The year that was, 2025

We end this year on an unusual note. I am not dragging myself to the end, gasping for breath and desperate for a rest. This has actually been a ... good year?! Gosh. I also feel like I've achieved quite a bit, although much of that comes under "learning how to make candles". My list of "things" is long enough I'm going to break down it down into some categories, and we'll see that this year has been much more than Ghost of Tsushima and Space Marine 2.

Creative

• 12 posts on this blog (13 including this one) - eleventh consecutive year of a post per month, third year of posting them on LinkedIn
• Honed my candle making skills by making a thousand candles, and set up an Instagram account (plus put the pictures on Flickr)
• Made a wax train for a dinner party
• Made a notebook
• Made a puzzle box
• Made more Lego - Artemis Space Launch System, DaVinci's Flying Machine and a Super Star Destroyer
• Made more bread - much better this time
• Made a few different photo decorated items - notecards and postcards
• Fixed the roof gutter - certainly an experience...
• Wrote a supplement for Humblewood and some other D&D - still haven't run anything...
• Another year of the Year in Pictures - eleventh year and we're up to 47 photographers
• More email setup (sigh)
• Set up video streaming in the house
• 384 Github contributions - up again from last year
• Yet more Instagramming
• More photos on my Flickr stream
• And used AI to create a distressing number of pictures of anthropomorphised sausages

Fitness

• Lost over 2st in weight, and 4" around the waist
• A year of getting back into Tai Chi - training around the Roman Baths
• Another year of exercise with a fabulous personal trainer and deep tissue therapist
• Another year of Saturday Pain and we made a workout shirt
• Lots more cooking, centred around health and protein

Social

• Lots (and lots) of keeping touch with people
• MBS trip to Power Up in London
• Maths reunion - twice!
• Hosted quarterly dinner parties - a fancy name for games and food
• Escaped another couple of escape rooms with the Bath crew

Work adjacent

• Became a Fellow of the British Computer Society
• Became a STEM Ambassador
• Another year on the Data for London Advisory Board
• Began the process of joining the WCIT
• Brought back Show & Tell
• Two sessions mock-interviewing University of Bath postdocs
• Lots of mentoring and coaching
• Spent a lot of time learning about AI

ADHD and Autism

• Diagnosed with ADHD and Autism
• Helped set up ADHD Pathfinding group

Resolution count - 5/10. Same as last year.

Ok, so this year it seems I've worked out how to get lots done - even if those things weren't really the things on my list. How did I manage to finally master work / life balance? Unfortunately, I had to not have a job for about a year - and during that time I still managed to do work (unpaid). It took having a gap year for me to work a roughly sensible amount. So ... success? Eugh. At least it was a good year.

Well, mostly a good year. I've lost friends this year and others have been quite seriously ill. I suppose I'm reaching that point in my life, but it is still very sad.

I have few reflections about the year. I am genuinely pleased to see how much I've done this year. Ok, I haven't been working for most of it but even so I've made a load of different things using a wide range of skills, and really learned a lot about candles. I started writing this annual review about ten years ago because I felt all I did was work and passively consume media. I made myself list the things I created that year, and it was a pleasingly long list back then. Since that post, I've been deliberately doing more and it has been nice to see my list develop over the years. Am I creative? No. But I am learning a load of different skills and thinking across problems in different ways.

While I haven't been employed for most of the year, I have still grown professionally. I started the year decidedly burnt out, and seriously considering leaving Tech altogether. I have recovered from that, come up with half an idea of the kind of professional I want to be and taken some significant steps in the right direction. I'm particularly pleased with the work I did as a STEM Ambassador, and becoming a Fellow nudged me back to Tech at exactly the right time. Since then I have also become a consultant, and I'm exploring a new facet of my industry and learning some new uses for my skills and experience.

I've also hit my fitness goals for the first time ... ever? That has made me very happy, and as well as feeling much better in myself I can head into 2026 feeling like the next set of goals are actually achievable, rather than another pipe dream. Maybe this year I'll be able to start buying new clothes?

And while we're on health, I have also been diagnosed with ADHD and Autism which has been very important both to this year and setting me up for managing my mental health going forward. I feel this is a very important foundation for solving the eternal "I've got no energy" problem I've written about every year for who knows how long.

So, let's look forward. I approach 2026 feeling much better about the year than I have in a while. I have reset my work / life in quite a dramatic way - in 2026 I need to keep building, ensure I keep working towards the professional identity I want, and (very important) ensure I maintain my peace as I do.

Over the last few years, I've written about rediscovering my wonder for life in the coming year but this year I feel I might actually be in a good place to do it.

To 2026, then. Let's see what happens.

The year that was, 2024

The end of the year approaches and another strange one. Far too much work, and I really don't feel like I've done a lot. However, the actual results are quite different so I'm not sure why I feel less than satisfied with myself. Let's dig into the detail - there is certainly more than Helldivers 2 and Dave the Diver.

• 13 posts on this blog (14 including this one) - tenth consecutive year of a post per month
• Continued posting my blog posts on LinkedIn and getting some good responses
• Passed my Magistrates application interview
• Another year of the Year in Pictures - tenth year and we're up to 47 photographers
• 347 Github contributions - well up on the last few years
• Including extensive rewrite of styling for Year in Pics site, removing old Foundation 5
• And a performance rewrite which cut build time from 85 seconds to 6
• Complete upgrade to all Ruby apps and code including migrating Postgres databases (again)
• Changed my email setup again - sigh
• Resurrected an old Pixel C
• Rebuilt my desktop computer
• Updated my music system
• Another year of Saturday Pain and made a t-shirt
• Learned to make candles
• More cooking
• Started writing D&D again
• Started bread again! Although not a great first run...
• Made a Lego Piranha plant, Optimus Prime, and URB Studio
• Made a dice display
• Showed my photos at the St Swithins creativity event
• Pie making cookery course
• Ran quarterly dinner parties - a fancy name for games and food
• Made a few different photo decorated items and books
• Escaped another couple of escape rooms
• Another year of exercise with a personal trainer
• Ongoing good physiotherapy regime
• Spoke at a conference about AI in the charity sector
• Another year on the Data for London Advisory Board
• Yet more instagramming
• More photos on my Flickr stream

Resolution count - 5/10. Not bad, and a lot better than last year.

So yes, this has been an odd year. I've achieved a lot more than I thought despite a rough year at work. A year ago I wrote this, for the millionth year in a row:

Looking forward to 2024, I'm going to write the same thing I write every year. I need to spend less time working and more time living.

Well, I'm happy to say I worked it out this year - I finally found a way to regenerate my energy and spend more time on the things I enjoy. Unfortunately, that way was leaving my job so it feels a bit all or nothing...

Overall though, I have two thoughts about 2024. First, I am quite pleased with how much I did this year. This time last year I struggled to write the above list, and really felt I was bulking it out with non-events. This year I managed to write a lot more and the general quality feels a lot higher. Good news! On the slight downside, far too many of these are from the last couple of months of the year - that is, after removing work. So I still have no idea how to balance my life properly - hurrah for adulting.

Second, as I said in the intro I don't feel like I've done a lot. The evidence is there - I'm wrong and I did Many Things - so why is the emotional component not? Some is because the year has been backloaded, so for much of the year maybe that feeling is more accurate ... but still. What would I feel to be a successful year?

My low energy levels is likely partially a cause. For the second year running I have ended the year with another series of blood tests for fatigue - clear for the second time, fortunately, but the fact I keep having these tests is not a good sign. I really need to bring my physical and mental health to the point where normal fluctuations don't keep dipping me into a bad place.

But overall, I don't have a good answer to the question about why I am not satisfied with my own achievements. I do have a bit of an opportunity at the start of 2025. Being between jobs I'm at a natural point to be introspective and really think about what I want to achieve going forward, and also what would make me happy. So 2025 is going to be the year of working out where I want my life to go, along with actually doing some of it. Oh and getting a job, I guess. Boo.

One thing I do need carefully consider is how I interact with other people and the world. I have definitely withdrawn over 2024, mostly as a defence mechanism. Through tiredness and some bad experiences I deliberately focused on the things in my life over which I have some control, which is to say I looked inward. This helped, but I think the balance is off. I have the inclination to become a hermit if left to my own devices so I need to make sure I am remembering to look outward too.

Right, enough ruminating. 2024 was objectively a decent year, if hard work. I hope for more from 2025, but to add in the emotional component. In the 2021 version of this post, I wrote that I wanted to find and restore my sense of wonder. I think I did, but it has slipped again. So this year I want to bring it back again.

It is time. Onwards! To 2025!

The year that was, 2023

Well, it's the end of another year and it has been a strange one. It hasn't been a terrible year, like some recently. But I also don't seem to have done anything except work. In review at the end of the year, I feel I've learned a lot and I feel very tired. So let's see whether I've achieved anything at all - there has to be a bit more then Hell Let Loose and Roboquest.

• 14 posts on this blog (15 including this one) - ninth consecutive year of a post per month
• Started posting my blog posts on LinkedIn - small thing, but a big deal for me
• Another year of the Year in Pictures - ninth year and we're up to 40 photographers
• 224 Github contributions - well down on last year
• Rebuilt my email setup so email actually arrives
• Finished replatforming all my apps
• Started playing D&D again
• Started writing a D&D setting too
• Some reading
• Managed to see a few friends for the first time in years
• Foraging cookery course
• Completed another escape room
• Stripped down and repaired the taps in my kitchen
• Finally sorted out the signatories on the house bank account (2+ years!!)
• Another year of exercise with a personal trainer
• Established a good physiotherapy regime
• Another year of the Saturday morning exercise class
• Won an award for CIO potential
• Spoke at a conference about the future of tech
• Yet more instagramming
• More photos on my Flickr stream

Resolution count - 3/10. Utterly awful.

This time last year I wrote this:

"Looking forward to 2023, I'm going to write the same thing I write every year. I need to spend less time working and more time living."

It really has been a strange year. I seem to have been constantly busy and yet outside of work achieved very little. I feel like I've spent so much of the year on the back foot - whether that's because I've been worn out, or because I've spent time doing things for other people and not moving forward with things I want to do. My resolution count shows this - lowest in years. For various reasons, I've not been able to prioritise much for myself. I've learned very little, and not completed many projects leaving an overall sense of emptiness.

It has been a sub-optimal year for physical health. I've had a year of blood tests for chronic fatigue (fortunately nothing) and all manner of problems with my hips which have blown apart my fitness. I've been nursing injuries since May and while training and physio has helped, I feel like I've moved backwards (and outwards) this year. This is something I really want to turn around in 2024 if I can avoid damaging myself any more.

Also, while I don't feel too bad as I write this, I think my mental health has taken a battering this year. My work / life balance is completely off - the worst it has been in years. However, unlike previous years when this has been the case at least I'm enjoying the challenge this time around. But that doesn't change that work has been full on, which has led to much exhaustion and doing less of my own things while I hid and recovered.

All that said, while my real-life has been less than ideal my work-life has been doing ok. I have achieved a lot in my current role and even won an industry award which was rather surprising. I don't write about work much during this year-end post but this year it's worth calling out the success to contrast ... well ... everything else.

So some words for 2024...

Looking forward to 2024, I'm going to write the same thing I write every year. I need to spend less time working and more time living.

Sigh.

More seriously, I want to focus on my health - physical and mental. I need to increase the quality of my time across the board. The time I spend at work needs to be better spent. Outside of work, I need to make better use of the time I have - doing more, and resting better. I definitely need to do more myself instead of chasing round after other people. This year - quality over quantity.

Time for 2024. Tally-ho.

The year that was, 2022

Well, it's the end of 2022 and I've got an odd feeling. The last few years I've started by expressing relief that the year is over. For the first time since 2015 I'm not going to write some variant of "thank goodness this year has finished". It has been a difficult year at times, but overall I think it has worked out well. I have certainly (once again) worked far too much, and I ended the year with COVID but overall I give this one a passing grade. But what did I actually do other than work? Well, let's find out. It can't all have been Elden Ring and Deep Rock Galactic (again).

• 12 posts on this blog (13 including this one) - down on last year, but eighth consecutive year of a post per month
• Another year of the Year in Pictures - eighth year and we're up to 39 photographers
• 316 Github contributions - up from last year
• Wrote RPG Sword Forms application
• Wrote a simple guide to upgrading to Rails 7 (which apparently GDS used - gosh)
• Replatformed all my apps when Heroku stopped doing a free tier (guide to come!)
• Completed Elden Ring
• Beat Malenia, Blade of Miquella without using any cheese or summons (I'm proud of myself...)
• Lots of reading
• A full year of solid exercise with a personal trainer
• Established a good physiotherapy regime
• Made some recruitment videos - this is work, but the important point is my video editing is now smooth enough to focus on the output rather than having to look up every last interaction
• Went on a date!
• Another year of the Saturday morning exercise class
• Built a LEGO Infinity Gauntlet with lights
• Learned to carve letters in wood
• Summer baking and BBQ cooking classes
• Made a picture for my Mum
• Yet more instagramming
• Loads more photos on my Flickr stream
• I also turned 40, which included a lovely trip to Pembrokeshire

Resolution count - 5.5/10. Down on last year, AND I worried I'd made them too easy!

It has been an odd year. Very tiring in places, and once again I've worked far too much. I didn't feel I'd done anything and my resolution count is going down, yet the list above is much longer than usual and I don't think I've scraped the bottom of the barrel pulling it together. So I'm clearly doing things, just not the things I intended. I can live with that, but I would like the things I do to have a greater impact on me so I actually remember them. Interestingly, unlike other years, the above list is spaced across the year rather than being loaded into the last three months so maybe I've achieved something approaching balance? I also didn't have three months off work and still did Many Things so clearly I've started recovering some energy to be able to do them.

Speaking of balance, we should definitely take a quick look at work. I spent nine months as a contractor before formally being appointed to my first full director role at Macmillan Cancer Support. After 2021 that was definitely a good boost for my self-esteem! I also helped set up the new version of the London Data Board, then got myself appointed onto it. This coming year, I need to grow into this new form of work - looking ahead to decide what I need to learn to be better at it.

Looking forward to 2023, I'm going to write the same thing I write every year. I need to spend less time working and more time living. Last year I stated my intention to do more creating "things" and the above list shows I made a decent go at that. I want to do more again in 2023 - ideally maturing those skills I've been picking up the last few years so I can be more excited about the things I'm making. I also want to get out and about somewhere - I'm not great with travelling off my own back so maybe I can change that.

More than this, I want to revisit what I wrote at the end of last year's summary. I have starting pulling together my sense of wonder and continuing to restore my zest for life is going to be the main focus for next year. Hopefully this will also be reflected in my writing on this blog too. Less of the "this is hard" and more of the "this is interesting".

2023. Bring it on.

The year that was, 2021

Good grief. Astonishingly, 2021 was a year that happened. Even better, it ended. As I start writing this post, I am honestly struggling to think of anything I've done this year however long-term readers will know that that is exactly the point of this annual post. I also don't write about work (until I do) which is going to be a big deal this year. So, with that in mind, what HAVE I done this year that isn't all Deep Rock Galactic and Dark Souls 3?

• 13 posts on this blog (14 including this one) - seventh consecutive year of a post per month
• another year of the Year in Pictures site - this is the seventh year and we're up to 33 photographers
• 264 contributions on Github - down on last year, but better than I expected
• started writing a new D&D setting
• got back into gaming (including finally understanding the appeal of and completing Dark Souls 3)
• made a point to read a lot more than 2020 - important since I've lost my train journey reading time
• did a lot more cooking - both learning and keeping it regular
• attended a cooking class (and learned about sauces)
• learned a bit more video editing - made a birthday video for Matt and a tour of my Valheim home
• increased exercise and felt it actually start to do something
• made a colour changing potion
• learned how to use a multimeter
• bought some lightsabers!
• finally started building some LEGO
• upgraded my home network with a UniFi Dream Machine
• made a book
• extensive Instagramming
• loads of photos on my Flickr stream

Resolution count - 6.5/10. It's getting better, but I'm aware I made them easier this year as I was expecting a tough year...

Looking over these, I am once again pretty amazed I got anything done. However I notice most of these kicked in towards the end of the year, when Significant Events happened (more on that later). This could be classic memory bias, but I've spent some time thinking about it and this does seem to be a fair reflection of the year. I really did very little other than work for the first seven or eight months of the year.

So, speaking of work... Every year I say some variation of "this year has been too much about work but next year will change" and every year it gets worse. This year has been no exception - work has been all-consuming in a whole variety of different ways. However, this year I can genuinely say I've made a change. I left my job in the Civil Service. I've written about it before, and I'm sure I will do again so for now I'll note that it was a tremendously emotional decision and I have since realised quite how burnt out I really was. Since then, I've also set up a company (Third Way Digital) for all your digital leadership consulting and engineering needs and have taken my first steps working with a few different places.

And now for 2022. I'll say again (again) that next year will not be all about work. However, if I'm honest, I just don't know. Self-employed consultancy is a whole new game for me and maybe I'll be working really hard all year? Maybe I'll have nothing but time? I'm not sure which I'm hoping for, but a balance would be nice.

Other than work, I think it's time for some changes. We've all been stuck inside, looking inwards and not engaging with each other enough for nearly two years and for me that needs to change. I want to be looking outward this coming year. Whether it's in person, or via video call, I want to be more involved with other people in a healthy and constructive way. If you know me, expect a call.

I also want to be more creative. The last few months of 2021 saw me recovering and starting to indulge in creative projects. I want to keep that going and increase it significantly. I used to do a lot of making and I want to find that space again. I was set a challenge:

"I dreamt that you had built a mechanical light up version of the old school Channel 4 logo, which was on display somewhere, but as I was looking at it and going "omg Tom made this why didn't he tell us?!" a curator knocked it over and it smashed."

Good idea dream-me. However you're making me look bad, so you're going down.

My new year resolutions support these, however more than anything I want to find and restore my sense of wonder. I am naturally a pragmatic cynic, however until this year I've also retained a sense of wonder for the world. This year I think I lost it - or at least misplaced it. However what was lost can be found. That's 2022. From that restores an interest, and a general zest for life.

Let's do this.

The year that was, 2020

Well, shit. I'm writing this on the last day of 2020 and thank goodness this year is over. There are plenty of reasons I am very pleased to see the back of this horrible year (COVID being the obvious one) but this isn't the place to write about that. This annual post is traditionally about reviewing my new years resolutions and reminding myself of all the creative things I've managed to do. It has, after all, not all been Division and ... err ... Division 2.

• 18 posts on this blog (19 including this one) - sixth consecutive year of a post per month
• regular posts reflecting on life in lockdown
• did some writing (and GMing) for a MUD
• continued running a weekly exercise class in the park in Bath
• another year of the Year in Pictures site - this is the sixth year and we're up to 29 photographers
• started a Rails project linking Humble Choice to Steam tags, re-learning a load of good developer craft skills
• rebuilt my server from scratch
• learned about Github Actions
• built a pihole for my home
• renovated the home network at my parents' house (and made them a pihole too)
• upgraded all my live projects to use a modern version of Ruby and etc
• 298 contributions to various projects on github (well up on last year)
• learned the basics of wood turning (and made two bowls)
• extensive instagramming
• loads of photos on my flickr stream

Resolution count - 6/10. Nice.

Frankly, I'm astounded that this year of all years I've managed this much. I also achieved one of my stretch goals (of five but that's not the point). This is testimony to my own levels of awesome. Or, more accurately, this is testimony to a lot of effort to not just disappear into work during lockdown.

Speaking of work, I deliberately don't reflect much on work int this post but there is something worth remembering. This year I made some decisions and moved out of London and back to Bath properly. While it has been in the middle of a pandemic, so hardly the homecoming I anticipated, it still has been fantastic to stop the commute and live in one place again.

Next year... well. I've been writing this review post for seven years now, starting way back in 2014. In the last few years each year I've written some variant of "this year has been all about work - something to change next year". Then I've utterly failed to actually follow through. With lockdowns and COVID, work and life are blurring which makes stepping away all the more difficult so this year I'm going to have to work much harder at building a non-work life. However, I've been making some progress recently with picking up programming again and as long as coffee shops reopen before too long I hope to carry this on and build on it.

Nobody knows what 2021 is going to bring. Normally, I write about wanting to do things and learn things and so on. But the world isn't set up for that at the moment. I have my normal hopes, but more importantly next year is about the people. Life is exceptionally dark at the moment, so what can I do to bring a little light?

2021. Here we go.

The year that was, 2019

It's the last day of 2019 and time to look back on what has been a trying year. This time last year I wrote "2019 needs to be a year where I focus on sorting out my personal life" and as I start writing this, I can honestly say by that metric 2019 has been a year of utter failure. Maybe as I write more I'll change my mind, but my overriding impression of this year has been work work work. This needs to change in 2020 and fortunately I've got a new creative outlet for this coming year which I find exciting. In the meantime, let's look at what I have achieved. Maybe next year it wont all be Star Trek Bridge Crew and Strange Brigade.

• 16 posts on this blog (17 including this one) - fifth consecutive year of a post per month
• weekly posts through November as part of NaBloPloMo2019
• started running a weekly exercise class in the park in Bath
• joined the hospitality team in church
• ran a D&D game for a part of the year
• another year of the Year in Pictures site, up to 27 photographers
• 97 contributions to various projects on github (which is, on reflection, hardly an achievement)
• loads of photos on my flickr stream

My writing has increased at the cost of ... more or less everything else. The list above is feeble, but I need to remember that it's not quite as bad as it looks. I am reading a lot more, and while I make the same joke every year about playing videogames they do help me relax and so playing more this year is actually a success in and of itself. Indeed, it was one of my resolutions. Speaking of which:

Resolution count: 4/10 - down on last year. Sad times.

Although I don't reflect on work here, I do need to remember that while exhausting this year has been a success - the high point being my becoming a Senior Civil Servant. I set myself two "work resolutions" and managed to score 1.5/2 which is much better and, unfortunately, demonstrates where too much of my focus has been. This year I need to work out how to manage to keep a life around work.

More importantly, next year needs to be about something other than work. As a priority, I need to sort out my health - both physical and mental - and I need to positively engage with a community. Fortunately I seem to have found one I like, so that is a good start. Ideally I'd like to re-engage with some positive social change outside of work - charity work or similar. But I need to sort out the foundations first, so we'll call that a stretch goal.

Brace for another decade.

The year that was, 2018

2018 is more or less over and it's time to look back and decide if it was worth the bother. Work has been tough this year, with a new role and responsibilities but despite that I've managed to improve my physical and mental health (especially the former). But it's not good enough, and I think 2019 needs to be a year where I focus on sorting out my personal life. I'm still not creating enough, and that is in part because of the limited time I spend doing useful things outside of work. Still, this is post is about the things I have done so let's look at the positives. It's not all Elite Dangerous and YouTube.

• 13 posts on this blog (14 including this one)
• 2 posts on my gaming blog
• another year of the Year in Pictures site, up to 21 photographers
• created the Year in Pictures helper and only completely broke it once
• over 239 contributions to various projects on github (down from last year)
• started a new D&D game (Elsewhere) resulting in much writing, drawing of maps and running of sessions
• went on another photography course to learn how the rest of the buttons on my camera work
• 100+ pictures on my instagram account
• loads of photos on my flickr stream
• became a Reader at the British Library (and failed to find the thing I was looking for)
• helped out at Codebar
• lost a load of weight
• started back at the gym properly
• updated my website and Gareth's website
• made a set of coasters with pictures of my nephew at different points over his first year

It's not a lot, but this has been a very work-centric year. That is definitely something to change in 2019. On top of this, I've also learned to pick a lock, introduced some friends to the joys of the escape room, done a load more sound desk stuff, and failed to see the friends I mentioned last year.

Resolution count: 6/10 - definitely improving over previous years.

This coming year needs to do more with what I started this year. More serious exercise, with an endgame I'm actually happy with. Code more. Draw more. Create some things that aren't the blog / game cycle. It's going to be another busy one at work, which means I need to be careful to avoid just getting sucked into it. After a scientific analysis of work and play I'm going to be doing at least one thing every month. And I will definitely see those people this year.

Brace yourself, everyone. 2019 incoming...

The year that was, 2017

Time to once again take stock of the last 12 months and that leads to an important question about 2017. Was it worse than 2016? For me, the answer is yes. Assorted burn-out issues have resulted in a significant decline in physical and mental health and a marked reduction in making things. That is something to fix for next year. Looking at the positives, I've survived a year in a new job and city and I've managed to catch up with a lot of friends from The Past. I've also managed to do Some Things, albeit Fewer Things than I'd have liked. Still, it hasn't all been Killing Floor 2 and Ultimate Chicken Horse.

• 12 posts on this blog (13 including this one)
• wrote a short story
• another year of the Year in Pictures site, up to 15 photographers
• over 385 contributions to various projects on github
• completed GMing a 2 year 5th ed D&D game to great critical acclaim
• got back in to playing D&D online
• started planning a new regular game
• created the university of bath RPG (post to follow on this)
• went on a photography course to learn how to use my camera properly
• 55+ pictures on my instagram account
• loads of photos on my flickr stream
• attended some cookery courses
• updated my website and Gareth's website
• lots of work with build pipelines and hosting
• plenty of game recording, with sadly little to no video editing
• a bit more voiceover work

I also hung up my abacus, finishing my time as a church treasurer and member of our church council with a financial presentation to the congregation. I've continued running the sound desk in the same church.

Resolution count: 3.5/10 - better than 2016. Still bad.

This coming year I'm going to try undoing the problems of this year - most notably fixing my health and writing more. I'm also starting a new role at work and I'm going to be spending more time going to see friends from university who have disappeared a bit. Here we go...

The year that was, 2016

Well, I think most people would agree that 2016 sucked. I'll certainly be glad to see the back of it. Aside from the various events we all know about, it's also the year I lost two members of my family. Focusing on the positives though, I have moved jobs and reconnected with a lot of friends many of whom I've not been in contact with for many years. The point of this annual post is to remind myself of things I do to flex my creative muscles and prove to myself that I don't just spent my time watching videos on YouTube and playing Gauntlet.

• 13 posts on this blog (14 including this one)
• another year of the Year in Pictures site, with doubled the number of contributors
• created a book out of the 2015 Year in Pictures posts
• contributed to a few open source projects, including libraries.io
• well over 200 contributions to my github account
• wrote and delivered two sermons
• wrote and GMed a roughly monthly 5th Ed D&D game
• restarted my instagram account
• loads of photos on my flickr stream
• updated my website and Gareth's website
• plenty of game recording, with sadly little to no video editing
• some small voiceover work

And I went back to doing some serious exercise and started playing a lot of board games again, not to mention the time spent acting as the Treasurer (and member of the PCC) of my church.

Resolution count: 2/10 - appalling.

I spent a lot of time on technical things and photography this year at the cost of writing. Next year I want to step up the writing and draw some more maps.

The year that was, 2015

In what is becoming something of a tradition, it's time for me to take stock of the creative "things" I've done this year as a reminder to myself that I do more with my free time than just play games and eat chocolate.

• 11 posts on this blog (12 including this one)
• 1 post on my gaming blog
• wrote a short story introducing a D&D character
• put together my Year in Pictures site and kept it running for the year
• updated Gareth's website
• updated my static publishing toolset
• around 200 contributions to my github account
• weekly Legend of the Five Rings tabletop game completed after 4-5 years (30+ sessions written and run)
• started a new D&D group
• wrote and GMed a one-off Star Wars game
• 2+ maps, mostly of Rokugan
• created a game and skype recording setup
• a load more photos on my flickr stream
• started learning some microcontroller programming
• started learning video editing, 5 videos including 4 on my YouTube channel

Not to mention that I completely rewrote my CV - does that count as creative?

2016 is coming. Now I don't have to write a weekly RPG any more, it's time for some exciting new projects.

The year that was

I often kick myself for not indulging my creative side enough, so in the interests of being positive once in a while and reminding myself that I do write more than I think I'm compiling a (likely incomplete) list of creative "things" done this year.

• 7 posts on this blog (8 including this one)
• restarted my gaming blog, 8 posts
• repaired and rebuilt my website
• rebuilt and updated Gareth's website
• updated my static publishing toolset and updated the deployment scripts
• nearly 200 contributions on my github account
• weekly Legend of the Five Rings tabletop game (30+ sessions written and run)
• 3+ maps, drawn in different ways
• a load of photos on my flickr stream
• learned how to cut the mounting board for framing pictures

2015 is on the horizon. More next year.