That’s right, I’m back on the Internet! Refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to dive back into the mayhem. I’ve returned to Canberra, Australia after two and a bit weeks in Thailand. I fully intend to blog a bit about my experience over there, with pictures — I took copious notes about what I got up to, but I’ll probably just summarise some of the best bits for posterity.
My priority for the moment, however, is getting a bit of freelance work done so I can pay the bills and feed myself; an equal priority is polishing up my resume and getting that off to a bunch of recruiters so I can track down a new job.
I’m not sure where I’m going to end up — which is both exciting and daunting — but I’m thinking about making a move to Melbourne, providing there’s a good job on offer. I could also stay in Canberra for 3 months, to save a bit of money before I make the big move. All options are on the table.
I queued this one up before I left for Thailand; while I’m on hiatus, pleasy enjoy my 2008 retrospective!
Copying who stole it from who stole if from , here’s a quick rundown of 2008, question and answer style:
Q: What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? A: Got out on my own. I was much less fearful of making my own way; for example, up in Sydney, I went out clubbing on my own (and made a few good friends) without any other company. I guess I’m feeling a lot more confident! I ran LGS mostly alone for a while (hard!).
Q: Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? A:I don’t make New Years resolutions as such. I will aim to blog more this year, though, find myself an awesome new job, get out of Canberra, and focus my time more effectively.
Q: Did anyone close to you give birth? No, but someone close to someone close to me did? And a few friends of mine came up pregnant — 2009 looks like having a bumper crop of new humanlings.
Q: Did anyone close to you die? A: No. Wonderfully death-free, last year. Hopefully this year will follow suit.
Q: What countries/states did you visit? A: I was only in Australia.
Q: What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? A: A motorbike (mine was stolen in Jan 08). A challenging new job, a bit more financial security, and a lot more travel.
Q: What was your biggest achievement of the year? A:The facetious answer is “surviving it”. In seriousness though, I closed down my first business. Most people would consider that a failure, and in some ways it still feels like one, but I’ve learnt so much from the process and become a much sharper person for the experience.
Lower down on the list — co-producing my first track, Grip — a mix of dance music and heavy metal, which has had pretty good reception with those we’ve played it to. (Not released yet, but we’ll drop it on you all sooner or later).
Q: What was your biggest failure? A:Not making it to Europe. A contract I was relying on for money fell through, and that was the end of that. In many ways that worked out OK — life would have been very different if I’d gone to Europe, especially where LGS is concerned.
A close runner-up would be my complete failure to follow up any of my research ideas or hardware development plans — time just ran out.
Q: Did you suffer illness or injury? A: A few little bugs, but overall I was much healthier in 08 than I was in 07. The nice new house made a real difference.
Q: What was the best thing you bought? A: Probably my iPhone. I do hate the hype that surrounds these things, in many ways they’re just a darn phone; but they’re a relative joy to use compared to many alternatives, and show that a slick, usable interface can overcome a lack of features a lot of the time.
Q: Whose behaviour merited celebration? A: My business partner Evan, for finally pulling the pin. Hard call but it needed to be done. Dad, for making it through a whole lot of crud that he never deserved.
Q: Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? A: Senator Stephen Conroy. Easiest. Answer. Evar.
Q: Where did most of your money go? A:Statistically? Rent and food. In terms of disposable income … I’m not as sure as I should be (there’s an idea for 09 — keep better track of my spending!)
Q: What did you get really, really, really excited about? A: A possible job for tech startup which, sadly, didn’t come through. The interview process alone was enlightening though, so I’m richer for the experience. I really want to work with these guys one way or the other — we’ll see how we go.
Q: What song will always remind you of 2008? A: Grip — Daniel Nardi and Andy White. Hopefully you’ll hear it before too long. :)
Q: Compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder?—probably happier, albeit a little more concerned about my immediate future;
thinner or fatter?—about the same, more muscle and a scooch less fat;
richer or poorer?—slightly better financial position if you ask my about this very second, but the near future is looking a bit tense.
Q: What do you wish you’d done more of? A: Parkour, travelling, paying attention to my friends and family. And I only got to sea kayak once last year, while I was in Perth. For shame!
Q: What do you wish you’d done less of? A: Pining over things that were not meant to be? Hahaha. Cryptic!
Q: How did you spend Christmas? A: With my family at Mum and Dad’s house in Palmerston, and then relaxing on the couch (but feeling frustrated because I had little to do!)
Q: Did you fall in love in 2008? A: I both kept being in love AND fell in love anew in 2008. It didn’t quite go anywhere romantically, but I made an awesome new friend and had a great time as a result.
Q: How many one-night stands? A: Oh goodness, this is a bit personal isn’t it? Visualise me blushing. Three. Ahem.
Q: What was your favourite TV program? A: Doctor Who. So cheesy, so many badly written episodes (exit, stage left, Russell Davies!), but the good ones were great and full of hope and wonder.
Q: Did you make a friend with anyone that you didn’t know this time last year? A:I made quite a few new friends!
Q: What was the best book you read? A: The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. An odd tale, set in the far far future, but the first novel I’ve read where I truly felt I was inside the character’s head.
Q: What was your greatest musical discovery? A: The music editing software Ableton — thanks Dan! But otherwise, the Presets rocked and I got into a lot more Dance music.
Q: What did you want and get? A: An iPhone.
Q: What did you want and not get? A: A whole slew of things. A job at Palantir is #1 on the list, followed by a new motorbike.
Q: What was your favourite film of this year? A: Iron Man,comic book shlock at it’s heart, but done well and with a slightly less cheesey take on the hero.
Q: What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? A:I fell afoul of the law. It wasn’t the best year, 2008. :P
Q: What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? A:Having a motorbike? I do go on about that a bit, don’t I?
Q: How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? A: Eclectic. Subtly trendy, but not so trendy as anyone would really notice.
Q: What kept you sane? A: What is this sane you speak of? All of my friends, but especially my housemates, Brett and Andy. Paul. Nyssa and Chris. James and Pascal.
Q: Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? A: I don’t do the celebrity thing usually!
Q: What political issue stirred you the most? A: The use of electronic voting machines in the ACT Legislative Assembly Elections. Grrrrrrrr.
Q: Who did you miss? A: Ruz and Nyss.
Q: Who was the best new person you met? A: Paul, my new gymbuddy! We kept each other smiling this year.
Q: Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. A: Sometimes things don’t work out, and you can’t keep trying at that one specific thing… but that doesn’t mean you should give up altogether. “Try, try again” doesn’t mean “repeat the same mistakes mindlessly”.
I’m also skipping the last question about song lyrics, because it’s way too hard and I need sleep!
Well, so much for my to-do item marked ‘Update blog’. Oops. Between family reunions, shutting down LGS, Christmas and New Years and looking after a friends’ dogs, some uncomfortable legal wranglings, freelancing to pay my bills, trying to get long overdue and extremely critical work done… the blog sort of fell by the wayside.
I’ve got wonderful plans for a few informative blog posts in the new year, but my first priority is to take an extremely overdue holiday to Thailand for 2 weeks. I haven’t had a proper break in 3 years. I often found myself turning down holiday opportunities because I didn’t have the cashflow at the time, and felt too responsible for my small business to let go for that long — LGS never quite made it to the point where any of us could step away for any length of time.
Sadly, the result has been one very burnt-out Andy. There have been days where even glancing at a computer screen felt physically painful, and coding has gone from being fun to being a chore more often than I would like to admit.
So, for the next 2 weeks, I’m off the grid. I won’t be contactable by phone. I won’t even look at my email (well, maybe small glances to check if my family and friends are OK). I’m hoping to go entire days without even sighting a computer.
On my return, things should liven up around here a little more — but until then, best of luck everyone! I might cast a thought your way while I enjoy massages on the beach. :)
