2023

I always enjoy doing these year end roundup posts as there are few things I love more than a good old fashioned greatest hits compilation and that’s always essentially what they’ve been for me, but 2023 was different, quite different in fact…

I really have to look back even further to 2022 as the year that truly helped prepare me for 2023. A handful of circumstances that were essentially playing pretend laid the unforeseen groundwork for something that is most definitely quite real. I began a journey on January 12, 2023 that is continuously ongoing and will not be described in any detail in this post, but know this, this adventure isn’t any blog post, this is a book. My entire outlook on my life transformed over the course of the past twelve months and the way in which I view this world has been altered for what I firmly believe to be the better.

With this cryptic and mysteriousness now having been said, I really and truly must thank the handful of friends that helped me through it all. Without Amanda, Jamie, Katie, California Melissa, Florida Nancy, and my phenomenal peers at work, I would’ve been lost. Their words, wisdom, and guidance during what has been the most incredible of circumstances has helped me persevere through this labyrinth of uncertainty and I’m grateful and thankful to each of them – and PLENTY of others – in ways that even my expansive vocabulary cannot fully express. Thank you to each of you, you know who you are.

Alright, so let’s say we drop all this peculiarity and get on with that old fashioned greatest hits compilation post I mentioned loving so much…!

I took seven trips in 2023! SEVEN! That’s most definitely a personal best and one I hope to be able to surpass one year at some point. I kicked the year off right with a visit to “The Happiest Place on Earth,” Disneyland! Then come March, I went and visited my cousin in New York City! May took me to Colorado to see my other cousin graduate university! June had me returning to the Southern California on a tour-de-force of seeing my loved ones and beloved locations! In July, Melissa, Nancy, Kamber and I went to Walt Disney World for what was both a sweaty and sweet time! September brought me Jacksonville, Florida where I got to visit my near and dear friend Florida Nancy! Then wrapping it all up, Melissa, Nancy, and I all went out to Los Angeles where we met up with Kamber and Charles and saw the Holy Trinity of Latin Music live in concert! I feel beyond blessed to have been able to do all this traveling as there is little I love to do more than experience the world.

Regarding my blog, I didn’t surpass 2022 in total views, however, I did manage to do so in viewers! A whopping 5,055 unique visitors came to verybeneficial.net and I couldn’t be more thrilled! This blew past 2022’s former best by more than 200 individuals! This milestone was in part to having shared what is now my most viewed post of all time, Cutesville Connections: The Downtown Diner. This showcase of a favorite local eatery gave me over 1,500 unique views! Interestingly enough, my second most viewed post of the year is a throwback from 2020 that spotlights a local urban legend, Acid Bridge and the Seven Gates of Hell. I found it personally humorous as the views for this one swelled up in the second half of the year that I had ended up taking one trip for each gate of Hell. Isn’t it Ironic, don’t you think?

With that lyrical tie in I wanted to share with you all my Top Five most listened to artists and songs of the year. We all know I’m obsessed with my music. My goodness do I love it so much and these artists and jams were the ones that propelled me through the past twelve months more than any others…

On the cinematic front, there were several movies I loved this past year including The Haunted Mansion and Barbie. Scream 6 and Thanksgiving became instant horror classics for me upon release, and I loved them both dearly, but overall, there wasn’t any one film that stood out to me super spectacularly. Plenty of good ones that I enjoyed, but nothing that will live on in my heart forever. Which is fine, this always isn’t going to be the case.

Well, I feel like this about wraps it all up. So, as always, THANK YOU so much for viewing! I appreciate you greatly! Please feel free to leave a comment below as I love reading and responding to them! I hope you all had a wonderful 2023 and I cannot wait to see what 2024 has in store for each of us! I’ll return soon with another all-new post, but until then, I wish you all, all the best!