RIP 2024 (2024-2024)

I took a couple of years off doing this, one because life got busy and one because it was an awful, awful year that I’d just as soon forget.¹

This year was a bit of a mixed bag but it’s ended in a pretty good place - let’s do this.

Previous RIPs: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021.

Table of contents

Recap

January

Started out the year living temporarily in Fitzroy North, thanks to the kind and wonderful Andrea. Found a new house pretty quickly, living in the eastern suburbs again (the third time in the same square kilometre, even). Got the kids into schools, found a new job (working with Nick and Kaitlin again 🎉), started getting settled back into Australia.

February

Weird summer - hot periods followed by severe thunderstorms. Went to my first RORO in years. Found a good trivia night nearby and immediately started our domination 💪

March

Wrecked my ankle yet again - I think this time really did the trick, so my running days are over. Bought a Jeep, first time we’ve driven something other than a Mazda in 21 years.

April

^{It’s a long story.}

Co-MC’d RubyConf AU with the incomparable Caitlin Donaldson - caught up with old friends, met tons of new people, saw some amazing talks. Became a Melbourne Vixens member and saw a few games with Jo - already renewed for next season.

May

The aurora came to visit! It was an incredibly freezing night but worth every second.

June

Visited St Andrews market, which hasn’t changed a bit. Watched The Bear season 3. Not much else really.

July

^{You know you’re in Australia when…}

Alex’s 11th birthday party (a little early but whatevs). Saw Twisters and obsessed over the soundtrack for months afterwards.

August

Visited the Sydney office again for our end of financial year party. Enjoyed Olympics memes more than the actual Olympics themselves. Saw Deadpool & Wolverine, which of course was amazing. Celebrated Jo’s 13th (!) birthday.

September

^{Father’s Day breakfast in bed ❤️}

Eventful month!

• The ridiculous dominance of Travis Hunter commenced.

• We welcomed Nyx to our family, she is a very squeaky girl and has mostly settled in. (Still won’t come near me, but everyone else is OK 😢)

• I turned 50 and was spoiled rotten (especially love my Discovery Lego set)…
• … then was made redundant less than a week later. There was lots of drama around this, it was handled very badly and it was the last thing I needed after the events of last year. So yeah, that sucked.

October

Spent the month job hunting and marveling at how quickly one man can destroy years of goodwill (from those who have not met him personally, at any rate). Thankfully, the job hunting aspect was much less of a train wreck and I started a new role looking after recruiting for Ferocia ❤️

November

Cut out all my sources for US political news and I’m much happier for it. The election was like watching a wasted friend who’s pissed their pants and is screaming obscenities at anyone who tries to help - I don’t need to like your choices, but I don’t need to stick around and watch the consequences either.

December

Saw Frank Turner at the Espy - brilliant show at an amazing venue. Had our work Xmas party, then took two weeks off work for free! Spent Christmas with family, watched football, got more Lego, relaxed, and generally decompressed after a year that was slightly less mad than the previous one, but still a lot.

Stats

Travel

• Countries visited: 0 (-)
• Flights: 6 (⬆️ 100%)
• Distance flown: 4,242 km (⬆️ 100%)
• Time in the air: 8h 24m (⬆️ 100%)
• Swarm checkins: 464 (⬇️ 45%)
• Swarm mayorships: 28 (⬇️ 60%)
• Status: None

Music

• Minutes: 8,172 (⬆️ 37%)
• Top artists: Taylor Swift, Frank Turner 🆕, State Champs 🆕, Black Keys, Green Day

Books

I was not at all diligent about recording what I read in my StoryGraph account, but some books I enjoyed were the Silvers series, the Uglies series, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (which also prompted a Magicians re-read), Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen, and Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe.

Health

• Steps: 1,274,215 (⬇️ 2%)
• Weight: ⬇️ 3%
• Average sleep time: 7h 10 min (⬆️ 21%)

Work

• Days unemployed: 44 (⬇️ 79%)
• Days in contract work: 0 (-)
• Days in permanent employment: 321 (⬆️ 200%)

This post was made possible by Google Maps Timeline, Apple Photos, Swarm, and my Instagram/Threads/Bluesky/Mastodon history compensating for my woeful memory.