Dissertation, Dissonance and Desertion

Last Thursdays scheduled post is delayed, as I was working overtime to finish up my individual project for university. Scheduled programming shall resume this week and a post for the individual project will come after the marks are released, sometime early June I expect. However, with that monstrously sized assignment out of the way I’ve only three more assignments before I’m done with my degree course. What a journey it’s been!

My mind and my desk still haven’t recovered from the chaos caused by my individual project.

These past few weeks my goal has been to bring back a lot of the old content that was posted to the blog, which was lost when I migrated from Drupal to WordPress back in the summer of 2016. Back then the blog was less ‘professional online presence’ and more ‘personal development log’. Accordingly, the blog posts have been more focused on my business and professional development.

Though, as I near the end of my course I’ve found myself thinking about the past and future and the overarching story of my journey. Through this contemplation, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to integrate the disparate parts of my past and present, so I can appreciate the value of my efforts and create a new plan for the future. One thing that I thought may help would be to slowly republish a lot of the old blog content as I mentioned so that I can gradually reflect on changes in my activities, knowledge and attitude over time.

It is with hope then, that achieving this small goal will help orientate me onto the best path moving forward. One that leads, but also encourages me, towards my original aim of building a better life for myself. An aim which now encompasses and is propelled by my beautiful family. Of who I am so grateful to have with me on this wild and wonderful ride through life.

My family know where to hide when a deadline is looming–outside!

As it stands I’ve less than four weeks left until the final assignment deadline; 17th May. With my partners support I know I can go hell for leather until then. I owe her so much for her patience and help with everything so far. She gave me the courage and the means to begin this journey, way back in 2013. It is then with great regret that I have to isolate myself when the work gets tough and the clock is against me. Every time I know it’s down to my bad planning and prioritisation, and every time it’s happened I’ve ended up making them suffer another semester’s worth of my cognitive dissonance.

I know I get better over time though. I work more effectively as I learn from my mistakes and make changes. I’m a stronger and more well-developed individual now, with significant life experiences with a paper trail to match. It’s just painful to have to have them experience that with me. This time, however, I wanted to ensure that there’s adequate recompense for their troubles…

No, not just a tasty savoury pancake!

On the 18th May 2018 – the day after my final assignment – my children, my partner and I will be boarding a plane to Japan. And oh boy, the fever is real!

We’ve been romancing the idea for a few years now and the circumstances and occasion (my graduation) just seem to fit. We decided this back in January after my startups first work contract was winding up and with about a month left before our daughter was due to be born. We’ve been researching every day since then, literally!

Hell, my son asks to watch videos of Japanese trams and trains every night before bed, and again every morning when he wakes up. My partner and I vicariously and ritualistically soak up the sights, sounds and tastes of the country every evening while we scoff our food, imagining we can taste the orgasmic deliciousness we’re witnessing on the screen. We are obsessed. Consumed!

Our friends and family are definitely sick of hearing us waffle on, every ten minutes, about where we’re going, what we’ll be doing and the ways in which Japan is different, fascinating and often superior. We couldn’t be more in love though. We just feel a need to shake off the cobwebs of another depressingly unreasonable year in the United Kingdom, spread our wings and experience the other.

It’s an invaluable opportunity for us to learn, grow and bond. For ourselves, our relationship and our future. The knowledge and reference material I hope to collect will be a wealthy resource for my game designs, at the very least! And did we mention we love food?

I’ll be publishing our itinerary here on the blog before we go. If you’re interested I’ll be dumping a ton of in-depth content from our trip once we return home. That is if we don’t turn into starry-eyed otaku, trainspotters or wandering Buddhist monks while we’re there.

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