What’s 2024 Going to Be About?

With the election looming all year, 2024 will be a referendum on the state of the country and the mood of the people. Given how much is at stake, I do need to get involved, either through finance or activism, preferably locally. Pending the outcome, the year could finish quite well or quite terribly, much like my work situation. Unlike previous years, I’m in it to win it, not just in the office but for San Francisco, my arts scene, and my friends—quite an attitude renewal away from the previous desolatory years that pushed for shelter and escape.

Macroeconomic conditions sour, especially in biotech, strapping faltering companies for cash. The economy will improve, perhaps even as soon as spring warms the ground, but employment may be scarily tenuous for months.

My long breaks tend to trigger coincident work drama that festers in my absence. I returned early January from a varied vacation cycling Key West, canoeing the Everglades, and beaching in Puerto Rico. The company’s head of finance told the shocked leadership team that the company is out of money. I likely need to lay off one quarter of my employees as soon as the end of the month. I’ve never before named names and issued consoling goodbyes to grieving coworkers. Almost better to get fired than architect a reduction in force. I’m learning from loss.

With the CEO potentially moving on, a cabal of 5 run the remnants, including myself who has been at the company longer than the other 4 combined. I plan to inject my leadership philosophy to tell everyone what to do. Scary, however, that my objectives may sink or swim the 2025 employment futures of over a hundred people. Two more have joined my Technology Team, but I lost one to a departure, leaving me at 29 souls to shepherd.

It will be the year of work. This is the job I may have always wanted, the apogee of a career in chemistry, computer programming, teaching, and planning. I lean in to get the details as correct as I can. Every job after this one may be (should be!) smaller.

Although I don’t think I’ll be working twelve-hour days, six days a week—I have been at this company for five years so I know my way around—the attendant stress and interpersonal navigations isolate me back home on weekends to rest staring at the non-confrontational walls. This is not the year to take on big art projects or plan extensive adventures.

I have worn out installing large LED art pieces, not necessarily that I’m done, but that I’m moving on to other creative instantiations that are smaller and less intensive to set up. The kids these days have perfected better technology, making my antiquated work look janky (at least to me). I will finish this year with 16 Small Squares, constructed from breaking apart 4 Large Squares that were always far too heavy for me. I thought I would learn laser cutting for a cleaner look, but I lack the initiative and contacts. Adam can help me cut the wood for the sixteen frames.

I have already been asked to light a path through the woods for a northern California music festival in May. Blitzy and I need to figure out Dragon storage; the two Dragons may suffer ignoble dumpster deaths as I can’t store the 10 sections. I resume tinkering with inflatables, potentially to transition towards more portable pieces. I have so many Burning Man costumes that I don’t foresee making many more, however it’s festivals and street fairs that inspire new looks.

Goal eventually is to hold on to pieces that I can transport either within or on top of my car, speaking of which, to conserve cash, my company canceled at the end of November the little van that took a few of us from San Francisco into work each day. I’m carpooling for now with garrulous James, but I rather not wear out his generosity. I need to buy a car again.

My 1998 Toyota Corrolla, the Roar Taxi, died roughly in 2015, eight years ago, after more than 200,000 miles of service. I bought that zippy car in 2017 for just $3,300. I start this year investigating so many potential cars, winnowing the field to two types: a $40k all electric Hyundai Ionic 6 or a combustion engine $25k Honda Civic hatchback. With few used Ionics available and the price much higher, I have chosen instead the Honda, reserving a $30k white, souped-up LA-meets-anime car at the Colma Carmax dealership for pick up on January 25. So weird to have this expensive albatross of a possession, yet not a single employee at my company takes public transit to get to work. I guess I can do more road adventures for 2024, especially camping.

I have tickets to attend the Ever After music festival in Northern California in May that sadly conflicts with Santa Cruz’s regional burn. I’ll miss as well February’s Love Burn in Miami. I’m on the fence about Burning Man: there be tickets and a camp available, but the preparation takes so much time.

I don’t foresee leaving the state in the first half of the year. It will be work, work, work. Travel will be back loaded into the second half of the year. I want to return to Europe this summer, but not to slammed Paris or Berlin. Let’s instead bus through the Baltics  (Helsinki, Tallin, Riga, and Vilnius) or try the Balkans in June. Niece Sasha departs at the end of January to stay in Osaka for the year. Her two dumb uncles would like to visit her on their journey from Tokyo to Seoul. I still want to get to Argentina and New Zealand.

I need to stay healthy for 51. I resumed running again to join Adam on the Sunday, February 4 half marathon through Golden Gate Park. After two weeks of constant drinking in Florida with my brother, I’m embarking on a difficult dry January. I need to mend my relationship with alcohol. I will lift weights twice a week in the dinky, condemned gym at work. I should see my doctor about my muscle atrophy, oddly tied to stress levels. I started meditating again via a phone app.

I bought so much last year: phone, computer, clothing, stuff. This year will be a paring down and cleaning out. I’ll be sad to trash the gear and pieces of my forties, but living small enables moving lightly and opens space for the new.

I continue Tuesday night Dungeons and Dragons with my work colleagues. My computer gaming is taken with Todd and my brothers on Solasta. When the current cycle ends, we’ll pick up Baldur’s Gate. I should play more board games with friends. I would like to be a regular at a bar, perhaps The Stud whenever it reopens on Folsom Street.

I owe my parents several short visits. I worry about my Mom, my Dad, and my older brother.

It will be a quiet 2024, full of work, reflection, quiet growth, and contentment.