2017 what can I say? Its been quite a different year from what I was expecting.
Looking from the Quantified Self point of view
- 69 mins of sleep deficit over the whole year, which is massively down from the previous year. My average sleep this year has been 8 hours 22mins (massively up!). Average deep sleep has been 4.18hrs almost 51% of my sleep.
- According to Gmail I have had 41,481 conversations, have 26,442 emails in my inbox and sent 6,741 emails this year
- Have 48, 142 photos and 2,688 photos albums in Google photos.
- Tasks wise I have 231 open tasks and completed 2435 over the year
- Been on 44 trips including Tallinn, Sarajevo, Funchai, Edinburgh, Reykjavik, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin and Cologne this year
- According to Trakt, my most played show was Real Time with Bill Maher and film was Trainspotting T2. Most listened to podcast is the Guilty feminist.
- I spent 417 hours watching films (34.7 a month) and 411 hours watching TV series (34.3 a month)
- Spent 989 hours working in Media City UK, 129 hours working in many coffee shops in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, 116 hours working on a train and 113 hours working at home. Theres a very long tail with lots more locations like hotels, Nottingham Uni, York Uni, Ravensbourne, etc.
Regardless of the data he’s the review of my new years resolutions from 2017.
Be taken out of my comfort zone by Kate and take her out of comfort zone
Well half of this happened, in March. Kate took me literally to the edge of comfort in a bright yellow camper van. Rough camping on a cliff face in Ireland was too close to my limit. There was a point early next day when I had to insist on a camp site because at least they had toilets and was far less exposed to the gale like winds (remember the first ferry was cancelled because of the winds).
I had planned to take Kate to Tokyo next year but this has been put on hold a little longer.
Head further a field with the scooter
No Northern Ireland trip but I did make it to Ireland via Kate. I did ride to Hull to see how the new scooter would handle the long ride and get a feel what it would be like if I went on the ferry to Netherlands or Belgium. Recently I have been riding with proper winter clothes, combine this with the better handling of the new scooter and I’m more likely to go for long rides in the rain.
Improve my circus skills
Still the Vertex is still not quite there, more practice is needed. But I’ve also been going to the Firejam’s in Castlefield Arena. I’m now reconsidering getting a fire diabolo again. I know its bloody dangerous but fire is just so cool compared to LEDs.
Visit a Japanese styled spa at least once every 4 months in the UK
I knew every 4 months was achievable so this is a tick. I went to Liquidrom in Berlin once, the Midland hotel twice and had the pool to myself at the Melia Madeira Mare. Still really need to find a better spa near Manchester but the Midland Hotel isn’t bad, especially when quiet.
Ride a roller coaster in another country
This will have to be a task for next year. However I noticed Alton Towers and Blackpool pleasure beach have new rides coming in 2018 now. My hope is to combine the trip on the scooter with going on a roller coaster park in Europe.
See the Aurora (Northern lights)
This is a massive tick. Its always been on my list forever and thanks to brian suda who introduced me to the man/legend Snorri Por Tryggvason, who took me on a unbelievable journey which had us out and about near Reykjavik. Will never forget this.
Read more
This certainly happened thanks to Wallabag, Tiny Tiny RSS and Audiobook syncing using Plex. Was hoping to sync things to Goodreads but goodreads app is horrible on my ebook reader. According to Wallabag I’ve read 232 article over the year. Last of 2016 was Janet Street-Porter talking about routine not time.
Go to a new part of the world
Another few places not planned at all. Reykjavik Iceland, Tallinn Estonia and Sarajevo Bosnia & Herzegovina. According to Google maps I’ve taken 44 trips in the last year, but that includes trips to London, Newcastle, York, Cardiff, Bristol, etc.
Don’t shy away controversy and get more political
Absolutely and I’ve been digging at the deeper issues facing society with data ethics, private & public and machine learning.
Go to more comedy clubs and contemporary theatre plays
No comedy at all this year…
However the Manchester International Festival was great from a theatre point of view. Party skills for the end of the world, Fatherland and I guess Party skills for the end of the world counts as immersive theatre.
Take an improvisation class
No this didn’t happen at all, sadly…
Replace my scooter
This happened and I’m looking forward to going places in 2018.