2023 has been a pretty rough year – I’ve had several health problems (still making my way through the NHS system), lost a major client (a natural end as there was no longer enough work to justify reserving my time each month), and have lost touch with some people. For most of the year I’ve felt like I’m just keeping my ahead above water, rather than making any progress – although stable is better than going backwards.
My goals for 2023 were:
- Read 50 books: I’ve finished 114 books this year – success! I hit my target in June and may still finish a few more books before the end of the year. According to my Year in Books, that’s 41,803 pages in total, 366 pages per book, an average rating of 3.1 out of 5, and I read one book which no one else on Goodreads has shelved this year.
- Restart Currybeer and Geek Walks: I took the decision to close Currybeer this year – the ongoing pandemic has reduced the number of people willing to go to a busy restaurant each month (including myself), and the cost of living crisis has drastically inflated the cost of what used to be a reasonably priced meal. Geek Walks is still largely on hiatus due to the ongoing strikes on the railways, which make it difficult to plan in advance as strikes can be announced with only 2 weeks notice. We have had video chats though and been for lunch a couple of times.
- Launch client and project management side project: I haven’t managed this, but I did get Viking Mind (bookmark management) off the ground, so I’ll give myself a pass here.
Health problems and loss of income meant I had to scale back and then eventually stop my language tuition (French and Latin), which has been very frustrating.
My goals for 2024 are:
- Read 50 books: This has been a goal since 2018 and I enjoy tracking my progress over the course of the year. You can follow me or add me as a friend on Goodreads if you want to see how I get on, and to set your own reading challenge.
- Restart Geek Walks: Some of the railway unions seem to be coming to agreements, so hopefully the strike action will reduce in 2024.
I can’t think of any other goals at the moment, though I will probably add some as the year goes on.