Ending The Year On A High...

20th October, 2023 We're coming into land at Gatwick. Touchdown, we're home. Or well, I'm half-way home.

Outside, it's a beautiful evening - the sun's out, there's not too many clouds in the sky...life's good...

It's a bittersweet feeling. Missing the glorious baking Spanish weather, but glad to be home. I blink as every human does.

29th November, 2023

Somehow the day after tomorrow is the start of advent - I don't know how, or where the time went - possibly due to the short days - but winter always terrifies me as it's very much a case of "Sonctember" (Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec) - the last four months of the year merging into one very rapid 30 day sprint to the end of the year.

The end of the year is also tough for me as it's the start of the academic year, and there's always a piece of me that says "back in 2020, you did something with your life - you went somewhere and did something...now where are you?"

50 Gone And 50 To Go Ever since starting University in 2020, moving out has always been at the back of my mind.

Legally speaking - at the age of 16, you can move out without your parents' permission - or they can ask you to leave.

At 16, I was still mid-way through the education system and certainly not in a place (mentally) to move out (being immature and not knowing how to do...well anything).

Come 2020, I thought going to University would give me some time to figure out what I was doing, where my life was heading and who I was - as well as experience living alone/independently and needing to "fend"/look after myself.

I'd somehow keep myself alive until May 2022, unbeknownst to me, my last month at University.

Simply put, from September (2022) onwards, I wouldn't be living independently/alone any longer. The academic year ended...and come the 2022 - 2023 academic year - I wouldn't be studying at the University Of Wolverhampton any longer.

With the help of Universal Credit and No Barriers, it took me 9 months to land myself my first job and none other than Tesco (June 2023) which lasted until September 1st, 2023.

Come September, I had four main reasons for staying on the island:

1) It was Week 13 on iRacing and I NEVER miss a week 13

(It's just so apocalyptic! I love it!)

2) I had ongoing driving lessons and had an upcoming driving test on the 21st September

3) I had an upcoming holiday, moving out prior to that so close to the holiday itself would be insane (In-spain-e?)

Especially as I would be missing two and half weeks worth of clothes (already packed for the holiday)

4) Being late September (at the time), the Festive Colleague positions were said to go online on the 9th October - in just over a month - having enjoyed myself during the summer, it was certainly worth a shot to try and apply.

Having worked there before could be helpful for the CV.

I waited and waited for a response (either positive or negative) - first I waited two weeks since the job went up, then I waited a waited two weeks since the job expired.

And nothing here nor there - my application is still pending on Tesco's site...so much for all the enthusiasm I had.

28th August - Final day at work 2nd September - Final shift

5th - 12th September - Week 13 (Week 13 Ferrari GT3 Challenge - BIG MISTAKE! - iRating/Safety Rating affected in series and very bad drivers!) 21st September - Manual Driving Test (passed with 5 minors - but for silly things - mirrors, blind-spot, not knowing how to turn on lights...)

22nd September - 100 days left in the year)

1st Oct. - 22nd Oct. - Spanish Holiday 23rd Oct. - Returned home for Universal Credit meeting.

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November

From the moment November began, it was absolute carnage.

2nd November - Headed to mainland for car diagnostic (alignment was out)

3rd November - Cheshunt Fireworks (didn't see in the end)

4th November - Woking Fireworks (with a few friends) 5th November - Brands Hatch Fireworks (big finale to "Fireworks Week") (w/friend) 7th November - Returned Home

9th November - Left for annual Race of Remembrance (Wales) (bit of a tradition now)

13th November - Race was between 11th - 12th, returned home on Monday 15th November - Teardown's new DLC "Time Campers" released. I wouldn't play it until the 27th due to being out on the 17th.

20th November

Trial shift for Isle Of Wight Distribution - however I met the guy running it and we both realised I needed to get business insurance - with me eager to move out, off the island, I didn't quite know how "worth it" it would be.

23rd November

The Car Clinic work on Timon for the day, working on his alignment (just need to get tracking done!) I had a manual Ford Fiesta for the day which went...

Well, it started off poorly, but I somehow managed to sort myself out and eventually end the day by enjoying myself.

26th November, 2023

The 2023 Formula One season came to a close/conclusion at Abu Dhabi - now less than 100 days until the Bahrain Grand Prix

But first we've got all the *exciting* liveries to be revealed in the new year - of course, most are going to be the same as last year (other than a shade lighter/darker) but it's all about the show! 27th - 29th November, 2023

The 27th - 29th November, 2023 was a triple-header celebration for iRacing

On the 27th, I celebrated 1 whole year of being above 1,300 iRating.

Back in January I celebrated a year of being a year of being over 1,000 - so good progress.

Sadly, I was 1,400 iRating only earlier this month, so that celebration will have to come in a year from now

On the 28th, I joined the elusive "1K Club" - 1,000 days (2 Years, 9 months) without a win - although that comes nowhere near close to Riccardo Patrese who had to wait a gruelling 6 years between wins (yikes).

30th November, 2023

It's current 5:28pm, next time the sun rises, it will be December tomorrow - advent calendars at the ready! This year I'm planning to do "Blog A Day" once again - but I'll have to see how it all pans out with going out.

But for now, see you soon!