2024 Review

[diffrentcolours]

I looked back over my Dreamwidth posts for the year, and the personal bullet journal thing I try to maintain. 2024 was a lot busier than I expected. The two biggest trips of my year, to Brussels and EMF Camp, didn't get blogged about at all! The year was bookended by deaths, with Bat in January and Gary in December. I'm glad they met.

In retrospect, the year was busier than I thought. This year I started going to gigs again, thanks to extra Covid boosters and better masks. I also went to the gym fairly consistently throughout, which has also been my main source of social activity outside the home. Socialising has been hard this year, as even my previously Covid-cautious friends have been letting their guards down more than I'm comfortable with. I didn't manage to do much outdoor swimming, camping or Whitby with the Soggygoffs this year. Similarly, the Geek Walks have resumed but mostly going to indoor places. On the other hand, I had a nice time at a friend's birthday party this year, and E and V's birthday party at our house was a highlight. I also went to a handful of outdoor meetups with a local Discord, including the Greggs Crawl and Craft and Coffee. There were some queer events including Trans Pride Manchester, the local pride and the local queer club. I also tuned into the Chaos Emergency Doof Broadcast almost every week, which has been a cornerstone of my social life since the start of the pandemic and I'm grateful beyond words that the DJs are continuing to run it.

The house remains less renovated than I would like. We had a smart meter installed and cavity wall insulation installed, but the patio doors have not been replaced nor a wheelchair ramp to the kitchen installed. My smart house and Ethernet cabling projects haven't happened either, not least because I've decided not to work on them until the ramp done.

I started my new job at the end of 2023, with a mandate to get us ISO27001 certified within six months. I did a huge amount of work to pull this off and we passed with flying colours, which was great. Since then I've felt a little bit more directionless at work. There's plenty to do but I'm struggling to motivate myself to do it. This is something I need to sort out ASAP.

Going to the gym has been good for my general level of fitness. I haven't made any progress with getting my umbilical hernia surgically mended; I got referred to a weight loss service which doesn't know what to do with me, and I'm hoping that playing along with that will give me some ammunition to push for a referral to a better surgeon. I also still don't have an ADHD diagnosis let alone any treatment, and I suspect this is part of the reason why I'm struggling at work without that immediate deadline over me. I now have a stronger glasses prescription. Also I've started the wheels turning for getting an implant to replace my long-absent canine, so my mouth should be happier next year.

I'm not going to comment on politics outside of my personal involvement with them. My several years of abstinence from voting came to an end, as I voted Labour in local, general and mayoral elections - each time to stop someone worse getting in, rather than from any positive support. I did a bit of activism myself, trying to lobby candidates to support decent air filtration in schools and hospitals.

Gigs

• Bruce Springsteen at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland with E in May
• "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse live in Concert" at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester with E in September
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor at the Ritz, Manchester with E in October
• This Is Radio Silence in Sheffield in October
• Public Service Broadcasting with E at the Albert Hall, Manchester in October
• They Might Be Giants with E at the Ritz, Manchester in November
• Therapy? with V at the Manchester Academy in November
• Alabama 3 at the Ritz, Manchester in December

Cinema

• "Love Lies Bleeding" at Home with E and P
• "Longlegs" with P
• "The Mummy" with E and P
• "Deadpool and Wolverine" with V
• "Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero" (documentary) with E
• "The Substance" with P

Trips

• In February, I went to Brussels with E and didn't blog about it. This was during FOSDEM but we didn't go to FOSDEM itself. We met up with friends, visited the Atomium, and took a day trip to Bruges on a double-decker high-speed train. We ate out a lot and drank a lot of beer, it was great.
• Also in February I went to York with V for the Yorvik Viking Weekend
• In April E and I went down south for work, but also visited Mum, met up with an old friend, and took a day trip to the Isle of Wight
• In May, E and I saw the Aurora Borealis on a road trip with friends
• In June, E and I went to EMF Camp with friends. It was probably the most interesting thing I did all year and I didn't blog about it because I couldn't (and probably still can't) do it justice.
• In July, I spent a weekend at Goths on a Field and saw several bands.
• In September, V and I spent a week in the Outer Hebrides
• In December, E and I went to my sister's in Birmingham for Christmas

Comments

[apiphile]

Hoping for a more socialising-heavy 2025 for you, then, with safety-conscious friends <3