2023 is starting to wrap up: Christmas music and commercials are on the airways, Christmas movies and specials are popping up, and a lot “Best Of/Recap Of 2023” lists are popping up. Here’s my recap:
Endings and Beginnings
Endings
One of the biggest ‘endings’ for me in ’23 was the ending of Team Trivia at Wicks on Baxter. For most of time from 2009, I would spend Tuesday nights at a local pizza place, helping to answer various questions on various topics, with a good soundtrack in the background and a very entertaining host in Turner. After my surgery in 2010, it took me 2 years before I returned. 2021 saw me go from a pretty regular player to a once-or-twice-a-month player, mainly because of lingering COVID fears and working a lot of OT. About 3 months ago, Wicks decided that Team Trivia wasn’t going to be in future plans and ended the tradition. I met some pretty cool people at Trivia, a lot of which I’m still in touch with. I may rejoin our team (who now plays on Wednesdays at Flanagan’s) in 2024 or look for a new spot. We shall see.
Another big ending was World of Warcraft. With Diablo IV, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice out, plus the cost of playing it, WoW kept falling further and further behind. With the heavy lack of playing with other members of the guild – if you weren’t a Raider, good luck getting people to quest or dungeon-run with you – I decided to cancel my subscription over the summer; however, I can’t rule out a return when the next expansion launches.
Beginnings
A new ‘beginning’ for me technically started in late December 2022: playing a Pep Band gig with the University of Louisville. During their Winter Break (late-mid December to early January), most of the students go home or, depending on how well the Volleyball and football teams are doing, are playing at post-season games. The Pep Band decided to invite all former member to come back at play at Men’s’ and Women’s’ home basketball games, alongside current students that are available. I played at one game in late ’22 and 3 in ’23 (2 Men’s, 1 Women’s). Even though I was worn out from it, I had a blast. For 2024, I’ll probably sign up for 1-3 games again, depending on my work schedule.
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Books
I only managed to get through 10 books this year (not counting the two I’m currently listening to). My favorite 4:
4. The Buried Goddess Saga 6: Word of Truth, by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle
3. The Grand Hotel, by Scott Kenemore
2. The Buried Goddess Saga 5: War of Men, by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle
1. Horrorstör, by Grady Hendrix
Podcasts
The reason for the lack of book readings (and listens): the amount of podcasts that I listened to in ’23. My favorites from this year:
Honorable Mention: Dungeons of Drakkenheim. A Dungeons & Dragons Actual Play podcast by the Canada-based game reviewers, The Dungeon Dudes. 3 characters are traveling through Drakkenheim, a city that was devastated by a falling meteor, 15 years prior. I started this in early ’23, picked it back up for a few weeks during the summer, and got back into it a few weeks ago.
3. Dice, Camera, Action!, Season 1. This is a Dungeons & Dragons Actual Play podcast, where players play out a D&D campaign in real-time. This campaign was from 2015, lead by D&D Head Writer Chris Perkins. I enjoyed this campaign, mainly listening to it in the early months of 2023.
2. Black Dice Society, Season 1. This is also a Dungeons & Dragons Actual Play podcast, from 2021, but a little darker than your standard D&D sessions. B. Dave Walters, the DM, runs a cast of voice actors and YouTube players through the undead lands of Ravenloft, ruled by Vampire Lord Strahd. Very entertaining season!
1. Real Life Ghost Stories. Mainly on Spotify, this is hosted currently by Emma from Britain (her partner, Dave, passed away during the early seasons). The early seasons mixed in horror movie reviews with discussions on the paranormal; the last 4 years or so have mainly been ‘real’ ghost/demonic/paranormal encounters, sent in by users. Episodes are 2-5 stories each, 4-10 minutes per story. They are highly entertaining and some of them are pretty terrifying. My favorite of 2023!
Movies
These are my favorite watched movies:
5. As Above, So Below
4. It Follows
3. We Are Still Here
2. Howl
1. Malum
Health
My health took a few twists and turns in 2023. Weight-wise, I hovered between 200 and 210 pounds; at last weighing, I was 201. My INR stayed within the 2.5-3.5 range that my doctor wants, for almost all of the year (was 2.9 in late November). However, I was diagnosed as Type 2, possibly Insulin-Resistant, Diabetic. During a routine checkup in May, with my new doctor, my blood sugar was 401 (normal should be under 100) and my A1C was 12.0 (normal should be 6.2 and under). Needless to say, I was shocked. I fine-tuned my diet, cut back on most fast food, and tried to reign in unhealthy habits (I need to get back into fitness-shape). In October, my A1C was down to 9.0; in December, my blood sugar was down to 181. I can’t get my A1C checked again until February – I’m hoping it’s down under 8.0.
Also, my feet got uncomfortable enough to go to a doctor, especially my right foot. I’ve written about the summer PT before. I got a set of X-rays in September and an MRI in November. The MRI found a torn tendon in my ankle, multiple areas of Tendinitis, and Tenosynovitis in the tendon that connects the ankle to the lower leg.
It hurts as much as you think.
I have a set of custom-made orthotics, on the way, that I have to wear for 4-6 months. If there’s not significant improvement by then, I have to have surgery. Whatever happens, I need for this to get resolved in 2024 – it’s been an issue for too many months and years.
Before the issues with feet escalated, I participated in a fitness campaign, that friend invited me to, called “A Mile A Day”. Basically, we walked at least a mile per day, posted the results (in Facebook Messenger), and generally encouraged each other throughout May. I enjoyed it; since I was already walking 0.5-0.7 miles between work and the bus stop, I started taking longer routes to the bus stop, to get to the mile mark.
The lack of any intimacy – from kisses to sex – went over 12 years in 2023. Might be TMI, but it is my blog. I tried Tinder and Bumble, off and on, throughout the year. Most of what I saw were bots (Tinder), women who were very judgmental when it comes to money and possessions, or women looking for something long-term (which I’m not).
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Sporting Events
The biggest sports stories, for me:
5. Aaron Rodgers: Rodgers left the Green Bay Packers in January, after a near-miraculous run towards the playoffs. He signed with the New York Jets in August, played 4 snaps in Game #1, then ruptured his Achilles tendon. What a year
4. UofL WBB vs. UK: my first UofL-UK WBB game, in person, in at least 12 years. UofL won!
3. Kalitta wins World Title: Doug Kalitta, a SIX TIME runner-up, finally won a Top Fuel World Title. He won it in the Final Round of the last event of the season.
2. Joey Votto’s Last AB: Joey Votto’s contract ran out in Cincinnati.
1. UofL FB vs. Notre Dame: Then-#25 UofL beat then-#10 Notre Dame, ending ND’s 30-game ACC winning streak!
Board Games
; ; Hero Quest; ; ; Rise of the Drow; The Quick and the Undead; Earth;
I didn’t attend as many Game Nights as in previous years. However, between them and Gen Con, I did get to play some pretty cool and interesting games in ’23. Here were my favorites:
Honorable Mention: Hero Quest. I put it here because ‘nostalgia’ would tempt me to put it at the top of the list. Despite that, the gameplay still was fun.
5. Exploding Kittens! – you discard or pass cards along until you draw the Exploding Kitten card, then you are out. The artwork is silly but good, and the game play is fairly simple.
4. Queen By Midnight – you and up to 5 others are vying for the Queendom, before the clock strikes midnight. You can form (and break!) alliances with other players, via legal and ‘shady’ deals, or you could try to kill everyone else. Demoed this game at Gen Com.
3. Dead Man’s Cabal – you, as a Necromancer, are trying to raise bodies and creatte the best party in town. A very fun play that I played at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023.
2. Ronin Dice – a game that I played at Gen Con. You lead a team of ‘Ronin’ (d10 dice) into battle; you try to take out the other Ronin with d10 combinations and high rolls. A quick but fun game that is supposed to be published in September 2024.
1. Wandering Towers – played at Gen Con. You are trying to get all 4 of your Wizards into the Black Tower, where the best wizard party is happening, while slowing down the other wizards with moving towers. Would highly recommend it!
Video Games
5. World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
4. Madden ’22
3. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
2. Diablo IV: I was very happy with the Main Campaign (‘Normal’ difficulty); the Season 1 story felt repetitive, but was still fun. I think I will start a ‘Nightmare’ campaign in early 2024.
1. Baldur’s Gate 3: may now be my overall favorite video game! There is so much to do and explore, with a ton of dialogue options and character choices!
Overall
2023 was a decent year; it started pretty well, was really good during the middle and most of Fall, but took a dip in the last 2 months. if I had to rank my favorite/best moments of 2023, it would be:
5. Horror Movie Month (October): https://anthonyzuri.blog/2023/09/30/2023-days-of-horror/ I ended up watching a lot of new movies, more than what I listed in my last blog post. This was my probably my favorite Horror Movie Month I’ve done.
4. UofL Alumni Band/Homecoming (October): this was the 2nd time that I marched with the Alumni Band. We had about 25 total alumni and former band members return. In addition, a very good friend – Amanda D. – joined me for the game, which ended up being a Louisville shutout over then-#20 Duke. A GREAT day!
3. Dayton Air Show (late July): I got to go to Dayton with my younger brother and my Dad. The weather was warm but a rogue rain front moved through, cooling things down. We got pretty good spots on the main lawn. It was a fun show!
2. Ren Faire (late July): the following weekend after Dayton, I went to my very first Ren Faire, in Eminence, KY. The DM of one of my DnD campaigns decided to hold a Scavenger Hunt at Ren Faire: 6 clues were hidden throughout the faire; in order, we had to decipher and find whatever each clue pointed to. The first to finish won a set of pretty nice dice. I actually teamed up with the woman who plays our Paladin and we won (well, she won lol)! She got the dice but bought me a set of Pirate Dice1 A fun first outing for me!
1. Gen-Con (August): a gaming convention held in Indianapolis, on the first weekend in August. It is 4 days of game demos (board, card, etc.), art displays, how-to’s on everything from crocheting to crafting to game-building, some concerts, HUNDREDS of game plays and seminars (including D&D and movies), and vendors. So much fun!
Here are some videos of Gen-Con:
Day One (sorry about the water mark)
Day Two
Days Three and Four
I don’t have any profound resolutions for 2024. I would like to hang out with friends more, especially if it’s outside of the Louisville area. I will try to get back into 2019 and 2020 shape. I will continue to work on getting a new career, where I’m not treading water with every pay check. Read more books. That’s really about it.
The Nexus 