A Non-Vocational Review of 2022
Jan. 2nd, 2023 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipThe arbitrary end-of-year provides the opportunity for reflection and, courtesy of a week-long break from work, I did a review of the vocational side of my life just before Christmas. With the advent of the new year the opportunity is given to have a look at the non-vocational side, which primarily consists of study, politics, philosophy, the arts, and, of course, my personal life. If a theme is to be put to the year, it will come from T.S. Eliot: "I pray you to forgive Both bad and good. Last season's fruit is eaten."
Dealing with the last item first, I am better off on most metrics. My health has improved (even with a bout of the 'rona), and my financial situation has improved, partially helped by the sale of my old property at Willsmere. I continue to be blessed with some truly wonderful friendships which were enhanced by trips to Perth, Darwin, and New Zealand. Alas, I have also been subject to rather cruel, confusing, and downright abusive behaviour by people who hitherto were close to me. It does make one much less trustful; my hard head will be taking greater precedence over my soft heart in the future. I cannot pretend my relationship life has been particularly smooth either, my preference for stability is fortunately matched with a surprising level of patience. I am also deeply saddened to lose friends to mortality like Jo Griffth, Catherine Heloise, Marg Callow, and an old political comrade, Ted Murphy. I must also add two dear cats in my life, Mannan MacLir and Sabre also passed on. Funerals more than weddings, have been the order of the year.
It was an eventful year politically. On the international arena there is, of course, the ongoing war in Ukraine, of which I have advocated "peace with justice" and raised some $8.5K for the UNHCR in that region. I was quite active in the Federal and State election campaigns and am pleased to say that responsible government has been elected in the former and returned in the latter. It was a fair year for the political group that I run, the Isocracy Network, and I also took the opportunity to step down as President of the Victorian Secular Lobby. I attended the ACFS National Conference in Perth and also established a new environmental engineering consultancy company, Avatar Mountain which, as is the nature of practical reasoning, must also come under "politics", at least in part.
This relates to matters of study; at the end of the year, I was accepted into a Master of Climate Change Science and Policy at the University of Wellington. At the time of writing, I am most of the way through a Graduate Diploma in Applied Psychology, which I started this year at Auckland University. Further, finishing I year early, I completed my Master's of Higher Education at the University of Otago, the sixth stiff piece of cardboard that adorns my walls. There are thirty new citations to my articles (down a fair bit from 2021), and I have a new journal article published on "Abstract Expressionism as Anti-Aesthetics", even if it is dated 2021. Language pursuits have been ongoing, primarily French and Chinese, and I topped the Duolingo Diamond league 5 times and, amusingly given my strong opinions on their new interface, also on New Year's Day. The year saw me give a number of presentations on matters of philosophy and religion; to the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship on the relationship between emotions and behaviour, to the Sea of Faith in Australia on moral reasoning, and a second presentation on Stoicism and Naturalistic Pantheism. On related matters, I have picked up a Mental Health First Aid Certificate, a matter which is close to me and, for a while, I was involved in a local BPD association, but have since left, but I have written an extensive summary on the illness.
I have written a few articles on Rocknerd as well; retrospectives and memorials for Klaus Schulze and Vangelis, a review for the new Maybeshewill album, and live reviews for Pop Will Eat Itself and Ride. I continue my editorials for RPG Review, with two issues released this year with several articles from yours truly, and a double issue coming soon. As personal art, after decades, I have inked my skin in a meaningful manner with a "Math Rat Tattoo", and I have taken the opportunity to immerse myself in my home arts precinct with many visits to local concerts from the University crowd and exhibits at local galleries, as well as continuing my role as treasurer of the Wild Arts Social Club and hosting one of their events. Immersing myself in the local community has been a feature of the year, and I found myself subject to a brief interview in the local newspaper.
That now completes a summary of the past year and, in reflection, whilst it felt terribly tumultuous and chaotically unstructured, it does seem that I managed to get a fair bit done. In the coming days, I will give further consideration to what I plan for 2023, with a view to an increasing focus on activities and strengthening of relationships of those close to me. I will return to the next lines of TS Eliot in this regard: "For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning."
Dealing with the last item first, I am better off on most metrics. My health has improved (even with a bout of the 'rona), and my financial situation has improved, partially helped by the sale of my old property at Willsmere. I continue to be blessed with some truly wonderful friendships which were enhanced by trips to Perth, Darwin, and New Zealand. Alas, I have also been subject to rather cruel, confusing, and downright abusive behaviour by people who hitherto were close to me. It does make one much less trustful; my hard head will be taking greater precedence over my soft heart in the future. I cannot pretend my relationship life has been particularly smooth either, my preference for stability is fortunately matched with a surprising level of patience. I am also deeply saddened to lose friends to mortality like Jo Griffth, Catherine Heloise, Marg Callow, and an old political comrade, Ted Murphy. I must also add two dear cats in my life, Mannan MacLir and Sabre also passed on. Funerals more than weddings, have been the order of the year.
It was an eventful year politically. On the international arena there is, of course, the ongoing war in Ukraine, of which I have advocated "peace with justice" and raised some $8.5K for the UNHCR in that region. I was quite active in the Federal and State election campaigns and am pleased to say that responsible government has been elected in the former and returned in the latter. It was a fair year for the political group that I run, the Isocracy Network, and I also took the opportunity to step down as President of the Victorian Secular Lobby. I attended the ACFS National Conference in Perth and also established a new environmental engineering consultancy company, Avatar Mountain which, as is the nature of practical reasoning, must also come under "politics", at least in part.
This relates to matters of study; at the end of the year, I was accepted into a Master of Climate Change Science and Policy at the University of Wellington. At the time of writing, I am most of the way through a Graduate Diploma in Applied Psychology, which I started this year at Auckland University. Further, finishing I year early, I completed my Master's of Higher Education at the University of Otago, the sixth stiff piece of cardboard that adorns my walls. There are thirty new citations to my articles (down a fair bit from 2021), and I have a new journal article published on "Abstract Expressionism as Anti-Aesthetics", even if it is dated 2021. Language pursuits have been ongoing, primarily French and Chinese, and I topped the Duolingo Diamond league 5 times and, amusingly given my strong opinions on their new interface, also on New Year's Day. The year saw me give a number of presentations on matters of philosophy and religion; to the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship on the relationship between emotions and behaviour, to the Sea of Faith in Australia on moral reasoning, and a second presentation on Stoicism and Naturalistic Pantheism. On related matters, I have picked up a Mental Health First Aid Certificate, a matter which is close to me and, for a while, I was involved in a local BPD association, but have since left, but I have written an extensive summary on the illness.
I have written a few articles on Rocknerd as well; retrospectives and memorials for Klaus Schulze and Vangelis, a review for the new Maybeshewill album, and live reviews for Pop Will Eat Itself and Ride. I continue my editorials for RPG Review, with two issues released this year with several articles from yours truly, and a double issue coming soon. As personal art, after decades, I have inked my skin in a meaningful manner with a "Math Rat Tattoo", and I have taken the opportunity to immerse myself in my home arts precinct with many visits to local concerts from the University crowd and exhibits at local galleries, as well as continuing my role as treasurer of the Wild Arts Social Club and hosting one of their events. Immersing myself in the local community has been a feature of the year, and I found myself subject to a brief interview in the local newspaper.
That now completes a summary of the past year and, in reflection, whilst it felt terribly tumultuous and chaotically unstructured, it does seem that I managed to get a fair bit done. In the coming days, I will give further consideration to what I plan for 2023, with a view to an increasing focus on activities and strengthening of relationships of those close to me. I will return to the next lines of TS Eliot in this regard: "For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning."
