Another year, another blog post

Previous new year resolutions have lasted about as long as my resolutions made at other times of year. So I've half a mind to not make any this time round. But I have already delegated responsibility of cleaning and tidying the boy's room to the boy himself, and I have another reason to believe I might actually do better at the perennial "blog more often" promise: a new laptop.

I caved and bought a Samsung ATIV Book 9 Lite (non-touchscreen version). I used money from Christmas and savings and while it's only a bit bigger than my SO's netbook, I find it quite a bit easier to type on. And it's not full of her stuff, which is a bonus. It's pretty swish, even with Windows 8, which I will probably ditch as soon as I dare. So now I have no excuse of "someone else in on the computer" or "I can't get inspired sitting at the desk".

I might actually start writing again. No promises.

Overall, 2013 has been...ok. Job is going well, and I'm still in the same job I started the year in which is a first. Everyone seems to want me there permanently, but the budget says No. I'm less worried about this than I probably should be. Speaking of which, I seem to be less worried about most things than I used to be. I don't know whether to blame tiredness, new positive attitude, or the medicine I'm on, but whatever it is, it's probably actually a good thing. The boy hit double digits and is continuing to impress everyone with how considerate and intelligent he is. We're doing something right apparently.

My beloved did get a permanent job, as everyone is impressed by a mathematician, even if she has a biology PhD. She also graduated, which means we're Dr & Dr, and I can't keep making fun of her for not having a doctorate. But I can keep calling her a biologist, so there's that. We actually made it to Dublin as well, after saying for years we would go. May have to do more travel in future.

Some close friends got engaged, and their wedding may be the thing I am looking forward to most in 2014 - not least because we actually get to go, having missed most of our friends' weddings due to being too far away. They also bought a house, which is cool and scary, and got us looking at house prices. Yeah. That's not happening anytime soon.

So I have some regrets, as always, and some hope for the future, but no real plans. That's not a bad place to be.

Another Seven Things Update

A quick update to prove I'm not dead and to catch up on my Seven Things before I make any more resolutions for 2014....

1.  Learn how to play the violin. What violin? *blows dust off strange shaped case in corner* Oh.
2. Start Family Game Afternoon. I did. It stopped. We still play games occasionally, and especially over Christmas, but not on a weekly basis. Ah well.
3. Stop being afraid. I think I've actually been doing ok on this. Sometimes it all gets too much and I have to get someone else to make a phone call but mostly I just blunder through.
4. Take a vacation holiday to Dublin.We went, it was great.
5. Find a better place for my money. There is no better place. Even under the mattress runs the risk of it being stolen, and let's face it, interest rates are going to stay low for quite some time, so unless I want to take on more risk there's little chance of gain.
6. Try fish fingers and custard. This probably isn't going to happen. I don't like custard anyway...
7. Be more involved. Again, I've...not. I've been withdrawing again, which makes me wonder if it is at least partially seasonal, and not really got back into Twitter or Facebook or blogging like I hoped I might. I may yet still give in and declare this blog dead, although I'd like to keep at least some of the posts. Far too many of them are moaning about how I don't blog though, which is the worst kind of meta-angst imaginable....

So, that was 2013. Will do a proper run down of the year later, if I remember. And then for next year? We'll see.