This was me, 2023

 I entered the year with one single thought screaming though my brain like a man on fire: "I HOPE TO ALL THE GODS THAT THIS'LL BE THE YEAR WHEN THINGS DON'T GO TO SHIT. PLEASE AND THANK YOU."

...well. I'm not dead. So I'll say that's a win at least.
Whatever. Lets get down to business.

   We mourn the loss of the incredible Sinéad O'Connor, Tom Wilkinson, Andre Braugher, Tina Turner, Ryan Siew, and Barry Humphries. Thank you, you'll be missed and you'll be remembered.

   As for the rest of this Year Review I'm going to keep it short and sweet because this year has been somewhat of a mental car crash with some glitter sprinkled on top to make it look appetising.

Two gingers in a mirror

   During the best annual bookworm event, Bokrea (book sale), a total of six new friends joined the ranks of the home library. However, because of how the economy seems set to starve us of everything beyond the bare basics of surviving, these literary friends are very nearly the only books I've managed to aquire this year. However, since I haven't had time to read as much as during the 'Rona Years this might actually be a good thing - it forces me to read what I've already accumulated.
   This doesn't at all mean I haven't treated myself to experiences that'll take my mind off of how terrible the world is.

   Henry Rollins was punk rock personafied when I saw him perform his spoken word show, but sadly, Dylan Moran lived up to the Drunk Irishman prejudice.

   2023 was the year of me experiencing a wide array of my favourite bands; Faun, Raised Fist, Electric Cowboy, Mimikry, Ice Nine Kills, LOK, Perkele, Fit For An Autopsy and Whitechapel were all guests of my wonderfully ugly home town of Göteborg. For the first time since 2019 I was finally feeling physically safe enough to travel which meant that I not only went abroad but also went to my first ever music festival - GRASPOP. It was huge. And amazing. And fantastic.

   For Midsummer my best friend threw a Hobbit Party, and what a party it was! We ate ourselves rotund, played games and laughed all the while enjoying each others nerdy costumes. As for all other national holidays, and my birthday, they were nothing out of the ordinary. Still hate Krimmus.

   This year I've ended unsatisfactory relationships and made way on other, hopefully more felicitous ones. I've discovered more about myself in relation to others and taken a hit or two to the heart along the way. Honest communication and expressing my needs have been both supressed and forcefully unearthed themes that'll have to live with me and seriously develop further in the next coming year.

 
Best of 2023 experiences:

Movies: I haven't been to the cimena even once this year but I've paid through the nose for several streaming services and so I hereby give you my favourite discoveries - Bullet Train, and The Gentlemen.
Shows: "Last of Us" has had me gasping all year. Pedro Pascal is a treasure.

Books: I read 53 books during 2023 and managed my goal of reading more litarature by non-male authors than the other way around. I was gifted "Legends & Lattes" by Travis Baldree for Krimmus last year and the story was so sweet and tender and just lovely. "The Girl With All the Gifts" by M.R. Carey had me reading at all hours of the day in anticipation for what was going to happen next. I continued the Between Earth and Sky series by Rebecca Roanhorse with "Fevered Star" and I loved it. I was absolutely in awe of Brian McClellans "Sins of Empire". The continuation of Wayfarers; "A Closed and Common Orbit" by Becky Chambers was fantastic and by the end a real tear-jerker.

Events: I've drastically upped my amount of social interactions; parties, concerts, dates, several beer festivals, Graspop, the Midsummer Hobbit Party, a book expo, all the while also managing to consistently work out. I bettered my personal best time running a 5k and feel stronger than I've felt since I was in my early twenties.

My hopes for 2024 are legion,

but I would like it if things just worked out.