My Favorite Photos from January 2024

Let me kick off this photo recap of "The Good Old Days" from 2024 with a sobering quote from Star Trek: Generations, then we'll get more positive, I promise.

"Aren't you beginning to feel time gaining on you? It's like a predator. It's stalking you." | Dr. Talian Soran

I'll turn 50 this year, which, I just realized typing this, is jarring to write or verbalize. And that quote gained more and more power over me through the years. It still haunts me, but I'm learning to live comfortably with it instead of fearing it.

How? By savoring the time that's behind me, instead of being a constant ball of anxiety about the things I haven't accomplished yet. Starting my gratitude jar last year helped, and I can't recommend that enough:

An Invitation To ‘The Good Old Days’

I’ll let you in on a secret: you’re living “the good old days” right now. Here’s a fun way to literally capture that feeling in a bottle and enjoy the present tense a little more!

Seasons of JasonJason Evangelho

And as sort of a companion to that memory/gratitude jar, I'm picking out a handful of my favorite photos from each month last year and sharing a short thought about them. It seemed like a very "Seasons of Jason" thing to do to reflect back on the variety of memories and experiences I had.

I've mentioned my brother several times on this blog already. He's a force of nature, and he absolutely loves nature. He's predominantly why I finally started hiking and backpacking. In January, he sent me this selfie from somewhere in Utah, as he was about to hit the slopes for the first time in 2024. His expression is just oozing excitement. Aside from being happy for him, it's a fun visual reminder of how being in nature makes me feel, too.

iPods are special to me. In 2004, when I bought my first one (RIP), it inspired me to start one of the first 30 podcasts in the world. 20 years later, I finally bought another one. But this time, I modded it with a colorful case, a whopping 512GB of flash storage, and a massive battery which lasts literally months. This time around, the iPod in my life represents me cutting the cord of streaming music services like Spotify and Tidal. Between CDs and Bandcamp, I've built a massive music library through the years, and now it's all on here. A great hiking companion, and one that's all about active music listening without any online distractions.

When I moved back to the states in the summer of 2023, I got a thoughtful housewarming gift: this self-watering basil plant. By January 2024, it was starting to outgrow its starter pot, and that prompted me to get some soil, a variety of pots, and some seed packets to start a little herb garden on the kitchen windowsill. That was my only goal at the time. Little did I know that a few months later I'd be restoring all the raised beds outside and starting a massive garden. But this was definitely the gateway to that adventure, and I have fond memories of that little basil plant.

That's it for January 2024! See you next time.