ratherbeem-blog

[ratherbeem-blog]

Look at these gorgeous babies at the shelter!

They’re so playful and confident - as soon as I opened the door, the boy on the left jumped onto my shoulder. His sister likes toys with feathers.

I think they’ve gone to their new home now, but I was very pleased to meet them.

[ratherbeem-blog]

Guess who’s blogging within a fortnight of her last blog

It’s me. Who else was it going to be?

1. I’m blogging within two weeks of my last post, this counts.

2. Haven’t read a whole book, but I’ve read some more of The Day the World Came To Town, plus I’ve read the beginnings of each chapter of The Art of the Larder by Claire Thomson - I know quite a bit more about pasta and lentils now! I picked it up in a charity shop in Shrewsbury :)

3. Not really involved in my local community. I’ve signed up for the Reddit puzzles gift exchange and started talking to a new friend from Texas last week though.

4. Haven’t seen my old friends in February yet, but we’re planning to see the new Lego movie on Friday. We met up with one of James’ friends from sixth form when we were in Shrewsbury, though.

5.  Still a goal - James and I aren’t eating dinner out this month, so maybe it’s going to happen soon.

6. We went to the cat shelter in Shrewsbury last week, and there were the most gorgeous kittens there - one of them loved nibbling ears and James’ beard! I’ll post a photo... It’s still too early for us to get a pet, but I think that once James knows what he’ll be doing more than a couple of months down the line and we’ve got a stable home then we’ll be in a better position.

7. Pay day was on Wednesday, and I’ve currently got just shy of £4000 in my current account - I highly doubt that I’m going to spend £1000 in between now and my next pay day, so I think I’m pretty happy to say that a little over four months into my year that I gave myself to fit this target, I’ve already hit it. I think the next step for me is to either open a proper savings account for long-term goals or to start investing a small amount every month. I’ll still keep the £3000 in my current account so that I can access it in case of emergencies, but now that I’ve got a buffer which will cover over 5 months of rent I think I’m in a good position to make my money work for me. I know that I’m lucky to be able to save this much in a short amount of time - I make £22000 before tax, so my salary is about £5000 below the average, but I live in a cheap town rent-wise and am not really a “spendy” person. I’d kind of like to make some budgeting content - I love The Financial Diet and a lot of other personal finance channels on Youtube, but they feel very America-centric. There’s not really a British equivalent yet, and I wonder if that could be my niche. Other money things - my uni side-gig seems to have dried up, so I’ve applied to caption videos as a freelancer. I’m also on the shortlist for a TV show which could earn me a not insignificant windfall.

8. James’ cousin is getting married in rural France in the summer (no plus ones allowed), but I’m not sure whether to go and amuse myself there or not. I’m kind of tempted to travel somewhere else on my own for the fun of it.

9. I’ve got a little book to put stuff in, and I’ve written down one recipe so far - I need to put my banana bread recipe in it too.

10. No new fun facts about me as of yet.

11. I feel good mentally at the moment. As for physically, I’m still doing the whole “eat less, move more” thing, and this morning I’m down to 15st 6lbs - obviously, I’m still pretty overweight, but I’ve lost 15lbs (or 1st 1lb!) since I started weighing myself in November. I’ve not started proper hardcore exercise yet, just walking to and from work every day and watching my portions. I’ve found that putting my packed lunch in a glass jar is really good for portion control - plus it’s better to reuse than recycle and it looks adorable. I might go swimming this afternoon.

12. I’ve only really spoken to my parents recently. It’s nearly my grandpa’s 90th birthday, so I think James and I will go and visit him - but nothing’s been confirmed yet.

13. I’ve not found a replacement for my watercolour class yet... I need to get on with Skillshare.

14. Accidentally left the heating on overnight, woke up at 05:00 absolutely boiling. FML.

15. Last time I ate meat was a kebab on New Year’s Eve. I mostly stuck to Veganuary (except for the time I picked up a cereal bar that I thought was vegan, but then realised part-way through eating it that it had honey in it). I’ve started eating eggs and dairy again since February started - I haven’t missed meat at all, so I think vegetarianism might be my new normal.

16. I’m kind of tempted to volunteer with the local amateur dramatics - I think I’d get to see some shows.

17. I’ve mostly been pretty good at getting my veg in through Veganuary - it’s a little less now, but that’s more because we’re using up stock cupboard stuff.

18. We bought some amazing bread from a bakery in Shrewsbury last week - it’s still really fresh now. I’ll be going out to the market and hopefully the bakery after I write this blog.

19. I broke my water bottle by dropping it last week, so I think I’m going to invest in a metal Tree Tribe one - I’ve heard good things, and it’s insulated and plastic-free. I don’t remember the last time I used a straw, so getting a metal one isn’t really a priority for me - apparently the average American uses 1.6 straws per day, which is kind of insane. I also saw an unboxing video where the amount of packaging made me really uncomfortable, so I emailed the manufacturer.

20. Hmmmm. I need to do something to romance him a bit more, we’ve been kind of minding our own business a lot in the evenings recently.

21. I’m starting to prepare for the Java OCA certification at work - it’ll add another string to my bow and I’ll be able to deepen my knowledge as a Java developer. Currently, the plan is to take it in the late spring or the summer of 2019. I need to get a proper notebook, and I’m excited to achieve something productive on my own terms.

22. I’m a mess, but my flat is periodically less messy at the moment. Need to be better.

[ratherbeem-blog]

pretty girl with diamond eyes

[ratherbeem-blog]

[ratherbeem-blog]

Progress check, number whatever

1. I definitely haven’t been keeping up with the whole fortnightly blogging thing, that’s pretty obvious from timestamps and such.

2. I’m still spending far too much time scrolling through reddit and far too little time reading books. I haven’t made any progress with The Day The World Came To Town, and I had to return my library books unfinished.

3. I volunteered for the FIRST Lego League in my hometown, and my old school won. I still need to get more involved in something in my new town though.

4. I’ve met up with my whole group of sixth form friends - we went to the reunion together, and also went out for pizza. Mine was vegan! I also briefly met up with Toby, a friend I hadn’t seen since high school after the FLL. As for uni friends, I got Marissa a birthday present and also went to a tournament and saw some of my first year buddies. I watched University Challenge with my old society last week too! Of course, I met up with Robert and Ryan on Friday too - I’m really pleased with how this reconnecting stuff is going. I did a slightly daft chain thing on Facebook and it got some old acquaintances popping up, too.

5. No dinner parties yet, but James and I are considering not eating any meals out in February, so I’d love to invite Robert and Ryan around for one.

6. Haven’t borrowed a pet, but I did visit my parents and played with their dogs. We also keep meeting friendly cats on our way to the train station. We’re going to a cat cafe next weekend, hopefully.

7. Things are looking good on the emergency fund front at the moment. I just paid the rent, James hasn’t paid me back his half yet (his pay day is tomorrow), and my pay day is next week, but I’ve got a respectable £2515 in my bank account at the moment. I know that I had £100 in August, so I’m managing to put away about £400 per month even though I’m over-paying tax at the moment.

8. We loved Ireland, and now we’re looking at the “where next” question. We want to do a big bucket-list style trip to the USA eventually (all of that all-American goodness that you don’t get in the UK: road trips, Broadway musicals, extreme couponing, hovercrafts over swamps...) but we’re hoping to go on a few smaller trips in the meantime. I’d also love to go interrailing, possibly over the summer.

9. I’ve bought the perfect little book of index cards for making my own recipe book, and so far I’ve committed one recipe to it - a vegan lentil and bean chilli with hidden veg that I kind of made up. I need to write down the things we love, though.

10. I remembered that I have another fun fact - when I was 19, I got banned from all wind turbines in the UK. It was the first day of my volunteer job as a wind turbine tour guide, and they took me up the turbine to show me the type of tour I’d be leading. The view was great, but it turned out that I’m very badly effected by the combination of 60m spiral staircases, high humidity and the slight swaying of the tower as the blades went by. I promptly lost my breakfast, and am no longer allowed in wind turbines. I need a new one, though - currently I’m just wearing zany jumpers as a substitute for a personality.

11. Getting a follow-up GP appointment has been kind of impossible, but I have mostly been feeling better and have enough tablets to last a while longer. I’ve been eating better since starting Veganuary, and as of this morning, I weigh 15st 11lbs - this is still much higher than ideal, but it does mean I’ve lost 6 lbs so far in January and I’ve lost 10 lbs since whenever it was that I started tracking my weight. The aim is to start exercising more - I’ve got a skillshare membership and I’m hoping to try a yoga class through that.

12. I spent a while talking to my brother when I went home. We opened up to each other in person, but haven’t talked since. It’s my grandpa’s 90th birthday in March, so I need to plan a visit.

13. I’m working towards and OCA Java qualification in my free time at work, and I’m hoping that I’ll be ready to take the exam by about May or June. I know that certificates aren’t necessary as a programmer, but I want to add another string to my bow. I’ve also been tooling around with Plunker in my free time at work, and I’ve written some simple web applications.

14. Completed it, mate.

15. I’m nearly all the way through Veganuary, and I’ve only made one slip up that I know about so far - yesterday, I bought a cereal bar in Costa that was labelled as dairy-free, and I couldn’t see any obvious non-vegan ingredients at a quick glance. When I was half-way through eating it, I realised it had honey in it...

16. No concrete plans for another show yet.

17. Veganuary has really improved the amount of fruit and veg I’m eating - today was a kind of lazy day where I thought I was eating terribly, but I still had edamame, sweetcorn, kidney beans, sweet pepper, canellini beans, broccoli, spring onion and red pepper today. On weekdays I’ve been trying to have fruit and oat smoothies for breakfast, which stop me from snacking during the day, and usually contain 3 servings of fruit, and then either salad or leftovers for lunch, and then something with at least a couple of veggies for dinner.

18. I’ve been a bit all-over-the-place recently, so I haven’t really bought much “stuff”. We did buy our sweet peppers and pak choi from the market, and we’ve had some really good wholemeal bread from the bakery.

19. My periods are being kind of weird at the moment - I’m pretty sure my cycle is changing, so I haven’t had a period in 2019 yet. I’m doing a rolling stock check of my stuff and am slowly donating things that I don’t use, and giving up some of the excess plastic bags. I managed to convince the market stall not to give me any plastic the other weekend.

20. Haven’t really done any big romantic gestures yet this month. We’re not really Valentine’s Day people, so that’s probably a no. I’m up way too late and was going to pack him a lunch to take in the morning tomorrow... Might have to save it for another day. I pushed him on a giant swing for a bit today :)

21. I’m working on the HTML/CSS/Javascript side-thing, and also the OCA Java certification. Robert, Ryan and I want to take a hackathon back to our sixth form over the summer, and planning a big event like that would be amazing experience.

22. I’m still messy, but the flat’s vaguely acceptable at the moment because we had an inspection in the week. I need to work on maintaining this level or better. 

[ratherbeem-blog]

Veganuary Day 1

In a radical turn of events, I’m actually trying to stick to one of the goals I’ve set myself to achieve by my 23rd birthday. For the month of January, I’m going to try to follow a vegan diet – I can’t promise I’ll be the perfect vegan and I don’t know exactly what I’m doing yet. I signed up for the Veganuary mailing list, but they had a technical difficulty which meant that I didn’t receive any of their tips and tricks until the evening of January 2nd, so I likely won’t hit all of their “what to eat” goals at first.

My Reddit Secret Santa gave me the BOSH! recipe book for Christmas, so I made the orange and ginger stir-fry sauce based on that. I’ve realised that my snacks are looking pretty junk food-heavy so far, and I’m aiming to change this over time. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the month because I think that being more conscious about what I put into my body will be useful in the long run – I’m very used to eating whatever, and actually thinking about my diet on a daily basis will change the way I eat. My boyfriend, James, is also attempting Veganuary, so I’ve got a built-in accountability buddy, and we’re going to do a swear jar-type system for if either of us breaks the rules.

Breakfast

Nature Valley Nut Butter Almond bar

Banana

Lunch

2 slices Sainsbury’s wholewheat ciabatta

Hummus

Cucumber

Tomato

Dinner

Stir fry (ginger, juice of half an orange, garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, udon noodles, pak choi, red pepper, spring onions, shitake mushrooms)

Crispy tofu

Snacks

3 Oreos

2 vegan white chocolate coins

 Rated on the Veganuary Daily Dozen checklist (I’m aiming for this all to be green)…

Beans: 💚 💚 ❤️

Berries: ❤️

Other Fruits: 💚 💚 💚 (I’m counting red pepper as a fruit… I hope that’s right)

Cruciferous vegetables: 1/3  💚 ❤️ ❤️

Greens: 💚 ❤️

Other vegetables: 💚 💚

Flaxseeds:  ❤️

Nuts & Seeds: 💚

Spices: ❤️

Whole Grains: 💚 ❤️ ❤️

Drinks: 💚 💚 💚 ❤️ ❤️

Exercise: Did some walking, but not 90 minutes

[ratherbeem-blog]

Down the line again

After an unexpected procrastination hiatus, I’m going to give blogging another go again. What better way to start than dwelling on those goals I said I’d stick to.

1.       It’s pretty easy to see that I haven’t kept up with this one – the last time I blogged on here was October 15th. I haven’t really got a good excuse, but I found that writing is useful to me to get my thoughts out and track them, so I’m going to try and get back on this wagon. I want to be able to look back on my progress over the year, so I’m going to make more of an effort to keep this updated for myself.

2.       I haven’t read a full book yet, but I have started on The Great Indoors by Ben Highmore. I’m very into interior design and homeware, so it’s a good starting point. I need to make more of an effort to finish it, so let’s make this my own smaller goal – I’ll post something proper about it on this blog by 5th December at the very latest.

3.       I haven’t got involved in community things specifically – I’ve done a bit of shopping in charity shops, but nothing that gets me directly into the community. I want to do a big food shop soon and donate stuff to the food bank, but I’d also like to do something more hands on. There’s a community theatre down the road from my flat, and I’d love to paint scenery or something for them, but I’ve not got round to contacting them yet. I’m getting more involved at work, in a way – I’ve been talking to people more and I’m doing the Secret Santa, and someone even came to me for programming advice on Friday. While I’m hoping to connect to more people in real life, I’ve been posting a bit more on Reddit recently, especially in AskWomen and AskUK. I’m also doing the Secret Santa over there because I really enjoyed shopping for someone last year and they sent me a really sweet thank you message.

4.       I’ve seen my old friends Robert and Ryan a few times since I last posted, at random events and hanging out in pubs. I’ve also voice-chatted with Daniel to talk about D&D. I’ve never played it before but we’re starting a campaign on Monday. I flaked for a while, but I’m so glad that Daniel was patient with me and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll be playing with Jamie, Felix and Ryan – Daniel is the DM. I’m playing a half-drow sorceress based on Daniel’s suggestions.

5.       Haven’t done cooked for anyone but James and I yet, but I’d still really like to!

6.       We went to the cat café in Manchester when we were visiting James’ brother, which was nice. The cats were a bit more active than the last time we went. We’re going back to James’ hometown next weekend, so we’ll probably visit the cat shelter. We both want to get a pet but we know that we need to make sure our flat is cat-proofed and that we get permission from the landlord before we get one, and make sure that we’ve got money saved up for any big vet bills.

7.       It turns out that my payments for council tax weren’t going through properly, so this has been a rough month financially because I had to pay the whole bill for six months in one go. I’ve still got £1500 more in my bank account than I had at my lowest point in the summer, though, so I will be able to recover. I’ve also got my pension sorted through work, so some of my savings will be going into a retirement investment account that I can’t touch for about thirty-five years. I need to set something better up for my own personal savings, maybe getting a high-interest current account and passing money between my main and my secondary current account via a standing order to ensure that my money is liquid. I’ve not been able to pick up any shifts back at uni since five weeks ago so I can’t count on that income totally, but I did do a few hours of overtime at my day job. I’ve been filling out YouGov surveys so I should hit the payout threshold for that in a couple of months.

8.       Our trip to Ireland is very soon now! Also his cousin is getting married in France next summer and his parents have invited me along for the week before. I’m excited to travel with James and hopefully see a lot of the world together. I’d like to go to America and Canada at some point, but I still want to go inter-railing – I’m not sure how much Brexit will ruin my chances of that, though.

9.       I haven’t started a handmade recipe book yet, but I’ve been looking for the perfect book to do it in. I’d like something with removable recipe cards, so maybe a photo album or a file of index cards would be good. James’ mum gave me a recipe notebook but I’d like to be able to reorder things as I need to. I know that makes me sound bratty, but I’m quite particular about the way I do things (or maybe I’m just lazy and making excuses).

10.   No new fun facts, but I’ll keep you posted!

11.   I’m “ill ill” for the first time in a year or so at the moment – lots of phlegm and losing my voice. From a more long-term view, I went to see the GP about my mental health, and he seems to think that it’s something along the lines of OCD or anxiety, maybe both. He prescribed me some beta-blockers to take when I know I’m going to be anxious, and they make things a little bit easier – I’ve found that they’re really good for when worrying about something is stopping me from sleeping, but not so much on the social side of things. I’ve not been to speak about my physical health yet, but I’m not noticing symptoms as much lately. I’ve been overweight for most of my life, and ended up buying a scale sometime in October. Since then, I’ve lost 7 pounds (actually, I lost some of it and gained it back again, and then lost some more – but I’m 7 pounds lighter now than when I started). I’m hoping to reach a healthy weight in 2019.

12.   I haven’t spoken to any of my siblings yet. I’ve been trying to sort some sort of family dinner or something out via my parents, but they’re not very cooperative. I’m spending Christmas with James’ family, and I’m excited for that.

13.   I’m still watercolouring, and I can see improvements in my work from week to week. I need to practice more and I’m hoping to send my Reddit giftee something I’ve painted along with a commercial gift. I’d also like to make something for James, and something for his parents. I’m continuing learning HTML and CSS – I’ve used it to tweak an application at work and entered a little site I made in a hackathon. I’d like to get around to using the skills I’ve built to make my Tumblr a bit more personal.

14.   I figured out most of it, and then James figured out how to get the radiator in the bedroom to work. We don’t have it on much – a couple of hours in the evening, if at all – but it’s nice to know that we’ve got it when we need it.

15.   I haven’t done this yet, but I might try doing Veganuary or something. We’re still eating very little meat, except for when we go to restaurants.

16.   We’re going to see Come From Away soon, watch this space…

17.   Getting my five-a-day hasn’t always been successful – I think if I track it a bit more I’d become better at it. James and I eat a lot of vegetables compared to my parents, but we’re not always on track to five-a-day and I’d like to get better at this and become healthier.

18.   I haven’t been to the market in a while because we’ve been pretty busy for a few weekends (and I was pretty ill yesterday). We need to get around to buying from that bakery soon still. I’ve picked some homewares and clothes up from the charity shops, so that’s something at least.

19.   In an effort to reduce my plastic consumption, I have bought a mooncup, but couldn’t quite get the hang of putting it in comfortably on my last period. When the next one comes around, I’ll give it another go and hopefully have more success. I try to buy loose vegetables where I can and such.

20.   I bought some chocolate hearts with sweet messages on to hide in his jacket pocket, but he ended up finding them before I did it and assumed they were just part of the regular chocolate supply for the week, and ate them... oh well, I guess they got to the intended recipient! Even though we live together, I want to post him a love letter or something to make him smile. I make his lunch when he’s rushing around some mornings and he’s always very appreciative.

21.   The only step I’ve really made career-wise has been competing in a hackathon (with James, who’s never programmed before – we won a prize for being the best newcomer project!). We’d like to do more of them in the future. I got to interact with a lot of other computer geeks and do a little HTML side-project and complete a site under time pressure, so I’ve got a few more skills I can highlight on a CV. I taught James a bit of HTML, and it would be nice to do something more with that. I might get involved in some community GitHub projects or something to sharpen my skills. I think my medium-term plan is to find a job as a programmer in the transport industry, because they seem to have jobs for XSLT developers and have nice benefits like free travel for employees and their partners, which would definitely help with the seeing the world side of things.

22.   I’m still badly organised, no real progress here. I know that my boss doesn’t really mind, but I think my goal for the next fortnight is being early for work every day without needing to get a taxi.

Some things have been successful so far, and some haven’t, but I want to motivate myself to get these things done. Let’s do this.

[ratherbeem-blog]

Wanted to create my own retro space tourism posters 

and i actually for once want to print my own art and have them in my room

[ratherbeem-blog]

[ratherbeem-blog]

Kiwi 💜 https://ift.tt/2r3Dg67

[ratherbeem-blog]

[ratherbeem-blog]

The dog wants to work out too!

[ratherbeem-blog]

How am I getting on?

It’s been two weeks since I first started this blog. Things haven’t been perfect, but I’ve made some progress I think - I’m hoping that I’m off to a good start. I’m just going to quickly go through my list and see where I’m at.

Blog started, and now it’s been two weeks and I’m actually updating it. So far, so good.

I haven’t really read much of anything so far, so this will be one for the next update so that I'm sticking to my monthly goal. I read a couple of chapters of Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers at James' suggestion. I wasn't having a great evening in terms of worrying about things and being scared about the future, and he thought it might be useful to me. I appreciated the gesture, but felt that the book itself wasn't necessarily helpful to me. I've found in the past that reading self-help books makes me feel inadequate and guilty - perhaps a barrier that I'll need to break through. I'll find something that I want to read over the next couple of weeks and report back.

I haven't done anything towards my new community as of yet, but I did go back to my university to work on the open day. I bought James a jersey from a local charity shop too, if that counts a little bit.

Last Monday, James was away and I was worried that he wasn't looking after himself, so I had a long conversation with one of my sixth form friends, Robert. James turned out to be OK in the end, but I had worked myself up into a state and really needed someone to talk to. On Friday, James and I went to Robert's for dinner - he lives with another one of our friends from sixth form, Ryan and two other guys. We had a good time, and Ryan let me try playing on his VR headset. It felt very weird, and I was no good at it, but it was pretty fun and I'd like to do it again.

Well, I've been to dinner at Robert's, so kind of similar. I've also offered to repay the favour, and the guys all seem keen so hopefully we'll be able to do something soon.

We went back to James' parents' house last weekend, and visited the cat shelter where we used to volunteer. One of the cats who was pregnant when we last visited now has eight kittens who love climbing on people - at one point I had seven of them in my lap and on my shoulders. They were very sweet, and we came up with names for our favourites - they'd be Kate and Persephone.

Obviously, I'm nowhere near the £3000 mark yet. On the other hand, I've had a payday and James has paid me back for rent, so I've got about £250 more in my account than I had at the same time last month. I'm still looking into savings accounts and such to decide the best option for me to maximise my savings. It's also occurred to me that I should think about setting up a pension soon.

We haven't gone abroad, but we have booked plane tickets! We're going to Ireland for James' birthday.

I've had a look around for the perfect notebook for this. Ideally I want something kind of filofax-y so that I can take one recipe out at a time and reorder them when I feel like it. I made cornbread for the first time yesterday.

Haven't done this yet, unless you count "is not required to submit a tax self-assessment" as a fun fact.

I've booked an appointment with my GP to discuss my mental health in a few weeks, and I've started to make notes about low points. So far I've got three days' worth of notes since last Monday. I feel like I worry a lot, but today has been good. I still need to sort out signing up to a dentist and also should probably ask an optician to mend the arm on my glasses at some point.

Haven't talked to any of my siblings in longer than I can remember, but according to my parents there might be a big family meetup near Christmas. I keep meaning to send something to my grandparents, but I don't know what. James' family are great, and I saw his parents and grandma last weekend. I might go again this weekend, but it depends on how my extra shift goes.

I'm still watercolouring, and I was very happy with my work this week. I should really practice more in my free time. At work, I completed some e-learning about the Spring framework, which might come in handy at some point.

lol nope. Our bedroom gets warm enough if we close the door, and cooking on the hob warms the kitchen up. We should really figure this out soon, it's definitely getting colder.

Like I said, most of the meals James and I eat at home are vegetarian or vegan, but I do eat meat at restaurants. We're planning to not eat out for at least a couple of weeks, though, so I might be able to stretch this out. While it isn't meat, I've just realised that the cheese I had on my breakfast isn't vegetarian... Once I've finished the packet I'll make an effort to check the labelling in future.

I've booked tickets to see Come From Away when it comes to Europe! I'm looking forward to seeing it.

I've had at least a couple of days when I've not managed this. I think I'll need to set a more clear goal - so we'll arbitrarily say five a day, every day for a month.

The guy who sells eggs wasn't at the market this week, and we didn't buy our vegetables from the market either. I did buy some cornflour from a local health food shop.

I've not made any deliberate steps with this as of yet. I've been using my lunch box, and for days when I'm too lazy to pack a lunch, I've got a load of cream crackers and a jar of peanut butter in my desk at work, so that I'm not buying things in single-use plastic wrappers.

I haven't done this for a while. On the smaller side of things, I packed a lunch for him this morning and he appreciated it. I'll see what I can do.

I haven't got any concrete "big steps" just yet. I did manage a team at the university open day for the umpteenth time, and I've done some basic Spring tutorials. My 9-to-5 boss sent me an email thanking me for working hard during a staff shortage last week. I helped a colleague with an XSL/XML task today.

I'm still messy and disorganised. My lettings agent is doing an inspection soon, so the fixed deadline will definitely help to get that side of things going, at least for a little while. I'm taking more responsibility for my health and well-being - I booked a GP appointment and I bought myself a new raincoat to replace the second-hand one I've had since 2010 which is more hole than coat at this point. I've packed my own lunches, and introduced a failsafe that will stop me from buying lunch if I'm feeling too lazy to pack one.

[ratherbeem-blog]

[ratherbeem-blog]

[ratherbeem-blog]

[ratherbeem-blog]

Twenty-two things to do at twenty-two

Hi. My name’s Emily. I’m a recent university graduate, and six weeks or so ago I started my first “real” job as a programmer. I mostly write XML and XSL at the moment, but someday soon I’ll be working in Perl and Java too, as well as a bit of web stuff. I enjoy my work, and the people I work with are pretty great.

Today’s my 22nd birthday. We get the day off work on our birthday, and then we bring cake to work either the day before or after. I’ll be picking up some cake this afternoon, and then going out for dinner with my boyfriend, James.

I found university difficult because of the lack of structure to my day, and being in full-time work is much better for me as a person, at least so far. I do think that there’s a danger that I’ll stagnate without quantifiable targets though, so I’ve decided that I’m going to challenge myself. To be all cutesy, I’m going to make it a list of twenty-two things that I want to do as a 22-year-old.

1.       Start a blog and keep it updated at least fortnightly.

Starting the blog is the easy part, but keeping it updated is the important part. I had a student blog, and I found that having the pressure to update it regularly kept me seeking out new and exciting things on campus, so this is an accountability blog I suppose. Because it was a paid blog for the uni, I wasn’t able to write about the full spectrum of things I was feeling or doing and I think that going solo will give me a bit more creative freedom, especially on my lower days.

2.       Read a book every month.

I really don’t read enough of substance, and don’t remember the last time I actually finished a book. I feel guilty that my reading is basically limited to mindlessly scrolling through Reddit. Maybe I’ll post a monthly “what I’m reading” or something here.

3.       Get involved in my local community.

I just moved to a new town, and I’ve not really made many friends here outside of work. There aren’t many twenty-somethings like James and I here, but I’d like to connect with the community in some way, even if it’s a one-off. There’s some community projects back home that I’d still like to go back to as well.

4.       Give more time to old friends.

I have a really close-knit group of friends from sixth form, most of whom I hardly see any more because we’re all scattered to the winds. They all live in really beautiful parts of the country, so it would be nice to visit some of them soon, rather than relying on all being back in our hometown at the same time.

5.       Hold a dinner party.

I love cooking, and I love hosting. We had a couple of James’ uni buddies over for lunch a few weeks ago, but I’d like to make it A Thing that I do semi-regularly.

6.       Borrow a pet.

I grew up with cocker spaniels, and dogs are very special to me. James is more of a cat person, but both us love animals generally and volunteered at a cat shelter over the summer. We live in a flat so we can’t have pets just yet, but we’re hoping to look after someone else’s.

7.       Save a £3000 emergency fund.

I make OK money for a graduate, but not great money for a programmer, so this is achievable but will be a challenge. I basically wiped my savings from my part-time job during my final year of uni, so I’ve not got much to start with. I’m a huge fan of The Financial Diet, and £3000 fits in their target of three to six months of living expenses.

8.       Go abroad with James.

We’ve been together a year and a half, but we’ve been friends for much longer. We’ve done a few domestic trips (Edinburgh, London, Manchester, Norfolk, Shropshire…), but I’d like to see a bit more of the world with him. I travelled a bit with family as a teenager because of perks from my dad’s job, but I haven’t left the UK so far in my 20s.

9.       Flesh out a homemade recipe book.

As mentioned above, I love cooking and it’s a very sentimental process to me. I want to have hard copies of my favourite recipes in one convenient location and not to rely on memorising URLs.

10.   Find out or create a new “fun fact” about myself.

When I was 18 I got an entire county banned from ordering astroturf samples. I’ve been using that as my fun fact for a few years now, and I think it’s about time I find a new one.

11.   Sort my health out.

Like a lot of students, I procrastinated on things that were good for me. I’ve recently made the step of going to an optician and registering with a GP, but I need to go to the dentist and also speak to my GP to address some other concerns I have about my own physical and mental health.

12.   Build relationships with my family.

A lot of people think I’m an only child, but I actually have two brothers and a sister who I barely ever talk to. My older brother and sister have kids who are closer in age to me than they are, and because we didn’t grow up together I never really formed a proper bond. I’m fairly close to James’ family, especially his mum, and I want to show them that I appreciate them.

13.   Learn a skill.

I started a watercolour class a few weeks ago, and it’s going well so far. I’ve got a long way to go until I’m a master, so it’s something I’d like to improve over the next year.

14.   Figure out how the central heating works.

I’m genuinely stumped. We’ve been lucky with the weather so far in this flat, but I can feel the evenings drawing in and I don’t want to freeze in my sleep during winter.

15.   Go a month without eating meat.

I already don’t eat much meat – James and I make a point of not buying any meat to cook at home, so all of the meals we currently make are vegetarian or vegan. I currently do eat meat sometimes when we go out to eat or sometimes when snacking on things that other people bring to work. I’d like to challenge myself to stick to the things that I believe are right.

16.   See a show.

I usually tell people that I don’t listen to music much, but the truth is that I enjoy musicals. I went to see Hamilton in London with some friends in March, and I’ve seen smaller amateur productions too. I think Come From Away is beautiful and I hope that I can see it in Europe.

17.   Get my five-a-day.

I know that the evidence says that we need to eat more than five portions of fruit and veg per day for optimum health, but I think this is a realistic and achievable goal. My parents didn’t really “do” vegetables when I was growing up – maybe one of peas or baked beans at dinner, or a couple of vegetables with a meat and potato roast, or a grim-looking iceberg lettuce leaf. I’ve generally felt better since leaving home and eating wider range of vegetables in higher quantities.

18.   Support local businesses where possible and sensible.

The town I’ve moved to has a great market which I go to every week to buy eggs and some of my vegetables. It’s pretty comparable to the local Asda in price for most things, and stuff is generally high-quality and in-season. I want to continue doing a significant portion of food shopping at the market and at independent retailers where it doesn’t break the bank. James and I also found a cute little bakery that we want to try the bread from soon.

19.   Reduce my plastic consumption.

I already use a reusable carrier bag, lunchbox and water bottle on a daily basis, and try to buy vegetables without plastic packaging where possible, but there’s definitely more I could do to cut down on plastic. Even if it’s just learning to use non-applicator tampons properly (I really want to try a menstrual cup, too, but I think ditching applicators might be a first step for me), or choosing retailers with less packaging more often, I want to make a difference to my habits.

20.   Sweep James off his feet regularly.

I love him and I want to show him that more. Growing up I was always scared that I was too tomboyish to have a boyfriend, because I didn’t really want to conform to the traditional feminine gender roles in relation to others, but I was lucky in finding someone who thinks the same way. James accepts me for who I am, and I accept him for who he is.

21.   Take at least three steps towards taking charge of my career.

I’m very happy with my job, but I want to make sure that I have skills to move on with and find something even better when the time is right. The fact is, I got a 2:2 in my degree, and I know that it will make some things harder for me. I want to network or to learn an extra programming language or to get some management experience or some extra responsibility or some volunteering to boost my CV so that I have stuff to back me up if and when I need it.

22.   Be my own mum.

I feel like, being the last bullet on a long list, this should be something poignant and meaningful, but it’s not. I’m messy and badly organised and need to take responsibility for myself. I’m not a teenager living at home any more, and I need to get stuff done like a real adult.

When I started this list, I thought that twenty-two bullets would be so hard to fill, because I didn’t even realise I wanted to do twenty-two things this year and that it would be kind of overwhelming. But looking at it now, there’s so much that I want to get done which doesn’t even fit on this list. I’m currently feeling very motivated and excited for the year ahead. I know it won’t always be easy but I want to see what I can achieve in these next 365 days, and I hope someone out there will find some sort of meaning in reading all of this.

Anyway, I’m off to eat and buy some paper for my painting class.