and microplastics everywhere, even detected in blood and fetuses; and ever-increasing wealth inequality, I am not sure. Lately, I've been torn by the desire to put something out into the world and be remembered for it; but also by the desire to deliberately have as little impact on the world as possible (a la, take only photos, leave only footprints).
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I finally received delivery of the dishwasher to finish off the 2021 kitchen renovation project. But what's consumed most of my year was the deck project, which began with demolition of the original deck, removal of the various previously abandon concrete pads adjacent to the house (which have caused probably 40+ years of slow water damage to the house), and repair of the rear overhang soffit.
I signed, stamped, and submitted my own deck design drawings and after a round of comments with the permit office, my project was approved. The majority of the summer and fall was spend on digging six holes for the upper deck and 11 holes for the lower deck (all of which approximately 30" below grade, below the frost depth). There were a few large tree roots (up to 3") and innumerous potato-sized rocks to contend with. Quite the workout. To date, I've only received approval of my footing inspection. I was so close to getting the framing ready for framing inspection, but the winter cold had set in and the end of daylight savings on November 06 meant not having any daylight for "homework" after work hours. As of now, the deck exists incomplete.
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| Deck Progress, Early 11/2022 |
I have since switched over to indoor renovation projects, namely the first phase of the basement renovation, which isn't weather or daylight dependent. Thank goodness.
Outside of a few visits home to Brooklyn, travel this year was limited to a brief visit to Chicago for a work-related trip and Emma and Willis's wedding in Charleston, SC. I did take advantage of the drive down to South Carolina to visit Orangeburg, SC, where we had designed a VA outpatient clinic at my previous job; visit Congaree National Park; and do a brief stay at the Outer Banks, on my way home.
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| Congaree National Park, SC |
Have I become a homebody, alone with my home renovation projects? Fortunately, my mom stayed with my for a few months this year, spread out across two stays. It was nice to have some help with house chores and to have more life in the house in general.
2022 was full of inflation news and US Fed interest rate increases. I am grateful to have received a pay increase in July that vastly surpassed the annual inflation rate (~7-9%?). (I am also getting a promotion to assistant director of the mechanical engineering department, after the previously one of many years had quit for a career change.) Fortunately, I have not been too directly affected by price increases, but they are concerning. I suppose it is good that the market is finally correcting itself after over a decade of supposed market "recovery" and excess. My 2022 personal financial performance shows a year-over-year net growth of –3%, with many of my investment and retirement accounts (including just a little in cypto) showing –25 to –30% gains this year. (My goal had been an approximately 25% net worth increase for 2022.) 2022 generally sucked. And 2023 is expect to be a true recessionary year, so it doesn't seem realistic to set any kind of positive net worth growth as I typically do.
The 2022 Year in Pixels showed that the number of Anxious days were double that of 2021 (majority due to work-related projects). There was a significant number of Illness days 2022 after having none in 2021 (due to COVID-19). Amazing/Good days were appreciably less.
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| 2022 Year in Pixels |
I really don't know what to expect of 2023. Maybe it's the year to quit social media for good.