Holy moly this has been the hardest year of my life. It’s kind of crazy how that keeps happening, is that what we can come to expect from our 30s? Everything just keeps getting harder and nothing gets better?

Well, that last part’s not true, plenty of things got better and there were plenty of things worth celebrating and places to find joy. But man was there also a lot of challenge. Theo was diagnosed with lymphoma at the end of the summer and started chemotherapy this year. As of this week he has finished his treatment protocol and starts maintenance going forward, it’s been a little tough but overall he’s done great through the process and is now cancer free. The hope is that he can stay that way for quite a while going forward.

Really enjoyed thinking through this year - as I did last year - not just in things that “came out” this year, but the things I enjoyed. Since I don’t know why media has this culture of caring about the best “releases” of 2024, when there is plenty of opportunities to learn and enjoy things that didn’t release in this calendar year. It also is definitely more of a personal decision since historically in these posts I’ve not ever cared about what year the books I read were released, yet I did hold myself accountable for only including this years music releases.

As somebody that generally enjoys both action games and especially roguelikes, I am familiar with the frequent discourse around what is or is not a roguelike/lite. Instead of joining that discourse, instead, I am here to be an angry person on the internet in a different direction.

I do not like the phrase “action roguelike” being used to describe the genre of games that I’m going to, for brevity, call “Vampire Survivors” clones. Calling a game that shares almost no similarities to Rogue and requires less inputs than most other games an “action roguelike” feels deceitful and misleading.

This might have been the hardest year of my life, yet I don’t think I’ve come away from this year with any significant things I’d change. I’m also entering 2024 fairly optimistic about the future and excited to I think hopefully have a great year.

Now obviously, I took a couple years off from doing this. I haven’t been writing blog posts or much of anything in the mean time. As noted this was an incredibly challenging year for reasons that I don’t think I want to get into here, but suffice to say I’ve done a lot of self reflecting this year and have ended up in a pretty good place. I think I managed to make somem nice time to enjoy the things and people I love, and I think that overall it was a positive year for me, despite all that happened.

I did a lot less of everything than I’d have liked to in 2020, but I did manage to do some things I enjoyed and I’d like to document them. I know it’s a few days late but better late than never I guess.

Books

This is all of the books I read in 2020. I started the year finishing reading the Harry Potter series for the first time (also better late than never). I have a few cocktail/recipe books in here that I’m not sure you would exactly call “reading”.

A Red Snapper cocktail is typically considered a Bloody Mary made with Gin. Originally it was just another name for a Bloody Mary but at some point the distinction between Vodka & Gin was made.

Recipe

Red Snapper

• 4 oz Tomato Juice
• 1½ oz Gin
• ¼ oz Lemon Juice
• Celery Bitters
• Hot Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Old Bay to taste

Execution

Combine all ingredients in shaker. Add ice and shake until cold. Serve in a Collins or Pint glass over ice with an Old Bay rim.

As we approach 7 years after the release of Whenever, If Ever and the subsequent rise of The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die I decided to write about some recent feelings I’d been having.

Re-listening to this album still brings chills and emotions to the forefront that rival those of The Black Parade or Is A Real Boy. Although lyrically it certainly leans on a often drug inspired vagueness not present in historically defined “emo” the instrumental backing on the songs is transcendentally orchestral.

The Bitter Breeze is an original cocktail designed to be a bitter digestif with a kick. It is rich, herbal and bitter, with a velvet-y sweetness underneath. I, personally, opt for stirring the cocktail but it could also be assembled like an old-fashioned in the glass.

Recipe

The Bitter Breeze

• 1½ oz Fernet Branca
• 1 oz Dark Rum
• ½ oz Falernum
• ¼ oz Ginger Syrup
• Grapefruit twist

Execution

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a chilled rocks glass with fresh ice. Garnish with grapefruit twist.

A Limoncello Soda is a refreshing way to drink Limoncello on a warm summery day. An alternative to this recipe would be something like a Limoncello Spritz if you had sparkling wine on hand. I think additionally, if you were so inclined you could call this a Limoncello Fizz, as it does bear resemblance in flavor and technique to something like a Gin Fizz.

This drink is designed as a before-dinner drink, something you can sip on in the waning daylight hours. I think a nice Limoncello, especially one with cream is a wonderful digestif, but I personally prefer something a bit lighter than a straight liqueur for pre-dinner drinking.

At Testive we are building a student native mobile app. Up until now we have relied on having a mobile friendly web-app, but since it’s been a hotly requested featuring we are currently working to build a version of our app using React Native.

The core features of the app will be the ability to answer practice questions/complete assignments, review incorrect answers, and schedule meetings with your coach. This means that a crucial feature will be the ability to display our question and answer texts.