31 December 2019

2019 retrospective

Blog numbers down from last year :P

Job went from steady to insane; took a promotion in February that was an utter rollercoaster of ups and downs until I crashed and burned in June. Took another promotion that slowly escalated again, culminating in me being effectively a line lead/supervisor from September to December of the new evening shift. Now with an actual supervisor finally here, I can focus on training and direction but still required in various places as a jack of all trades.

Didn’t do any courses this year other than First Aid in January.  Seems like a lifetime ago, also before the promotion/shutdown was announced.

In February I took the trainer job then it was announced shortly after we would be shutting down and the product would be moved to Mexico by April 2020! We would hopefully get transferred or redundancy, but still. It’s been extended to July 2020 recently.

Still living at home but have been actively saving for a house for the last few months. Good money socked away too. The car might lower that a bit but hey.

Travel: went to Amsterdam again with Royce, then down to Brussels, then onto Paris. We flew to Amsterdam, then got a train to Brussels and a bus to Paris. We got a train back to Amsterdam. Amsterdam was still excellent, but Brussels was a real treat. I was on a real blonde beer spree that even got Royce into beer drinking. I was shocked to find he had developed a taste for beer when I met him a few weeks later. Paris was amazing, such a grand city I had not seen in quite a few years, if ever. I went to London to see Fleetwood Mac; I’ll definitely go back there, so much to see. I also returned to Finland and Estonia in August and revisited many of the old sights. Hoping to go to bigger places in 2020, USA/Canada and East Asia.



Theo is halfway through 1st class and doing really well. He’s such a sweetheart. One of the perks of doing evening shift now is that I got to see some of his school shows and events. He’s very popular with the other kids.



Evening shift since September 2019; it’s been grand. Stressful at times as I was fully responsible but that has receded a bit now that more  supports are in place and the line is fully trained. Trying to do a bit of cross-training but it’s pretty much just holding the line and getting the numbers until the end.

Exercise - dropped cycling as my back couldn’t handle it any longer. Found I needed to get my wind back in June especially so I started running again then. Worked my way up slowly and steadily to 8km by late December. Run once a week, usually Wednesdays. Really handy now with the evening shift, run in the early afternoon around 1 when it’s nice. Got big into weightlifting around July-August; started to see noticeable results by late October into November, hoping to upgrade to a heavier set of dumbbells and a new barbell for the start of 2020.

Itzacon was good this year, also popped into Akumakon for a bit too. Hoping to do the same again in 2020.

Went to not one but two sauna resort weekends. A damn good way to stay! Also a great way to catch up with peeps from college and will see a lot of them at Itzacon and at various functions.



Did NaNoWriMo but I figure it’s not for me. I can’t write that fast and the crap that spews out isn’t  worth it. Too much pressure, too little time. I did manage to complete my 1 page a day draft by mid-November, which was a huge achievement. The first chapter in the penultimate period of the Necut saga. I typed a bit of it out  on Google Docs and colour-coded the various viewpoints.



I will start writing one page a day once again the 1st of January, 2020. I may try and do two projects simultaneously, one for Necut and one quasi-memoirs.

After failing by 2 points,then failing by 1 point, I passed the driving theory test by exactly 35/40 in November 2019. It was the first time since maybe May that I was truly elated. I didn’t know you needed an eye test done to collect it so will have to wait until January but that’s fine.

Best game of 2019… hard to call really. Skyrim was pretty good, as was Final Fantasy 12. I’ll give it to Skyrim, as I had never cleared it before.



I am going to revive Love/Hate, starting with episode #23 in the New Year.  Will allow for more consistent blog-posting.

2 years single now. I’m really looking forward to my third summer romance in a row to end tragically in 2020. There is always the priesthood!

Best song of 2019 - award goes to Dua Lipa and Silk City, Electricity. Was my anthem for a long  time. Listening to a good mix of current and classic hits right now. Sigrid, Freya Ridings, Fozzy, Dermot Kennedy and Taylor Swift all get an honourable mention for their work.

Set a goal of reading 19 books in 2019, just like my 18 in 2018. Came very close but looks like I’ll be one book short! Not a bother, will start fresh and do 20 in 2020. Book of 2019 is a tie between Time Traveler’s Wife and The Dark Tower. Honourable mention to The Name of the Wind.

Managed to watch a tiny bit of wrestling! Caught Moxley versus Omega (violent) and Survivor Series (clusterfudge). That’s all, as well as a few Y2J matches - Jericho is the GOAT. Rooting for AEW to succeed. I am still maintaining my Create-A-Wrestler organisation, Blacksmith is on top right now if very old and the Royal Rumble is next.

I played in a nice game of 5e every Monday from January to May but stopped for a variety of reasons. I was a Tiefling Rogue to see how Donal does it. I switched over to another game run by a new friend and it’s  been just lovely. Still playing it now. I am a human Wizard named Storm, born of the Void and servant of evil.

Movies of 2019… Joker was good but a really shallow plot. Endgame was a good wrap up but not quite as entertaining as the prior movie. It 2 was terrible, I didn’t like it, I was very disappointed. Midsommar was different and a wild experience. I might give it the nod. Star Wars  IX was very meh but got me in the end.

Will hopefully start GMing in 2020 once again. It’s been way too long. Probably a modified for 5e Doomstones campaign set in my usual gameworld.

The beard continues since June 2018. Briefly considered regrowing my long hair but I think I’ll keep it relatively short for the time being.

Overall, 2019 was good. One of the most challenging years of my life personally and professionally but I think I profited from it. It was certainly one of the ‘longest’ years of my life, packed full of details. I can’t believe the differences between January 2019 and December 2019. Here’s to 2020 being the best in this trilogy.


What I've been playing lately #2 two posts a month #3

  I have been sort of half-playing games lately, here are some of them. Final Fantasy XII I hadn’t played this since 2019 or so on my old la...