One of our colleagues departed from our site permanently, leaving me to pick up the slack and perform all the functions of our motorpool. It's do-able, sure, but now there have been a myriad of issues I've had to handle, often on my own. The biggest paradigm shift occurred when my new boss flew into town to take over for my existing boss. It was all business as usual, until the day when my old boss and one of our employees stopped coming to work unexpectedly. Though our workplace confirmed nothing (and likely never will), we found out that both were fired. There were no plans to replace our other employee, leaving me to take over their duties. It is work I have experience in from before, although I had often doubted my competency in it. Over the past few months, I will need to step up, be proactive, and stay on top of the workload. The work tempo and climate has changed drastically over the past few months, swinging from a softer laid-back atmosphere to a more stringent regimen. Several years ago, the shift would have likely induced great stress in me. I might feel some axiety about our work challenges right now, but I find it's not upsetting. These are simply interesting times—and that's not even taking into consideration the grander considerations behind the ongoing wars, the 2024 election, and the emergence of AI technology.
Personally, I might always remember '24 as the year I visited Venice for Carnivale in February. This would have been my third time visiting Italy, and I am always amazed and enamored by the intricately-carved statues and buildings in their cities. The Piazza San Marco alone is a wonderful place to visit, where the Doge's Palace and Saint Mark's Basilica stand in clear view with their gorgeous marble and stone facades. After viewing the Bridge of Sighs, I visited the Veccia Murano glassworks to see a demonstration on how their colored glass is made, and I had the chance to shop among their delightful and regal selection of glasswares. The biggest attraction, however, was the amazing crowd of people in Carnivale masks and costumes, and I collected my fair share of fantastic photographs all around the Piazza. In between the pictures and wandering, I did find time to shop for journals, grab a cannoli, and take a gondola ride. There wasn't time to go into many of the famous buildings (the lines were way too long this day), and I somehow missed out on finding the Rialto Bridge, but all things considering, I saw many impressive sights that could be considered magical.
The bus ride from Venice to Germany took us through Switzerland, which included an hour's stop in the city of Lucerne. In just one hour, I managed to collect a respectable number of photos and video clips to capture this rich city's ambience. The ride also presented ample opportunity to see the mountains.
In the spring time, I flew back to the States to visit my parents for a good chunk of time. We took a trip to the coast, seeing the characteristic city of Beaufort again. There is a laid-back quality to the town, and it boasts a number of interesting shops that we like to revisit (including the Nevermore book store and Tom Hanks' favorite chocolate shop). We visited a bird sanctuary in Port Royal, and Hunting Island.
When I returned to Germany, I made the impromptu decision to visit Clay Kaserne to see the 75th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. The airlift was a major operation during the Cold War to deliver supplies to West Berlin in the midst of Soviet occupation. For the celebration, a number of aircraft were displayed on the airfield. There were displays that showcased the site's history with a number of historic documents, and there was even food and entertainment. I had lingered there for a long time expecting to see airplanes in flight, but I only saw them flying overhead when I started to leave. It was still an event worth seeing once.
In the summer, I visited Garmisch and stayed at the Edelweiss Lodge. I had stayed there thirteen years ago and it was such a memorable trip that I wanted to revisit the area again. On this occasion, I took the chance to see the Partnach Gorge, Neuschwanstrein Castle (again), Linderhof Palace, and the Ettal Monastery. All of these places have their fair share of wonderful sights, from the waters rushing through the narrow gorge to the distinctive fairy-tale spires of the castle. I had also paused at certain spots to admire the majestic peaks of the Bavarian alps (such as the Zugspitze or Waxenstein) and to see what small towns like Füssen had to offer. From the hotel window, I could film the mountains for countless minutes, capturing a small wealth of nice-looking time-lapse scenes where the mist rolls off the mountains and trees endlessly. Since it was the 4th of July, I even had a chance to witness the fireworks show at the resort.
For the rest of my time, I focused largely on the daily grind at work, and I enrolled in college again. This time, I strived for a Master's in Business Administration. I was fortunate to sign up when the curriculum was updated, so it took five classes to complete the program (each worth six credits). There were challenges, but I worked through each assignment as they came, and I reached the end by December. I'll have my degree in hand within a couple of weeks, representing the best achievement I've had all year.
Since most of my classroom interaction was done online, I had to make one last trip at the end of the year to see my cohort in-person before we all parted ways. So I made the drive to Vogelweh and I got to see the Christmas Market in Kaiserlautern with my classmates. It was a lively market (likely made extra-lively since a football match happened that same day and made the Germans exceptionally psyched) with good gluhwein. However, the best market I saw this year was in Strasbourg, France. I followed my work colleagues there and was quite enamored by the city's architecture and elaborate Christmas decor. I had gathered up my fair share of sweets and gluhwein mugs, but above all, I took a ton of pictures as well. This was my second time visiting this city, and it was far bigger and more characteristic than I remembered.
This was definitely one of the busiest years I've experienced. I wouldn't say that I've travelled extensively, considering that many folks stationed here take trips much more often with lofty goals to visit every European country while they can. While I will attempt to have a major trip or two every year, I still prefer to find beauty in the spaces around me, wherever I live. I am reminded often of how lucky I am to be in this position, near the Reingau area. But even if I wasn't stationed there, I would consider myself lucky to have remained in the Deep South, which has its own unique spots of beauty. I believe that there were great picture-worthy sights in any spot in the world—it may show that any place has the potential to be a great place to live. Much of it depends on your mindset—it's easy to become blind to the world's wonders if you see only the ugliness. Ultimately, I am grateful to be alive and part of this world.
In the coming year, there may be more amazing sights I'll endeavor to see. But with other matters, I have fallen quite short. I certainly haven't exercised or dieted as faithfully as I should, so this warrants a fresh round of New Year's resolutions in the coming month. I always tell myself that I want to read more books, but I only completed nine of them this year. I haven't even binged on as many films as I usually do.
Above all though, my progress with actual writing has come up woefully short. I started some projects this year, but completed only one. I made big plans for a few fresh ideas, but I could never muster the time, energy, or focus to realize them into written words. Heck, I haven't even blogged nearly as much as I used to. It's possible that my experiences with critiques made me doubt my own abilities and second-guess my story directions. But in the end, as it is with diet, exercise, reading, and other activities, writing requires discipline. I used to have more discipline, likely because I felt more rewarded when completing even a crummy first draft. If I have any big goal for 2025, it would be to write (or at least do some kind of writing-related activity) every day. Even a few written words a day will lead up to a full story in time. This same time next year, I hope to have more finished drafts that I can brag about. Maybe I'll even blog more.
