2011 in Review

Where do I begin?  2011 was a massive year and there’s a lot that went down – I guess I’ll start with a couple of lists and elaborate on some bigger things later in the post.

Achievements unlocked:

• Dropped out of uni,
• First year living without the parents,
• First solo overseas holiday,
• First move without the parents,
• Most plane flights in a 12 month period (?),
• First year without formal education.

Personal development:

• Discovered a love for photography,
• Started seriously learning Japanese,
• Started cultivating a social life (work in progress),
• Started a new lifestyle in the worst possible time of year (work in progress).

Misc:

• Whisky destroyed Brandy for me.

Dropping Out

Three years ago I started a degree in games design.  Two years ago, the Australian games industry collapsed and the rise of the indie developer went into overdrive, leaving my degree seeming like a relic of a byegone era.  Seeing an opportunity in gainful employment I took it and this year I have been working solidly in general IT and programming.  I feel this has been a good decision and I think Past Me deserves a high-five for his foresight.

Moving Up – Uh, I mean, moving out…

Pardon the Billy Joel reference.  Moving out has been a positive experience, if filled with a few trials.  I’m now a fair sight further away from work, being in Southport rather than Highland Park, but that’s let me get down to the beach every day and has made going into Surfers easier for my weekly Meetups (of which I am now an organiser!)  Moving out has been a positive experience overall, if a little tough at times.  It’s taught me a few lessons and I’ve had a lot of fun, which is a win in my books.  I still have a lot to learn though…

Travel

It’s official.  When the closest memories to hand at the end of the year are the two weeks in April that I spent in Japan, I know that I was born to travel.  I’m already planning my future trips overseas and I can’t wait for my next chance to get away.   I’ve signed up for both the Virgin and Qantas rewards programs and hopefully they’ll bear fruit in the next five or so years.  I’m patient, and there’s a huge world out there to see.  In the mean time, a lot of saving and keeping the eyes on those four weeks of holidays I get annually will have to do.

Japanese

I’ve always had a passing interest in lingusitics, I love words and reading and I’ve always thought that if I wasn’t a computer programmer I’d love to be a linguist.  What else is programming other than another lexicon of verbs, nouns and adverbs with associated syntax?  I could learn a language with similarities to English, but why bother?  Japanese is a fantastic language, based on phonetics and with a jumble of (surprisingly elegant) written languages with a large variety of intriguing glyphs.  It’s an entirely new way of thinking about verbal communication and I am enjoying every minute of study.

Lifestyle

I’ve started working on developing some healthy habits (blown all to hell over this holiday period – could I have chosen a worse time to execute a lifestyle change?) and a bit of an offline social life, which has been going fairly well.  A quick shout-out to http://meetup.com – an awesome website.  I was skeptical (and I’d recommend that anyone be cautious when going to a new group for the first time) but my experience was overwhelmingly positive and I’m now an organiser for the group that I joined!

Whisky

It’s nice.  ’nuff said.  I’ve written most of this with the aid of a glass of Dimple, neat, while I started the evening with a dram of Glenfiddich 14 year old Rich Oak  – a fine drop in its own right.  Why must I choose all of the expensive interests?  I can’t take nice photos while travelling and drinking only the finest whisky now, or can I?  That’s the task for 2012.

New Years Resolutions

What new years’ post would be complete without a few resolutions?  These are mine for the new year:

• Build a saving habit and stick to it,
• Make a habit of regular exercise,
• Make a new friend.

For those of you that don’t know me, the latter may seem too easy, or flippant, or a gimme.  Believe me, it’s not.  I consider a friend a person who I could tell anything, someone who I would trust with my darkest secrets.  I could count the number of friends I currently have on one hand, with plenty of fingers to spare.  This time next year I will revisit this post and deliver an update as to where I got with these resolutions.  With any luck I’ll be able to demonstrate my progress throughout the year.

Where do I begin?  2011 was a massive year and there’s a lot that went down – I guess I’ll start with a couple of lists and elaborate on some bigger...