Hello, 2023. It's me, Fin. We've known each other for nearly a week, and I have to say, the jury is still out on you.

I can't keep up this conversational style much longer, so here is just me talking. Or writing. Whatever.

Hello. Happy New Year to you and yours. I hope that those reading this had a lovely New Years' Eve and that you are enjoying yourself so far in 2023. There are many stories and updates I would like to share and so buckle in because one of my goals for this year is to write blog posts no shorter than 500 words. Let's see how this goes.

I spent the past three months working in retail. It's been a while. It was before 2020 that I previously worked in retail, so that may as well be ten years ago. It wasn't. Thankfully, the skills and qualities I had/learnt in my other retail job didn't escape me, for the most part. Working in retail sucks, though. Did you know that? I knew that, and I still took the job. I'm not complaining because I believe this to be a common consensus among my fellow humans.

I had a lovely time working there. I mainly worked on the tills, so I dealt with nearly every customer who came into the store face to face. That was enough of a learning in itself. What did I learn? People are nice. People are also crazy. Did you know that too?

I have a couple of stories I may tell at a later date. I will give a tease: I would not make a good security guard. There you go. Ruminate on that.

Christmas was good too. I never experienced Christmas as a 27-year-old. It was something else. I wasn't really in the Christmas mood this year, unfortunately. I attribute that to working in seasonal retail (retail sucks, etc.). At least I saved up a bit of money for a rainy day. That last sentence was funny because it is raining right now. I couldn't leave the house even if it were a nice day. Segway.

For a change, this year, I did not host my friends in my home. Instead, I intended to drive to my hometown of Waterford and spend New Year's Eve there. It would be the first New Year's Eve I spent there since moving away in 2016. Before you jump to conclusions, I did end up spending New Year's Eve in Waterford. Just about.

While driving down my car, Gary decided that his clutch would stop working. Nothing bad happened. Nobody got hurt, but Gary had to be left on the side of the road for two days before being sent to the garage where he currently is. My dad dropped me to Waterford instead because he must like me.

That's all for now. These blog posts will be once a week from now on. That way, I have more time to plan them and make them readable. Yes, I am writing this the same day it is uploaded, but oh well.

Stay tuned for more news as I try and get back on the writing horse and start being me again.

You look great today, by the way.

Thank you for reading and thank you for your time.