New year. The second day of it reaches its end meaning I am aching and tired after my first day of work this year. I’m just writing to lay out a few thoughts about last year and this one.

Reflecting on twenty-twenty-two, I managed to get to five platinum trophies on PlayStation. The last one being Ghost Of Tsushima just before Christmas, I also did Monkey King: Hero Is Back, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Batman Arkham Asylum and I already had one of the South Park games. I got a few full Gamerscores on Xbox too. On a less cheerful note, I was made redundant from my job and spent three months out of work. However, having taken a different view I’ve found work in the retail industry which – so far – isn’t as bad as I had expected, it may even be fair to say I enjoy it.

This Christmas was one of the better ones I can remember with such a joyful atmosphere and everybody seeming to be happy for once without much fighting. I got some decent stuff to do with my hobbies and interests like the Miles Morales game that I’ll probably write about, plus I gave gifts that felt right rather than rushed for once.

Present day. Up until Christmas I was on a temp contract but from what I understand I am now permanent staff (woo!). I do what I can, taking pride in what I do, even when it doesn’t feel good, I just think of my favourite Sten quote which keeps me strong. The buses constantly let me down so I walk a lot more these days, I’m physically fitter than I used to be but could probably take care of myself better if I’m totally honest.

Aims, goals, expectations and a resolution. This year I want to keep myself in work which seems obvious but after one massive setback I don’t believe anything’s secure, maybe increased hours at some point would be good but that’s out of my control. I’ll keep drifting aimlessly through life until I find something to really inspire me and as for a resolution, I don’t want to burden myself with the stress of attempting any real achievement so it’s probably best to get a gaming target again because at least it pushes me towards having fun. I own two mainline Pokémon games on Switch so I’ll do a Monotype run using Normal Types because they’re fairly common, Sword should be fairly easy because the game is but Brilliant Diamond has a tough Fighting Gym and probably the toughest Elite Four plus Champion meaning I’ll be challenged as well, I might even try write about it in some story-like way.

I’m always looking to get into writing more so maybe next year I’ll focus on that but for now I’ve just got to welcome myself to twenty-twenty-three. Happy new year everyone!