![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Memoro MMXIX, Praedico MMXX
As is my wont, the New Year brings a marker for reflection of past activities and preparation for what lies ahead. Juan Cole provided a timely reminder this year with the FitzGerald translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam on the New Year: Think then you are To-day what Yesterday You were–To-morrow You shall not be less. The artificial marker in place and we reflect and we prepare every day and not just on the passing of yuletide. The transaction is entered daily, the accounts monthly, the quarterly plans in place; life's accounting, and an accounting of life. Is it so surprising to find that now I am making five-year plans, rather than a single year? Between one's desires from a fecund imagination and the sober recognition of the constraint of time, objectives are pushed further into the future.
1. Profession
Memoro, in my fourth year at the University of Melbourne I completed all the objectives that I started with at the beginning of the year; which included 23 user workshops (plus guest lectures), including a new course on regular expressions, and adding new debugger information to the parallel programming course, completing the MDP programme, and doubling user documentation to cover over 70 example applications. Only four conferences (one international) and six papers and presentations this year; one however was repeated in two other sites. As topic chair for the International HPC Certification Forum, I've tried to push some educational standards, and alas, I have been less than successful in that regard and started an AU-NZ HPC Educators Repository.
Praedico, that much work-related activity will remain the same, in terms of coursework as it's really reached a good level (although nothing like the 43 courses done in 2015 at VPAC). There is an Australian HPC Eductor's conference that I'm planning on dovetailing with eReseseachAU. The long-awaited VPAC publications have finally seen the light of day, with the first Supercomputing with Linux, being put on Smashwords on New Year's Day. A few more of those should be done this year (probably the Parallel Programming, Education, and Project Management books), with the AU-NZ HPC Educators repository dovetailing. Very tempted to restart VPAC this year, in the worker's cooperative/incorporated association model, which I have a lot of experience in, but will discuss this among former staff (potential members) first.
2. Politics
Memoro, it was not exactly a great year in most of the Anglosphere, with the populist right convincing poorer voters that wealth transfers to the rich are in their interest in Australia and the United Kingdom. The Isocracy Network and Victorian Secular Lobby are both stable in terms of membership, but curiously influential in terms of policy. I wrote eight articles, one public submission, and a rather astounding forty-three 'blog articles for the former, although as a political tragic my updates on the Australian Federal election contributed significantly to that number. Little happened in terms of my role with LabourStart and the planned publications simply didn't happen, although two remain a viable work-in-progress (Cairns, Esperanto), the other (Syria) looks like an on-going issue. At least the idea is getting around with other publications, and I suppose I can mention my assistance in the French translation of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain. should also count in this regard.
Praedico, this year will see improvements on these fronts, in terms of policy, membership, meetings, and publications. I have made some headway on the latter two already, with some reduced administrivia and compilation of material. The reality is that these organisations should be bigger and better than they are. To the degree that our plan has been implemented (and it is at least strongest in my home state, often courtesy of some personal connections), it has worked extremely well - unsurprising, given the prosaic commitment to evidence-based principles. What I really need is more committed organisers and better task allocation. The reality is in volunteer organisations most people will do one thing. Allocating that thing is the responsibility of the managers, which in this case means me. It is a task which I shall attend to immediately.
3. Gaming
Memoro, a rather good year gaming-wise for 2019 with the successful organisation of RuneQuest Glorantha Con Down Under IV, the print publication of RPG Review 44 to coincide with the conference, and four issues of that 'zine in total released, and the publication of the first Papers & Paychecks supplement, Cow-Orkers in the Scary Devil Monastery, and a few reviews on RPG.net. The RPG Review Cooperative continues to develop well with a good membership, financial position, and an excellent library, a success built mainly on having a good, working, committee. In actual play, neither my Eclipse Phase nor my HeroQuest Glorantha campaigns finished this year, but both are rapidly heading towards end-game finishes, as is the Megatraveller game that I play in.
Praedico, that my Eclipse Phase and HeroQuest games will end this year, for sure. The RPG Review Cooperative will bring out its four issues of the 'zine and will continue to participate in local gaming cons etc. I am not keen to organise a RQDU V and would like somebody else to take up this role. I am a little worried about the Cooperative; I get the sense that there needs to be an injection of fresh blood into the committee, which again requires sourcing such individuals. I am keen to organise a Cyberpunk Con because of aesthetic reasons (this is the cyberpunk year), and I've already made an extensive start on a book entitled Imaginary Worlds on cartography, geography, and astronomy for speculative fiction games. I can also see myself completing an Eclipse Phase Companion this year as well. In the longer term I have my old Swordbearer and Mimesis notes as well.
4. Academia and Languages
Memoro, I completed nearly all of my MSc in Information Systems, four courses, and the Zurich residency, excepting the dissertation, which I will have done by the end of February. I did very well in the first two courses, and then not brilliantly after that. I also completed the first year of MHed at Otago University with a high level of positive feedback from my supervisors. Finally, in the academic space, I completed part of my Grad Dip in Economics at LSE; I am really unhappy with the extremely poor teaching quality, assessment, and administration at UniLondon, but at least the content is good. Two courses completed on Duolingo this year; Russian and Latin, although both will require extensive revision before I can participate in any level of confidence.
Praedico, I will complete the MSc in the early part of the year, making it degree number five, and the MHed coursework component by the end of the year, leaving the thesis to do. Part of the GradDip in Economics will be done, but I can't seem myself completing it this year. In the longer term, I find myself increasingly attracted to the multidisciplinary study of geography, as it allows me to combine my interest in the scientific, social, and aesthetic dimensions. Language-wise, I will review Russian and Latin this year, and perhaps pick up a Duolingo owl for Mandarin (I planned this last year, and ended up with Latin instead). In the longer term, I have my sights on both Arabic and a weird interest in a unified Celtic. But I have to skill up in at least a few of those languages first.
5. Aesthetics, Travel, and Personal
Memoro, the aesthetic dimension did well this year with eight album and live reviews on Rocknerd, and the acquisition of Andy Gill's guitar from The Gang of Four gig. I think Underworld at the Sydney Opera House was the peak modern music concert. In February I had a fortnight in New Zealand, and in October I had an epic journey through Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, with particular highlights including visiting the ESA's Space Operations Centre, and spending a long lunch with Norman Spinrad in Paris. At home, at quite unexpected, both mortgaged were paid off for the AU and NZ properties. We also ripped up our skanky 35 year old carpet and replaced it with much nicer flooring. Health-wise I needed some improvements and, after a poor start, I ended the year with a more energy and less weight. Among all this,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
caseopaya continues ever onwards as my life partner, and a constant reminder than most of the work and stress is of my own making. There was also, with some sadness, having to make arrangements for the sale of Rick B's property, then his funeral, and then the will; one always feels they could have done more, but I think I did enough.
Praedico, I will probably pull back slightly on the music review side of things, and fill the gap with some actual formal study of the art rather than just expressing my somewhat experientially-informed opinions. Another trip to New Zealand is on the agenda again, at least in part because my heart is in The South. I can imagine that another visit to Europe is probable as well, although my brain is speculating on other continents that I haven't been to yet, including the big one down south. Assuming no disasters, my financial status has an incremental upward trend, something which continues to surprise. This year I made a good effort at simplifying my possessions; not quite to a dostadning level, but certainly with that trend. I am even kind of optimistic that even as I age my fitness and health can improve a little; I haven't been in good shape for more than twenty years, but I can certainly get into better shape. Overall, however, I have to say that matters in my personal life are doing quietly and confidently well.
In summary 2019 was an excellent year for me personally, even if the political landscape is less than satisfactory. I didn't get everything done, but I managed to get a lot done; some things to completion and some things at least in part. I've achieved publications, run a conference, paid off two mortgages and did some renovations, had holidays in New Zealand and Europe, and have ended up with a significantly improved financial state and somewhat better health. In 2020 I know that if I want to achieve more there are three main trajectories; (a) if I want to do something new, I have to retire something, (b) efficiency can be achieved through increased planning and combining multiple projects into single projects, and (c) getting other like-minded people involved in matters of common interest. On top of all this, I have set a personal agenda of writing 1K words per day for publications - anything else on top of that (including lengthy LJ/DW posts like this one) has to be considered an optional extra. Let's revisit this in a year's time and see how I've gone.
1. Profession
Memoro, in my fourth year at the University of Melbourne I completed all the objectives that I started with at the beginning of the year; which included 23 user workshops (plus guest lectures), including a new course on regular expressions, and adding new debugger information to the parallel programming course, completing the MDP programme, and doubling user documentation to cover over 70 example applications. Only four conferences (one international) and six papers and presentations this year; one however was repeated in two other sites. As topic chair for the International HPC Certification Forum, I've tried to push some educational standards, and alas, I have been less than successful in that regard and started an AU-NZ HPC Educators Repository.
Praedico, that much work-related activity will remain the same, in terms of coursework as it's really reached a good level (although nothing like the 43 courses done in 2015 at VPAC). There is an Australian HPC Eductor's conference that I'm planning on dovetailing with eReseseachAU. The long-awaited VPAC publications have finally seen the light of day, with the first Supercomputing with Linux, being put on Smashwords on New Year's Day. A few more of those should be done this year (probably the Parallel Programming, Education, and Project Management books), with the AU-NZ HPC Educators repository dovetailing. Very tempted to restart VPAC this year, in the worker's cooperative/incorporated association model, which I have a lot of experience in, but will discuss this among former staff (potential members) first.
2. Politics
Memoro, it was not exactly a great year in most of the Anglosphere, with the populist right convincing poorer voters that wealth transfers to the rich are in their interest in Australia and the United Kingdom. The Isocracy Network and Victorian Secular Lobby are both stable in terms of membership, but curiously influential in terms of policy. I wrote eight articles, one public submission, and a rather astounding forty-three 'blog articles for the former, although as a political tragic my updates on the Australian Federal election contributed significantly to that number. Little happened in terms of my role with LabourStart and the planned publications simply didn't happen, although two remain a viable work-in-progress (Cairns, Esperanto), the other (Syria) looks like an on-going issue. At least the idea is getting around with other publications, and I suppose I can mention my assistance in the French translation of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain. should also count in this regard.
Praedico, this year will see improvements on these fronts, in terms of policy, membership, meetings, and publications. I have made some headway on the latter two already, with some reduced administrivia and compilation of material. The reality is that these organisations should be bigger and better than they are. To the degree that our plan has been implemented (and it is at least strongest in my home state, often courtesy of some personal connections), it has worked extremely well - unsurprising, given the prosaic commitment to evidence-based principles. What I really need is more committed organisers and better task allocation. The reality is in volunteer organisations most people will do one thing. Allocating that thing is the responsibility of the managers, which in this case means me. It is a task which I shall attend to immediately.
3. Gaming
Memoro, a rather good year gaming-wise for 2019 with the successful organisation of RuneQuest Glorantha Con Down Under IV, the print publication of RPG Review 44 to coincide with the conference, and four issues of that 'zine in total released, and the publication of the first Papers & Paychecks supplement, Cow-Orkers in the Scary Devil Monastery, and a few reviews on RPG.net. The RPG Review Cooperative continues to develop well with a good membership, financial position, and an excellent library, a success built mainly on having a good, working, committee. In actual play, neither my Eclipse Phase nor my HeroQuest Glorantha campaigns finished this year, but both are rapidly heading towards end-game finishes, as is the Megatraveller game that I play in.
Praedico, that my Eclipse Phase and HeroQuest games will end this year, for sure. The RPG Review Cooperative will bring out its four issues of the 'zine and will continue to participate in local gaming cons etc. I am not keen to organise a RQDU V and would like somebody else to take up this role. I am a little worried about the Cooperative; I get the sense that there needs to be an injection of fresh blood into the committee, which again requires sourcing such individuals. I am keen to organise a Cyberpunk Con because of aesthetic reasons (this is the cyberpunk year), and I've already made an extensive start on a book entitled Imaginary Worlds on cartography, geography, and astronomy for speculative fiction games. I can also see myself completing an Eclipse Phase Companion this year as well. In the longer term I have my old Swordbearer and Mimesis notes as well.
4. Academia and Languages
Memoro, I completed nearly all of my MSc in Information Systems, four courses, and the Zurich residency, excepting the dissertation, which I will have done by the end of February. I did very well in the first two courses, and then not brilliantly after that. I also completed the first year of MHed at Otago University with a high level of positive feedback from my supervisors. Finally, in the academic space, I completed part of my Grad Dip in Economics at LSE; I am really unhappy with the extremely poor teaching quality, assessment, and administration at UniLondon, but at least the content is good. Two courses completed on Duolingo this year; Russian and Latin, although both will require extensive revision before I can participate in any level of confidence.
Praedico, I will complete the MSc in the early part of the year, making it degree number five, and the MHed coursework component by the end of the year, leaving the thesis to do. Part of the GradDip in Economics will be done, but I can't seem myself completing it this year. In the longer term, I find myself increasingly attracted to the multidisciplinary study of geography, as it allows me to combine my interest in the scientific, social, and aesthetic dimensions. Language-wise, I will review Russian and Latin this year, and perhaps pick up a Duolingo owl for Mandarin (I planned this last year, and ended up with Latin instead). In the longer term, I have my sights on both Arabic and a weird interest in a unified Celtic. But I have to skill up in at least a few of those languages first.
5. Aesthetics, Travel, and Personal
Memoro, the aesthetic dimension did well this year with eight album and live reviews on Rocknerd, and the acquisition of Andy Gill's guitar from The Gang of Four gig. I think Underworld at the Sydney Opera House was the peak modern music concert. In February I had a fortnight in New Zealand, and in October I had an epic journey through Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, with particular highlights including visiting the ESA's Space Operations Centre, and spending a long lunch with Norman Spinrad in Paris. At home, at quite unexpected, both mortgaged were paid off for the AU and NZ properties. We also ripped up our skanky 35 year old carpet and replaced it with much nicer flooring. Health-wise I needed some improvements and, after a poor start, I ended the year with a more energy and less weight. Among all this,
caseopaya continues ever onwards as my life partner, and a constant reminder than most of the work and stress is of my own making. There was also, with some sadness, having to make arrangements for the sale of Rick B's property, then his funeral, and then the will; one always feels they could have done more, but I think I did enough. Praedico, I will probably pull back slightly on the music review side of things, and fill the gap with some actual formal study of the art rather than just expressing my somewhat experientially-informed opinions. Another trip to New Zealand is on the agenda again, at least in part because my heart is in The South. I can imagine that another visit to Europe is probable as well, although my brain is speculating on other continents that I haven't been to yet, including the big one down south. Assuming no disasters, my financial status has an incremental upward trend, something which continues to surprise. This year I made a good effort at simplifying my possessions; not quite to a dostadning level, but certainly with that trend. I am even kind of optimistic that even as I age my fitness and health can improve a little; I haven't been in good shape for more than twenty years, but I can certainly get into better shape. Overall, however, I have to say that matters in my personal life are doing quietly and confidently well.
In summary 2019 was an excellent year for me personally, even if the political landscape is less than satisfactory. I didn't get everything done, but I managed to get a lot done; some things to completion and some things at least in part. I've achieved publications, run a conference, paid off two mortgages and did some renovations, had holidays in New Zealand and Europe, and have ended up with a significantly improved financial state and somewhat better health. In 2020 I know that if I want to achieve more there are three main trajectories; (a) if I want to do something new, I have to retire something, (b) efficiency can be achieved through increased planning and combining multiple projects into single projects, and (c) getting other like-minded people involved in matters of common interest. On top of all this, I have set a personal agenda of writing 1K words per day for publications - anything else on top of that (including lengthy LJ/DW posts like this one) has to be considered an optional extra. Let's revisit this in a year's time and see how I've gone.