Be Excellent To Each Other

December 31 again so another link in the great chain of all things that consumes our beings.

Definitely a return to normality after the turmoil of previous years.

I've done a lot of great hiking, both in the UK and abroad. Spent the holiday for Charlie's Hat Party getting soaked on Pen-Y-Fan. Highlight was my trip to Macedonia - excellent mountains and Lake Ohrid is beautiful.

So glad to make a return to the Meat-up after an absence of several years. The Chefs did us proud! (Thanks Chefs!)

Cottage was awesome as usual. Trooper's archery was the highlight. Also fun to finally unravel the mystery of Cowboy Town with NervousPete. Thanks to Jem for organising it all, the Chefs (again) for ace food, and everyone else for being there.

I really enjoyed spending two days at the UK Game Expo around thousands of fellow nerds enthusiasts.. Played loads of games, demoed loads, and was pretty knackered by the end of it. Going with a group worked well - we took over one of the large open gaming tables so throughout the event we would always know that one or two would be around there for a chance to unwind or play our new purchases. Totally screwed up a round of Captain Sonar however (oops)

Finally, whilst this place is not as busy as in the past, you all remain the most excellent people on the Internet and beyond!

See you in 2024!

Kern



Giphy "list time!":
https://media2.giphy.com/media/EFOuuHAdmhOBkTw1aP/giphy-loop.mp4

Radio/Podcast of the year: No real podcast standouts other than perhaps the sweary-and-teary departure of Ian Dunt from OGWN. Absolutely loved Radio 3's Shakespeare day - several hours of music and recitals from the bard which was fun to dip in and out of.

Book of the year: Read some good ones this year but the standout was Eversion by Alistair Reynolds.

Best TV of the year: The Bear. No contest.

"It's actually ok once you get past the first half" TV of the year: Freddy

Game of the year: Heat: Pedal to the Metal. No contest. Played so much of it over the past year and never once has it felt stale. The basic game is fun enough, but the included expansions of weather tiles, upgrades, and robot cars add so much more variety. The in-built catch-up mechanisms mean most games go down to the wire, and your mate spinning their car out because they went way too fast over that bend remains hilariously funny.

Game everyone else likes that I don't: Blood on the Clocktower. It's Mafia with bells on. All the bells. Seems everyone else loves this game with its manipulative storyteller, multiple and varied roles, and "death is not the end" mechanic, but for whatever reason despite giving it my best shot and many plays I just couldn't get on with it and it hasn't clicked with me.

YouTube of the year: NRB's original Communopoly . Somehow they took the initial joke and managed to sustain and build on it for a complete hour. The later ones lack the element of surprise that a skit like this requires as everyone knows the twists so the original is the funniest and best. Really worth watching. And yes, I know about the issues with Adam.

Well, it's been a year!

New job
Relationship ended
Moved house
Took up lots of new hobbies! Archery being the main one, but I also picked up a drum kit. I've also just bought a midi piano to go with it, as my drumming course had a keys module too. Plus i've bought a dartboard and i'm throwing some legs.
New car! Fully electric baby, Nissan Leaf's are cool now.

Podcast of the year - Critical Role. I've done all of season 2 this year, onto season 3!
TV of the year - Succession. Episode 3 of the last season was outstanding
Game of the year - Diablo IV, it has it's problems for sure, but i've put the most hours into it out of anything this year.

Giphy "bow and arrows":
https://media1.giphy.com/media/WL6CFTz066dM6L24yh/giphy-loop.mp4

Terrible form, he's never going to group well with that action

Hello! 2023 was a butthole! Happy new year!

I hope your 2924 in particular is a billionty times better than 2023.

May we all be in glass jars on the same shelf, Mimi x

I hope your butthole has a better twenty twenty phwoar

Hmm, what to think about 2023?
Definitely a mixed bag (for about the 8th year in a row).

On the face if it there’s some good stuff, as I paid off my mortgage before I hit 50 with money in the bank to spare, bought a new motorbike and had a couple of foreign holidays. None of that felt as satisfying as it probably should do though. Some of the smaller stuff like reading a lot more books and going to see a few bands live were great. Next year I want to concentrate on doing more of this type of thing.

Work continued to be stressful, with yet another change of manager in the USA who lived up to low expectations set by his six predecessors by ignoring me for over a month. Then a couple of months later when the decision was made to restructure the business (panic cost cutting) I was made redundant because they had no idea what I actually do. Everyone in the UK knew that was a total farce, but the people who made the decision wouldn’t admit they had been a mistake. Possibly fortunately I got offered an alternative position in the security department, which is a lot easier, and I can still walk away with redundancy money at the end of March if I need to. I now have the ridiculous situation where I don’t get invited to meetings because my new role shouldn’t be there, but I still have all the knowledge and experience so I’ll have multiple people from that meeting messaging me at the same time to ask questions instead of just including me. I’ve started applying for other jobs as I think I really need a clean break to help with my mental health and wellbeing.

On that subject, it feels like my brain is getting less able to deal with setbacks and problems rather than better, so I definitely have limits on what I can do before it’s too much. The work Christmas party was a disorganised mess and I had to leave after 20 minutes as I wasn’t enjoying it.

We got a new kitten who I love very much, but he’s a bit full on with the other two and has definitely made them unhappy or stressed at times. They have got on better recently but deciding whether to keep him or return him for rehoming is horrible.

My dad is in his 80s and still with us, but his health isn’t great at all, and while there’s nothing immediately life threatening it’s obvious he could go downhill quickly. My mum hasn’t spoken to me for two and a half years now (long story).


I’ll edit some more “best of” bits in later, but to start with…

Best live gig - Millie Manders And The Shutup in Nottingham.
Best film - Godzilla Minus One, but also an honourable mention for The Marvels as it was just so much fun.
Best game - Spider-Man 2
Best book - ?

Hmm, what to think about 2023?
Definitely a mixed bag (for about the 8th year in a row).

On the face if it there’s some good stuff, as I paid off my mortgage before I hit 50 with money in the bank to spare, bought a new motorbike and had a couple of foreign holidays. None of that felt as satisfying as it probably should do though. Some of the smaller stuff like reading a lot more books and going to see a few bands live were great. Next year I want to concentrate on doing more of this type of thing.

Work continued to be stressful, with yet another change of manager in the USA who lived up to low expectations set by his six predecessors by ignoring me for over a month. Then a couple of months later when the decision was made to restructure the business (panic cost cutting) I was made redundant because they had no idea what I actually do. Everyone in the UK knew that was a total farce, but the people who made the decision wouldn’t admit they had been a mistake. Possibly fortunately I got offered an alternative position in the security department, which is a lot easier, and I can still walk away with redundancy money at the end of March if I need to. I now have the ridiculous situation where I don’t get invited to meetings because my new role shouldn’t be there, but I still have all the knowledge and experience so I’ll have multiple people from that meeting messaging me at the same time to ask questions instead of just including me. I’ve started applying for other jobs as I think I really need a clean break to help with my mental health and wellbeing.

On that subject, it feels like my brain is getting less able to deal with setbacks and problems rather than better, so I definitely have limits on what I can do before it’s too much. The work Christmas party was a disorganised mess and I had to leave after 20 minutes as I wasn’t enjoying it. I find world events are getting me down more than normal too, and there’s a lot of that going on.

We got a new kitten who I love very much, but he’s a bit full on with the other two and has definitely made them unhappy or stressed at times. They have got on better recently but deciding whether to keep him or return him for rehoming is horrible.

My dad is in his 80s and still with us, but his health isn’t great at all, and while there’s nothing immediately life threatening it’s obvious he could go downhill quickly. My mum hasn’t spoken to me for two and a half years now (long story).

It was great to do a bit more in-person socialising with friends including having Mimi & Russell over to visit last week. Again, need to do more of this in 2024.

I’ll edit some more “best of” bits in later, but to start with…

Best live gig - Millie Manders And The Shutup in Nottingham.
Best film - Godzilla Minus One, but also an honourable mention for The Marvels as it was just so much fun.
Best game - Spider-Man 2
Best TV Show - Lazarus Project. I’m including both seasons as I only found it this year.
Best book - ?

Oh, I wanted to see them in Exeter but I messed up my dates. I'm glad they were good, I'm gonna try to catch them the next time around.

2023 hasn't been the best for me - Dad passing, relationship falling apart, some job, health and money issues. Fingers crossed 2024 will be a bit less cruddy.

Bloody hell mate, that’s a terrible list of happenings… sorry to hear all this.

Shit, and one of my cats died as well, back in May.

Not wanting to skip past your bad stuff (virtual hugs and support offered), Millie Manders are f**king awesome live. We double dipped on their last tour as Notts was so good. They have a new album coming and are touring again this year so you should definitely try and see them.

Oh man Squirt.. that's really horrible to happen to such a nice man. I hope for all the luck for you dude.

Ahh, thanks all. I have a feelng that 2024 is going to be the Year of Squirt, though. Onwards and upwards!

I’ll do everything in my power to make that so.