 How many puzzles did I complete this year? Hey guys! So, uh, Yikes! It's already the end of 2023. Now tell me, is it me or does it seem like every year time just seems to go faster? But anyways, I figured the best thing to do was kind of do like a year in review. I want to talk about some accomplishments that I made this year, maybe highlight some sets that I completed, basically just in a little puzzle chat. So I did take some notes on certain things that I wanted to go over as, you know, as long as I can decipher what I've written here, you know, we'll have some stuff to talk about. Now you're probably wondering, and I was wondering this too, how many puzzles did I complete this year? Now I'm going to give you two separate numbers here because 2023 is like my first full year of doing YouTube. I did have a few months in 2022 where I did complete a number of sets. So for the three months of 2022, I completed eight puzzle sets. And for 2023, I completed 40 puzzle sets. And to be honest, I was quite shocked. That's quite a big accomplishment, actually. I'm quite proud for myself. I've never actually completed, I ever completed that many puzzles in one year. I used to only be able to complete one or two sets a year, and that was mainly because I had no space to work on them. I was literally completing puzzles on my dining table whenever there was free space on it. And I can only do it during certain times of the year because we would use it for like family gatherings and my daughter schooling. But of course, since getting my puzzle table and, you know, having my puzzle room space, it's obviously made it so much easier for me to basically do as many puzzles as I want whenever I want. Now, do I have a goal to complete more than 40 puzzles for the coming new year? I'm not sure, actually. I almost want to set a goal. But then again, I don't because I don't want to set a number in my head and stress myself out trying to think that I have to complete it no matter what next year. So you know what, you know, maybe it's just best we'll just go through this naturally. Now, if you happen to know how many puzzles you completed this year, make sure to let me know down below because I'm curious to know what you guys did. But anyways, in all those puzzles that I completed, I got to experience so many different brands that I had never worked on before. And I'm talking about brands like Buffalo, Masterpieces, Ravensburger. Yeah, I only tried Ravensburger for the first time this year. And now that I think about it, I've only still tried one set. I really need to get on the second one already, don't I? I'm gonna make note of that. That'll be a note for 2024. But anyways, there was also White Mountain that I've never tried before, Dowdle, Cobble Hill, E-Boom, even the basic like Rose Art, Crazy Art, Cardinal sets. I'm telling you, I only lived in a Seaco world. I mean, really, the list is endless. There's so much more that I haven't tried that I really want to get to this year. But anyways, yes, I consider that a huge accomplishment for me. And speaking of accomplishments, another thing that I was really happy about for this year was the number of collaborations that I had. I worked with Cubic Fun, I worked with Pintu, I worked with the 3D Models, KI. So that was really fantastic, and really helped me to get to learn more about other brands that I had never heard of before. And not to mention, they sent me some really great sets too, so I can't complain about that. Now I'm gonna be honest here, of all the brands that I tried, the one that I can say that stands out to me the most, it would have to be Pintu. And this was a brand that I had absolutely never heard of before until they reached out to me. And I'm gonna be honest here, I'm not saying they're my favorite because I collabed with them. There is something really special about that puzzling experience. When you piece these together, that snapping sound they make is just so mesmerizing. The print quality on those pieces, these things are just almost indestructible. They stay together, they hold, they don't fall apart. And that's like one of my biggest things when it comes to puzzling. One of my biggest pet peeves, you know, it's like when, you know, your puzzles crumbling, or you can't pick up little sections or slide them across the table because, you know, they just fall apart. Pintu is just absolutely amazing. And what I love even more is that if you buy the frames that they carry, they're just so easy to display. They truly are beautiful pieces of art. It's plastic, I know, but in terms of cardboard puzzles, basically like your basic puzzles, I kind of feel like it's hard for me to pinpoint an absolute favorite. Because to be honest, each of the brands that I've tried of the cardboard pieces, they all have, you know, special quality to them and some things that really take me off. And it's really, you know, depending on what's important to you. For me, I'm the kind of person that really likes it when my pieces hold well together because I like to move them around the table. And also, you know, print quality is a big deal for me too. But if I just had to absolutely announce a favorite brand, it would probably have to be either Buffalo or the Ki Puzzles. And mainly because not only do both of these brands have fantastic images, but they hold pretty well together. And to me, that's a big deal. But I kind of feel like I need to work on more sets from all of these brands to kind of get more of a feel, more experience with them, to really kind of get myself to say, this is the absolute most amazing puzzle brand out there. But then again, that would just be my opinion. Anyways, everyone has their own likes and dislikes about different brands. Now with that in mind, what do you guys look for in a puzzle? What are your pet peeves? What are the things that, you know, drive you absolutely nuts in a good way when it comes to puzzling experience? And you know, if you had to pick one puzzle brand in the entire world that you would only get puzzles from for the rest of your life, what brand would that be? Now on the topic of favorites, I kind of feel like I can list a few images that were my absolute most favorite to put together. I have to say, one of them was for sure, which was one of the more recent puzzle sets that I did was the Masterpieces Contour Set. That was so much fun. That image was amazing. And the shape of the puzzle was just mind blowing to me as well. It looked so good when it was finished. Another one of the more recent ones that I did was Midnight in San Francisco. That was a beautiful bold image. Confection Street was another fun and colorful image. Of course, I love my Disney puzzle images. I mean, that you can go wrong with those either way. And of course, I cannot forget from my favorite puzzle brand pin two, the two beautiful images that I completed. One of them was Tranquility and the other one was Light of Peace. I believe that was the name. If I remember correctly, I don't know, I could be wrong. I don't know. I'm sorry. I feel like I'm just naming a whole bunch of puzzles off the top of my head because I mean, to be honest, I can't even figure out which one was my most favorite because they were all incredibly special in their own way. I mean, and you guys know this, I pick puzzle images that I am immediately drawn to. Like, I connect with these images. I am in most of these images. I mean, I literally tell you stories of what's exactly happening in these images with me. I hope I'm not the only one who does that. But if so, that's okay. I hope that all of you guys kind of pick images that you know will motivate you to finish the puzzle. But not only that, once that captivate you and kind of draw you into the image, draw you into what's actually happening, you know, you kind of want to become one with your puzzle, which is, you know, might sound like a bit much to some people and maybe even a bit strange, but you know what? That's okay. So I don't know. I feel like, you know, every single one of these has been mind-blowingly fun, you know, picking an absolute favorite out of all of those. I don't feel like I'm capable of doing that. But anyways, those were all images that, you know, I absolutely loved and were fun challenges. But then there were a few images that were not so fun, but I still love the image. And I'm sure you're going to know the answer to this one. But, you know, my hardest, absolute hardest puzzle, you know, was the haunted mansion set. And I absolutely love that image. That was really the only driving force to me completing it. And it wasn't even a puzzle image that I saw myself in. It was more of an image that sparked really good memories because I love the haunted mansion ride. So that was my connection to it. And I have to consider the haunted mansion puzzle as one of my biggest accomplishments of this year, because I did complete it for the first time in 2022. And that was a nightmare. And it became an even bigger nightmare after I crumbled it all up. But then I took it upon myself to complete it again this last Halloween and get it done and finally hang it on my wall. Now, as of this very moment, it's actually still laying flat on a table with some books on it, because it is curling up. But I do plan to put some glue sheets on it to get it hung up on this wall, along with my 1500 count puzzle here, which to be honest, was another pretty big challenge. But it was a more colorful, fun image. And obviously not as hard as the haunted mansion. I don't think anything was really that hard. Actually, no, wait, there was another one that was quite hard. And it was the light of peace puzzle, because that was a lot of blue sky and blue water, like three quarters of the puzzle was kind of like the same thing going on. But it's absolutely beautiful. I kind of feel like even though that was pretty close to being the hardest puzzle I completed, I considered it more fun because of the colors of the image. And you know, it's a beautiful landscape, you know, it's my house, I was in this image. So that was an overall different feel during the completion process. Now for the next year, I do want to try to attempt one of the crypt puzzles. And I do have a set that I picked up from one of the thrift stores. Now, am I looking forward to trying it? Absolutely not. I would like to procrastinate for as long as possible. But I feel like it is something that I'm going to need to have to cross out my to-do list. And you know, I guess just kind of get it over and done with. I'm always looking this way because I'm looking at my puzzle shelf. It's kind of giving me inspiration here and what to talk about. But anyways, another one that I feel like I have to try to complete this coming year is the impossible set that was sent to me. Now, I don't know, I kind of feel like this may not be so impossible just by looking at this image. But then again, I don't know, I always say things like, oh, this is going to be easy. And then I end up having a nightmare of a time with it. So we'll see. Now, another thing that happened this year that was a pretty big deal for me was that I tried or you can say ventured into different types of puzzles. I managed to complete a couple of 3D puzzles, which was a lot of fun. And again, that was something I'd never done before. And I even ventured into 3D modeling, which, you know, was quite an interesting challenge. Would I do it again? Probably, absolutely not. I was still proud of myself for getting as far as I did. I did manage to completely finish one of them. The second one, you know, I got like 95% there. And then the remaining 5% was absolute failure and disappointment. So yeah, probably not do that again. But I'm happy to say that I at least tried it. And it's something that I can scratch off on my list. Now, the other thing that I ventured for the first time this year were the wooden puzzles. And it's funny because it was something that I was really scared to try because of all those crazy whimsy pieces and, you know, the peace shapes were just wildness. So, you know, I was very intimidated by it. And to be honest, if it wasn't for a number of you who actually sent me wooden puzzle sets, I probably would have never tried it. Because I just would have been too afraid to even attempt to buy it and possibly not like it. So I got my feet wet with wooden puzzles with a few sets from Teemu. And these were sent to me by Kathy. And really, because of her, I started to get really interested in the wooden puzzles and started gaining confidence in putting them together. Because I found them to be so much more fun than I expected. I mean, I didn't expect it to be fun at all, actually. I'd even think I'd be able to finish them. But I think I went about it the right way. I went about it by starting with the smaller sets. And that's probably something you should do if you're considering getting into the wooden puzzle world. And then you guys saw me complete a set from Liberty Puzzles. And that was a much bigger count set, much crazier pieces, and so much more fun. I absolutely loved that set. It made me feel good about my puzzling skills. And then the last one you just saw me do was my first Wentworth, which was another fantastic, amazing wooden puzzle. Yeah, you know, the price tag makes your eyeballs pop out. But you know, in terms of quality and overall experience, you kind of do get what you pay for. Now, if I had to pick between Liberty Puzzles and Wentworth, I don't know, they're both pretty much the same in terms of quality. But I think I'm going to have to say Liberty Puzzles, because for one, I definitely saw more images that called out to my taste. And not only that, I think I kind of liked their piece shapes more than the Wentworth puzzles. And you know, I'm going to be honest again, the Liberty Puzzle sets weren't as expensive as the Wentworth ones. But anyways, other than that, again, I still feel like they're both pretty much the same. They're both amazing in quality. It just depends which one calls out to you more. So yeah, I feel like working on these wooden puzzle sets was another big accomplishment for me in 2023. And another big accomplishment for me for 2023 was completing my biggest puzzle count yet, which was the 1500 piece Disney classics puzzle from Seaco. I'm sure as you can see it partially hanging behind me here, but that was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful image, which of course helped motivate me to get it done. And it's Disney, you know, you can't go wrong with the Disney set, at least to me. That's how I feel. But I am really looking forward to completing my first 2000 piece set in 2024. And that's going to be coming up real soon. I'm hoping to plan that for around my 2000 subscriber milestone, but we'll see. I have about three 2000 count sets. I think I'm just looking at my shelf now. But I don't know, I'm kind of feeling like I'm going to do another Disney set for this one. And then after that, who knows? I don't know how long it'll take me to get to a 3000 count set. I'm not thinking about that right now because it's kind of scary to me. But you know, one step at a time, I'm looking forward to the 2000 piece set and I'm really curious how long that's going to take me to complete. But either way, I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun. Now, another thing that I do want to achieve in 2024 is my first speed puzzle. Now, I was actually planning to work on it within the last few months, but you know, that didn't happen. But anyways, 2024 is a new year. I'm just still trying to figure out, you know, which puzzle set to work on. Or maybe I'm just, you know, purposefully procrastinating. I don't know. I really don't have an excuse. I'm pretty sure it's going to be an absolute travesty and painful to watch. But you know what? I have to mark it off my list. I have to say that I've done it at least once. And who knows? I might do really, really good on it. Probably not. But you never know, right? It might motivate me to, you know, always speed puzzle or it might, you know, make me want to take a very long hiatus. I don't know. But either way, it is something I'm looking forward to trying. Now, we got to do a number of shopping trips this year, which was honestly a lot of fun. I love making those videos. They are the most fun to edit and probably the most easiest to be honest. But for the new year, I really want to go to different stores, check out some other thrift shops as well. And also, I would really like to, for the summertime, go to the flea markets, which was something I wasn't able to do last year because it was either weather or plans changed or whatnot. But I'm really aiming to do it for the coming year. Because I'm curious, I want to know if there's some other great sales out there, because you know me, I'd love to go shopping on a budget. Now, would I love to go on huge major shopping sprees and buy any and all puzzles that I want to? Absolutely. Who the heck wouldn't want to do that, right? Is it going to happen in 2024? Most likely not, unless I become some major YouTube megastar or something. I don't know. That probably never actually happened. But you know, you never know. Now, do I need to buy any more puzzle sets? No. I have plenty here that I need to work on, you know, that are, you know, still in their plastic wrap. But that's okay. I can still shop for more if I want. Just on a budget, of course. But anyways, in terms of more puzzle sets, one thing that I really need to do in this new year is kind of reorganize all my boxes. Because I know that I have a number of boxes here that are actually empty. And I don't know why I still have them there. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who does this. But anyways, I think I'm going to plan a video of just, you know, me reorganizing everything and getting rid of stuff that I don't need and probably going through some of the puzzle sets that I'd like to work on in the near future. So be on the lookout for that. Other than that, I'm sorry, I'm just trying to read my chicken scratch here that I wrote for my notes. Now, another thing that I must mention here is something that I feel is another very big achievement for me. And that is getting to build such an amazing community of puzzlers. It's been so wonderful getting to know all of you. And quite honestly, it's been fantastic having other puzzlers that I can talk to who understand how I feel about this. Because let's be honest, some of us don't have puzzle friends or anyone that we can talk to who gives you know what about puzzles. So it's been fantastic to have all of you here with me supporting me on this journey. And I know I've said this before, probably I think I've said this in all of my videos. But if you are one of those people who don't have puzzle friends and would like to make some puzzle friends, I do have a puzzling community that you can join. And I'm going to leave a link to that video down below so that you could look more into it. But other than that guys, I want to know what were some of your favorite videos that I have made this year? Were there any that you had absolutely no care in the world about? I don't mind, let me know down below. Now, because I am currently in the process of planning out 2024, I mean, now that I say it like that, it sounds like I have this whole calendar for the whole year planned out, but I don't. I don't even know what I'm doing next week. But anyways, aside from that, because I am planning out 2024, I want to know down below, are there any particular puzzling videos that you'd like to see me work on? Are there any brands you want to see me work on? Any particular, you know, images or styles? Any accessories you want me to review? Leave your ideas down below and I will do my absolute best to get it done. Now hit that like button down below if you had a fantastic 2023 puzzling year. And feel free to share down below what are some of your goals for the new year. But anyways guys, thank you all again so much for all of your support this year. And I hope you continue on with me for the new year. Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, happy new year, and I will see you in the next one.