During this holiday season, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on everything that happened. As a nostalgic person, I get very excited about remembering experiences, and this year, overall, has been very positive for me.
I thought about organizing this text into sections, so here we go:
In this matter (and in many others), I owe a lot to my friends.
In 2024, through my friends, I got to know the last Bad Omens album, DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND which was my obsession for some time in the beginning of the year. I also went back to listening to Dead Sara (curiously huh?, more on that later), which I hadn't listened to since around 2018.
From April onwards, it was aboslute chaos: lots of music being released, artists I love, new artists people recommended to me... I even felt a bit overwhelmed. A friend of mine recommended the Might Delete Later It was the first time I really took the time to listen to J. Cole, and I really liked this album.
In may, we had the HIT ME HARD AND SOFT from Billie, an artist that I really like. Just some days later, my favourite band released Post Human: NexGen. At first, I didn't really like the songs. I felt that, structurally, they were all very similar and a bit edgy, kind of pre-teen. Not that it's bad, it just wasn't what I was expecting. However, this album took on a new meaning for me recently when I got to attend a BMTH concert, and it was the best show I've ever been to.
Bring me the horizon was my #3 most listened band of 2024.
Now we need to talk about the Brat Summer. I don't need to explain what brat was here. An event that broke through all bubbles. But it was one of those works that spark creativity in your mind. This year, there were several.
Charli XCX was my #2 most listened artist of 2024.
Later on, OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE, Linkin Park announces a show. Linkin Park's return
was one of, if not the biggest, musical moments of my year. It's a band I've listened to and loved since I was very
small, and I have many memories with them.
I didn't recognize Emily (from the same Dead Sara that I started listening to again in January) at first, but as
soon as she started singing, I realized it was the same voice that sang 'Weatherman', a tune that I found out while
playing Need For Speed ~11 years ago.
I really liked the singles they released. Then they announced a concert here.
We made a real effort, but we managed to buy tickets and it was the best show I had been to up until then, if it
weren't for the Bring Me The Horizon one that happened just a few days later.
Linkin Park was my #1 most listened band of 2024.
I just can't seem to summarize my texts. But to close this section on music, one last topic. In the past few weeks, I've been listening nonstop to the Arcane's season 2 soundtrack. Again, another work that has had a positive impact on my creativity this year. I couldn't be happier with everything that happened in this year.
2024 was full of changes for me. At the start of the year, some friends began playing Pump It Up, and we started visiting our local arcade weekly (I used to play when I was younger). I'm really happy to have a kind of collective hobby with my friends. In March, I went to some concerts with other friends. We saw Asking Alexandria, A Day to Remember, The Used, and a few others. It was a very cool experience, too.
A little later, I sold my first car (RIP lil lightning McQueen), a red Peugeot 208. It was a great run. At least I was able to sell it to a friend, so I know he'll take good care of it.
I moved to live on my own, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I was also looking for a new job (and then I found a job... and heaven knows I'm miserable now). I got a new position at a company I was aiming for, but the reality there isn't great. I'm okay with it for now, though. I spent three months working in a hybrid model: one week at home and one week at the office. With the small detail that the office is 500 km away. Phew, at least it is over.
At the end of the year, I got to attend the two best concerts I've ever seen: Linkin Park and BMTH. Both were incredibly moving experiences that make me think, "This is why I work." Worth every penny.
The most important highlight of my 2024 was having my closest friends around, overall. We see each other more than once a week, talk about everything, and there's never any bad vibes. Because of that, I even put aside the idea of moving to another city for a while, because I know it's not easy to find people like this.
We did a lot of fun things together: Pump it up, 2 powerpoint nights, arcane watch party, this very neocities, drank countless beers and talked about endless topics. This is also the reason why I'm excited for the next year, which I usually am not. To each of my friends: thank you, and I love you :)
This post is already huge, so it's time to group things together. It was a pretty slow year for me in terms of movies and games. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to focus on those.
I played only a few games: I replayed Cyberpunk 2077 on my new PC, but I still haven't played the DLC. I also replayed Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Hades (I tried to 100% it before playing the second one, but I ended up completing it and haven't even started the sequel yet, hahaha).
As for new games, I played Arcade Paradise (it could be called Laundry Simulator, where you run a laundromat and gradually turn it into an arcade with the profits. It's pretty cool). I also played Vampire Survivors. How can such a simple idea be so well executed?! I really enjoyed it. A friend also gifted me Balatro, which I became obsessed with for a few weeks as well. Finally, my friends from Tibia came back to play and we created characters from scratch. It's always good to return to Tibia.
About movies and tv shows, at the beginning of the year a friend recommended Midnight Mass to me, which I loved. Soon after, Dune 2 came out, and I had to watch it three times in the theater just because. What a wonderful adaptation.
But the highlight of my 2024 will definitely be Arcane. A perfect work in everything it sets out to do. Impeccable art direction, a "hand-drawn" animation, references to art nouveau and deco, cyberpunk, steampunk, almost all the "punks", a lot of fan service, and a very well-written story.
I'm definitely not that "Gratitude" person, but I'm really thankful for this year. And I hope that you, yes, you reading this very text, to have a great new year :). Bye! And thanks for sticking around :)