2024 Year in Review

Once again, we have gone through another year and thank goodness it is finally over! Unlike last year, 2024 was a really rough year for me, and I thought I put all that behind me. Just as you think life is finally starting to be better, things take a turn for the worst putting you at the bottom once again. I am not even having high expectations for 2025 based on my personal life, and how the rest of society is going to turn out. Before I get ahead, let’s take a look back on how this year went which also includes the latest movies and shows.

My year already got off on the wrong start after testing positive for COVID on my birthday despite my best efforts in avoiding it for a few years. (This explains why last year’s year in review was published literally on the first day of this year). Don’t worry it wasn’t too severe as I have been vaccinated, but it didn’t feel great. I also tried to stay at my nonprofit job, but sadly all good things must come to an end when I quit that job in the middle of the year. While I did enjoy that job, there were certain circumstances out of my control that convince me to quit. And that meant that I was in the job search process once again, which many of you know how that goes. However, I did manage to secure a job offer last month, so now I am currently working again. The downside is that this job is not in the ideal industry I want to work in, but I am trying to make the best of it. So far, things haven’t been too bad with my new job, but I will work hard to make sure I stay in this job long-term. I will still be on the lookout for signs of a toxic work environment, but for now fingers crossed.

Mental Health Awareness Month

Am I Destined to Fail?

Blog Status Update

While I was dealing with the sudden changes in my career life, I also encountered some personal challenges such as dealing with the passing of my grandmother. There was also another incident that involved my family, but I won’t be saying any details about it until sometime next year (but you may have already heard a snippet in my recent letter to Santa). All these difficulties really made a negative impact on my mental health, and at one point I really thought I was destined to fail. It really felt like I was in my “Tortured Bloggers Department” era (little Taylor Swift reference). As for my blog this year’s highlights included my first satire post for April Fools’ Day, the completion of revisiting my old study abroad blog, and giving insight into reverse culture shock upon returning from studying abroad. I also returned with Marvel content with my MCU Phase 4 Review and SDCC highlights, and my top 5 announcements from this year’s D23 expo.

Until We Meet Again, Japan (PS Version)

Returning from Studying Abroad

MCU Phase 4 Review/SDCC Highlights

Top 5 D23 Expo Announcements

Continuing with all things MCU, Marvel only had one movie this year after the difficult year they had. However, things are starting to turn around for the studio as that said movie, Deadpool and Wolverine hit the billion-dollar mark at the box office. Also, not sure if anyone else noticed, but Deadpool and Wolverine released on the same day of the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics making it almost feel like a Barbenhemier moment. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as big of an event since one was a blockbuster movie, and other was a major athletics event on television. But back to Marvel, they are also continuing to work on their overhaul of quality over quantity in their projects. If you haven’t heard from their SDCC presentation this year, they are bringing back Robert Downey Jr. as the infamous villain, Dr. Doom in the next two Avengers films: Doomsday (originally Kang Dynasty) and Secret Wars. As for their Disney Plus shows, their biggest show this year was the WandaVision spinoff Agatha All Along. It came out to be a hit especially during the Halloween season, and I really enjoyed it myself. Marvel also had other great shows on the animation side such as X-Men 97 and currently the final season of What-If (at the time of writing this post, I still have not caught with watching all the episodes since one drops a day which is hard to keep up with).

There was another big movie that I saw not once, but twice which was the film adaptation of Wicked. This film really felt like an event to movie as it took an entire army to make this movie from the production to the choreography, to the acting, everything that made it spectacular. I do have to put a reminder here that this only part one as part two will be coming out next year with an additional subtitle, Wicked: For Good. I hope this film makes a billion dollars once I publish this post, otherwise I will be very surprised that it didn’t, and it was beat by Deadpool (I am not hating on Deadpool here as I believe both movies were great). I also saw the Eras tour via Disney Plus, but sadly I did not get to see any of her shows in-person which included the addition of the Tortured Poets Department. Even if the Eras tour has concluded, it will still be considered a pop culture icon in the many years to come.

Like I said earlier, this year was a difficult one, and I am not sure what 2025 will bring. I just hope that despite the upcoming challenges ahead, there is good things to come as well. However, I still have this blog that can help bring out my creative side when I am at a really low point. That is the reason why I started this blog, and I will continue to bring that vision in future posts to come. If this year was challenging for you as well, know that you are not alone and that you are welcome in this space. Let’s all hope for a Bright and Happy New Year!