Review Your Year (2017)

[-james-]

Foe, what you playing at m8?

2016: http://www.thethirdhalf.co.uk/showth...ur-Year-(2016)
2015: http://www.thethirdhalf.co.uk/showth...ate-Your-2015&

[Giggles]

Just write good and bad or is there a form upcoming?

[-james-]

You may express yourself as you please.

[Magic]

Absolute shite.

[Boydy]

It's been pretty good. I'll do a full review later when I'm not on my phone at work.

[Foe]

Thanks James. Totally slipped my mind.

I'll complete this tonight / tomorrow and get the ball rolling. You should be able to dig through several years via the links last year and the year before.

[Waffdon]

Positives:-

Wine
Permanent at work
Pulled a worldie Xmas Eve
Life’s 90% good

Negatives:-

£0.01 in my bank before payday without fail
Still paying Credit Card off lol
Missed loads of United home games
Destroyed my body - have dropped my life expectancy to 35.

[Pleb]

Well this thread is going well.

[Giggles]

Good
Got married.
Honeymoon was good.
Thought the Mrs was preggo at one stage but turned out she wasn't and saved us a trip.
Sister got engaged which was good to see.

Bad
Health deteriorating even more rapidly than ever.
Work keeps trying to get me to move up the ladder and I've no interest but it looks bad knocking them back constantly which will probably result in me losing the job eventually.
Put on between around 4 and 7 stone.
Still no hope of ever being able to buy a house and most likely going to get kicked out of the one we're renting next month as the market rate has gone from €1800 a month to €2700 a month in the past year.


7.5/10


.

[Jimmy Floyd]

When's the funeral?

[Waffdon]

7 stone. Holy shit. Stick to Vodka, mate.

[Spikey M]

+
Sprog is coming along well
Enjoying family time
The house is up to scratch, no more fucking work please.
Will probably be my last year in my shit job*

-
Not enough time alone with wife
Didn’t see friends enough
*Uncertainty about where I will be working next year
I need to start making more money and have no idea where to start.

[Magic]

How are you going to climb a ladder anyway you big fat cunt.

[Giggles]

How are you going to climb a ladder anyway you big fat cunt.

Your Mrs seemed to manage it.

[Magic]

No, she's not had a promotion in 9 years.

[Giggles]

Who mentioned her work life?

[Magic]

Oh.

[Foe]

2017:
+ves

1. Financially doing really pretty well. I don't worry about money whilst some of my friends stress out about it and seem to struggle month to month. I live a simple lifestyle, but since having my flat c. 3 years, I've knocked 40% of the capital off. Pretty satisfying.
2. Got a promotion at work again which has also contributed to point 1 above.
3. Actually did some decorating to my flat which makes me feel a bit better about it. It's by no means perfect, but it's more like a home now.
4. Dad retired so my parents can actually enjoy life a bit.
5. Enjoy the simple things in life - watching sports, film, TV and going to the gym.

-ves
1. Joey the cat got a mouth tumour and had to be put down. Wasn't easy or pleasant coming home and seeing him wanting unable to eat. He was 16, but it's still tough since he'd been around so much of my mature life.
2.Both gran parents health is deteriorating. My mum's mum has really bad dementia/alzheimers to the point where she doesn't recognise us anymore until we explain who we are, repeatedly. Fear my dad's mum is going the same way as her memory is starting to falter.
3. New job is something I have zero interest in doing long term. I need to make sure I'm there for as little time as possible.
4. Work has been torrid - so much going wrong. That's not unusual, seemingly.
5. I'm too independent. I can satisfy myself in my own company far too easily which means I don't go out of my way to make plans with friends. Not being particularly fond of alcohol doesn't help with that.
6. Some slut crashed into me at a roundabout and spoiled a week of leave I had as my car was being repaired and I had to get physiotherapy so I could actually rotate my head/neck properly. Physiotherapy is bloody sore.
7. Zero interest in a relationship. Met a few girls over the course of the year but the thought of being in a relationship and all that goes with it does not appeal. Also realised I don't particularly want kids.
8. Definitely a bit fatter than I was and not as strong. Also seem to be significantly weaker on one side. Just ignoring that and assuming it's a trapped nerve or something rather than something more sinister. SCHMART.

Meh, not a great year but definitely not as bad as the two before. 2018 will probably be a year of shit work, but a good opportunity to build some wealth. I'd like to get to a point where I can rent my flat out and buy house in 4 or 5 years time so want my mortgage down about another £30-40K before I do that.

2016:

+ves
1. I still have a job and I'm pretty comfortable financially because of it.
2. I'm still happy with my flat and car - I've managed to make significant inroads into my mortgage which should set me up better in the next 5 - 10 years.
3. My mum retired and is much happier.
4. I had a bloody good couple of holidays at the Euros and then back over in America. I live a very simple life, but it was nice to spend time on holiday doing something I'm interested in rather than just fannying about on some island for the sake of some sun.
5. I feel respected and valuable at work, particularly to one asset who now repeatedly try to claw me back from my existing role. Also a negative...
6. My sister got a kitten and I got to look after it for a while which was great fun.

-ves
1. My nana is getting worse, she's just a complete shadow of a person now I think and it's really taking a toll on my mum and her relationship with her sister. I think we're heading down over xmas to see her but I'm scared what that will show - in some respects I really don't want to ruin the memory I have of her. But it's not for me, it's for her and my mum so I'll have to just get on with it.
2. My gran's health is also deteriorating.
3. Work has been horrific this year. The company went through a massive re-organisation and the industry is on it's arse in the region. I've noticed it much more in my job too.
4. Health and fitness: I'm really not sure what the whole point of the day to day grind is. I don't really get what the end result is that we're all working towards. I kind of was stuck in a 'what's the fucking point' mode for about 6 months which means I neglected the gym and started eating terribly. Also seem to be getting more regular health 'kicks' so I really need to put my mind at ease and go see a GP in 2016.
5. I'm still alone. Although I did very little in attempts to resolve that it's something I have little desire to attempt. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think that settling down with someone I'll need to look to try and do.
6. This year at work has been a bag of shite. I spent 2 months doing a monotonous, soul destroying task. I spent 3 months covering for an asset which came with significant stress and made me aware that I have no desire to progress down that career path. Since that point and the company re-organisation I seem to have become a middle man between a functional organisation and an asset. I've got no idea who I've been working for the last 3 months. Ultimately, I'm an engineer but I really don't have much of a desire to do it long term at all. At some point I think I'm going to need to make a clean break and just leave if the company can't give me an opportunity in an area I'm interested in

2015:

2015 +ves
1. I got a promotion, and with it a pay increase which sees me really quite well paid for my age.
2. I enjoy having my flat (not the mortgage) and knowing that I control the destiny of my living arrangements.
3. I'm definitely a lot stronger than I was previously. I've been training with guys who take the gym pretty seriously and as such have pushed me to embrace new exercise and find my limits.
4. I feel more competent at work. People seem to respect my input and don't see me as a shite engineer - which is definitely a positive.
5. The new car I've picked up is actually very pleasant.
6. I've really enjoyed watching a lot of american football, tv series and films. It's a fairly shite hobby, but it's what I enjoy doing and I do it often.
7. I've got euro 2016 tickets to a couple of decent games which means I have the option of an enjoyable summer.


-ves
1. My metabolism is terrible, and as such I'm now carrying more fat than I have in a long time.
2. The hairline fell apart and I've had to embrace a shaved head look. It's not ideal.
3. It's been a rough time family wise. One of my cats died quite suddenly and my nan has deteriorated rapidly with alzheimers. I'll hopefully get to see her over christmas but she's in a home now and definitely losing grip of reality so it might be the last time I see her when she knows who I am or indeed the last time I ever see her.
4. 2015 has been a year of unease at work due to the low oil price. Redundancy was a concern earlier in the year and the lack of improvement has meant it's a known concern rolling into 2016. Given the way things are going there's a real risk there's some significant changes coming and with that it's feasible I won't have a job come June. Right now I'd probably rate my odds at 50/50. I'm in a better position than some for sure, but I do fear things could go drastically wrong. If nothing else it means the office will be a morbid environment in Q1/Q2.
5. Still no girlfriend, and it's been a year of poor progression. On the plus side, I'm quite happy by myself but it's concerning that many of my friends are settling down whilst I'm stagnating.
6. I live in a boring and cold place and do think that there's a much better standard of living to be had somewhere warmer. I've no interest upping sticks to the middle east, but I'd relish the opportunity to move to the states. If things go badly in the new year I'm not going to rule out a move across the pond

[Lewis]

Oh.

[Magic]

It's a nice surprise to see Foe as asexual, as I always had him down as a pure chutney ferret.

[Jimmy Floyd]

+ Passed my driving test. It had been ten years since the previous four attempts, but this time I only needed one go at it. Driving has transformed my life for the better.

+ Family. My sister got married in October and it was a marvellous event. We've also just had her and her husband for Christmas for the first time and that was great. I'm developing a more adult relationship with my brother and sister now, as a result of seeing them much less often.

+ Holidays - nothing major, but I've been on two enjoyable golf trips and in September I took the car and pissed off around the country for a week, on my own. I usually have a solo mini-break at the end of the cricket season as by that point I'm knackered and sick of dealing with other people, but this one was great. Went to all sorts of places.

+ Interests. I won't say hobbies as I only have one hobby which is detailed below, but I've increased the number of things I'm interested in - I've read a lot more fiction, got better at maths by doing a statistics course (ongoing), I bang out about six short stories a year for fun, of which probably one a year is good, and usually I accidentally 'get into' a new thing which this year has been baseball. I love delving into subcultures that I don't understand. I'm like the world's shittest polymath.

+/- Cricket. Last winter, after 5 good years running youth development at my club, I was appointed Director of Cricket. This was fairly daunting at first as my counterparts in the league are mainly highly qualified/experienced coaches, ex-pros or similar - and some of them are paid to do it - whereas I am in my late 20s and have few playing, and zero coaching credentials. I also inherited an absolute mess and it has been a nightmare - hundreds of hours sunk into it, poor league results, dealing with arguments etc etc. After the season I had to fire both the coach (our only paid employee) and the psychopath captain, which was pretty stressful. Despite that we reached the finals of the U19/U21 cups with players I have been raising in the last few years, so that was very satisfying. We also conned our way into the quarter-final of the county T20, where we came up against an established giant, lost, and then the same evening got them thrown out for fielding an ineligible player, so that was hilarious and made some of the shit worth it. Lost the semi but I got to meet Jack Russell at it, so who cares.

- Work/Money - my main gripe with the job now, as I've long since got used to the Korean madness, is that it's badly paid. Still, somehow it ticks the work-life balance box at the moment and given the house prices in this area, there's barely even any point saving for a deposit as I'll be in a coffin before I can afford one. My parents are obsessed with the idea that I should be staying at home and saving for a deposit, and sacrificing all quality of life to do so - they don't get that it's not the 80s anymore. I'll be renting somewhere locally hopefully within six months. The blandness of the job makes me appreciate the cricket and the rest of my time more, I think. In quiet periods I also get an awful lot of reading done at work.

- Friends. I don't have enough of them (although I have a shitload of acquaintances) and need to make more, but because I'm so content in my own company it's not something I have a visceral need to do, like extroverts do, so it doesn't really happen. I'm also really bad at nurturing friendships/keeping them going. I should probably join some more clubs and things, but the commitment to cricket writes off the summer so it's tricky. As for relationships, that's not even on the horizon. I don't think anyone could live with me and my neurosis.

[Giggles]

Why did we need to know what happened Foe in 2015?

[Boydy]

Don't put yourself down, Jim, you're a catch.

[Spoonsky]

+
Spent the first five months of the year traveling in Europe by myself. It was an incredible time of my life and I grew up very much.
Learned Italian, not perfectly but fluently. The experience of actually learning a new language and thinking in it for the first time was really cool.
I dated a girl over the summer, and though it was only for about six weeks it's the longest I've been with someone. Learned a lot from it and she's still a friend.
Completed a triathlon.
Began university in Canada. I loved my classes, I've got a close group of friends and Montreal is an amazing place to live. After more than a year without any organized learning it's been really exciting to return.
After Europe, and especially after coming home from uni, I've really started to appreciate my home town much more. I used to always want to escape, which was fair enough, but now having escaped I can look back and realize that Salt Lake City is an amazing place and I'm very fortunate to have grown up here and to keep spending time here. I have more of a sense of 'home' now than I ever did when I actually lived here.
My New Year's resolution was not to get hung up on things (at the time I was extremely hung up about a certain girl). In general I've been pretty successful at this, and I'm ruled less by my weird mental neuroses than I used to be.
I have great friends, both in Salt Lake and in Montreal. On my trip I also met a lot of really amazing people, some of whom I only knew for an hour or two, some of whom will be lifelong friends.

-
Was pretty lethargic in the summer, I didn't have a job and outside of the triathlon and the girl I pretty much sat around in my house. Didn't even read very much. I should have at least driven for Uber or something.
Nothing strange about this, but it can be hard living in a big city in a different country. Montreal is also really cold, it turns out.
Despite improvement I still do get hung up on things. I go through spells of feeling weird, lethargic, kind of dead to the world, without really knowing why. It comes seemingly at random, and it's hard to get out of because my frustration with it inevitably makes it much worse. I've meditated on and off throughout the year which seems to help. I can get really wrapped up in trying to live life in the right way which in the end brings me further from it.

Rating: Best year of my life.

[-james-]

The theme is very similar to last year

Work
Still gambling full time and it's still good. The last six months have been pretty shit though tbh, definitely the longest period of not really making much money I've had. Obviously incredibly frustrating sitting at my desk for weeks and not having much to show with it. I do think it has been largely bad variance (along with some other stuff), but it's definitely worrying and often makes me pretty miserable. Overall I've made a bit less than I did last year, but I took a lot more time off and my approach has changed somewhat and I think it's more future-proof. Been learning Python and R which I think are going to be very useful.

Health
I think I'm probably the healthiest I've ever been. Started lifting weights a few months ago and I've been going to the gym three times a week pretty consistently. It makes me feel good about myself. Who knew. I'd like to take up a sport, maybe taekwondo or something, next year. Also dropped the minor cocaine habit I had developed. It wasn't anything crazy, I'd be on it most weekends, but I felt like I was going to die a couple of times and it became a lot harder for me to acquire it, so I've not had any, or even really thought about it, since May.

Relationships
I'm fine, but I reckon if I made a list of my nearest and dearest, the number of those that have mental health problems wouldn't be much smaller than the number of those who don't. My brother being by far the worst of those. He's a homeless drug addict and I really don't know if there's a solution.

Other stuff:
+ Learned some Spanish
+ Made a couple of new friends
- I'm 26 soon
- Just had a lol at my 2015 review where I complained about still being in Glasgow and needing to move, because it's 2017 and I'm still in Glasgow and needing to move.


I gave last year an 8. I feel better about myself now than I did then, but I've failed at making progress elsewhere. We'll give it a weak 7 this time.

[Giggles]

I need to edit mine as Spoonsky having a good year needs to go on my negatives and drop it a point.

[Foe]

That shit with your brother sounds rough James. Remember you talking about your trip to Greece with him and whether to tell your parents. Are they aware?

[-james-]

That shit with your brother sounds rough James. Remember you talking about your trip to Greece with him and whether to tell your parents. Are they aware?

They have an idea, but not really about any of the worst of it. It wouldn't help.

I'm the only one he talks to about a lot of it, but even then he's lying/sugar-coating most of the time.

I think there have been some good signs, but he's in too deep to fix things himself, and he rejects help.

We'll be together for a bit in Greece next week, so that'll be a good chance to assess.

[Shindig]

Hope he gets his shit together. I dunno how I'd play that situation.

[Lewis]

When everyone was worried about my cousin 'doing something stupid' I said so what, and now he's twenty with three kids, so he probably wishes he had.

[Spammer]

Previous year:

It's been a cracking year for me actually. I actually started counselling people and have chalked up about 120 hours or so now, counselling adults and kids. I'm fucking loving the lot of it and I'd do it for free indefinitely if it came to it. It's helped my own mental health too actually, strangely enough. Hopefully I will actually get paid to do it once I qualify. If I don't find anything straight away though then that's fine too, because I enjoy my paid job.

I put a bid in on a house in August, although it didn't go through in the end as someone else bid higher, but it's nice to actually dip my toe into doing it. It's probably for the best that it didn't go through as I have no fucking time to be pissing about moving house.

The year was topped off with a wicked visit to the Cayman Islands in October to see a mate and his missus out there. Didn't realise how much I needed a holiday until I was out there and it was just what the doctor ordered.

Relationships - not much on the cards really. There's someone I'm in contact with quite casually who I'd like to spend more time with, but not sure what's happening. We'll see but I'm not getting my hopes up. The lass I was seeing in my last post ended up having a bit of a weird anxiety attack when we kissed and started spouting shit about her ex cheating on her and not being ready blah blah blah. Messed me up a bit as I really liked her, but there we are. I've been seeing a couple of people at different times this year but generally I don't have the time for chasing it. I'm happy enough being single to wait for someone to pop along though, if/whenever that happens.

Jobs - I got a promotion at work which I wasn't expecting to happen, but there we go. I was never going to bother because the hours I need are so specific but they said they'd give me the same hours, so bosh. Settled into the new role and been at it for about 7 months now. It's a bit more complex than the old one but a lot more satisfying, and I also often have more time spare during the day for pissing about on the internet, which is always nice.

Friendships - All good here, although my cool housemate from last year moved out in March which was a bit gutting, and the new guy is alright but pretty weird and socially awkward. So both my flatmates aren't really people I'd like to spend much time with, which is a shame. Lass who moved out is only up the road though, and I've gotten to know a few other people too so my social life is pretty decent.

Highs - The Cayman Islands, new job, bidding on a house, starting counselling, new counselling placement doing play therapy.

Lows - Lass from last year going weird. A bloke from work killed himself in March too, which was a bit heavy. I found that quite hard because I'd chatted to him a little bit and we'd played football and squash together a couple of times. It did occur to me that he didn't talk about himself much and I thought about getting in touch and asking him out for a drink, though it was just a passing thought really as I never got around to it. I had no idea anything was happening for him though. So yeah, that fucked me up a bit. Also my grandma looks like she's on her way out, although she's got Alzheimer's so it's been a very slow progression. Need to keep my eye on my mum though, as I worry about how she's doing with it all.

Aims for 2017 - Qualify as a counsellor for adults and kids (they're two different courses - one finishes in June and the other next December). Buy a house and rent one of the rooms out. Figure out a plan of action with the counselling once I've qualified. That's about it really. Meeting someone would be nice too, but I'm not going to pressure it.

All in all it's been a decent year. It could have been better if I'd got with someone, but that's about all I have to complain about. I'm enjoying myself. 9/10.

In reference to my aims: I've polished off both courses, have bought my ass a house and am renting out TWO (oh shit) of the rooms, and I met someone in May and she's moving into one of the said rooms this weekend.

All in all, top bombing. 10/10

Relationships - I've no idea who the person I was 'in touch' with last year was, but it clearly didn't mean much. From faffing around on the fetish/swinging scene in 2015 to calming down a bit and searching for something proper in 2016, 2017 was when I bagged myself a serious relationship. We met in May, she fucked off around the world for 5 months between July and December, but she's back now and it's kicking off big time. Very happy with the whole thing and think there's could be serious, serious distance in it.

Jobs - I'm in the same job as last year but have settled into it a lot more and am really enjoying it. I reduced my hours down to 30 in November so that I could do 4 hours' counselling at a charity now that I'm qualified. It's a long distance to travel on public transport and I don't know if it's worth the hassle of getting there and back in honesty, but we'll see how it goes. I didn't have any work yesterday after travelling a long time and it pissed me off a bit, but I'll give it a bit of time. My main job have made it clear that they're happy for me to go back up to full time hours if I ever wanted to. It's a bit of a shame that I've gotten a bit down-hearted with the other one as I've done so well to get paid counselling work in the first place, but there we go. I enjoy it enough to do it for free but ideally I'd obviously rather get paid for it.

Friendships - Situation in my old flat just got worse and worse, and I'm glad I moved out in June when I bought my own place. Otherwise, social life is ticking along. Not really met made any new friends as such but I am happy enough anyway and it looks as though I could end up meeting a lot of new people through my girlfriend and her social group, which'll be nice. They all seem a bit left-wing hivemind but they're nice people and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.

Highs - Finishing both counselling courses and being qualified to work with both adults and kids, getting paid for it, buying a house, meeting someone and getting into a serious relationship.

Lows - None of note, in honesty. Quite lucky really. I guess it did get really shit in the old flat before I moved out, and it's possible/likely that I'm going to end up stopping with this new job if I keep feeling like they're faffing me about after I'm travelling so far. That's for the 2018 entry though.

Aims for 2018 - Nothing in particular. I ate loads of shit over Christmas so I want to try and put a bit of effort into exercising and eating properly for a while. In July I'll have a bit more flexibility to move some of my work hours around and might consider counselling people privately, but I'm not sure yet. I might try and write, because I've been wanting to for a while but just haven't had the time to do as much as I've wanted to. Mainly I just want to sit back and enjoy myself more.

It's been a fucking great year