Best Things This Year (2022)

Disclaimer: This post was written by ChatGPT.

It’s been quite a year for Ben Garvey in 2022. He traveled to a number of exciting destinations, including San Francisco, Austin, New York, Iowa, Maine, and Chicago. Along the way, he experienced some ups and downs, including the loss of his Uncle Mike and Aunt Betty, who he’ll always remember for their great laughs and sharp wits. Ben even recalls the time he tried to drive Aunt Betty back to the airport on the chaotic day of September 12, 2001.

Despite these losses, Ben had a lot to be grateful for in 2022. He made the move to a new house in Collingswood, NJ (where he’s lived for the past 12 years) and even got his company, Common Paper, accepted into the Y Combinator program. In his free time, Ben developed a number of new hobbies, including making clear ice for cocktails and pickled onions. He also had a lot of fun rating and charting 17 local pizzas with his hot, funny girlfriend Carolyn Busa.

Rated 17 local pizzas

Other highlights of the year included getting a Twin Peaks tattoo, watching his kids perform in plays like Urinetown, Matilda, and Murder in the Garden, and coaching an Odyssey of the Mind team to the world finals in Ames, IA (where they placed 11th in the world). Ben and his family also had the chance to spend some time in a cabin in Maine, where they got to see the incredible Milky Way.

Matilda

In addition to all of these exciting events, Ben also attended weddings at Morris Abortetum and the music venue PhilaMOCA, dressed up as Nathan Fielder for Halloween with Carolyn, and even went to a wild dance party at the PUB.

As for media consumed in 2022, Ben had a wide range of interests. Here’s a list of some of his favorites:

Books
Such a Fun Age
Eragon
Fire and Blood

Movies / TV
White Lotus
Rings of Power
The Rehearsal
Succession
Search Party
Attack on Titan
Alllll of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings with Sasha
Terminator 1 and 2 with Owen (which was wild because he didn’t know the twist in T2)
House of Gucci (#boof)
1899

Music
ARTHUR
Charlotte Adigery
Mr Oizo
Mike Krol
Mitski

Ben also saw some great live music this year, including Snail Mail and Michael Imperoli’s band, Zopa.

Previous year end recaps:

2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011

From Ben:
I wanted to see if I could write my year end recap faster using an AI tool and since I’m publishing this almost two weeks into the new year I’d say it slowed me down. It was fun re-writing my prompts over and over and see what tweaks it would make. This is the prompt I gave chatGPT.

Write a definitive and fun year end blog post authored by Ben Garvey where he recaps the year 2022. Don’t write the entire the post as a bulleted list. Include everything below.

During the year he traveled to San Francisco, Austin, New York, Iowa, Maine, and Chicago. His Uncle Mike died and Aunt Betty died and he’ll always remember their laughs and sharp wits. Ben famously once tried to drive Betty back to the airport on the chaotic day of September 12, 2001. He moved and bought a house, but still in the same town he lived in previously (Collingswood, NJ) for the last 12 years. His company, Common Paper, was accepted into a program at YCombinator. He got really into making clear ice for cocktails. He got into making pickled onions. He rated 17 local pizzas and made some charts about them with his hot, funny girlfriend Carolyn Busa. He got a twin peaks tattoo that he loves. He watched his kids perform in plays called Urinetown, Matilda, and Murder in the Garden. He coached an Odyssey of the Mind team to the world finals in Ames, IA where they placed 11th in the world. He and Sasha and Owen stayed in a cabin in Main and got to see the incredible Milky Way. He went to weddings both at Morris Abortetum and the music venue, PhilaMOCA. He and Carolyn both dressed as Nathan Fielder for Halloween. He went to a wild dance party at the PUB of all places. What a year.

The title of the blog post should be “Best things this year 2022”

Don’t finish the blog post with a conclusion or any paragraph that starts with “overall” or “all in all” Don’t say, “it’s been a wild ride” or anything like that.

At the bottom of the post, add in bulleted lists for various media consumed this year.

Books: Such a Fun Age, Eragon, Fire and Blood

Movies / TV: White Lotus, Rings of Power, The Rehearsal, Succession, Search Party, Attack on Titan, Alllll of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings with Sasha, Terminator 1 and 2 with Owen which was wild because he didn’t know the twist in T2, House of Gucci (#boof)

Music: ARTHUR, Charlotte Adigery, Mr Oizo, Mike Krol, Mitski. I think the only bands I saw live in 2022 were Snail Mail and Michael Imperoli’s band, Zopa.

Write a vertical list of years that I can link to for previous recaps from 2022 to 2011.

Write a disclaimer at the start that says, “This post was written by ChatGPT” only

I’m going to type the same prompt next year and see if I get a better response. The tools will improve, but for now it gives an acceptable response only if you don’t care about the voice at all. Everything sounds like bland SEO content. You get something ok quickly, but writing something good takes hours and getting something great might be impossible. For now.

The AI didn’t generate, organize, or select any of those images. That takes the majority of the time here, even with some improvements in WordPress’s UX. Maybe it will do that for me next year.

I did have a ton of fun making images with MidJourney

I asked Midjourney to imagine a shelf I saw in my dream.

I should have given chatGPT more details on my travel, which was extensive over the last few years. I had a great time in DC (visited friends and stayed at a hip hotel), Maine (hiking, stars, and the most amazing cabin), and Austin (Barton Springs).

One other accomplishment I’m proud of is that I finally, finally, finally moved all my websites off of the webhost I’d used for over 20 years. That was the project forever on my todo list.

I ended the year on kind of a rough note, throwing my back out on NYE while painting Sasha’s bedroom. I could hardly walk or get out of bed for 4 days but seem to be ok now. That’s mostly why this post is later than usual.


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