In the end of year reflection spirit, I thought it would be fun to go through my top highlights and moments from 2022. This post is out of character for this blog… but I haven’t posted in over 6 months… and I would definitely be interested in reading something like this from any of my favorite writers… so it’s making the cut.
I’m not sure highlights are a great way to holistically reflect on a year (they don’t include lowlights, things I DIDN’T do, or long term projects and changes), but they are a fun way to force yourself to look back. And it’s great to have them recorded for the future. They can also be a good way to trick yourself into thinking your year went better than it actually did 🙂 (for better and worse)!
Sidenote: The importance I place on VIBES has risen stratospherically in the past year or so. I don’t know if this is just me having a new term (that is very popular right now) for something I already cared about (“coolness”) or if it’s a genuine change in attitude, but good vibes are really eclipsing all other criteria these days when it comes to deciding what to do, what to watch, who to cheer for, and even who I want to be friends with. And in deciding what makes my list of highlights.
Without further ado:
January
Tottenham goes from 2-1 down to 3-2 in stoppage time against Leicester. Amazing comeback. In classic Cult Hero fashion, Bergwijn would go on to score only one more Tottenham goal before being sold to Ajax months later.
February
“Publishing” our Train Horn Post. The only writing that I feel really good about and (hopefully!) deserves an audience.
Another WILD Tottenham buzzer-beating win…this time over Man City. Unfortunately this is the last Tottenham highlight of the year in here 🙁
How to With John Wilson. Great show. Fun, creative, and super well made.
Winter Olympics! Erin Jackson’s 500m gold was the clear highlight. Very cool.
March
PC: Me
Made (a lot of) Borscht. Yum.
The Weirdest People in the World. See my review HERE. Definitely my favorite book of the last couple years.
#15 seed St Peter’s Peacocks to the Elite 8. What a story and a great cast of characters.
Made Lohikeitto. Yum.
April
PC: Me
Went to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. First Utah National Park trip! Lots of very cool stuff and a fun crew.
Pat Beverly is amazing pic.twitter.com/ZOCAkMZBAr
— CJ Fogler (@cjzer0) April 13, 2022
Timberwolves play-in game victory over Clippers. Truly incredible. Post-game SCENES. The most important and exciting T-Wolves game of my post-child life. I <3 Pat Bev
Exhalation. Some VERY fun and thought-provoking short stories.
PC: Me
Northern Utah exploration with family visiting. So many new places to explore! First time going to Antelope Island, Ogden, Park City, Provo, Provo Canyon, Utah Olympic Park.
Vegetarian Banh Mi from Oh Mai in SLC. Yum.
May
Economical Writing. More fun to read than a writing guide has any right to be. A good inspiration to work on writing better (and more!) that I should re-read.
June
SSC/EA/CNL Meetups. Not one day/meetup in particular, but it was really fun to meet lots of people at these.
The Son Also Rises. Lots of super interesting research and research methods/data. Findings are crazy IF TRUE.
PC: Me
SF/”The 1”/Gilroy/Pinnacles National Park Road Trip
Pinnacles was definitely my least favorite National Park I’ve been to (though the caves were closed, those might add a lot), but it was still cool! Driving down the coast was fun, as was doing a Taco Tour in Gilroy (we only made it to 3 of their 20ish taco shops though)
Paddy The Baddy UFC debut. What a likable guy. VIBES, HYPE, etc.
July
Gentleman in Moscow. Very engaging and moving story.
Made Sichuanese Wontons. Yum.
Won a Warzone Duos match for the first time. What a rush.
August
The Rehearsal. Amazing.
Another not really discrete moment/event, but a couple work highlights merited inclusion:
Being super involved in hiring for the first time was unexpectedly very interesting and fun.
Building a complicated “causal” model pretty much by myself is definitely the highlight of my work career so far.
September
Charli XCX. Really more of a year-long “highlight” but mmm so good. Sucker and Number 1 Angel are probably in my top 5 favorite albums of all time (yes I’m aware this probably doesn’t reflect well on me).
Made Trini Doubles. Yum. Inspired by the Trinbago CPL fans’ signs.
Not me, but I think this is what I looked like
Ice Skating. So fun. I wish I skated growing up and wasn’t so bad at it.
October
PC: Me
Road Trip to Vernal/Dinosaur National Monument/Flaming Gorge/Bald Mountain. First (just us) road trip from SLC! Pretty fun and lots of cool hikes/views. Only 11 new road trips from SLC left on our list!
Going to the must-win final RSL regular season match (and seeing a win) and then watching one of the most heartbreaking playoff losses a week later. The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat. Tremendous vibes from the team as well, very likable, top tier TikTok content.
PC: me
Superorganism concert. My third-ever (adult) concert and so much better than the previous two (HAIM, Sigrid), which were just ok. Not sure why it was so great. All probably contributing: Very fun band, small venue (< 200 people), and alcohol.
November
Extraordinary Attorney Woo. The show that sparked my current Korea craze (a topic for another day). Funny, interesting, thoughtful, very wholesome. And a great opening song.
Short Track Speed Skating Four Continents. One of the best sports to watch in person, great atmosphere too.
Someone needs to figure out how to cut down on Zamboni time and/or do something entertaining during all the breaks. That’s all that’s holding the sport back from taking over.
“Reggaeton” phase. This one started from listening to the RSL players' favorite music playlists. I don’t even know if I have the genre correct here. But I listened to this type of music so much that when a song didn’t break into THE beat that all these songs do, I was caught off guard.
December
Made Kimchi Jjigae. Yum.
Croatia World Cup Music. So fun. Having songs for certain occasions and getting pumped up are both extremely underrated.
See also: Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home)
South Korea advances with a stoppage time winner against Portugal. Top 3 heart-rate moment of the year for sure.
Croatia’s knocks out favorites Brazil and reaches 2nd straight semifinals. 4 million people; 2nd and 3rd in the last two World Cups; ho-hum.
PC: Me
LA Day Trip. Drove up and down from San Diego. Went around Venice, Koreatown and Griffith Park. Can’t imagine living there with all the traffic and homeless people, but so much stuff to see and so much food to try.
Seolleongtang at Han Bat Seol Lung Tang in LA. Yum.
Reaching the OC2 (fantasy football) Final for the first time in a decade. Can I win it all? We’ll have to wait for 2023 to find out.
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