Taking my own name in vain.
14 November 2025
It was this blog’s anniversary yesterday. I don’t actually recall when I went live with one though I suspect it was somewhere around 2002 after I started university in Bristol. Either way, I can be confident I’ve had one for over twenty years and they’ve all be updated to varying degrees of regularity. I was posting at least once a month this year up until about June which was when I moved into my own apartment. Since then, life’s been somewhat busy with all sorts of things going on, both good and bad. Ultimately though, it’s another case of not really knowing what to write and sometimes being afraid to just commit thoughts to the ether, mostly because I don’t like upsetting people.
It’s a funny thing that, if I’m having a face-to-face talk, I’m okay with disagreeing and standing my ground, at least where appropriate. However, when it comes to this blog I think about posting something and then immediately dismiss that thought thinking that either no-one will read it or, those that do, may be horribly offended. I possibly shouldn’t care as much as I do but at the same time I’m finding harder to feel inspired to write about anything. Even my gaming reviews have slowed due to a mix of time to actually play games and a slowly encroaching apathy towards gaming at the moment.
I’ve read about changes in life and that, sometimes, hobbies that brought joy in the pass are less effective and I wonder if that’s where I’m, at least for now, with gaming. At the same time though I do wonder if it’s also linked to just how little time I have to do stuff when I’m parenting and then, when I’m not, I want to catch up with people and do the other things I’ve not had time to do. I’m trusting that, in time, things will even out a bit.
We’re not too far out from Christmas and, sooner than that, 9’s birthday when she’ll hit double digits and become a 10 year old! Time really is flying by and it’s scary to think that 11 will be at high school next year and is just a year away from becoming a teenager. I’m already experiencing the joys of mood swings but I’m trying to show love where I can and ride the wave of adolescence as best I can. Early signs are that I’m in for one interesting journey!
Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day will have both the girls here this time. I missed out on having them for Christmas morning last year so it’ll be lovely to celebrate it with them this time around. I’ve also got space this year to put up decorations both inside and out and I think that’ll be a lovely thing to do with them both once December rolls around. Then we have the long summer holidays as well and whilst I’d love to take them on vacation, at the moment we’ll likely do another day trip like January this year.
That being said, thanks to some geeky days creating excessive spreadsheets on Google, my finances are looking pretty good going into next year. I cleared my student loan at the end of last year, my credit card is almost at zero and my tracking spreadsheet for bills and so on is predicting things are on the up. Combined with a sheet tracking everything around my mortgage thanks to my bank having an API you can use to grab balances and so on daily, I’m also working hard to pay that off as fast as I can without overextending myself. All that’s left there, for now, is to see what the outcome is of my yearly review at work.