So as many of you might know, in 2021 I quit my job as a teacher as my teaching license expired. I hope to return to the profession some day down the road when I return to get my Master's Degree. But what you might not know is what I've been up to for the past two years. Well, I did so many things that I started making a list of everything and I realized I'd have to categorize them. For the travelling, I tried to include a list of memories/cities explored/areas/things seen from what I could remember off the top of my head (this list is mostly for me to read again later). This is everything I did that I thought was worth sharing, in addition to my usual shenanigans and traditions, of course.
I saved up my money for about three years to take this kind of time off and go on all these adventures.
Travel
2. Solo trip to Ireland (Swords, Dublin, Cork, Blarney Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Zoo, Immigration Museum, Phoenix Park)
3. Went on two disc golf road trips (once each summer, Idaho and Southern Utah)
4. Drove the PCH with my family (Seattle, Space Needle, Tillamook, Redwoods, Canon Beach, Glass Beach, San Francisco, Pier 39, Alcatraz)
5. New York/Boston/New England trip (Central Park, Staten Island Ferry, Yankees Game, Niagara Falls, The Met, Times Square, Pizza for every meal, Brooklyn Bridge, Green Day/Weezer/Interrupters concert, Top of the Rock, the Comedy Cellar, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Albany, Letchworth State Park, Cooperstown, Montpelier Vermont, Ben and Jerry's, Middlebury, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Portsmouth, Boston, Cape Cod, Plymouth Rock (lol), Freedom Trail, Fenway Park, cannolis, Boston Commons)
6. Dallas trip (Spring Creek BBQ, Cowboys game, Rangers Game, State fair, JFK museum)
7. Vegas wedding trip (Pat's wedding, Seven Magic Mountains)
8. Florida/Alabama/Mississippi/Georgia trip (Disney, Homestead, Everglades, Florida Keys, Key West, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Tallahassee, UF, Miami Beach, Atlanta, Braves game, Aquarium, Coke Museum, Savannah, Fort Pulaski, Tybee Island, Biloxi Beach, Montgomery/state capitol, Auburn, Mobile)
9. Seattle/Vancouver trip (Everett, Clinton Ferry, Queen Elizabeth Park, Kitsilano Beach, Ragnar race)
10. South Dakota/Denver roadtrip with the family (Mount Rushmore, Bear country, Rockies Game)
11. Saw the Utes win the Pac-12 Championship in Vegas (twice, both times won money on bets)
12. Went to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena twice (New Years in Long Beach, then Disneyland)
13. Albuquerque roadtrip (Hot Air Balloon Fiesta, Breaking Bad sights, grandma, old town)
-Detroit/Ohio/Bowling Green (1st place)
-Edmonton (1st place... kind of)
-San Jose / San Francisco (2nd place)
-LA (twice)
-Phoenix (1st place)
-Tucson
-Las Vegas
Goals Achieved (some easier than others)
1. Wrote and edited my first book (94,000 words, it'll be out soon). This is honestly what I spent most of my time on besides travelling. I like how it turned out
2. I've also started a second book and wrote about a third of it so far. Between all my writing projects, my writing has improved much more than I expected
3. Re-wrote the old Detention mini-series (that I started back in like...2007), wrote four episodes of an internet show script, and wrote an episode of the mysteriously titled "SLC Project"
4. Retaught myself the curriculum of Calculus 1 & 2, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations. Oh and Analysis 1 & 2 🤮
5. Increased my one rep max bench press from 240 to 310 pounds and power clean to 200 pounds (additionally developed some muscle groups I had been neglecting)
6. Dropped 15 pounds of fat, added 15 pounds of muscle
7. Climbed Mt. Olympus 😵💫
8. Climbed King's Peak backpacking (Utah's highest point, 13,528')
9. Trained all summer and ran my first Ragnar race
10. Won my fantasy football league back to back
11. Played quidditch at nationals in Salt Lake City
12. Beat Super Metroid, Earthbound (SNES) Majora's Mask, and Portal, and BOTW for the first time. And many hours on Pokemon Unite, but you can't beat that game obviously
13. Visited Horseshoe bend
14. Wrote an article about my top 100 favorite movies
Relaxing/Fun Stuff/Catching Up on Life
1. Went to a Jazz playoff game for the first time2. Won front row seats to see Hamilton
3. Watched every episode of:
-Malcolm in the Middle
-Ted Lasso
-Avatar the Last Airbender
-Jury Duty
4. Watched dozens of old movies I always wanted to see but never had time for (most especially every Wes Anderson movie, but also movies like the Karate Kid trilogy, Donnie Darko, Apocalypse Now/Hearts of Dakeness, ET, Mel Brooks movies, Eternal Sunshine, Tropic Thunder, Terminator, to name a few). And I rented them from my local video store the year before it went out of business for good
5. Went to the doctor and dentist for the first time in 7 years. Yeah, I had one cavity.
6. Went to nearly a dozen Twilight Concerts (Big Wild, Group Love, Bleachers, Modest Mouse, Fitz and the Tantrums, Local Natives, Beach House 😴, Flume, Chvrches) as well as a few non-Twilight shows like Lit and Green Day/Weezer/The Interrupters
7. Went through all my handwritten notes, thoughts, writings, poems, ideas, notebooks, etc. and compiled them all to be accessible and useful
8. Gave speeches at Dakota and Cameron's weddings
9. Threw Dakota a bachelor party (boating, burgers, Solitude disc golf, the Pi, poker)
10. Finally finished writing and editing that Modest Mouse article I had been working on for literally years. It's over 16,000 words long.
12. Marathoned every Infinity-era Marvel Movie in order and ranked them (to be published)
13. Spent tons and tons of time at home and with my family
14. Wrote my first two songs
Well, I guess I should probably go get a job now or something.
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