Hoo boy
Couldn’t be arsed to do much with this after all but here’s a month-by-month summary of 2020:
It all started out well enough. January I turned 28 and celebrated it with a trip to Dublin, which seems like a million years ago. Partied hard and had a lovely weekend. Went to the opticians and got my eyes tested, my retinas are thicc apparently. I went out a few times in January apparently and it was all good.
February more good vibes and ITZACON was great, won’t have another one of those until 2022 apparently. Still no mention of covid in my diaries but I think we started to keep an eye on it at work. I finished playing FFX around this time too (again)
March I start to mention covid in my diary and have my last run on March 11th, 24 laps. Was preparing for a big Paddy’s weekend with loads of plans but then there was a lockdown! Did all the standard lockdown stuff, Zoom games and parties, long distance relationship, work changed a lot and started winding down and watched loads of stuff on Netflix. Played a lot of Civ 5 in this period.
April. Back to day shift in my old work but got told I could go and start night shift in the new place! Had to leave induction early as Mom was a close contact but that was fine. Played lots of Civ 5 on my two week quarantine. Started night shift and it was exhausting. Spent over 2000 on a PC and accessories.
In May I got my PC and despite an initially weak internet connection I sorted that and it’s great, still is great. Started cycling to work.
June 2020 I started running an RPG for the first time in like 4 years. Was great. Finally got blackout curtains. My hair was super big at this point.
July got my haircut on the 3rd, otherwise just about managed to enjoy aspects of the opening up of the country, even had a night out or two. Visited Dublin for the first time since January, was nice.
In August my Dad had a bit of an accident so that cast a shadow but I managed to visit Dublin before the end of the month.
September - finally finished Final Fantasy XIII. Was what it was. Went to two birthday parties, one of which had us visiting the Roisin for a show and it was good but just not the same. Ate food there, for one. Two of my uncles passed away in short succession which was horrible.
October - lockdown imminent and just working working working. Lots of shorter weeks.
November - took a month off social media, re-watched a load of Archer, played New Vegas again for the 968th time and re-watched the Pacific. Started a Fallout 4 Survival Mode for the first time.
December - lockdown over, hair cut, just work until the Christmas break; finished Fallout 4 Survival Mode (post to follow), Christmas break flew by but was a nice break if tiring as I switched back to a ‘day shift’ pattern and ruined myself. Got to hang out with Theo a lot which was great.
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OK got some motivation back after that:
So yeah in some an average year, I’ll give it a 6/10 despite COVID-19. I think because I had such a strong start and good experiences despite everything in the middle and end of the year. Lockdown also didn’t affect me too badly, seeing as I spent much of the last almost 29 years in the same 5km radius.
I was meant to travel to Prague in April and Italy in July and at least one more place at the end of the year (Scotland most likely) but that was torpedoed by coronavirus. I was also probably going to go out a lot this year.
I drank on 16 occasions this year, 6 of them were before the March lockdown, reinforcing the whole I only drink to socialise theory. I drank two bottles of wine, one at the end of March and one in April while doing the whole Zoom party thing. So the other 50% of the time I was back with friends or ‘out’ insofar as possible between May and November. For comparison, I drank on 11 occasions between October and December 2019 alone.
Had to abandon running once again in March 2020, after a good year or so back at it and back to around 10-11km every Wednesday. I switched to a more intensive weights and calisthenics program I made up for myself that is yielding results combined with my renewed cardio from cycling and walking.
Music of the year: weird one as Billie Eilish was great way back in like January-February when I was evening shift in my old work and feeling like I was about to have an amazing year. Doja Cat Say So played a lot at work and I didn’t hate it. Toward the end, BENEE Supalonely edged in there. I’m going to cop out and give it a three-way tie.
I got a new job in the same company but a different facility, which was a huge change but I managed it fairly well and am settled in now. I’ve also saved so much money, as much as I did in 2017, 2018 and 2019 combined. This is from a combination of night shift rate and just not spending money. I got a few things for myself, such as this gaming computer, but set a goal to ‘save it back’ as soon as I spent it on top of my normal saving goals. Most of it is in the credit union but will expand into bonds probably soon.
Didn’t do a whole lot of reading or writing but got a good bit of typing done; going to try and get reading again, writing a page a day of anything (with various colour-coded pages) and typing that damn book I wrote in 2019.
There’s not a whole lot to say, I had an OK 2020 compared to most but I guess it wasn’t too much of a change for me personally there were just some things I can’t do for the moment and I had work to keep me busy, that was a big enough change in itself. Having most of my usual schedule to occupy me was good and I filled any void with watching a bit more stuff and playing or running games. I feel more bad for more extroverted people, old people and those with underlying illnesses who all felt lockdown to a greater extent than myself.
Here’s to a better 2021!
