2023 has finally come to an end. So, I guess it's time to reflect on what a strange time these last twelve months have been.

I cubed a lot, racking up over 6000 timed solves, my first official average, two new puzzles, and a shiny new PB of 12.71 seconds.

I took a picture of a partial solar eclipse…

…a supernova…

…and various other things in space!

I got really into pop punk :)

I ended a relationship :(

I went to DEFCON again, and I met some neat people.

After a torturous applications cycle of rejection after rejection, I finally started college.

It miraculously snowed in the Bay Area, so of course I built a snowman.

I gave blood for the first time!

And most importantly, through all the triumphs and tribulations… I tweeted like my life depended on it.
^{art by @87_G0D}

This might be the part where I whine about my various misgivings about this past year, but I figure that the time has come to set them aside before they are committed to the historical record. So I'm just going to say that I still think I got a lot out of this year. I met a lot of friends, made a number of cherished memories, and discovered a lot of new interests that I would have never anticipated. And really, isn't that what it's all about?

Upcoming Blogposts §

In writing this blogpost, I ended up referencing last year's reflection, and wow—I didn't do very well on my goal of finishing all the incomplete posts I listed. Oops. Here's the status update on a couple of those:

• Bitcoin Explained: dropped for lack of interest.
• ExFAT Driver in Assembly: dropped because writing real mode assembly is pretty painful.
• IP over Audio Jack: I wrote a brand new implementation using WebAudio, which was quite fun! Unfortunately the receiver has some problems, and I can't really test the program without two devices, so I probably won't be able to work on it for some time. But still… progress! I really want to finish this eventually.
• Analyzing Internet Background Noise: still on my TODO list, but low priority.
• Optimally Solving Rubik's Cube: I will write this one when I figure out how to actually do it.
• Minecraft Server Census 2.0: I did end up writing a new scanner and re-mapping IPv4 space, but the results were not really different enough to warrant a new post. So, I guess I kind of completed this one? I dunno.

Along the way, I did end up getting a lot of new blogpost ideas, some of which I am currently working on. Time has been hard to come by ever since starting college, but I still think that blogging is just a great way to share cool stuff and I want to keep doing it.

So.. stay tuned. Because there's always more to come :-)

Until next time,
Adrian