Already Behind

This year has not exactly got off to a good start, my only achievement so far having been to serve as a host for a particularly nasty and persistent cold virus (thanks for everything nasopharyngitis, it was a pleasure doing business). I take some small comfort in that apparently the more severe the symptoms, the healthier the immune system. If this is in fact true, then as far as concerned I’m practically Wolverine. I had intended to put up a little statement of intent for myself a day or two after New Year so I could look back on it in twelve months time and marvel at how little I achieved. Incapacitated as I was, this slipped a bit. Possibly that was a good thing, as one of the goals I wanted to declare was to blog on a weekly basis. FAIL.

Last year coming back from India, where I spent New Year, I was feeling quite energised and positive. I wanted to achieve quite a lot, and whilst I was probably too ambitious, I hoped I’d be in a much better place than I eventually ended up in (literally and figuratively – one of the biggest disappointments was the failure to move out of my flat and into more congenial surroundings). Work ended up owning me from around May onwards, and whilst I think I accomplished much I can be proud of in the day job, everything else fell by the wayside. A family health crisis didn’t really help much either, however I’m grateful that we got what was perhaps the best possible news in the circumstances just before Christmas, which was a much happier occasion as a consequence.

So, slow start notwithstanding, I am hoping to have a more productive 2012, professionally and personally. At work, the project I’ve been working on for the last six months or so will be launching in earnest and at that point I think I’m going to need a new challenge, whether that’s a new project, new role, new employer or all of the above. I also want to get more involved in the development community. I managed to get to dConstruct and a few Pub Standards last year, but I’d like to do a lot more in 2012, in particular getting to few hackdays and the like. I’m also going to SXSW again.

Personally, I feel I let my health go a bit towards the end of last year, so I need to get back into a regular exercise routine and improve the diet. One of the reasons I want to move is because of my flat’s dingy, poorly-lit kitchen, which has sapped me of my lifelong love of cooking, something else I’d like to get back into the habit of doing more of. There’s the novel to get back to, and I have several notebooks full of short story ideas I really need to start turning into actual stories. Travel-wise I want to be spending a lot more time outdoors generally, and if I can get back into reasonable shape, maybe start doing the climbing thing again. In the past I’ve done pro bono volunteer work as a web developer for various organisations – that slipped quite a bit in 2011, so it’s something I want to start doing again. Ideally I’d like to do some ‘local’ stuff as well – make some sort of contribution to the community. I have a few ideas for some potentially socially-useful stuff I want to build as well.

Anyway, that’s broadly the plan. A lot of the detail is going to be dependent on whether I manage to get into the flat I’m trying to buy – a saga that made the last few months of last year particularly frustrating and looks set to do the same to the first few months of this one – however, I don’t want that to eclipse the rest of the year, so I’ve got plans C through E in case it doesn’t come off. Happy new year, let’s hope it’s a good one, without any fear.