End of year wrap up - 2024 edition

December 22, 2024

It’s that time of year for the annual tradition of the end of year wrap up post. This marks four years of writing them! This might be the longest post I’ve done in this series, mostly because I started writing this post in September. It’s taken roughly three months to get this post together because so much has happened this year and I wanted to get it down in writing.

I’m now in my early thirties (help), where did the time go? And why is time going faster? I swear I was in my twenties yesterday.

This year has been terrible for me, so let’s break it down. But first, the positives.

The highs of 2024

Five years of this blog.

I’ve been writing blog posts for five years now. How on earth did that happen? Writing has grown into one of my favourite hobbies. I enjoy putting my thoughts down onto a post and sharing it. Despite the lows I’ve had this year, running this blog continues to bring me joy.

And also, it’s been a year of me running this blog using the NextJS framework. This current iteration of my blog has met my needs in every way, so I don’t see myself moving from it for a while.

Plus, I’ve improved the Super Blog Starter project as well.

Visited Scotland

A few months back I visited Edinburgh for the first time. I really enjoyed seeing the sights of the city. I’d like to go back there again and explore a little bit more and possibly go to Arthur’s Seat. Edinburgh is definitely worth a visit.

It may have taken me over thirty years, but I can finally say I’ve visited England, Wales, and Scotland.

Two years in my first home

I can’t believe it myself but I’ve been living in my first home for two years. New builds get a lot of criticism but I’ve honestly not had any major issues with my home.

There are things I want to do next year, like getting the bathroom walls tiled and buying some more furniture.

Plus, the estate should be complete next year as well. Me and my wife were one of the first residents to move into the area and we’ve seen it grow. It now looks a lot less like a construction site and more of a neighbourhood.

Halloween this year was a good example of how lively the area is now. We ran out of chocolate for trick or treaters, so I had to go to the store to get some more. It was a very busy night.

Watched some good TV

I watched some good shows this year. Personal highlight is Tokyo Vice season two which was fantastic and much better than the first season. It’s a shame that it got cancelled. If you’re a fan of crime dramas, definitely check out Tokyo Vice.

Fallout was the biggest surprise, it was an excellent video game adaptation that captured the world of Fallout pretty well. My wife enjoyed this show as well. I would definitely watch another season of this show.

Season 3 of The Bear was also good. I thought the second season was just slightly better though. Episode 6 hit me the hardest as I was searching for a job after losing my old one. The feels of that episode hit me like a train.

I thought the fourth season of Only Murders in the Building was fun, but not as good as the first two seasons, but stronger than the third. I’ll definitely watch the next season of this show.

I sat down and watched the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and I thought it was okay. I felt it had a slow start but once it got going, it was quite good. I’ll probably watch the third season when it comes out.

Then there’s the obsession that took control of me and my wife’s TV this summer; The Traitors. We watched each english speaking version. We both really enjoyed the UK version. The USA version is okay and had similar thoughts about the Australian version. The Traitors is a great mind game where seeing player’s plans play out is fantastic to watch.

I’ll also mention the Olympics, as watching events such as gymnastics was fun to watch. We got some good memes out of it.

Steam Deck

I’ve owned my Steam Deck now for little over a year, and it’s absolutely a fantastic device. Balatro is a game that I’ve sunk over seventy hours into and I can’t stop playing it. I’ve also played a few other games like UFO 50 and a few retro games such as Tekken 2 (still holds up, by the way).

Despite the difficult year I’ve had, the Steam Deck distracted me from my problems. If you’re on the fence about buying one, pick one up and checkout some of the software that the community has created for it like EmuDeck.

Plus, Steam has plenty of sales going on throughout the year which can offer steep discounts on games that you might have on your wish list.

Speaking of retro games, I’ve been tempted to pick up one of those Linux based handhelds that have been making the rounds, or an Analogue Pocket. I love my Steam Deck but it’s quite bulky when taking it on flights, so I’m looking for something smaller.

The lows of 2024

My health

It’s been a pretty tough year for my physical and mental health.

For my physical health:

I brought in the new year with an awful case of the flu. I was sick with it for at least a month. It was a rough experience.
Then in February, I had a burst blood cell in my eye which I had for weeks. It took me by surprise when I saw it in the mirror.
In April I had a nasty eye infection. It started out as a stye that didn’t seem to go away, and it was incredibly hard. Best way I can describe it is that it was like a small marble. About two months later, the stye burst inside my eyelid. This made the infection even worse. I got some medicine prescribed and it started to heal. It’s looking much better now but there is a little more healing left to go. It’s been a terrible infection.
In late September, I got hit by either a cold, flu or COVID (if it was, then I had a very mild case of it). I felt slightly rough for just over a week.

For my mental health:

Losing my job in April wasn’t good for my mental health. I was unemployed for nearly four months and I had a lot of low days. It was one of the worst summers I’ve ever had, I was constantly searching for work and my metal health definitely took a hit.

My car

In September, I took my car in for its MOT and service. My car failed spectacularly. It needed a few parts and it spent a couple of nights at the garage being repaired. The total cost was nearly £1200. For those wondering, I drive a Vuaxhall Viva. I bought it brand new in 2016 and it is my first car. To be fair, over the eight years I’ve owned this car, this is the first time I’ve had any major issues with it.

My dad helped me find out what the rough value of it was, and the answer is between £3K and £4K. With this in mind, I’m planning on selling my car next year. I’m not sure how much I would get for it next year, but if the costs of running it are starting to catch up to its value, it makes sense to sell the car.

I will say, I won’t miss the impossibly small boot.

The next year

A new car (?)

I know I mentioned this last year, but since my car cost me a small fortune this year, I figured that it really is time to get a new car.

The list of what I would consider has remained unchanged from last year. I’m still considering:

And I am also considering:

BMW 1 Series
Vauxhall Astra

A podcast relaunch (?)

I did launch a podcast earlier this year, but it was really hard to keep up with planning episodes and my life at the same time. I’m thinking of doing a podcast with my wife that’s more casual and fun. Something that would involve less planning.

A YouTube channel

This is something that I’ve been thinking about more recently as a way to grow my audience. Blog posts will continue, but there are some topics which would be explained better in video format.

I’m planning on launching my YouTube videos early next year. I’ve been doing some prep work for this over the past few months and will hopefully have more to show soon. This will also mean that the footer will get updated with a YouTube icon as well, how exciting.

Continue to exercise

Something I did pick up this year was exercising. I bought an exercise bike earlier in the year and made some good progress with losing weight (but gained that weight back during my job loss). I’m hoping to continue exercising next year and continue to lose weight.

Photography

Photography is a hobby I want to explore more. I currently use a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G7K and I really want to get out and take more photos with it. I possibly want to buy a new lens (or two) next year as well (and possibly share more photos on here and on Bluesky and Threads).

Travel more

My wife (who is from the USA) has never been to Europe before, and it’s been about twenty years since I last visited, so we’re thinking of going to Belgium and France. Going to travel in Europe will be a good opportunity to work on my photography as well.

Work on the home

I’ve owned my home for just over two years now and there are areas that me and my wife want to work on. The main thing we want to do is to get some tiling done in the bathrooms and the kitchen.

When my home was built in 2022, there wasn’t much tiling done in the kitchen and bathrooms. Just enough to make sure it passed building inspections. So next year we want to get some tiling done as we want to avoid the walls being damaged by water and prevent mould.

I also want to do some work around my office. I’m thinking of getting some new shelves, draws and maybe a display cabinet. I’m also thinking of getting a new chair. I picked up some prints recently as well, just need to get round to hanging them up.

A new phone

I currently use an iPhone XS, and after using it for six years, I'm planning on upgrading next year. There are two reasons why I want to get a new phone; better battery life and software updates. My iPhone's battery currently has a maximum capacity of 73% so the battery life at the moment is terrible. Plus, it's unlikely my phone is going to get the next major version of iOS.

I'll more than likely stick with iPhone, but I have been tempted to go back to Android. The Google Pixel 9 Pro is a phone that caught my attention, along with the iPhone 16.

Having used the same phone for six years, I'm now in a position where the next phone I upgrade to, it will be a huge upgrade for me. From switiching to USB-C, improved battery life, performance and cameras, I'm going to benefit from my next phone upgrade in every way.

End of a rough year

This year has been terrible for me. I’m hoping that 2025 is much better in every way possible.

Thank you for reading this blog. I get a little over a hundred views a month and I appreciate every reader.

Here’s to the new year ✨