Yup. It appears that I'm an annual blogger. I didn't even know that was a thing. Four years in a row, not bad.

I had a plan (the almighty pattern) for this post. I've been drafting it on and off in my head for the past few days. I knew the date was approaching, I knew I had to sit here once again, figure out something to say and remember how to do Markdown links.

However, before I get to the main bit (fear the pattern) something rather interesting happened…

I got an email. To be more precise, I got a message. A message sent from the contact form on this very site.

A fine gentlemen¹ happened to be browsing his bookmarks, happened to stumble on my site, happened to re-read some posts and happened to realise that today is the anniversary of my last post. I'm not sure, but I think something magic might have occurred.

To think that some human, a human I've never met, read something that I've written and then had the inclination to send me a message. AND TODAY. Woah. It's pretty inspiring.

He included a link to a video, it's pretty inspiring too.

Enough of that fluff. Back on schedule (pattern):

Shock is still going really well. I spent most of last year contracting at fst. I got to play at being lead developer for a large part of it. I met some amazing people. It was an absolute blast. It also made me realise that I really want to write code. I spent a lot of time talking about making websites instead of actually crafting anything.

I've just returned to Skywire, an agency I worked at over a year ago. Super glad they invited me back as it's a great place to work and I get to write lots of code.

I've actually made a few fun websites this year. There are still some in the pipeline. I still love what I do.

Terrible segue alert.

Speaking of love; urrrggghhhhhhh. I do not know. I'm teetering on the edge of just buying a cat (or twelve) and just getting even weirder.

My two best friends got married.² One of my good school friends is getting married in a few weeks. My whole friendship group is pretty loved up. Babies are starting to happen. It feels a little bit like pressure. Like I said, urgh.

This was the year I finally got on an aeroplane. I flew to Spain and Poland. Next stop is Vegas, obviously. Flying is quite incredible (at least, for the take off and landing when it isn't just a sort of rubbish train) and I'm pleased that I'm not a nervous flyer. I'm looking forward to seeing other parts of this planet.

I have a home too, it happens to be the home I originally moved out of, but it is now my home. I re-decorated the living room. I have a nice sofa. My bike has a place to live. I get to strum a guitar badly without annoying anyone.

I'm going to stop promising to do something with this site. I still can't stand it. I still want something new. But it's already taken this long so I need to start managing (my own) expectations.

A million bits of thanks to everyone that I know, have met, bumped into, called up, worked with or naked FaceTime-ed this year. All you people mean the world to me. *sniff*

It's interesting looking back over the other three posts, seeing the things that I didn't manage and the things that I did. Seeing those milestones that now mean nothing. I'm excited about finding out what this year has in store.

I think I'm done with pattern references.

Onwards.