Posted: Thu 5 November, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2015/16, Bankruptcy, D4D™, Day Trips, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less, Work-related, Write More |
Following on from yesterday’s “what happened in the last year” post, now we get to the fun stuff, the “What’s going to happen in the coming year?” post.
Although, to be honest, some of those goals aren’t going to change much. I currently see 2015/16 as a year that’s more about consolidation, of building from the foundations of 2014/15.
So, the outline goals are going to be
- Continue rebuilding finances.
- Continue with health/exercise/weight-loss stuff
- Write more
- Develop more things based around my own business
- Get out more
There will be some significant changes during 2016 that I already know about and/or expect – as well as a number of things unexpected and un-planned-for.
Among the expected changes, I know that I’ll definitely be looking for at least one new contract sometime in that year. As yet I don’t know exactly when, but I can live with that – when it happens, it’ll be fine.
Also, the final financial stage of my bankruptcy will come to an end early in the year, and I’ll have paid off the three-year repayment plan. (That’s happening later than the three-year anniversary of the actual declaration, because it takes time to organise and sort out in the first place) I plan to keep making that payment, but into my own savings account, which will (obviously) help build things up.
Finally, I may end up moving by the end of the year. Or I may not. I don’t know for sure. Actually, that most likely won’t be in this time-span, as my 12-month tenancy agreement renewal starts today. I may know that I will be moving (as I’d have to give a month’s notice to end the tenancy etc. etc.) but the odds are that I won’t have actually moved. If I decide to do so.
I’ll write in more detail about those outline goals over the next few days, and see what they bring.
For now, I’m just happy to have some ideas about what’s going to come next.
Posted: Thu 5 November, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: D4D™, Domestic |
Blimey.
I’m 44. Who’d have thought it?
Posted: Wed 21 October, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2014/15, 2015 vs 2014, D4D™, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Looking Back, Single Life, Thoughts |
In preparation for another post (one of the usual ones for a couple of weeks’ time) I’ve been looking at things from (roughly) this time last year, and it’s been a bit odd in some ways.
There’s a distinct synchronicity between the two years, which is surprising. Last weekend, I bought some new tyres for the car – and it turns out I did the same a year ago. It also got a full service done – which I’ve just booked in again.
It’s also just under a year ago that I started doing the day-trips when I could (and/or when I wanted to) on weekends, which has continued and been pretty cool. I haven’t done one in a couple of months, mainly due to a madly busy period with no weekends ‘off’, but that doesn’t mean I won’t again.
Along the way, there’s also been a lot of good stuff.
Comparing where life was last October to this is like comparing pearls with cow shit.
October 2014 was a low point, although nowhere near my lowest. (There’s some competition for that ‘honour’, mainly September 2010, April 2012 and August 2012, although I’m sure there’s a couple of other close-runners too) At the start of it, I’d just walked out on ShitCo with nothing to go to, nothing even in the pipeline. That was a bit scary, but infinitely better than the prospect of staying working for them. I know, I still haven’t written much about that time, and probably won’t – safe to say, it was No Fun At All.
I got a new contract within two weeks though, and that was the start of the recovery process and climbing back to where I find myself now. I’m still working for the same people, and will be ’til at least the end of the year. It’s been good – and helped by being a role where I work for/by myself for four days a week. I’ve rented an office in central Milton Keynes, which works best for my schedule and environment, and keeps me vaguely sane. (Which working from home four days a week probably wouldn’t)
I’ve done a lot of rebuilding again in the last twelve months, and I’m pleased with how it’s gone.
Onwards and upwards!
Posted: Fri 25 September, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2014/15, 2015 vs 2014, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Introspective, Thoughts, Work-related, Write More, Writing |
While I was wandering around London last weekend, I had the time to do some thinking about the whole ‘not feeling the need to move on’ thing, which was much-needed.
There’s a lot of reasons for not feeling the need to move on at the moment, as I’ve written about already. I won’t bother with all those again, because this one is actually something else, something I hadn’t really looked into massively.
Basically, at the moment I’m really quite content with life and how it’s shaping up.
That has it’s good and bad aspects, for sure. Obviously it’s good that I’m content, that I’m at peace with things, and not yearning for change. It’s not something I’m massively familiar with, it’s all quite new, but I’m not going to complain.
On the downside, it also means I’m not feeling a huge level of urgency about things – certainly not for moving, but also with life in general. It’s kind-of all steady at the moment, which is fine for the time being. I don’t know that I want it to stay like that long-term though.
I am a lot less angry and irritable, though – and that’s primarily a good thing. I’ve noticed, looking back, how much D4D™ has changed over that time, looking back to when I started vs now. Life’s a lot calmer – but it’s also quite a lot duller.
Sure, people still piss me off. Life still pisses me off. But it seems (at the moment) to wash off again pretty quickly. I don’t feel the need to rant, to vent things out when I do get pissed off. (Well, not as much, anyway) But that also makes D4D™ less ranty, less annoyed, and somehow less amusing – both for me, and for anyone else still reading this rubbish.
It also goes some way to explaining (I realised) why I’m having problems getting going on some of the writing ideas. I’m not angry enough, not needing to vent out onto keyboard/paper. I need to find another way to do things, which may take time. We’ll see.
All told it’s a good thing, a sign of positive change – but it’s also going to have some knock-on effects, requiring some though and some further changes. That’ll take some time, and some sounding out of options. But it’s all good, and all entertaining.
Posted: Sun 9 August, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Change, D4D™, Domestic, Driving, London, Looking Back, Thoughts, Time, Work-related |
Today, D4D™ is celebrating its thirteenth birthday.
Way back in 2002, when I wrote D4D™’s first post in Blogger, things were very different…
And despite having slowed down and slacked off for periods over that time, it has to be said that D4D has outlasted
- No less than eight houses (or at least my tenancies in those houses) – I’m still in the ninth place, so we don’t know which will win on that score
- Four relationships
- Two cars
- Countless jobs and contracts – I’ve come up with a rough figure of 22, but I’m sure I’ve missed at least two
- Oodles of other stuff I’m not going to rehash
There have been pauses, and things have definitely slowed down when it comes to writing here. But it’s still going, and we’ll have to wait and see what the future holds
Posted: Wed 5 August, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, D4D™, Domestic, Driving, Finances, Getting Organised, Health, Introspective, Looking Back, Thoughts, Weirdness |
Somehow, we’re into August already. The year’s racing by (as usual) and here we are. August.
August is a funny (as in ‘odd’, not as in ‘ho ho’) month for me – for some reason it’s always been rather more eventful than others. It seems to be generally a month of change for me, in ways both negative and positive.
It’s definitely the month I get twitchy about, more than any other. I’m sure that’s because my parents first pointed out what a consistently change-laden month it was (which may have also gone some way to making it a bit more self-fulfilling) but I try to not focus on it. By that, I mean that I don’t consciously go “oh, I’ll do that in August”. August just seems to happen.
As examples…
- D4D™ got started in August. Not intentionally (well obviously it got started intentionally) in August – that was just when everything came together for it to happen
- My bankruptcy was in August. Again, that’s just when it came about.
- I finally passed my driving test in August.
- I’ve had *lots* of job changes in August, contracts ending and so on.
This time round, it looks (so far) like things will be a lot calmer.
I was a bit twitchy, as my current work contract had an end date next week – and even though I was 99% sure it would extend again, there’s always that “But it’s August, and thus could bite me on the bum” nagging doubt. However, it’s been confirmed this week that it’ll extend again, through to October (which will mean I’ve been doing this one for a year) so that’s all good.
To the best of my knowledge I’ll be staying in the current house for at least another year. That’s the plan (and renewal isn’t ’til November, so not a concern) and I see no current reason to change it.
There’s currently nothing else of major import and change looking like it’ll happen. I’ve got stuff planned for the month, but nothing change-laden. All the same, during August I’ll be…
- Doing a 10Km sponsored walk for Marie Curie
- Seeing Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet (a happy surprise instance, brought about by a friend of a friend not being able to go)
- Possibly another London visit, or alternative Day Trip
- Sorting out (renewing) car insurance again
And there’s a bundle of other stuff as well, alongside the weekly working normality.
So with any luck, this August won’t be too eventful and change-laden. We’ll see.
Posted: Tue 16 June, 2015 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Driving, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Sociable, Thoughts |
The last couple of months have been pretty manic and busy for me, as has been shown (kinda) by the paucity of posts round here. Thankfully, it’s now slowing down a bit, and should be considerably calmer over the next while. I hope that’s the case, anyway.
Since the start of April, I’ve been to :
- Somerset
- Edinburgh
- Newcastle
- Manchester/Stockport (3 times)
- Brighton
- London (3 times)
- Oxford (twice)
That’s as well as working during the week, and at least one trip to Chesham per week for work purposes. There’s probably also other stuff I’ve forgotten about, too. (Hell, I know there’s stuff I’ve not listed, which is other more local sociable stuff etc.)
This coming weekend should be the last busy one for a while – and I can’t deny, while I’m going to enjoy it, I’m also looking forward to some down time, to having some anti-social space for a bit.
I’m still going to be busy and doing stuff, but I’m fairly optimistic that it’ll gear down a bit as well.
And from there, well, it’s more about sorting out some of my own odds and sods – some jobs round the house, that kind of thing. (And yes, I know, it’s a rented place – but there’s still a couple of things that need doing by me!) With a bit of luck, there’ll be more writing time too, both here and on Other Projects…