The final days of 2010 and start of 2011

It’s been a bit quiet on here of late. Infact, I haven’t posted anything in over a month. Subscribers will know that since I launched this site, I got into the habit of posting at least one blog post a week – which could range from anything techy to just getting stuff off my chest because afterall it’s still a personal blog.

The reason for the silence is due to the start of this year being absolutely manic and also due to me suffering from burnout.

At the end of last year I finally completed Project 52 (write a blog post a week, for a year) and I have to say that it is something that I will not commit to again. I said in my last blog post that I would dedicate a whole blog entry to this very subject but to be honest, I just can’t bring myself to write another post which will fall under the blanket of #p52 because I’m sick of the thought of it. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing. Part of the reason I set up this blog was because I was a terrible writer – infact that’s still the case but it’s something I want to get better at – but there were several instances throughout the year when I thought I was just pushing out blog posts because I had a deadline approaching and I had committed myself to this task. Sometimes it was 11:59pm on a Sunday night and I was franctically trying to apply some spit and polish to a terrible rushed blog entry before that weeks deadline loomed.

Writing shouldn’t be like that. Let it flow, some of my best ideas and blog entries have came out of the blue.

About a week after the curtain fell on #p52 I decided to take a well earned rest. Work had been hectic, my homelife had been manic and my brain just needed some time to itself. Turns out I got that much needed rest because for most of the festive period I was in my sickbed. Everything had caught up with me and my body decided enough was enough. Lying in your bed for two out of the three weeks you’ve got scheduled off isn’t really what I had in mind.

At the turn of the year and with me slowly getting back onto my feet everything started to kick off once again. In fact, with January finally out of the way I have to admit to being surprised at just how quickly things have came about this year.

On Tuesday the 4th of January, I returned to my final two weeks of work at Hobo, as I would be starting in a new role within Good. People always say that leaving any job, especially your first, is hard but I never really believed it. I thought it was just a thing people said and perhaps it is but for me, leaving Hobo has been the hardest decision of my personal career. I had been there for two and a half years and every single member of the team had became a friend, nobody was a co-worker. I can honestly say that it was a brilliant place to work. It was a place that took a gamble on me as a kid out of University. A place where I learned a lot of the skills that I use every single day. A place where I learned how to be more creative with my swearing and a place that has now got me hooked on twelve+ cups of tea a day. I hope that one day, if I ever run my own studio, it’ll be like Hobo.

Wednesday 19th January saw me take the short flight down to Nottingham for New Adventures conference which was put on by Simon Collison. There’s not really much more I can say that hasn’t already been said; Sam Browns review, Simon Youngs review, Blueeggs review, Aaron Russells review and Anthony Caseys review. Simon is one of the nicest guys you could meet, a true gent. Secretly I hope when I’m older people will be saying some of the things that I’ve heard people compliment Simon on. A throughly nice man.

The following Tuesday saw me start within Good. I’m really excited to be here, it’s a great company and I feel that I can learn a lot. There are a lot of talented people here and I’m excited just thinking about what lies ahead. Another, albeit slightly sad, thing I like about the job is the fact that I am now back up in Glasgow. I haven’t been up here since finishing my studies some three years ago. I didn’t realise until now how much I missed the place. I’m glad to be back.

Professionally this year has also seen me presented with my two biggest challenges to date; a writing gig for a pretty big website and my first official speaking gig. Both of which I will have to talk about at a later date.

Wish me luck.