Welcome to the 100th post on Norseman Creative! What a wild (tame) ride it has been, with rigorously following a posting schedule (not even a little bit), ground breaking research (lots of Wikipedia summaries), and very professional journalism (roughly edited drivel). This has been a banner year for the blog, mostly due to the Round 3 series that covered my third deployment to the Middle East. 2022 has been a year of personal and professional growth, with weddings, a new job, a new house, and forward movement on a few writing projects.
2022 started better than 2021 ended. Rather than leaving for a deployment as at the end of 2021, I came back from my third deployment in February. Shortly thereafter, Jenny and I tied the knot in May in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was a small ceremony, with just family on my side and family with a couple very close friends on Jenny’s side. We had an absolute blast.
Jenny and I then ran off for our Honeymoon, traipsing about Southeast Asia and visiting Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. While there, we visited Angkor Wat, an Elephant Sanctuary, many temples around Bangkok, and a delightful resort near Da Nang. Plus, through wide sampling, I determined that all energy drinks in South Asia (East or West) taste like Redbull with a roll of Smarties candies dissolved in them.
After our honeymoon, we only had a few more weeks before we headed off on our next adventure. My parents hosted a luau themed party at their house on the lake for Independence day, and we were able to see many of our friends and family there before taking off for Hawaii.
Our jobs in Hawaii have been phenomenal. I really love teaching, and Jenny loves being in charge of all the fun USAF stuff she is in charge of. We moved into our house and set about making some upgrades right away. Mostly scraping paint and plaster off the walls and repainting, but some other projects as well.
Teaching and mentoring the next generation of Air Force officers has been a dream assignment of mine for quite some time, and it truly is an honor. If all goes as intended, they will turn out even better than I did.
Around mid-November, I heard back from A15, my publisher. They are moving forward with the Frozen Reaction Sequel, Retrograde Reaction. I have had it with beta-readers through both the publisher’s connections and my own, and I am still waiting on a few more notes before another deep-dive into editing can be made. Fingers crossed, you can buy it as a Christmas gift next year.
In December, Jenny and I journeyed back home for my little brother’s wedding. It was the polar opposite of our own wedding, but in the best way possible. The ceremony was beautiful, the reception a riot, the food delicious, and Max and I stole the show giving our speeches. I am now +1 sister in law, for a total of two sisters in law named “Annie.” Truly a magical night.
After the wedding, Jenny and I headed to visit her family in Indiana for a few days, then went to Tennessee for a weekend before flying back to Hawaii. It was a whirlwind trip, and we were exhausted when we got back to Oahu.
To wrap up 2022, my Parents flew out to visit us on Christmas day. They’re still out here, and we still have much to do with them.
You can probably tell it has been all gas, no brakes in the Jacobson house this year. We wouldn’t have it any other way, and wish you the absolute best for 2023. If you can’t have the best, then I wish you the resilience to make it through.
Cheers!
An amazing year! Thanks for sharing it with us!