Fixing The System
Page 8 - Car 54, Where are You?
Happy New Year
There's lots of bad stuff that happened in 2024, but as my recent posts have been so depressing I decided in this post to focus on the good things that happened for me in 2024. Please take a moment to post your own list of good things!
Running - I set a distance record for this decade, and broke it multiple times. My final distance record for the year is 14k. I also beat my 5k personal speed record at Mendon's Turkey Trot.
Writing - I'm writing again…obviously. Not only that, I'm writing in a new-to-me genre, graphic novels. I also created this Substack account where I'm consolidating my writing. I deactivated my X (formerly Twitter) account.
College - After 30 years I've returned to college. As part of my long term goal to teach English in Japan, I'm working on a Bachelors degree in Middle Grade Education. For my first semester I took two classes and got As in both.
Learning Japanese - I doubled down on my Japanese studies. I now frequently take notes in Japanese and almost every time I count I do so in Japanese. I joined an anime group where we practice Japanese in Discord.
Community - I have gotten more involved in local communities. I started playing Live Action Role-playing Games again. I started attending a local Unitarian Universalist church regularly. I acted in a local Halloween event. I attended some small regional Burning Man events. Best of all, from these activities I've made some new Friends.
I hope you had a great year! I recently saw Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms (Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear) which were based on FDR’s state of the union speech in 1943. Rockwell’s four paintings helped raise $130 million in war bonds for WWII. As we approach the upcoming inauguration I believe these Freedoms are as relevant as they had been in WWII. I wish you the best for 2025.
Did you see Rockwell’s painting at the museum in Stockbridge?