Writing and turning the page

I've had this domain for over 20 years. Even back then, the .com was already taken and so probably was the co.uk and I remember being so frustrated that even in the early days of the internet (I probably first got online in '97) that it was so hard to get your name as a username anywhere.

Hotmail, Gmail... no chance. Too late for Hotmail, not early enough for Gmail and well, let's be honest I think I was lucky with my first email address *kingofmycastle99@hotmail.com* didn't have any Xs in it at all. Oh those were the days.

And well, here we are. It's 2024 now and I'm married, I have a daughter and this year hit the big 40. 

If there was ever a time to take stock that fit in with the clichés of this world it's 40. And combined with some time off from the career front I've been comfortably sitting around for the past few months, reflecting, contemplating or whatever else it is that you're meant to do.

In reality, it's been really hard. Sure I had an amazing summer with my daughter during the summer. Being able to spend the entire summer holidays with her and just take that time without feeling the pressure to do something because of the limited time is stuff that dreams are made of. I played some games. A lot of games. I went to a music festival (an actual mud & tent one - although I had a beach hut), my first in over a decade. 

But sitting there after a while you start to think. What if this is the only time I'll have like this until I retire? What should I do with this time? What do I do? What am I doing? This is inevitably followed by guilt and more guilt. All self inflicted of course. This post isn't about that though. Those reflections, thoughts or whatever else deserves a bit more attention than this.

But what this post is about, is a bit of a 👋and a welcome back to myself. To be writing again, doing something again. It's good.

I'm excited to do more and what a feeling that is.