2022
2007 just moved back to edinburgh
2008 http://figg.livejournal.com/314729.html
2009 http://figg.livejournal.com/343616.html
2010 http://figg.livejournal.com/346046.html
2011 http://figg.livejournal.com/346441.html
2012 http://figg.livejournal.com/347985.html
2013 http://figg.livejournal.com/348330.html
2014 http://figg.livejournal.com/348456.html
2015 http://figg.livejournal.com/348903.html
2016 https://figg.livejournal.com/349076.html
2017 https://figg.livejournal.com/349340.html
2018 https://figg.livejournal.com/349607.html
2019 https://figg.livejournal.com/349888.html
2020 https://figg.livejournal.com/350023.html
2021 https://figg.livejournal.com/350351.html
Last year I wrote a lot of stuff, but there's only one part that matters.
About a week after writing my post, I found out that my dad had died.
[...]
Then I blinked once or twice, and it was 2022. It's both been the longest and shortest year of my life.
Now two years on, there just hasn't been a moment where it isn't at the back of my mind. He's dead, and well, there isn't much I can do about it apart from miss him and move on with my life as best I can.
Honestly, I'm doing pretty good at the getting on with my life stuff. Last year I hoped I'd do a bunch of stuff, and for once I actually did some of it.
I do want to leave the UK this year, visit America at the very least. EMF is scheduled for this year too, and hopefully it will go ahead. Maybe my long overdue ADHD appointment will appear, and I won't be told "You can't be medicated" again.
The ADHD appointment didn't happen, but frankly I wasn't holding my breath. The other stuff though? It actually happened. Stuff I planned to do actually happened. Say what you will about modest goals, but it makes a marked change from all the other years gone by.
In march, I visited Iceland. Lovely. Later on, Kat and I visited Stockholm, Valencia, and Birmingham, as I followed her around as she jumped across europe for work. We even had time to visit Edinburgh. A place I haven't been for a while, and although some things have changed, it's still the comfortable city I remember.
I had a great long weekend seeing old faces. This happened more than a few times this year, too.
At EMF I took my cameras, made some new friends, and had a pretty relaxing time, give or take torrential downpours. I visited New York and caught up with some old london friends and new internet friends. San Francisco was ok, but obviously I had the most fun in Oakland. Seattle was lovely, but I didn't quite make it out to the telecoms museum.
I did however get a Covid booster while I was in Seattle, which was a very good idea because two weeks later I'd caught Covid.
Not from travelling around, but from my brother's wedding. There isn't much you can do when you have to be sociable and indoors for twelve hours, at an event that people will turn up to no matter how ill they are. I absolutely saw it coming, and I absolutely intend to lord it over my brother for the next decade.
At the wedding, he did ask me to take photographs, but I wisely told him to hire a professional. I still took a camera and a very silly flash gun, sure, but there wasn't any pressure for me to take good photos. It did finally push me to get the kit to develop colour film at home, too.
In other camera news, I've managed to rein in the eBay grieving.
I only bought three cameras this year. One broken camera, one replacement for the broken camera, and a large format beast. I am now a happy owner of a Wista 45RF, and I've taken it out to the pub as is my want.
I even converted it into an ersatz enlarger and started making postcard sized prints of some of the photos I took this year. It's given me some very happy memories already and I long to find more excuses to wave it around. It's almost dismissive to call it a grieving purchase, as i'm pretty sure I've always wanted something so wildly impractical.
The other camera, an Agfa Optima Sensor Flash, deserves the title far more. It's the same camera my mum had when I was growing up, and after playing with one for a while I decided to grab one of my own. It's dorky, clunky, and zone focused. I now understand why none of her photos were ever in focus, but I totally get why she used it. It's just a really fun little thing.
The other bit of camera news is that i've spent a lot more time this year taking photos of people, and a big part of that is travelling. I just haven't had the time to visit the duckpond or the local murder out on the park, and it's been hard to fall back into the habit when I am home.
That, and bird food costs a lot of money and I still haven't found a job yet.
I did finally start looking for work though. December saw me burn through three different interviews, and maybe this last one will work out. I'm trying my best not to get my hopes up, the job market is a shitshow.
Which brings me neatly for my plans for this year: Get a job.
I've spent most of my inheritance taking a year out, travelling, and eating takeout in lieu of any executive function. It's been good to have some time off but I really could do with getting a bit more structure in my life, as well as disposable income.
The other big thing for this year? Moving back to Edinburgh.
For various reasons, Kat has decided to eject from the states and has picked Edinburgh as her new home. I can't blame her, it's a beautiful city and I was not so secretly hoping to convince her of such when we visited. I just didn't expect things to happen for another eighteen months to so.
I haven't really announced this online. My post lockdown social life is significantly different, and I wanted the people who stuck around to hear things first. It's a little petulant of me for sure, but that's who I am. Kat seems to put up with it.
Anyway, that's about it for the yearly wrap-up. A lot of travel, a few nice toys, and one big change on the cards. The year ahead feels much the same. Hopefully some travel, hopefully finding a job, and also hopefully moving to Edinburgh with Kat.
It feels weird to be confident about all of these things too, but pleasantly so. I'm tired of looking back on the year in misery or looking forward with uncertainty. It really does make a nice change.
2008 http://figg.livejournal.com/314729.html
2009 http://figg.livejournal.com/343616.html
2010 http://figg.livejournal.com/346046.html
2011 http://figg.livejournal.com/346441.html
2012 http://figg.livejournal.com/347985.html
2013 http://figg.livejournal.com/348330.html
2014 http://figg.livejournal.com/348456.html
2015 http://figg.livejournal.com/348903.html
2016 https://figg.livejournal.com/349076.html
2017 https://figg.livejournal.com/349340.html
2018 https://figg.livejournal.com/349607.html
2019 https://figg.livejournal.com/349888.html
2020 https://figg.livejournal.com/350023.html
2021 https://figg.livejournal.com/350351.html
Last year I wrote a lot of stuff, but there's only one part that matters.
About a week after writing my post, I found out that my dad had died.
[...]
Then I blinked once or twice, and it was 2022. It's both been the longest and shortest year of my life.
Now two years on, there just hasn't been a moment where it isn't at the back of my mind. He's dead, and well, there isn't much I can do about it apart from miss him and move on with my life as best I can.
Honestly, I'm doing pretty good at the getting on with my life stuff. Last year I hoped I'd do a bunch of stuff, and for once I actually did some of it.
I do want to leave the UK this year, visit America at the very least. EMF is scheduled for this year too, and hopefully it will go ahead. Maybe my long overdue ADHD appointment will appear, and I won't be told "You can't be medicated" again.
The ADHD appointment didn't happen, but frankly I wasn't holding my breath. The other stuff though? It actually happened. Stuff I planned to do actually happened. Say what you will about modest goals, but it makes a marked change from all the other years gone by.
In march, I visited Iceland. Lovely. Later on, Kat and I visited Stockholm, Valencia, and Birmingham, as I followed her around as she jumped across europe for work. We even had time to visit Edinburgh. A place I haven't been for a while, and although some things have changed, it's still the comfortable city I remember.
I had a great long weekend seeing old faces. This happened more than a few times this year, too.
At EMF I took my cameras, made some new friends, and had a pretty relaxing time, give or take torrential downpours. I visited New York and caught up with some old london friends and new internet friends. San Francisco was ok, but obviously I had the most fun in Oakland. Seattle was lovely, but I didn't quite make it out to the telecoms museum.
I did however get a Covid booster while I was in Seattle, which was a very good idea because two weeks later I'd caught Covid.
Not from travelling around, but from my brother's wedding. There isn't much you can do when you have to be sociable and indoors for twelve hours, at an event that people will turn up to no matter how ill they are. I absolutely saw it coming, and I absolutely intend to lord it over my brother for the next decade.
At the wedding, he did ask me to take photographs, but I wisely told him to hire a professional. I still took a camera and a very silly flash gun, sure, but there wasn't any pressure for me to take good photos. It did finally push me to get the kit to develop colour film at home, too.
In other camera news, I've managed to rein in the eBay grieving.
I only bought three cameras this year. One broken camera, one replacement for the broken camera, and a large format beast. I am now a happy owner of a Wista 45RF, and I've taken it out to the pub as is my want.
I even converted it into an ersatz enlarger and started making postcard sized prints of some of the photos I took this year. It's given me some very happy memories already and I long to find more excuses to wave it around. It's almost dismissive to call it a grieving purchase, as i'm pretty sure I've always wanted something so wildly impractical.
The other camera, an Agfa Optima Sensor Flash, deserves the title far more. It's the same camera my mum had when I was growing up, and after playing with one for a while I decided to grab one of my own. It's dorky, clunky, and zone focused. I now understand why none of her photos were ever in focus, but I totally get why she used it. It's just a really fun little thing.
The other bit of camera news is that i've spent a lot more time this year taking photos of people, and a big part of that is travelling. I just haven't had the time to visit the duckpond or the local murder out on the park, and it's been hard to fall back into the habit when I am home.
That, and bird food costs a lot of money and I still haven't found a job yet.
I did finally start looking for work though. December saw me burn through three different interviews, and maybe this last one will work out. I'm trying my best not to get my hopes up, the job market is a shitshow.
Which brings me neatly for my plans for this year: Get a job.
I've spent most of my inheritance taking a year out, travelling, and eating takeout in lieu of any executive function. It's been good to have some time off but I really could do with getting a bit more structure in my life, as well as disposable income.
The other big thing for this year? Moving back to Edinburgh.
For various reasons, Kat has decided to eject from the states and has picked Edinburgh as her new home. I can't blame her, it's a beautiful city and I was not so secretly hoping to convince her of such when we visited. I just didn't expect things to happen for another eighteen months to so.
I haven't really announced this online. My post lockdown social life is significantly different, and I wanted the people who stuck around to hear things first. It's a little petulant of me for sure, but that's who I am. Kat seems to put up with it.
Anyway, that's about it for the yearly wrap-up. A lot of travel, a few nice toys, and one big change on the cards. The year ahead feels much the same. Hopefully some travel, hopefully finding a job, and also hopefully moving to Edinburgh with Kat.
It feels weird to be confident about all of these things too, but pleasantly so. I'm tired of looking back on the year in misery or looking forward with uncertainty. It really does make a nice change.