This year, a lot of my creative efforts shifted towards producing videos for KCET's "SoCal Wanderer" show instead of writing articles for the SoCal Wanderer blog, which meant I was doing a lot of retreading of old ground instead of exploring new places.
And that meant I didn't get a lot of photos—or opportunities for personal reflection in the spaces I occupied.
I was out in the field with other people more than ever before—a nice change of pace, I suppose, but I kind of miss the solitude. I even miss the loneliness sometimes.
And I miss writing about my feelings.
But at the end of the day, each day, I'm so tired and worn out that I don't have much energy left for anything. And what gumption I do have, I've got to put towards my freelance work (without which I would not be able to survive financially).
So it's been a tough year, tougher in some ways than those years when I was barely working at all. Maybe when things resolve themselves a little more, I'll be able to share what's been going on personally and professionally—but for now, I'm reticent to publish anything that would jeopardize my professional life.
But let's just say, the existential crisis hasn't gone away. And in 2023, I experienced a flare-up of it.
There were good things, of course—like cultivating my career as a "Digital Creator" on social media. Finishing the sample chapter for The Los Angeles Breakfast Club book I'm writing. Paying off my tax debt from several years back. Crossing a couple of places off my Bucket List. Friendships.
In terms of what I actually did (and could) write about, here are some of the top posts you may have missed:
- Photo Essay: Returning to the Pueblo Mágico of Tio's Tacos, Riverside
- Photo Essay: Riverside Main Library's New Life As The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture
- Photo Essay: Riverside's Historic Weber House, Hiding In Plain Sight In a Hotel Parking Lot
- Photo Essay: La Venta, The 100-Year-Old Inn That Once Helped Sell the Palos Verdes Peninsula
- Hot Dog (on a) Stick Returns to Santa Monica's Ocean Front Walk... A Bit Different
- Photo Essay: The End of the Line for the Last of Its Kind, Gardena Cinema
- Photo Essay: Beverly Hills Historic Cactus Garden, Restored
- Photo Essay: All Saints Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills
- Photo Essay: Hanging Out In 'Hangtown,' Or Maybe Getting Sick in Placerville
- Photo Essay: Covina Bowl, Partially Preserved, Awaits Its Second Chance
Here was my highest-performing SoCal Wanderer video of 2023:
And here's my most popular social media video so far this year (that I did for myself, and not for KCET):
I don't know what 2024 will hold. I've stopped trying to guess. (Maybe that's one of my pandemic lessons.)
I've got less than 12 hours left of 2023, and I'm still trying to process the last 12 months.
It's all going by so fast—but, quite frankly, not fast enough for me.
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