2024 Year in Review

Well it’s that time of year again. You have no doubt seen the Spotify Wrapped and related year in reviews. It’s time for a personal version of that. 

I noticed I didn’t do this last year. I think 2023 was a year that I was simply happy it was over. Looks like I wrote it but never posted it, which is fine. It was tough. We had the Lightfall reception, then the layoffs that October…and that was just the work stuff. I’m sure I had some goals for 2024, I doubt I accomplished any of them. I’m actually fine with that. 

When reviewing this year, I saw some high highs and low lows. I think the Into The Light and The Final Shape in Destiny 2 featured some of my best work ever. The Destiny 2 Guardian Journey activation (think Spotify Wrapped but for 7 years of Destiny 2) was a monumental team effort and I’m super proud of the moment it provided for Destiny 2 players. I went to the studio for The Final Shape launch, which is not something I had done for The Witch Queen or Lightfall. When it launched…I recalled that moment Halo Reach launched. I was standing outside a GameStop in Lakewood, Ohio, so excited for one that game would be. As the Pillar of Autumn drifted towards the ring, that message from Bungie was the first time I thought I may want to make games. When The Final Shape launched…I felt like I accomplished that goal. I’m proud of that. Forever. 

Yet, things change and they change rapidly. In October, I moved over to Sony Interactive Entertainment. I spent 3 years to the day at Bungie. My team at SIE is fantastic. I really enjoy working with them. For now, most of my attention is still on Bungie games, so I still get to work on Destiny 2 which makes me excited. 

So that’s a little job update. It’s been a tough and exciting year in that regard. I’m on break now until the new year, and so now I’m taking the time to reflect. So let’s start with games. 

What am I playing over break?

Fantastic question, self. Well I’ll probably get some Destiny 2 in. I’ve completed the Dawning event card. Probably won’t gild the title for this one and I’m fine with that. I’ve picked up Halo Infinite and have enjoyed that. 

If we are being honest though…you can always find me in the Crucible in Destiny 2…and that’s probably where you’ll find me again. 

How are you feeling about the blog? 

The truth on this is, not great. I made a couple of aesthetic updates this year but overall the blog total was down. I had 36 posts last year, and only 23 this year. Not a great job but I was busy. I think I can turn this into a better place but it’s going to take some effort. 

How about your personal coding projects?

I performed better here than I thought. I thought to myself “well I can check Github commits but I wrote more codepen demos this year and little challenges that CoPilot gave me. Those don’t get tracked but I wrote a bunch of the. Well it turns out I almost doubled my Github commits. As of 12/23, I have 116 contributions this year compared to 65 last year. I’m surprised but happy. 

So what about 2025?

Another great question self. Well, I always want to be careful with this stuff so I’m going to keep So what about 2025? things really, really, ridiculously small and build into what I already do.

What tech was most exciting? 

I know it’s not exactly new but the vibe of 2024 to me felt like it was a year where Web Components continued to build momentum. I know they did for me. I took Dave Rupert’s Web Component course this year and really loved it. We had some hot drama of “frameworks vs. web components” which means they are getting somewhere with adoption. I’d also add in I’m a big fan of view-transitions and I’m looking forward to additional implementation in Firefox and Safari. 

Goal 1: Run one block each day. 

This probably looks a little silly. “One block a day? Come on anyone could do that.” Exactly! So I walk 2 dogs each day. One is very reactive. However, they get that walk every day. No questions asked. Sometimes we run. But basically once we adopted Dani, I stopped running because if I go out, I take the dogs. So I have a lot to do to get into better shape. However, it’s not square 1. I do walk them every day, I close the Apple Watch rings every day. So by running one block a day, that means we will always run, at least a little. I suspect that will eventually become two blocks and we can build on that but for now, one block a day. 

Goal 2: Cook two meals a week. 

I wish I could break this down into more of a daily goal. Does it count if I make a turkey sandwich for lunch? It shouldn’t as I already do that. So twice a week, I’ll cook and hopefully it’s edible. 

Goal 3: Blog once a week.

Pretty simple. Once I do this next year, I’d love to look back and say “yes I wrote 52 blogs this year!”. 

Goal 4: Play guitar 10 minutes a day

There was a time in my life where I was playing about an hour a day. Now I play like an hour a week, all at once. I’d prefer to play in small bits each day. I think it would be good for my brain. 

To be honest, I’m fine with that list as is. Yes these are intentionally very small goals. That’s fine. Let’s hit some small ones and perhaps next year I’ll be impressed with how far I’ve come. 

I didn’t list any tech goals? Why? Well there are some things rattling around in my brain. This blog could use a redesign. I’m working on a Crucible performance dashboard. I’d like to turn XG-Destiny-Checklist.com into a native web components build instead of a React build. Why aren’t those listed? 

Well I think I can get those done without listing them. Again, I almost doubled my Github contributions in a year without thinking about it. When I list these goals, I am choosing items I think I need to be more intentional about. I don’t have to be more intentional about writing code…I can do that just fine! 

So I think that’ll about wrap it up. It’s been a tough year but I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. Next year I’ll hopefully get on back on track with some stuff that really fell off…probably going back to Covid beginning

Thanks for reading 🙂