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Since we have gathered for the end of 2018 I figured I should share how the year felt, and obviously my plans for the new year. To be honest, there were quite a few difficulties I endured, we just won’t focus on that. I feel more comfortable looking at the good side.

End Credits

This year brought some new light back into my life.

The first light happens to be going back to university. To be completely honest, I should have listened to people and waited longer. I held my dream of still getting my degree. What came from the attempt is priceless, I am getting my confidence as a programmer back. Sure, I know that I use code that people have asked, several times in fact, that we ‘shy away from’. Doing things like that, it will definitely take a long time for me to learn the new styles I should be using in my code to is just awesome to remember more I actually can do!

The second is without a doubt related to the first. When I arrived at Rhodes this year they assigned me to a new residence on the top of the hill. It would have been awesome to stay in that residence. Unfortunately, after sleeping in my room on the first night I received the two difficulties: I didn’t completely remember where things were, and it took roughly half an hour to walk. Roughly half an hour to walk 1.2km (odd).

I wasn’t trusting myself in January, I literally looked up everything over, and over. I made maps for the road trip from Johannesburg to Grahamstown, marked out the petrol stations and stops. I also printed a map of campus and marked where I needed to go for lectures and things. I didn’t look at the maps even once (which is likely why I got a bit lost on day 1), I literally got into my car and drove to Grahamstown. I used all my previous resting stops again. You can imagine how amazing it feels when you tell yourself, ‘no idea why. I will just pull off over here for a bit.’ Then sitting, and stretching, on a hilltop looking at a valley. The stress had hit me in the first night, which is why I forgot I even had the map.

From the other side of it, the 1.2km. Thank you to Founder’s Hall, I was there in their house Matthew’s in 2015 and 16. They saw I managed to get from my new residence, and that I was struggling a bit. They helped me out and had a room so I could move closer to campus. The best part, here at the end of the year, is that I can walk super far now. Uphill, or downhill, and I don’t have the pains anymore. At the start of the year, I could brisk walk 3km odd at home, no problems there. I figure my difficulty for the 1.2km happens to be the incline of the hill. The pain has disappeared, I can now walk extremely far and I don’t struggle on the incline or decline.

The third thing, is I am working on my previous game development projects. All I can share about SokoBomber 2, and my dungeon crawler, is that they are on the way. I have a very simple caveat for these being my two personal game development projects currently. Procedural generation. For SokoBomber 2 I need to finish trying out things to do with maze generation, and for the dungeon crawler, I need to work out the combat mechanics. For the combat mechanics, you should understand I want D&D inspired stats and combat, just simplified and minimized so you can play without reading several books on mechanics.

Fourth, I have started to enjoy reading again. Throughout the year I only spent time looking through textbooks, and documents, related to the subjects I was studying (BSc Computer Science, and Maths, 3rd year Majors). I couldn’t read much more. No novels, nothing could be unrelated to my studies. I didn’t enjoy it, I had just been fighting to find my new reliable study methods.

Through a friend, I had a long discussion with a Neurology student from Wits University. We discussed his studies, and what he had seen. I shared a little bit of my struggle and the fact that I wasn’t comfortable reading yet. Sorry that I don’t remember your name. When I see you again I will shake your hand. Switch on your brain, Dr. Caroline Leaf. I wasn’t comfortable reading physical books, so through family and friends, I got an e-book version on my phone. I have gone through it start to finish several times (though, still only read out to me). It brought interesting things into my life and what I was doing.

As that slowly adjusted what I was doing it made me start dreaming of other things, and showed I also had other difficulties to address. Using the same method of reading it to me, I went through The Now Habit, Niel Fiore. Getting the two e-books were a godsend. I was starting to get my consistency back, I was starting to plan every day and make sure I did absolutely everything I needed to. They also helped me pay attention to the dates and times (like you saw on a previous post). Thanks to those two books, I was able to start building my study methods in a reliable way.

Come through to the start of December, as you will note in the 2019’s plans, I have a huge fascination with intergalactic travel. That came from my NaNoWriMo book this year. In Accidental Distances we go to Mars, then go further. There was a sale of the book Wanderer’s Escape (Wanderer’s Odyssey Book 1) (for Kindle), I was intrigued, despite not being sure I would enjoy reading again, made sure I had it. I started reading it, and without even feeling the time I spent reading finished the book. That is why this fourth item is exciting. I can enjoy reading novels again. I have read a few more, bringing my personal choice of books I’ve read count total to 4, and I am reading the 5th. Sure, I am not reading a physical handheld copy, it just fits reading as I am not having books read to me anymore.

The fifth thing doesn’t completely count, I started a new YouTube channel, edg3 ZA. Due to studying, I had to swap back and forth between several things I wanted for the channel. I literally couldn’t decide until today, looking at end credits for this year it fits as it found something for me to do next year. I have 13 subscribers (the +1 for 14 is my normal account, only to watch my timing from other YouTubers I subscribe to). All I can share is thanks to those that subscribed to me, I would love to have more come to the channel in the new year, which is why it is within the plans.

There are several other things that came out this year for me, I figure I should rather stick to the few that were the best.

2019’s Plans

The first plans should be easy to understand:

  • Write a blog post every Monday
  • Stick to the YouTube upload schedule

I will try my best to work out interesting things to say, and do, for the blog post weekly. I figure sticking to a schedule of one a week will also be perfect, it gives me time to think things through and pay attention to what I write. Sure, my YouTube channel isn’t too large, I just want to stick to it. Every hour or two when I studied this year I needed to take a 10- to 15-minute break. It feels so relaxing to work for an hour, then record content for my videos in the break. When I finish my day’s work I can just spend some time editing the snippets together, and then obviously upload. I’ve chosen what we will use as our schedule for the content for 2019, you can see it in the video.

Note: there is a delayed start

The second set of plans I figured should stay minimal, I shouldn’t bite more than I can chew. So I stuck to these few things:

  • Working
  • Finish Accidental Distances by the end of March
  • Work out the plot for 2019s NaNoWriMo
  • Write a novel in November
  • Read at least 1 novel a month

Through discussions I have had about all the goals above, I should share it would all be good challenges for me to take in the year. I will, unfortunately, need a break from the studying. I don’t like the fact that I need the break, so I will be looking at ways that I can study in completely reliable ways.

They may not be perfect, I just need to stick to goals that I can achieve. I have been able to start enjoying reading again, I have strategies that are working for writing my novels, there should be minimal problems with 4 of the 5 points.

This can stay simple, and achievable. I have 6 things to keep holding onto, as I can clearly manage them, and hopefully they can gain a lot of traction. It wouldn’t count if there wasn’t at least 1 challenge, it happens to be the working. I will be working, that is already possible for me, and the company it is for knows the can rely on me to do my absolute best for them.