State of the Matthew Address

I am alive and well. As this is the baseline for me to give an address we will move swiftly on.

Regarding my Health

I am currently a bit fatter than I need to be, I'm putting this down to a particularly successful Christmas. I'll enter the new year at thirteen stone give or take a pound. No need to worry as I am 20 pounds lighter than when I began my work to reduce my weight last May and will be that much closer in this years attempts to get down to the magical NHS condoned ideal weight of eleven stone and eleven pounds.

I am no closer to doing an ollie, but I have worked significantly towards my hill walking endeavours including sets backs and have caught the bug to climb something seriously high one day. It might take a decade to gain the necessary skills of an alpinist worthy of a lofty ascent, but the journey is the most exciting part. I think this year takes me out of the beginner rank and moves me into the enthusiastic amateur. We'll see how much further I can make it this year.

I have not consumed alcohol during the year 2021. With very few exceptions this was fairly easy. I will most likely continue on in this vein, but with a view to try and work my courage up to drink whisky on the rare occasions I do consume. I have no idea why I'm writing like a journalling nineteenth century holiday maker, but I kind of like it.

Regarding my Professional Life

I have worked through the year on pulling together a basic MVP for  phonetic based spell checker which in its current state is operating although poorly. I've take a month or so off the task to give my head some room to think and then I'll dive back in to see where I can take it next.

My adventure looking at how I can make a business that is self sustaining and resilient unto itself is still ongoing. I wish I had the capital to explore these ideas faster, but alas it isn't so. I must work harder on this project this year.

Regarding my Personal Interests

I have been feverishly working on my own book. Despite my grand illusions of where it would be and what I can achieve it seems that my skills as a writer are not up to the ambitions set in my head. I hope though that through the year I can produce a quality rough draft that can be the seed to help generate a passable first draft.

As for photography I still work hard every week to produce some kind of images. I aim to submit my work to the Scottish Landscape of the Year Competition. I have no illusions of even being recognised, but I like the challenge in it. I will take photographs this year with an idea for next years submission.

Regarding my Travel

Another year of not going anywhere. Hopefully the new year will see in more opportunities to get out and about. I need to stretch my legs.

Regarding my Volunteering

We have had some disappointing news in regards to the purchase of our premises at Tayside Re-Users. I'm sure it does no good wish ill will on the backwards group of greedy old men who say one thing and then do another. But if I am ever in a position to hinder there progress I will not hesitate to stand in their way.

This next year coming I hope to raise our membership considerably. There will be some hard graft and a lot of advertising required, but I'm up to the task.

Regarding my Education

I have been thundering along on my Russian instruction. I even managed to take a course from the University of St. Andrews. It didn't go as well as I had hoped, I still came away with a very high mark, but the experience was dismal. I think I will continue to learn on my own, hopefully up to a very basic conversational level and then seek to take Russian speakers out for coffee and basic conversations to build my tongue and ear in the language.

I have focused most of my effort on Russian, but have given some time to learning a few software development skills. Nothing to write home about, but there it is.

Regarding my Finances

I am very comfortable at the moment. I could always be more comfortable, but I seem to be doing OK. All money is now focused on digging ourselves out of debt incurred in Louise's education, should take most of the year, but will be worth it when we arrive.

IN other news I am midway through the application for a UK citizenship. I believe strongly that I have a strong application and would expect everything to go right through, however I am in a constant state of worry about the outcome. There is so much money tied up in this application I would not be very happy to miss out because of a technicality especially since the process is about as clear as thick fog.

Regarding the Future

I am strong, I am fit and I will keep moving forward.