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My new years resolutions for 2026

Me and Alison sat at a bar looking at the camers

Following my review of last year… here’s my New Years Resolutions for 2026 which follows on from 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 ones.

Work smarter with the business
With the new business, I’m getting to grips with the general running of it. However there is a load of things to learn including some of the possibilities had not considered before like the benefits of being a digital nomad.
Finish my dating book
Another throw back to 2025, As described in my review; Hannah is having one last review before it heads out to the list of agents and publishers I have found. I’ll give a bit of time but afterwards I’ll be self publishing it myself by the end of 2025. Alongside this, myself and Jess have started a currently unreleased but very related podcast. I would be foolish to not mention the online datingmanifesto.cc.
Do more with the scooter
I recently MOT’ed my currently scooter but considering I should keep it or sell it? I have been looking around at buying another scooter. I recently spotted a Yamaha TMAX 650 in Barcelona which looks so great and a better choice than the Honda Forza 750, which has poor storage. The dreams of a electric maxi-scooter have all but gone however.
Listen to 28 Audiobooks in a year
Its surprising how many books I’m going through but this year I’m going to push a bit more. Next year is 30 which will be a leap but a good stretch goal, encouraging me to listen when I tend to just play some of my mixes.
Create a DJ hackday
It’s time for a DJ hackday, I just got a early alpha of the Drift DJ one and I just can’t help but think its time for change.in the DJ market. Especially reading this post about the Pacemaker device, which spurred me to look back through my old presentations about how ground breaking it is/was.
Spend more time with family
My parents are getting older and I am quite far away from them. My dad has a degenerative disease and its weighed heavy on my actions and mind. Spending more time with them and the rest of my extended family is something I can do better in 2026. I still have a lot of time for friends and want to get a bit more serious about them, rather than leaving it to the last minute. Of course Alison is someone I think about a lot; now being engaged, I’m thinking a lot more about our future together and how to make this the best it can be together.
Personal knowledge management and task re-managed
I’m a little torn. Vikunja is good, so is Anytype.but the hard part is the initial capture. Something I started doing is using the notes to yourself in Signal to do the start of something I guess I should be using Anytype but I feel like I need to do the categorisation at the same time. I also wonder if I actually trust anytype? With Joplin, its all local and I can understand the model, anytype I find more tricky.
Vikunja’s dependence on the UI does bug me, as one of the big selling points was the CALDav integration. Then I find the login a pain every single time, i reboot I’m going to try self hosting it again and find a way to do a 3 way sync if possible?
Go to a new Rollercoaster park or ride a new ride
A regular resolution but a good one with a twist. I recently went back to Helsinki and seriously enjoyed Taiga at Linnanmäki. Certainly in my top 10. I still haven’t been on Hyperia either, although waiting in the queue for a long time. 2026 has to be the year!

Copyright by Justin Garvanovic – https://rcdb.com/7722.htm
Learn when to self-host and when to not
Related to the one above, I am getting the message about self-hosting. I think its great but there are times when I need to be more thoughtful. With this, its likely a good idea to either considering owning a VPS (which I have done in the past) or shell out money for hosted solutions. To be fair my Vikunja is exactly that and so is my Wallabag and even this blog. Both I could self-host but have decided to just pay the money and use the export to satisfy ownership needs.
Get more experimental with my Sourdough bread
I have quite enjoyed baking bread thanks to my friend Paul sharing his starter. I’m not planning to get super serious about it but listening to the chapter titled Air in Cooked, I feel I experiment a bit more. Its ben fun and playing with Spelt and other flours is just the start.
Go to a new country
As always this a good one and I’m looking at you Switzerland, Czechia and Austria again. Although I am also thinking South Korea after needing to cancel in the pandemic and part of me wants to head to Taiwan but maybe I’m going to be too late?
Learn to drive a car
I’m keeping this one alive, especially since seeing some of my god/page children driving now. I know its been in my new resolutions for ages but maybe 2026 is the year finally?

A review of my 2025 resolutions

Me and Alison sat at a bar looking at the camera — Me and Alison earlier this year

Well I did say in 2024…

This year has been full of ups and downs, its a year I’m not going to forget.

2025 likely took on the challenge and hit it out the park. Talking of highs and peaks something big happened in 2025.

2025 was a struggle emotionally and practically while I faced for the first time my position being made redundancy, Last time at this time of the year, I was told the week before it was happening for sure. I then needed to pull myself together and plan for my uncertain future. Regardless I went ahead with my almost 3 months of paid holiday, had 5 different redundancy parties (why not?) and planned for what next.

Next included a heck load of travel! I visited Bristol, Lancaster, Amsterdam, Henden Bridge, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bath, Buxton, Harderwjik, Berlin, Newcastle, Gateshead, Sheffield, Barcelona, Helsinki, Espoo, Portishead, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Zwolle, Weston Super Mare, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Saint-Emillion, Berlin, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Gzira, Silema, Brussels, Breman, Soltau, Hoofddorp, Huddlesfield, Newport and London; this year.

Sadly I spent a lot of it on planes, my carbon foot print wasn’t good (a total of 14 trips on planes, mainly on KLM via Amsterdam). HS2 to Manchester, therefore to Europe is a but a distant dream, for now?

Sleep has taken a bit of dip again, likely due to the stress of redundancy and setting up a limited business. From average of 6.8 hours to 6.5 hours.

My Trakt time says, I watched way too much drama, and watched 161 movies, and 454 shows.

So what about my 2025 resolutions?

Find a new position of employment
Last week was the week last year when I received the official letter that my position in BBC R&D was being made redundant. The word was out and I looked at my options, picked up a few of the projects I had in mind forlosi personal and work.
I’m working part time for New_Public on their open source plans for the Public Service Incubator, its great working with them and the 6 other public service broadcasters (most I knew already)
In between I am doing bits of work here and there including lectures & talks. The other projects I’m working on is digital legacy via the machine readable wishes and the online dating manifesto.
The most stressful part is running a limited company, I feel like I jumped into deep end of freelancing as it took forever to get setup and feel like I wasn’t prepared for the huge change but hope next year will be more settled.
Finish my dating book
While all the massive amount of changes, I also spent quite a bit of time working on the dating book. I even gave a sneak peak of the cover during the publicspaces conference in June (if you were there during lunch). The struggles of the book name, subtitle, cover, etc has been covered. The stake to publicly release before Hannah finishes her PhD is pretty much been won, as the final cut is Hannah now.
I have made one last decision on the self publishing side. I’m going to spend part of the festive period and January going through the writers and publishers book to give it one more try before going the self publishing route for sure.
Head even further a field with the scooter
This didn’t happen, I had the opportunity to head to the Netherlands via the scooter but the costs of getting across channel to Europe was too high at the time (I was being careful with money having no solid income at the time). Another one for next year?
Learn to drive a car
As my partner keeps reminding me, driving a car would be really useful. However although I had more time as such (although job searching is super stressful and requires a lot of time) I had far less funds and wasn’t high on my list. Who knows maybe it might happen next year but unlikely.
Listen to 25 Audiobooks in the year
Currently I am on a train listening to audiobook number 27 (Cooked a natural history of transformation by Michael Pollan). So I have pretty much blazed through the 25 and thats with my old spa closing down and the lack of regular audiobook time.
Go to a new country
Yes I went to Malta surprisingly, with my partner. Not really a place I planned to visit but who knows maybe I’ll pop back one day in the future? This year my carbon footprint has not been good, with a 14 trips mainly via Amsterdam. I wish HS2 was happening up to Manchester because I would have happily got trains.
Go to a new Rollercoaster park
Yes marked off, I ended up going to Heide park near Hamburg, which is owned by Merlin (same as Alton Towers and Thorpe Park in the UK). Two rides of note are Flug der Dämonen and Colossos – Kampf der Giganten (I only got 2 rides before a film crew took it over for the rest of the afternoon.
See more of my friends further a field
This started to happen, there are quite a few I haven’t seen in ages but a lesson for me is to be better at planning a head
Personal knowledge management and task rethink
I started using Vikunji for tasks and Anytype for longer notes. Its working but I’m having issues with Vikunja flatpak as a client currently (think its a flatpak issue), the CALDav support does work but I find it iffy when using another CALDav client on Android and Linux. I’m going to try self-hosting it again.
Anytype is good but I find some of the ways things work a bit strange. For example trying to invoke a type on the Android app is more painful than it should be. Even creating bullets is more pain than it should be. I was also lead to believe the collaboration options didn’t need the full app to work, like it would create a web version if shared. This isn’t true from what I can see and from my tests.
Be more active about my personal health
Some good news on this front. I had a coach for a short while and he suggested I was doing everything right but I should do some weights to move things around my body. So I gave it a try and its happening. Then my spa shutdown but after a lot of hassle I found an alternative (Nuttfield heath) which works.
Generally I’m about the same weight but my clothes are dropping in size, meaning things are moving to the right parts of my body.
I’m also leaning more about what it means to be older and using my quantified self approach to full understand certainly aspects of what is happening. Of course I’m seeking professional advice from NHS doctors too.
Create a new social event
I thought a lot about this one but I just didn’t have the energy and time. Had a lot of thoughts and maybe I should look through the notes soon .
Do my bit for others in the community
This didn’t happen but something weird happened. A couple of friends who are mothers, got in touch over the year because their sons have gone through university and struggling to find their way into the tech industry. Long story short, I have been doing my bit by working together loosely Its not what I was originally thinking but life takes you to different places if you let it..

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Oct 2025)

Mesh network running off solar on top of a house

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing AI attempting to rewrite history, Agentic AI browsers fooled and Rabbit R1 is back?

To quote Buckminster Fuller “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

You are seeing aspects of this with good counter-points parts [1][2][3] to tell the AI die-hards, a uptake of LoRaWAN and low energy decentralised networks thanks in part to meshtastic and alternative to typical internet servcies but European based look no further.

Small acts of community interest

Ian thinks: Rushkoff’s story about borrowing a drill and community has become similar to the billionares and the event story. Rushkoff calls it a revolutionary act, I call it an act of community interest, something we rarely see in

The case for no billionaires

Ian thinks: This interview with professor Ingrid Robeyns, is a good listen especially after reading Limitarianism and thinking about the problems of inequality. I wonder if anyone in government is taking notes as there are so many voices and credible research pointing to the same conclusion.

Right to repair hard truths

Ian thinks: Like it or not, Rossmann speech about the right to repair, how we can’t own anything as the makers find more clever ways to enshittify is on point. I am sure Samsung’s fridge with adverts you can’t turn off, would be in a updated version if redone now..

Empires and their religions they build

Ian think: Karen Hao, has been the rounds recently with the Empires of AI book. This is one of the best conversations/interviews I seen with her. The mid point and end points are well argued by Hao, touching deeply on the need to make their own religious pyramids of technology.

Ian thinks: Do you remember when people use to “hard” post? What happened? According to Chayka many things. From algorithms, ephemeral, context collapse, advertising, etc. Let’s not forget the effect of bots too.

Learning from the Ozone crisis

Ian thinks: in 1985 most won’t remember the Ozone hole threat as its so baked into the world we live in now. Tristan talks with Susan about the solution and how it can be applied now to the AI challenge.

Ultra-processed authoritarian algorithms

Ian thinks: Nobel peace-prize winning journalist’s conversation with the Daily shows’s Jon Steward about the state of journalism and authoritarian, is a rare and frank exchange with Maria Ressa making it super clear how the playbook happened almost a decade ago and how they tried to alert the world back then.

What is the difference between Android and iOS?

Ian thinks: If this is true and the video summary isn’t off the mark. There is a big question about where do people go? We always knew having a duopoly for mobile devices was going to blow up in our faces.

AI’s branding team are on fire

Ian thinks: Meredith Whittaker tells it as it is, is great in this interview about how she got started in the tech industry, signal gate, AI, masculinity and so much more. Her insight on how “useful” AI agents are infiltration services such as Whatsapp and Signal is spot on.

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My new years resolutions for 2025

Following my review of last year… here’s my New Years Resolutions for 2025 which follows on from 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 ones.

Find a new position of employment
The word is out, I’m leaving BBC R&D after almost 21 years. I’ll be taking a few holidays and breaks but ultimately will be looking at new positions of employment. I may do something else like consulting, academia or develop one of the many side projects further.
Finish my dating book
Another throw back to 2024, The dating book is so close, self publishing is the way forward, rechecked with Grammerly again (avoiding the AI stuff, which I tested and it turned the chapters into something very middle of the road and not my voice) and I’m aware the first edition will be bad. But I’m very close but struggling with a book name, subtitle, cover, etc. I also made a stake to publicly release before Hannah finishes her PhD. The race is on!
Head even further a field with the scooter
Now I will have lots of leave and holidays, I’m thinking this is a good time to finally get this one crossed off. I could easily drive over to Hull or even Newcastle and get the ferry to Rotterdam or even Ijmuiden (Amsterdam). Maybe a week would be perfect and I could finally use those side saddles I bought.
Learn to drive a car
So with more time, I could actually start booking driving lessons and book a test. I’ve been told in the past, I likely won’t need many lessons as my road sense is high driving a motorbike for 27 years. I did pass the car theory once before and was flawless in the hazard perception test. Plus I now know my full bike licence gives me a car provisional.
Listen to 25 Audiobooks in the year
As mentioned in the review from 2024, this was quite easy which surprised me. There were some great books and I do like how it expands my mind. I’m going to expand it to 25 as there were a few shorter books last year.
Go to a new country
This is always a good one and honestly there are some key countries which I have passed through many times in the airport but never left. I’m looking at you Switzerland, Czechia and Austria. Although I am also thinking South Korea after needing to cancel in the pandemic and part of me is still regretting not heading to Hong Kong and feels like Taiwan should be higher on my list before its too late?
Go to a new Rollercoaster park
A regular resolution but a good one and if I head to another country, its certainly high on the list that I will find a way to check out what options for a day of pure rollercoasters.
See more of my friends further a field
My friends are diverse, interesting and great to be around; especially right now. During the Covid pandemic, I would call them up on the off chance and have some incredible conversations. It was amazing and some went on for 4 hours. So in 2025, I’m going to catch up with more of my friends I haven’t seen in years. Be it on the phone, online, in person, what ever works.
Personal knowledge management and task rethink
I’m a little annoyed with the way I’m managing my notes, tasks and projects. I liked using Trello but don’t like the closed nature of it, I like Obsidian but it is closed source also puts me off. I’m also using Todolist for tasks which is insane but I had to move from todo.txt which was just too basic for my uses.
I like what I’m seeing with Anytype & Tagspaces but also seen some interesting uses of markdown with Logseq? This whole personal knowledge management or as I use to call it personal semantic stores.
So now is a good time to relook at everything especially since I finally got Nextcloud working on my NAS (finally!).
Be more active about my personal health
Especially over the last few months, I have been pushing my health too much. On top of this, I am getting older and need to be better about things like sleep and exercise. More Volleyball, more consistency and more investigating those problems I keep ignoring.
Create a new social event
It’s been a while since geekdinner, barcamp, hackday, geeks talk sexy, 2nd degree dinner, Manchester futurists and much more. I’ve been hovering on creating a new type of social event post pandemic and come across a few good examples recently. 2025 is a good time to do something different and unique I feel, especially as it would be good to get back into the swing of things.
Do my bit for others in the community
One thing I certainly will miss after I leave the BBC is mentoring. I mentored quite a few people and even been involved in reverse mentoring (where I was mentoring someone further up the hierarchy about diversity and inclusion). I was part of Million mentors but struggled with work commitments, so now seems like a good time to do similar or potentially look at other things I could do, like helping people to manage technology?

A review of my 2024 resolutions

Two people looking into the camera for a selfie while on a cable car in London

This year has been full of ups and downs, its a year I’m not going to forget.

2024 is when I got Covid again for the 2nd time. Once again it was in another country (this time the Netherlands) while at MozHouse Amsterdam. Where I spent a lot of time this year due to 4 conferences (PublicSpaces, Mozhouse AMS, Dutch media week and Society 5.0).

Talking about travel, I ended up in Bristol, Audenshaw, Weston Super Mare, Lancaster, Cardiff, Amsterdam, Hiversum, Henden Bridge, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bath, Buxton, Harderwjik, Berlin, Newcastle, Gateshead, Oslo, Sheffield, Barcelona, Sitges, Hoofddorp, Zwolle, York, Huddlesfield, Newport and London; this year.

I’m happy to say I took the train a lot including the Eurostar into Europe a few times. However my train rides around the UK resulted in many delays and cancellationshttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/dec/21/just-2-of-busiest-trains-on-key-london-to-manchester-line-run-on-time. I have worked out its resulted in me applying for delay reclaim over 50% of the time! For example here is my diversion from Bristol to Manchester via London due to the storm darragh.

My sleep has taken a bit of dive later in the year which makes sense as you will see. From average of 7.4 hours to 6.8 hours. Bedtime of about 1 am is working out; but my deep sleep goes into freefall when I need to get up early.

Most listened to podcast is Daily Tech News show (they keep change the artist tag) with Better offline and Podnews just behind that. Music wise, Tonepoet has the advantage, as my pacemaker doesn’t track me and I tend not to listen to single tracks on the go. Trakt indicates so far, I have watched 259 hours of TV shows and 318 hours of films.

Here is the review of my 2024 resolutions.

Digital nomad things
Make or break year I wrote previously, well nothing moved on this front for me. I also been reading how digital nomads are causing a back lash.
Finish my dating book
Well I’m closer, really close. I attempt to use the gig platform fiver to get some external proof readers and it made was shocking how the scammers operate there. I’m still getting contacted by them right now, luckily its contained within the platform chat, which I have ignored.
I still have many thoughts about the title, want to change the epilogue a bit to related to something I’m involved in.
Head even further a field with the scooter
Not happened but this is likely to happen next for sure, when I have more time. Will add to next years list.
Learn to drive a car
Another one which looks like will happen next year when I have a lot more time for reasons which will be clear soon. Another hold out for the the next years list.
Listen to two Audiobooks every month
This has been a good challenge and I have blown through 24 books with 28, although 2 of the books were quite short but still well worth listening to. I did also start a number of books but gave up on them as they were annoying or just not interesting in anyway. Its likely I will keep the goal at 24 for next year too although I might have more time.
Go to a new country
This year I finally made it to Norway for the first time. Its a country I should have visited ages ago to complete my Scandinavian travels but never did. I went to Oslo and really enjoyed the short time I had there. I do have ideas for potential short trips to Switzerland and maybe the Czech republic, although Rural France is booked for a wedding.
Go to a new Rollercoaster park
I ended up going to Wallai again but I’m considering going to a lot more in the 2025. I certainly can do better, especially with Thorpe parks new ride Hyperia on my doorstep as such.
Take the Diabolo skills up another level
I still can’t do the infinite suicide but learned a bunch of new tricks and even ones of my own, although getting out of them can be tricky and a matter of luck.
Move over to privacy preserving protocols and platform
This is happening more and more. Like many people I have pretty much ditched X/Twitter (although I do seem to get a few direct messages from the API which is strange). I lean on the Fediverse for all my social stuff and am generally very picky about new applications and services I use. For example I have been looking at knowledge management systems as I’ve been using Joplin too much like a notes store and could do with something new for project based stuff (feel free to shout at me, but I blame importing a bunch of Evernote & Standard notes stuff). I am always searching alternative.to for open and self hosting options. There is a big question of when I switch over my email to Proton, but thats still in the future right now.
Separate out my food waste
This is one I am happy to say I have done pretty much 85% of the time. Some tricky times is when I have a Airbnb guest and also when emptying the food waste bin into the main bin, which is generally quite empty now. This one is good and its just part of the routine now.
Start to mark out significant moments in my history
This one has started but I spent a lot of time working out how to best do it. I found a markdown schema/format called MarkWhen, which does exactly what I need. So far I have converted most of my significant moments but add more as I go. Plus I’m going backwards and finding dates for many more. Another good thing to have done and will keep on doing.
Its also another indicator that although I love XML, I am do get Markdown is pretty human writable, which is important for those little tasks. Also I need to play with SaxonJS which can convert between Markdown and XML with ease.

UWE Masters VR unofficial end party in Bristol after 4 years in the advisory role
See more of my friends
This has been ok, but I feel like I can do so much better than I have done so far. I might modify this one a bit in the next year to something less ambiguous

Should we all say I love you to friends?

I found this video and was pretty impressed with the conversation between Simon and Noah. There is a lot to unpack in the video but there was a question in the discussion which myself and my partner talked a lot about afterwards.

Especially the question…

Should we all say I love you to friends?

Its a really good point but I’ve been thinking about it ever since. With this in mind, I’m thinking about possibly saying it and potentially linking to the conversation some how (pretty hard to do in person of course).

My partner, as a female says it quite a lot to friends but as male, it still feels very loaded. Also she did say, she would feel a bit strange if I started saying I love you to my female friends too.

Since my brush with death, I have been hugging friends which is a lot more than I use to do while saying hi and bye to friends. Maybe I’ll give it a try and see what happens…

Look out friends… !

What do others think?

My new years resolutions for 2024

Following my review of last year… here’s my New Years Resolutions for 2024 which follows on from 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 ones.

Digital nomad things
This is the make or break year I think. I need to move things forward as time is going by quickly and i’m not getting younger. My next step is a meeting with the Portuguese embassy to clarify the tax side of things. An official note could make all the difference.
Finish my dating book
Its been way too long and its so close now, as mentioned in the review of last year.I have all the illustrations now except the front cover (but have plans). I also formatted the latest version into the 8×5 inch book format using templates, added the illustrations and shared it with a selected few. I await there comments over the festive season, then another check and final look at by Hannah.So I’m expecting some changes but its well on its way now. This year I’m looking into self publishing alternatives to Amazon KDP. But I don’t see any problem with a printed and ebook version by the end of the 2024.
Head even further a field with the scooter
I still need to get the scooter out to mainland Europe, ideally 2024 is a good time before things change with visas, etc.
Learn to drive a car
There are times when a car would be helpful and now with the drive towards electric cars and automatic drive. Its just a matter of doing the theory test again and then booking lessons.
Listen to two Audiobooks every month
I have been listening to one a month, but its time to push for two a month. Its quite a push but I think its worthy of the push I think.
Go to a new country
Its been long and there is a lot of Europe I haven’t visited, plus I have friends in those places I could easily visit. Although there is a temptation to visit some of the places again with my partner, new places do bring a new experiences.
Go to a new Rollercoaster park
A regular resolution but a good one and if I head to another country, its certainly high on the list.
Take the Diabolo skills up another level
I’m doing some exciting things with the diabolo but I really need to see some of the tricks done in person. YouTube is good but to really get a grip of the advanced tricks I need to meet other people doing the diabo lo.
Next year its time to meet more of them and learn those tricks like the infinite suicide!
Move over to privacy preserving protocols and platform
I am more and more annoyed at the business models of the majority of services out there. Cory frames it perfectly as enshittification and it’s frankly not on. Although this raises a bunch of questions about data portability (something I was deeply involved in, a long time ago regardless of what Wikipedia says) I need to just move! The alternatives are not only good enough in some places (tasks) but far better (like the fediverse). I will keep the old services but by the end of the year move over.
I’m also going to lean more on my blog more to bring things back into one place, for example why isn’t my bookwrym account not attached to my blog? Its also a good way to do collections, rather than this type of thing.
Separate out my food waste
In most of the UK, food waste is separated from the rest. Just like how we recycle paper/card and some plastics. However as I live in a set of flats, Manchester Council tried to make us separate our food waste too. This was great because my main bin stopped smelling and I had to empty it a lot less. However the community bin for food recycling in the flat basement was full of different things because people kept emptying in plastic and other things into it. In the end Manchester council stopped food waste collection and we stopped food recycling (sadly).
So my thought is to keep on doing it but empty the food waste inside decomposable plastic bags into the main community bins. Its not ideal but I think separating the waste is generally a good thing. Its a good habit and who knows maybe I’ll find a food waste bin to empty them into later.
Start to mark out significant moments in my history
One of the things I have done when mentoring as an exercise, is pull out key part of my/their life to help pick out key things which helped and hindered.
It a great little way to help understand your life and paths going forward. But I always found different ways to illustrate them using categories/layers to hide personal, work, etc.
Then recently I discovered Your life in weeks, which got looking around and finding a bunch of apps/webapps using the concept. This got me thinking about codifying key moments in life in a more neutral format. Ideally this would be XML but alas markdown will work better than CSV?
See more of my friends
My friends are diverse, interesting and are great to be around. During the Covid pandemic, I would call them up on the off chance and have some incredible conversations. It was amazing and some went on for 4 hours.
I’m going to next year catch up with more of my friends I haven’t seen in years. Be it on the phone, online, in person, what ever works.

A open conversation about race with Tara & Stef from Truly Inc

During a very busy time over the last few months, I recorded a number of podcasts including the ones for the tech for good live (which I highly recommend listening to).

One of my friends from the past the incredible Tara Hunt aka Miss Rouge interviewed me for the Anatomy of White Supremacy in Marketing podcast (Anatomy of a strategy podcast). We sat back and just chatted, so theres a lot in the podcast which was cut but the core parts were contextualised and added to the 30min podcast.

You may have heard "your silence is violence." In this episode of @AnatomyofaStrat, @cubicgarden explains why this is not an exaggeration and why we need to have tough conversations in order to change anything. Listen here: https://t.co/yEx37xvdUS #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/6naY0xRUC6

— ⚡️Tara Hunt⚡️ #blacklivesmatter (@missrogue) August 23, 2020

I really enjoyed the conversation with Tara Hunt and Stef Forester (not related as she lost a R somewhere in the name). It was late night (almost midnight) when we recorded and although I was standing at my standing desk, we could have kept on going for another hour easily.

If I can offer a tip for new listeners of the Anatomy of White Supremacy in Marketing podcast. I would start with Tara and Stef talking about the bigger reasons for the podcast.

For the past few months, between COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests, we’ve opted to put a pause on AoaS to create space for other conversations (with the exception of the episodes with Laura Fitton and Joe Jackman, which we thought were relevant to the COVID-19 discussion).

Now, we see that our silence on the topic of Black Lives Matter was akin to saying, “This is not our problem.” This was wrong and it took a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion facilitator, Karlyn Percil of KDPM Consulting Group, calling me (Tara) out on this silence to knock me out of my comfort zone (and white fragility).

So, Stef and I sat down and decided that we need to do the work and speak up about it and that this podcast was a fantastic place to start. This episode is the introduction to a series (which will be as long as it needs to be) of conversations with Black professionals in various parts of the marketing industry on their experiences, perspectives and insights into how marketing – as an industry, an institution and as a practice contributes to the perpetuation of white supremacy and anti-Black racism.

THIS SUNDAY: Our latest episode of @AnatomyofaStrat features @itscherjones speaking to @missrogue & @stefanif about the importance of open discussions about race and politics in business spaces!

Here’s a sneak preview 🎙 pic.twitter.com/oqqxg9t8Gq

— phlywheel (@phlywheel) August 7, 2020

Then naturally the interview with moi before listening to the other great interviews which currently there is Anatomy of Code-Switching with Cher Jones.

3 parties in a week, and all for 40

My parents asked me what I want to do for my birthday late last year. They were thinking I could do a big party in Bristol. But I suggested why not have three of them instead?

Each party/bash representing a section of my life so far.

Bristol (0-19)
London (19-28)
Manchester (28-40)

Of course my parents thought it was too much, but I was certain it was a good idea and I could do it.

Happy to say I was right. I had planned to put in sometime at the theme parks of England (Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Blackpool) but due to half-term decided I’d better not because I would end up in queues (Love the European theme parks for this). Plus I decided I could fit everything around work (or work around everything). I won’t lie, I would have been absolutely exhausted if I did!

Manchester party

So it happened and I was blown away by the friends and family who attended but also helped make the whole thing happen. Couldn’t have done it all without them! Thanks to everyone who came, gave their time, cards (I got so many cards I had to shift them around the flat) and even gifts. Also thanks for all the people who wanted to be there but couldn’t make it for different reasons.

Thank you to everyone again! 40 started with a bang, look out for 50 – ha!

Platonic friendship is totally possible

I was lying in bed reading my eink tablet while listening to a podcast. One of my saved blogs to read was from doctor nerdlove – Why men & women can never be just friends is bullshit.

Why "Men And Women Can Never Be 'Just Friends' " is Bullshit
I agree such sick nonsense but so many believe 😞 https://t.co/0T9RpBZZxd

— Ian Forrester (@cubicgarden) April 17, 2017

I swear I was pretty pissed off (like Dr Nerdlove) reading about how the state of platonic friendship was a lie and how men will always want it to be more. Heck Hans Fiene who wrote the original piece Dr Nerdlove was reply to; goes on to justify everything as not only being biological but bad for society. Seriously WTF!

Let’s review the logic on display here. Male relationships are inherently transactional. Men barter time for friendship with other men. Men cannot be friends with women because they need to fuck her. Therefore, by not dating or fucking them, women are cheating men by not giving them the goods that men have been paying for.

…

In Fiene’s world, a woman not putting out for her male friends is bad enough. But there’s a worse crime being committed: because he’s stuck in this quagmire, he’s not fucking other people. And to be sure: that’s not his fault. He’s just too stupid to overrule his boner.

No. For real. That’s Fiene’s argument.

Repeat the “We’re just friends” mantra a thousand times. It won’t rewire the circuits of the male mind. All it will accomplish is deluding you into thinking he’s content to stay in the Friend Zone quicksand and deluding him into thinking he can break out of it by sinking even deeper.

…

But let’s get back to the premise. Men are trapped in the Friend Zone because being told that they’re just friends isn’t enough to make them realize that she will never sleep with him. Being friends is the trap that women, bless their hearts, can’t help but ensnare men into because Lord love ’em those boners are just SO POWERFUL. It’s only because women don’t frame the rejection in just the right way – as is incumbent on them – to free men from their snares.

Of course its not just Hans crazy ideological view, I see it everywhere. Even my friends talk about the friendzone like I’ve been put in it like a naughty child. Most of the time its for the best of both people and friends is not lower on some imaginationary ladder. Its also not to help me ascend the status hierarchy!

My biggest problem is people treat love as binary. You are either in love or not/you are in or out. If you have been paying attention you will know love is much richer than this, it also doesn’t count for evolution, society and cultural changes.

Ruth Libby quote from Hackers film 1995 — God gave men brains larger than dogs so they wouldn’t hump women’s legs at cocktail parties – Ruth Libby ~ hackers 1995

As a male feminist who isn’t a slave to his dick and can engage his brain, I find the whole discussion hateful of women and wholly offensive to both sexes. Men and Women can be good friends full stop, if one chooses to take it one step further or backwards, thats just relationships (sometimes unequal).

Typifying people (male & female) is just bollox and it needs to end here!