New Year's Eve, 2015 Retrospective

[tcpip]

New Year's Eve was spent at Reunion (FB link). Good to catch up with a lot of old friends, many of whom I hadn't seen in several years to two decades and more. Kudos to the event organisers for playing Ace of Spades at midnight. We stayed at the basic, but useful, Mount Way Apartments. I can't help but feel somewhat intrinsically responsible for this; it was in 1988 that I hosted a party at the Q club Perth in Perth in a disused section of a former department store; shortly afterwards Wayne snapped up the location to turn it into a goth-alternative club, which led to a succession of others in the late 80s and early 90s.

The following day caught up with Adrian S., and Bruce T., in Maylands, before venturing back to caseopaya's mother's home where we downed a fine bottle of 1999 Bollinger La Grand Annee that just happened to be lying around the house. A restful day is planned as we prepare to board the silver machine this afternoon, returning home in Melbourne late evening.

The end of the year inevitably brings consideration of the past year's activities (and comparison with the previous year)and the prospects for the coming year, even with recognition of Gramsci's famous condemnation of New Year's Day. It was a busy and eventful year to say the least, and next year will is also looking that it will have plenty of activity.



1. Work and Linux

After over eight years of working at VPAC/V3 Alliance, I finished there just as the company was disappointingly closed down, although not before they passed on to me the 10 ISBNs purchased earlier the year for the training manuals I had written (wth one finished). The year included forty eight days of teaching postgraduate researchers and sysadmins in and from several institutions across Australia (UWA, RMIT, La Trobe, UniMelb, Deakin, Westmead, USyd, Macquarie, ARPANSA, AIMS), and concluded with a new job at the University of Melbourne.

VPAC was also kind enough to fund three trips to conferences where I was giving papers, including eResearchNZ, THETA, and OSDC. Including the teaching journeys, I've calculated that I had at least eleven interstate and overseas trips in the past year. In addition to these gave three additional papers to Linux Users of Victoria, and wrote their submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

2. Politics

The two political organisations I initiated, the Isocracy Network and the Victorian Secular lobby, both have had good years. For my own part organised various respective meetings for both groups wrote the submission for the Victorian Parliament for end-of-life choices (different angles, of course). I gave two presentations about the Victorian Secular Lobby, one to the University of Melbourne Secular Society, and one to the Secularism in the Modern World conference, as well as keeping their website more-or-less in order. For the Isocracy Network, wrote four articles and eight 'blog posts on their website. Also joined the New International Bookshop board in March, the Earthworker Cooperative in June (as well as making a healthy debenture contribution). In terms of ALP involvement, attended the ALP National Conference in July and was treasurer for a while of the Kooyong FEA (until resigning with some disagreements on public promotions with the FEA president) although I have continued as treasurer of the Kew branch.

3. RPGs and other games.

Only a single (albeit) double issue of RPG Review this year, with eight of the reviews contained therein being repeated on RPG.net. Major multi-session stories included participating in: Secret Lives of Cats, GURPS Middle Earth, Eclipse Phase, Laundry Files, and also narrated 7th Sea Freiburg, HeroQuest Glorantha, and Call of Cthulhu along with several single-session games and of course, the boardgames associated with our irregular cheesequest days. At the end of the year formed a new incorporated association for the promotion of RPGs and initiated work for a new edition of Swordbearer. RPG Review store continues to go reasonably well. In Ingress reached highest level, before lapsing into semi-retirement.

4. Academia, Philosophical Pursuits, and Languages

Enrolled at Otago University in March, and finalised enrolment in April for a Master of Education degree; still working on that thesis, planning to finish it first quarter this coming year. As mentioned, also wrote a full paper for THETA on user education and skill interfaces in computer education. Gave two addresses to the Unitarians, one on A Modern Reconstruction of Buddhist Karma and another on Mythology and Motivation from the Arthurian Legends, as well as making a submission to the Australian Bureau of Statistics concerning the classification of Unitarians. Apart from convening the group, gave long two presentations at The Philosophy Forum, one on computers and computation and the other on social development - all available on the lightbringers site.

The year will also be marked as the one where I moved from a vague utilitarian and amateur interest in languages, to a dedicated daily activity. Primarily courtesy of Duolingo (and much less to a less interesting course at the Melbourne CAE) I have undertaken serious study of Esperanto, French, and German along with a more moderate engagement with Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, and Russian. Aiming to have a high level of fluency in the main three by the end of next year.

5. Music

Despite a promising development last year, my reviews and interests in musical affairs collapsed this year with only three album and one live review. Much of this was due to the The Dwarf which really flopped in terms of managing their own website, their Facebook page, and arranging tickets to shows etc. I guess I'll be spending more time with rocknerd from now on instead, as I still have plenty to write about in that regard.

6. Personal

I continue to be blessed by the presence of the ever-dependable caseopaya. With three visits interstate to her family this year (with weddings and health issues) I feel a lot more integrated into their clan. The immediate fur family does well of course, with the addition of three rodents to the house from the beginning of this year. The major holiday of the year, in addition to conference visits, was the deep south of New Zealand where both the visit to Milford Sound and bungy jumping constitute ticks on the bucket list (FWIW I don't actually have such a list; maybe I should?).

I continue to have a wide range of excellent close friends and associates, many of whom I dearly wish to see more of; I have done well at eliminating a handful of duplicitous and toxic people from my association. Financially I am on an above-average wage, with moderately good holdings of both fixed and liquid assets. Looking over the records, I can safely say that I have also contributed rather extensively to charities etc, a sort of personal and voluntary zakāt. In terms of health, I can't say my general levels of health and fitness have improved that significantly. I am several kilogrames lighter than I was this time last year and I am feeling more energetic. So I must suppose that these are both good signs.



Socially, physically, and psychologically 2015 has seen improvements in my life - as a result I am looking forward to 2016 with some immediate optimism and determination. Prioritisation is of course essential, and I have some faith in my organisational skills with a modicum of willpower. As always, my greatest danger is to over-commit and at this age, I certainly should be very well aware of my weaknesses as well as my strengths.

To my friends and fellow world-citizens, I hope the coming year bodes well - and do let me know if I can help you achieve your successes in some way.

Comments

[mr-figgy.livejournal.com]

It's good to know someone who had a better 2015. I've got a doctor's appointment on the near horizon for this lethargy/heavy sleep dependence, and I've got Coursera bookmarked for something to do when I feel better again; skills need an upgrade.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I think that continuous learning tends accumulate improvements, which may explain a success or two. Of course having a sleeping and/or energy disorder would temper this. Nevertheless the Coursea initiative is a good one. Work at your own pace!