Year In Review: 2020

Year In Review: 2020

Review

What Went Well

Vocation

The COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in everyone’s years. Thankfully, my job continued for most of the year, in-person, no less. Sadly, my role at NTL Pipelines ended in November but I am thankful for my time there.

Spiritual

Stepped up my personal accountability game by making habits to connect with my mates regularly throughout each week.

Restarted regular therapy in June and dug into a lot of hurts and wounds from my past. I have a lot of hope for a mentally healthy future.

What Didn't Go Well

Personal Health

As a result of my 72-hour-a-week role starting in July 2019, I fell completely off the exercise wagon and didn’t get back into it until well into June. Since then, I’ve run 2-3 times most weeks.

Eating healthy is another story. My sweet tooth became a monster in 2020 and I didn’t do much to curb it. I’ve felt most healthy when eliminating sugar from my diet and getting back to that spot would be wonderful.

I gained 10 lbs since last year due to the poor eating and little exercise. Would like to get back to my peak running weight of around 175 lbs.

Relationships

I let people down this year. Especially my wife. I’ve always struggled to communicate clearly and at opportune times, often holding back what I’m truly feeling. My poor sense of security and personal value means I hold onto my feelings out of fear of a negative response. It’s a vicious cycle I want to get out of with the help of God and my therapist.

Finances

I had a good job, which paid the bills and more. My wife and I have struggled to talk the same language about finances over the years and haven’t been able to make a clear budget, not for lack of trying. We’re still living within our means and not buying excessive material possessions. However, if we are to be stewards of what we’ve been given, keeping ourselves accountable and saving to give away will be important.

New Emerging Opportunities

My role ending at NTL means I have the opportunity to start over in a role better suited to my strengths and to our lifestyle. NTL was great but the hours (50-72 each week) were excessive and led to burn out and contributed to my poor personal health.

I’m excited to explore opportunities in the web development space. I spent the month of December 2020 getting back into javascript (React, NextJS) and php (Laravel). I’m looking forward to finding a great home for my technical expertise.

Music

Album of the Year

2020 and my AOTY is from 2006...living in the past, haha. This is such a great album and gets me going every time I listen to it. Great for when I'm in the flow.

Track of the Year

Favs

Games

Game of the Year

I played the snot out of Breath of the Wild, finally wrapping up a 300 hour play-through in December. Loved it so much I've started a Master Mode play-through, which is stinking hard! Died at the first bokoblin I met. 😱

Runner Up

I only just started playing STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order but man, is this game beautiful. I've only scratched the surface but this game feels so immersive. It's not open world, very linear, but it's a great change of pace from BotW's freedom. Sometimes, I just want a game to tell me what's next.

Film + Television

I like watching movies and television shows, especially in the era where one can watch an entire season/series in a few days. I read most of The Expanse book series this year and paired it with watching the excellent first 4 seasons of the television show. I'd have to say, the only Amazon backed season, season four, was one of the better produced shows I've seen in a long time, especially all the sequences on Ilus.

Books

I read/listened to a lot of books this year. There's a distinct theme of science-fiction and fantasy.

  • Saturn Run by John Sandford
  • The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
  • An Echo of Things To Come by James Islington
  • An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield
  • Dune by Frank Herbert
  • Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott
  • Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
  • The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas
  • The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas
  • The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas
  • The Firebird Trilogy by Kathy Tyers
  • Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, 1) by James S.A. Corey
  • Caliban’s War (The Expanse, 2) by James S.A. Corey
  • The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
  • Little House On The Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (re-read)
  • The Oracle Year by Charles Soule
  • Gods of Risk (The Expanse, 2.5) by James S.A. Corey
  • Abaddon’s Gate (The Expanse, 3) by James S.A. Corey
  • Cibola Burn (The Expanse, 4) by James S.A. Corey
  • Nemesis Games (The Expanse, 5) by James S.A. Corey
  • The Vital Abyss (The Expanse, 5.5) by James S.A. Corey
  • Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse, 6) by James S.A. Corey
  • Strange Dogs (The Expanse, 6.5) by James S.A. Corey
  • Persepolis Rising (The Expanse 7) by James S.A. Corey
  • Tiamat’s Wrath (The Expanse 8) by James S.A. Corey
  • On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder (re-read)
  • The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (re-read)

I'd love to see what others are reading. Connect with me on Goodreads.