{"id":4730,"date":"2021-02-05T06:30:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T06:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloomsoup.com\/?p=4730"},"modified":"2021-09-19T15:08:21","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T15:08:21","slug":"january-2021-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloomsoup.com\/january-2021-review\/","title":{"rendered":"January 2021 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After an indulgent Christmas, I thought I’d get straight back into my habits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many people, I tried to throw myself into a productive new year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tldr – I did ok, not great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After the usual Christmas wind down, many companies want to race out of the blocks in January. As such, work was intense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With yearly targets defined, I focused on optimising previous marketing channels and exploring new acquisition methods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results are promising and we’re experiencing good growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve followed the blog for a while, you’ll know that I’ve wanted to learn coding for a while, despite previously starting and failing to complete the course twice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time I made a resolution to stick to my learning goal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do so, I set a daily challenge of watching at least one video and I’m pleased to announce that I’ve managed 47 consecutive days as of writing this article. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve only completed around half of the course, and while simply viewing the content does not equate to solid comprehension, I’m pleased with my progress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll certainly have to revisit modules that are unclear and continue practicing what is, in effect, a never-ending learning journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I’m not sure I’ll ever be a particularly skilled developer, it’s already paying dividends in troubleshooting website issues at work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re interested, the course is on Udemy and I highly recommend it<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This full web developer course cost \u00a314.99 and comprises around 600 videos, which is an absurdly low price for the value delivered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s literally life-altering material if you were to pursue a programming career afterwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We truly are living in an internet age which has democratised education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This month I fancied getting stuck into some stories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Country for Old Men<\/a> by Cormac McCarthy <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As the Cohen brother adaptation of this story is a favourite film, I thought I’d read the book to compare the two. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m always interested how accurately a story is portrayed on the big screen, and in this case, it’s spot on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Characteristically dark as is McCarthy’s wont, I was immediately swept up in the story once more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blood Meridian<\/a> by Cormac McCarthy <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Immediately after finishing NCFOM, I started Blood Meridian, supposedly one of the great American novels and touted as a modern-day classic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set along the American-Mexican border in the mid-19th Century, McCarthy describes the brutality of frontier life and the effect on its inhabitants, including running battles between bands of marauding Americans and Apache Indians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beautiful descriptions of the natural world, although overall violent and depressing like much of his work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note – the book is extremely long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogs of War<\/a> by Adrian Tchaikovsky<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I’m a big fan of Tchaikovsky’s other work, including Children of Time, which won the Arthur C. Clarke award and Cage of Souls, a fictional Papillon-esque tale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogs of War is a worthy addition to his oeuvre, skillfully blending genetic engineering, artificial intelligence and military technology into an engaging story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meditation and writing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The main issue this month was that meditation took a major nosedive, with only 9 sessions completed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the primary issue was time – my morning routine<\/a> now looks different in that I’ve been doing my coding course first thing upon waking, traditionally time reserved for other activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing has similarly been impacted, with little energy outside work for creative output. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll have to try and tweak the February routine, reserving additional time for vital activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exercise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I managed to do some exercise to work off the Christmas excess, but clearly, motivation wasn’t that high after the festive fun, with only 16 runs completed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not a bad month considering the demands of client work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, as we settle into 2021 I can invest more time into personal projects like Bloomsoup and massaging my mind with some good old meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n
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After an indulgent Christmas, I thought I’d get straight back into my habits.<\/p>\n

Like many people, I tried to throw myself into a productive new year.<\/p>\n

Tldr – I did ok, not great.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJanuary 2021 Review | Bloomsoup<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After an indulgent Christmas, I thought I'd try to prioritise my habits and throw myself into a productive new year.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bloomsoup.com\/january-2021-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"January 2021 Review | Bloomsoup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After an indulgent Christmas, I thought I'd try to prioritise my habits and throw myself into a productive new year.\" 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