2012 So Far
We are four days into the month of July, the month that marks the half way point of the year. On New Year’s eve I wrote a little regarding my plans for 2012. Six months in, how are things looking?
What Have I Done?
In the original topic laying out my plans for 2012, I covered several key areas that I wanted to focus on. In this post I thought it would make sense to maintain a similar structure. It makes things easier to measure against the original goals.
Education
2012 has been a year of split personalities on the education front, as I have found myself on both sides of the table. I have been a student on the MA course, but I have also been on the teaching side of things on the Interactive Multimedia Design Degree. It’s been weird. It’s been great.
On the student side of things I have received my marks for the first year of the course. I was pleasantly surprised with my marks, which placed me just shy of my goals for the year. This is in spite of a terrible apathy that swamped me in the week leading to deadlines for the year. This has obviously impacted my marks, but hasn’t thrown things off balance as much as I had expected.
On the teaching side of things I greatly enjoyed my time with the first year Interactive Multimedia Design students, and will be expecting great things from them over the course of the next three years.
I am still unsure of my future in a role as an educator. With the final semester of my time on the MA drawing near I will need to focus on my work for it, but in the future I could see myself returning to this role in some capacity if it were an option.
Professional
As with 2011, this year has proven to be pretty packed with work to get done. Being a full time MA student really pushes you to be the best that you can be. It’s helped me to really push forward with a web based ticketing system, Get Invited, alongside Mr Murphy and Mr Gawley.
This serves as the first step towards one of my goals for the year, to set up a business alongside Kyle. We have individual projects, ReferenceIt and Vizuali, but this is the first solid step towards meeting this goal.
The second key area I identified in my previous article was that I wanted to network more. I feel that I have, thus far, been modestly successful with this but I also feel I could do more. Baby steps.
I have also met my goal of starting to take a more active role in events, having spoken at Creative Camp 2012. Whilst it’s only a single event thus far, I really enjoyed it and want to do similar things more often in the future.
One final area I discussed back in December, though in a more general manner, is the topic of writing. I wanted to write more. This is a goal I have made progress on, but have only recently really settled into a rhythm with. I have set myself the goal of writing an article a week, with the aim of publishing a post every Wednesday.
Having settled into this rhythm I have decided that I wanted to up my game. I used to do sketchwork, and I greatly enjoyed it, but I don’t have the time for it that I used to. Now, with each article I write I have a secondary goal, that of producing a piece of artwork for each post. So far, so good.
Personal
Matters in my personal life have probably been the area in which things have least improved and, in some cases, have taken a turn for the worse. I have, to a limited extent, made progress regarding a balance between professional and personal lives. Unfortunately this currently seems to be an on/off switch, where I’m either working lots or not working at all. Not the best of situations, but it’s still a start.
Money hasn’t been as free flowing as it has in previous years, which has impacted my ability to travel. This is unforunate for a great many reasons, not the least of which because it served as an opportunity to get away from things and get some, almost always, much needed down time.
Exercise continues along at the same pace as it always has. It’s better than nothing, but I still feel that this could, and should, be improved on. A starting point would be to work the mornings elsewhere, and walking to/from the location. Simply increasing the quantity of excercise would serve to improve matters.
Reading has improved. I tend to go through bursts of reading, consuming a handful of books in a few nights before taking a break. It’s an enjoyable cycle, but I feel that I am still not reading enough.
Misc
Sadly nothing has changed with this aspect of things. The twitter handle @davidturner sits idle, three years of seeming inactivity and all. Which is slightly infuriating, but I’ll continue to keep an eye on things and, if it ever becomes available, you can bet I’ll be snapping it up.
Another Six Months
On the whole I think things have improved, but I dislike that some areas have stagnated or suffered in the first half of the year. It looks like I’ll be upping my game in the second half of the year.