2025 Visions and Intentions

Look back and looking forward. Time, within this journal, seemed to moved slowly back in 1999 and 2000 and 2001, and then faster and faster, with years skipped and months passed on by. Memory and experience have smeared out, across islands and deserts, mountains and forests, through the alleyways of cities and into homes and apartments I could never have imagined back when I was a teen.

Looking ahead to 2025, I have a lot of intentions. While some are ambitious, 2024 started as a rough year and worked out quite nicely. I’m hoping to replicate some of that in the year to come. First, I hope to make more progress in my writing.

This year, I’m going to publish. I’ll publish at least two short stories, or one story and another piece of writing somewhere, not counting the indie magazine I run. I’ve got two great contenders I love; one is my AI story, the other is my psychedelic horror short. I also still have my Lovecraft coffee story to find a home for, though I’ve been trying for years now. I really feel it can find a home that will pay and give it its due, but so far no luck. I’m going to submit my novel to agents and publishers and try to get a contract, and I’m going to get there by writing up some new synopses and outlines to include with the submissions. I’ve already accomplished this for “The Witches of Camp Crescent Moon” and had my first rejection, but I think it’s fair to try for “The Dark Star Paradox” and “Death in the Cloud.” I’ve created these works but struggled to publish them, in part because academia crushed my soul a little bit.

This year I’m going to have technical achievements in physics, coding, technical writing, and engineering at my job. I want to do some good coding work for our lunar project and really help get one of our programs off the ground. I want to build skills, both in coding and AI, and will work at my coding to help make that happen. AI, certainly, is a complicated and powerful tool, but it’s not disappearing anytime soon, and I need to learn more about it (over what I already learned in grad school from the great Dr. Stills).

I’m going to have adventures with Gina and the cats. I’ll go on hikes with her and Jiffy, and we’ll explore some new forests, deserts, and museums. We’ll also go to Japan, and try to get back to Lakes of Fire.

Finally, it’s a big year for our relationship. We’re trying to have a kid, and we’re going to do our best to make that happen. I can’t say how it will work out, but Gina and I are hoping for a little girl, and will do whatever we can to try to welcome here to our cosmos, and our family.

It’s potentially a big year… wish me luck folks.