New Year 2014
Well, it’s 2014. Somehow I’m surprised at this, as it seems to have caught up to me unawares like I wasn’t paying for attention.
I’m taking the new year opportunity to look at how well (or not) I’ve done this year. It’s 2013 in review.
2013 was my first calendar year living I Netherlands, and I feel I’ve done well in some things and I’m unhappy about progress in other things. It was a very busy year for me.
I’ve learned a lot living here, especially about ‘integrating’ to a culture that has some interesting oddities. I’m learning a new language (Dutch). I did some hobby painting, expanding my Imperial Fists a bit, but not as much as I wanted to, this is a problem. I feel guilty looking at the shelf of unpainted minis, but some did make it to the display cabinet. I made some friends, but I feel that I’ve neglected to keep in contact with them, and that I let my work get in the way there. At other times I’ve been a somewhat of a hermit, but it’s those times I think I managed to get on with some hobby, and rest.
Seemingly, I’ve let too many things get in the way of my own life and that’s a big regret. It’s made me unhappy on more than a few occasions throughout the year. I’ve found it’s easy to not achieve the things you set out to do if you do not guard the time for those things jealously. Other people’s objectives can quickly overtake your own if you don’t clearly know what you want to achieve…
Still, I’ve achieved a lot, but not all the things I set out to do… So maybe that proves the point. After reading back through my previous years wishes, I’m going to talk to myself about what’s what in 2014.
My summary for 2014 wishes:
Work less
Spend more time with friends
Eat healthier
Get more painting done
Play those games I never did
It sounds like such a simple list but it’s more complicated.
I spend way too much time working. It’s really that simple, and I need to put a little perspective on my work time. I’m passionate about my work, and the products that I work on, so I don’t think there is an issue with my dedication, but I do think I spend an unhealthy amount of my personal time working. That needs to change and I need to control what I pour my time into better. I’ve also been eating out more because of the work, and I’ve decided I need to improve my diet at home and work. My personal life has suffered under the imbalance.
In 2013 I met some new friends, and they might even consider me their friend, but as I’ve said, I think I’ve neglected them a lot. I’m not sure how to correct this oversight exactly, but it has to be done.
Last year my PC acted up quite a few times and finally I decided to change most of the parts over, and rebuild it. I have not done this yet, but planning is ongoing and a budget is set. As part of that I want to play more games, many of those games I never did in my giant Steam library. My Xbox 360 is mostly used for Netflix these days but I pick it up fairly regularly.
As part of this PC/xbox plan, I’m looking at improving my data backup plan. Last year I lost a backup of my PC right before a hard drive crash (faulty SSD), and lost a lot of personal data (luckily I store photos separately) including a treasured collection of savegame files that I won’t get back. It was due to data corruption on my server just before the crash on my workstation. I’m looking at improving my cloud backup solution to encompass more data including server itself backup.
It makes me very sad to imagine the time I’ve lost and I don’t want to see it happen again.
Lastly, but not least, my hobby painting plan. Regarding this I definitely need to be more organised. I started tracking my progress and use notes to keep track of my painting techniques but I need to get on with it without making it a chore. I this will come down to actual gaming, because there is nothing like an upcoming game to drive the hobby painting. I joined a gaming group in the Hague last year but have not attended much, due to letting things get in the way. I intend to improve upon this as a priority and attend more regularly. A cool aspect of this is that it’s introduced me to a few new games and I’m even tempted to get into something, but I need to carefully decide what.
I guess that’s about all for now, I guess I should update my blog more regularly too, of course. 🙂
Onto 2014.
FollowKMan 