2019 in a nutshell

Hello there!

2019 was a pretty moving year for me, since I've left school and am now looking for an apprenticeship or a job.

Unlike past summaries of the years that I've made, I'm not going to explicitly tell about good, and the bad. I'd prefer to just talk about the year in general, since bad and good things will always happen. I have learned that it is not always black and white - it can be a shade of grey, in other words a negative can be spun into a positive or vice versa.

2019 in a nutshell

In 2018 I did want to get a job/apprenticeship but since then, I haven't been successful in getting one, its a tough world out there - tougher than I thought, even with minimum wage jobs, there are loads of people applying. And I did try a lot of things, I've tried handing out CVs, on-line applications, recruiters etc. I did get a few interviews (including places like McDonalds) but unfortunately I didn't get any offers. I don't really care though, I'm just glad I got the interviews and got to experience them. Through an organisation that a friend referred me to (since he was friends with a nice lady who worked there), I did get volunteer work at a community café on most of the Saturdays in the holiday, and that was pretty cool - I liked it and it gave me some good experiences since every time was different from the last. With that being said, despite a lot of tries, I couldn't get paid employment.

A thing that annoys me about menial jobs is that people make it look like it's for the unemployed and it's easy to get, maybe it was for those people, but I've had an interview with McDonalds, and they rejected me. I do want to make a separate post about how hard it is to get a job and what I've learned thus far about getting a job. Not going to lie though, there are definitely parts of being unemployed which I enjoy like being able to think about what I truly value in life and how to live a meaningful one (I'll get onto that later), having a lot of time, not needing to deal with the broken education system and working on this blog as well as my games.

A job isn't necessary for me at the moment since I live with my parents, and I'd rather live there than live in a shoddy apartment like some University students (though most of my secondary school friends who are at university, live with their parents), who have to rely on a government loan to pay for their accommodation.

That being said, I don't plan to stay unemployed for a long time though and end up like Satou from "Welcome to the NHK" where he is a 'hikikomori' (Japanese term for reclusive) for a straight 3 years, that wouldn't' be good.

I didn't get to travel as much as I would have liked back in 2018, though I did go to Italy for my A-level photography trip and France in the summer. Unfortunately, I couldn't go to Japan due to the cost of going there. Perhaps next October could be a good time to go there since it's cheaper, though the country wouldn't look as pretty and more cold but I guess I wouldn't mind, don't know if it's a guarantee though.

I'm not as cynical about social media as I was back last year. Although I'm still skeptical of social media, saying that it would be a cause of teenage suicides is a very dubious claim. Regardless I have no regrets of deleting my DeviantArt and still have none of deleting my Twitter. It feels like less clutter that I have to worry about in my life.

This year I started to learn a lot more about the "Effective Altruism" movement, I also read the audio book "The life you can save" by Australian philosopher Peter Singer. The cool thing about this book is that no matter what job you are in, anyone can make a difference by contributing a certain amount of wealth to the poor. Although earning to give is not the most high-impact option, it's still pretty high impact, especially to those in far poorer countries than places like the UK or the US.

Beyond the 2010s and into the 2020s

I'm hoping that next year, as well as the next decade, I can learn more about Effective Altruism and learn about ways that people can directly contribute to the well-being of others. I would also like to write more blog posts like the one I did on China, where I raise awareness to certain things which might be important in the world. I can also practice writing long-form blog content this way, it is quite enjoyable to make too.

As I've written in one of my other posts about being vegan, I would like to be vegan - or at least make more efforts to becoming vegan. I'm trying more foods that don't require any animal products let alone meat (unless it is clean meat).

I'm also thinking of travelling more locally, by that I mean around the UK. The hiking that I did with some people I know increased my confidence of going to other places in the UK rather than just London (where I live).

I would also like to finish and release Bounty Hunter III by November 2020. My development plan is to get all the locations in the game by around February/March 2020 as well as adding in a good amount of the story. During all of this, I'll have Joe create the background tiles and the animations with my assistance and guidance.  Like Bounty Hunter II, I would like the game to be fully playable around May (or earlier) of that year so I can spend a lot of time polishing, play-testing as well as putting in additional content if needed.

On the topic of game development, I would like to put more effort into marketing my games. Itch.io has a page where people can promote their games, my concern with this is that I might sound like I just want attention. But I guess that I should try it nonetheless, maybe I can learn a great deal about marketing and making my game stand out.

Getting an apprenticeship or job would also be great if I get one next year, since earning money and gaining experience would be a good step for me as well as a way to meet new people.

Conclusion

Yet another decade ends. And a new year is starting as well as a new decade, it's surprising how long the 2010s felt for me. But every year for me feels faster than the last, it's a very weird feeling. Although I'm quite uncertain for what the 2020s will be like, let's just hope that despite people who claim the world is getting worse what with climate change, the UK under Boris Johnson and the such like, the world can hopefully improve and we can prove them wrong.

Farewell 2019 as well as the 2010s,
and have a happy new 2020 as well as a happy new decade!

That's all from me!