Since I’ve not posted in a while I thought I would do a 2010 recap since it was quite a different year for me in a lot of ways. So here’s a run down of some of my highlights:
10. Getting DJ lessons a the Ministry of Sound and being told I have natural talent by Karl Brown! If only I did something with it… My that’s my first 2011 new years resolution.
9. Learning rock climbing with Megu. A fantastic sport and I have a whole new appreciation for how much of an art scaling cliff faces is now.
8. Trying my hand at stand up comedy. On a bit of a whim I thought I’d give it a go and had an amazing time with it, meeting lots of new people and also learning how scary things can get. If you ever want an adrenaline high, then stand up comedy is an amazing way to get it. (if you put my name in to YouTube you may find a clip of my first show)
7. Joining a new team at work. After 3 years of what can online described as hardcore java development I moved into a team to now do what can only be described as hardcore JavaScript development, but I love it and my new team mates are awesome. We have such a great time and I’ve been lucky to work on some amazing projects.
6. Learning White water kayaking (again). I joined the regents canoe club and went on the intro to White water course which again was just an awesome experience and I meta lot of fantastic people. My first kayaking related resolution for 2011 is to learn to roll which I’ll be starting in about a weeks time!
5. Learning Kung Fu at the Shaolin Temple in London. Megu finally persuaded me to try it out and I was bowled over with how hard it was, but how good I felt afterwards and also how much my fitness improved! My 2011 resolution is to go at least twice week and get at least one belt.
4. Getting an iPad for 1/2 price! On which I’m writing this now. I love a good bargain. Megu is glad I’ve finally jumped on the apple and bandwagon and I have to admit I’ve been amazed by how great it is, especially for someone who travels a lot.
3. Releasing my first open source project and getting a lot if great feedback on it. I love subsonic music player, but I’m not too happy with the UI and usability so I figured I would tackle it myself. However I’m not much of a designer and so my uber intelligent girlfriend suggested I just make it look like iTunes. I’m sure there’s issues with this legally, but I won’t make any money from it and personally I see it as an homage to Apple’s great products and also a demo of what a real web app can do.
2. Street dance lessons. Sometimes Megu can get me to do some weird, but cool stuff that I i never thought I would do. I’m glad she persuaded me to try this. I can now Krump and Wack like the best of them.
1. Horse trekking in Wales. I think this was one of the biggest highlights for me as it was such a beautiful experience, even if I did end up with really bad saddle rash! Menu and I had a fantastic time and we can’t wait to go again. She also cleverly signed us up to volunteer to create a website for a local horse riding charity for disabled people which I’m really proud of her for. It should be making an appearance in the new year.
The above were in no particular order. I hope that I can keep up with all these new hobbies in 2011 and without sounding too mushy I’d like to thank my wonderful girlfriend for making so many of the experiences last year happen and for just being so fantastic.
