It's been a long time, but I want to do a review of 2023. Just to preface for context: In 2022, I started university and got a job there, quit the dishwashing job I had gotten in 2021, got a research internship, started dating my partner, submitted/wrote abstracts for different research conferences, and my dad won custody of my youngest two brothers.

January -

Courses I took: Undergraduate Internship, Psychological Assessment, History of Psychology, and Evolutionary Psychology.

I went to my friends' new house in Austin (where I was invited to move to with my partner) for the first time for dinner for New Year's.

We had two days of all-staff training at work. At my campus rec job, my boss was super toxic and he considered competitive games to be a great form of team-building. He also made us go on a hike.

I submit the last couple of abstracts for some research conferences. I had already been accepted to a prominent regional psychology conference at this point, so I started working on my poster for it.

My partner moved to our friends' house, about an hour from where I lived. I began to visit most weekends, and my partner would work every other day on campus, and came down on the days I ran DnD and Magic the Gathering for my job.

At this point I was planning on moving in with my partner at the end of the year at the latest, or the end of my undergrad at the earliest. However, certain factors made me change my mind (this is foreshadowing for later).

February -

I got accepted into the A&M chain's conference, and I was the only student selected at my school for a conference at the state Capitol building. For the A&M conference, I had to start making a PowerPoint presentation, as everyone in the social sciences has to give an oral presentation at the conference while the other sciences get posters.

I went to San Antonio with my partner, Austin, and Kirstin to celebrate Austin's birthday. It was pretty fun to meet his family, and I really like his mom since I met her a few months prior.

I also got a cartilage stud piercing :)

February does not stand out to me too much but I was busy with classes, work, and preparing for the conferences. However, I got to meet my research advisor in person for the first time as she came onto campus to coach us with our research presentations.

March-

I went to the A&M conference, which was hosted at the campus in Galveston. I rode there with three other students and my school's Vice President of Research. Two others who were presenting went separately from us, one of which is a good friend of mine.

My partner arrived that same day (he had to leave a bit later because of work). I "snuck" off to his hotel room, and my friend (who is also really good friends with him) caught me and teased us about it.

If I recall correctly, I gave my presentation on day two. A member of my audience grilled me about the difference between race and ethnicity when I was answering questions. My partner and my friend were kind of pissed about the person who did that.

I met a lot of cool people and learned a lot at that conference. It was a really good time, despite nerves and that person. All the presenters got to go to the aquarium to see all the animals and have dinner there.

One day just before Spring Break started, I had a short all-staff training at work. My boss made us do a game where we stood on a blanket and tried to turn it over onto the other side without touching it with our ands or removing our feet from it. A coworker I very much did not like grabbed onto me to try to keep me from falling, which I very much did not need. I felt very violated.

That same day, I went to the local game store to pick up some card sleeves and a card box, and when I got home my mom had had a massive argument with her husband and decided to take me out to dinner.

After dinner, we went to Good Will, where I bought two trench coats and a couple of other things. Then, on the way home I finally told her that I wanted to move out and live with my partner. I thought she would be mad at me, but to my surprise she told me that she totally supports me.

That same weekend, I got to stay over at my partner's place for the first time. It wasn't planned, but I had went to a market with my friend and we stayed out late so she asked me to stay there so I wouldn't drive tired. I had had a major argument with my mom's husband that morning anyway and wasn't eager to go back after he called me and my mom crazy, and said a bunch of other bullshit about my mom.

A couple of weeks later, I went to the regional conference in the DFW area, and I drove myself there. I presented a poster, which was considerably easier than the oral presentation. My research advisor actually got to make it to this one. I presented on day one of the conference, tuckered myself out with the sensory overload of it all as I went to look at/watch different presentations. I also had an early start, as I had to present during the first half hour of the conference. I got to go to dinner at a Greek restaurant with my advisor, and student researcher who also worked with my advisor and her husband.

My partner also got a new job doing IT at a private college in Austin. I was happy and proud of him, but I was kind of upset because I wouldn't get to spend as much time with him since it meant he couldn't come down for DnD and Magic.

April-

I started staying at my partner/friends' place most weekends, and avoiding my parents' house as much as I could since I couldn't stand being there.

That month, I went to the conference at the Austin Capitol building, and it was my first time going there. I had a good time even though my partner, none of my friends, nor my mom could make it to the conference. Kelique' had started his job and Austin traffic is hell, especially downtown.

I also applied to a few research jobs, all of which I was turned down for. I ended up scoring an interview for a volunteer position at Austin.

May-
I started preparing to move and quit my campus rec job. I decided to move in June, so I could work on finding a new job while finishing up school.

I went to the Hippo Campus concert with my friend/future roommate, which was a lot of fun.

I got sick Memorial Day weekend and staying with my partner then, while our friends were in the DFW area visiting.

I also trained my replacement DM in the ways of mastering the dungeon along with a very intelligent player who started hanging out at the school a lot.

I had the interview for the volunteer research position I had mentioned, but I didn't get it. I was heartbroken, because the research experience would be very helpful for grad school applications. My research advisor reassured me that my experience looks very good on paper already, and it's harder to get these positions compared to grad school.

My school hosted a research banquet, which I went to with my mom and partner, as I was a nominee for the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Scholarship, which I was awarded with. I am so proud of my accomplishments!

I had my last hoorah at Campus Rec with my DnD players, with a game of Honey Heist. The bear party successfully went from the land on our campus all the way to Austin Honey Fest, stealing a jackpot.

June -

Courses I took: Human Sexuality and Health Psychology.

I moved in with my partner and our friends. My roommate and friend, Austin, started working at the same college my partner and his girlfriend/my friend/roommate (Kirstin) work at.

I was left at the house along with the dogs most of the day, but I worked on my class work and job hunting. I applied for a lot of jobs on LinkedIn but didn't get any job interviews.

I then applied for a job opening at the college everyone worked at, as an enrollment counselor. I got a job interview. I had applied previously, in March, but they had removed the job posting after Austin and I had applied. Anyway, the job interview went really well!

At the end of the month, the four of us left for the DFW to go sell fireworks for Kirstin's family, who set up and run a fireworks stand and a shaved ice stand side by side every year.

July-

Our time in DFW was chaotic, to say the least. Some of it is TMI so I won't go into details, but some of it was frightening, some of it was hilarious, and some of it was adorable. We stayed with Kirstin's grandparents, who are hilarious and so so kind.

Her grandparents recently got a puppy named Whiskey, and we ended up going to check out Whiskey's litter mates. Austin picked out his sister, Biscuit.

We worked with Kirstin's great uncle, who loved to mess with us (and me especially because I take everything at face value). We also got to meet Kirstin's parents, her sister, her sister's shitty boyfriend, and his three-year-old son.

Every night, we got back to Kirstin's grandparents pretty tired, but we would watch two movies or so before going to sleep. We watched all of the Cars movies, and a couple of others.

July 4th, we got our payment of $220 each. We were kind of miffed about this, since Kirstin's uncle gave another family (who were rude as hell) priority at the stand over us, and Kirstin, Austin, and my partner had all taken PTO to be there for the days that weren't the 4th.

July 5th, we returned home. The scary thing had ended that morning. We went to Slovak's on the way back for snacks. We listened to the Mama Mia 2 sound track in the car. After we got home, I got a call saying that I got the job! We then spent our earnings at the game store. It was a pretty good day.

I started the new job on July 17th, and finished my final semester of undergrad. I also got a tattoo of a neuron on my left shoulder, the same time my partner got his first tattoo too.

Kirstin and I also got to go see Jinx Monsoon, a two-time winner of RuPaul's Drag Race. She was FANTASTIC.

We also started playing DnD Spelljammer with two friends who did not live with us.

August -

I completed my training for my job, and things kicked into gear.

I graduated, and my aunt came down to visit and my brothers got to be home for my graduation. We got to walk through the school for the ceremony. Then, afterwards, I went to brunch with my partner and his parents. After that, my partner and I went to go spend time at the lake with my family.

The day after that, my partner and I went with my mom and my aunt to get our nails done. Before that, we went to lunch with my aunt and my brothers.

Baldur's Gate 3 released, and I got my partner to help me build a PC. Not just for BG3, but mostly BG3.

We had a get-together for my partner

I also started working on contacting potential PhD advisors, and got very stressed out.

September -

Kirstin started looking for new jobs, and even went to New York to visit her friend who moved over there and to have a job interview.

My partner and I started apartment-hunting, as we anticipated that Kirstin would find a new job and move out of state with Austin. We found a place we really loved and signed on.

My manager's shih-tzu had shi-weenie puppies, and I really wanted one but my manager wanted to keep them together.

Lucy was also sick for a week and a half, but I took her to the vet and everything looked good so they gave her shots and antibiotics and she's been better since.

October-

I hit goal for enrollment for the new quarter at the college, and had to turn around and get started all over again. I started working for a new program.

I narrowed down my choices for schools down to one. Very risky, but I didn't have the bandwidth to apply to other schools, nor did the other schools seem to fit very well with my interests.

I worked diligently on my statement of purpose in between work, BG3, and packing.

I also started my work from home days, and I even went to my work place's graduation.

My partner and I moved into our new apartment, and Austin and Kirstin ended up staying where they already were after all.

I turned 23 a couple of days after we moved. We were going to go to a dedicated gluten free restaurant to celebrate, but they closed the day prior.

For Halloween at work, we had a Barbie theme, and it was a blast.

November

This month went by way too quickly. My partner and I got adjusted to our new place, and planned to host Friendsgiving.

I got asked to start working financial aid, and I agreed. There's no pay jump, but the new work will be stimulating

I had a fellow enrollment counselor get terminated from her position. That same day, I met up with my mom for antique shopping and dinner.

We hosted Friendsgiving the week before Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun! We had friends and coworkers show up and bring food.

The next week was Thanksgiving. We went to my family's thanksgiving and grabbed the Christmas decorations from my mom's house. Then we went to my partner's parents' place, where he was put to work by his dad and I watched Christmas Vacation with his mom.

That weekend, I submit my PhD application.

The next week or so, I had another coworker get fired. He started two weeks after I did, and he wasn't picking up anything with enrollment. We had to stop work from home days because we were so understaffed. It was kind of jarring, because my coworker decorated his cubicle that morning and had packed everything up and left that afternoon when the rest of us were in a meeting.

December-

This month has been a blur. My coworkers and I had to adjust to being understaffed. My financial aid training had been postponed until January because of this. We also had to really push people to get everything to enroll, which is harder closer to the holidays.

I had a side throat for a week, then had a stuffy nose for a few days after, as well as fatigue. I tested negative for covid, at least!

My work hosted a really fancy Christmas party, and I got to dress up in a sparkly gown. There was food, a raffle with a lot of cool prizes, and then me and my work team stayed until the end to dance. Some of the dancing got raunchy, with one of my coworkers grinding his butt on his girlfriend XD

My partner applied for an internal position for regional IT, and he got through two interviews, but he didn't get the job. I'm really really proud of him, though, and I know he'll get something better later.

I also had an interview with a potential grad advisor. I don't think I did that well, but I'll see how things go when the school sends acceptances/denials in February.

For Christmas, we had Austin and Kirstin over almost all day a few days before to play magic, open gifts, decorate cookies, and have Christmas dinner. I caught the sweet potato casserole on fire, despite swearing to have a good sweet potato casserole.

Today, my partner and I went to visit his friend and his girlfriend. We tried Lorcana, the Disney card game, and met their dog Dallas and their cat Loki. We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.

I'll be at work tomorrow through Friday, then on NYE there will be a party with drinks and gambling.

I don't have too many goals for the New Year, but I want to get back to the gym more often, get into grad school (whether it's the PhD program that starts in the Fall, or the master's program that starts in the Summer), and try to create more.

I think a big lesson for this year is that the Universe will not give without taking away, and will not take away without giving. You can feel ready for something, but that doesn't mean you are.