For my last post of this year (2024) I’m going to discuss my plans for 2025.
First of all my goals are set for both the year and the first quarter. They largely revolve around my health and finances. If you’re interested my years goals are below,
I will be breaking these into chunks and plan on completing a few a quarter.
My main career goals for the year aren’t really listed here, as I have kept them separate until I’ve 100% decided on them, but they include learning about digital marketing and website creation, a process I have found fascinating in starting my own business.
My health goals are pretty self explanatory. I want to be healthier, and to do that I need to lose weight. I’ll do that by eating healthier and getting into the gym more.
As for the religious stuff in the goals, that’s going to be focused on towards the end of the year. I will be spending this time researching various religious communities and finding out which ones beliefs most closely match mine.
2024 has been a tough year in many aspects. Its almost felt like a ‘stand still year’, where I’ve stood mostly still, but I’ve done a lot of preparing in order to move forward in 2025 and hopefully I can move forward in leaps and bounds!
Hope you all have a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Well my business has launched! That’s So Fandom officially went live on the fourth November 2024. If you want to check it out please go to https://thatssofandom.com/ for all your geeky needs.
But what does this mean for me for the future? I don’t know. For those of you who don’t know I am diagnosed autistic since the age of ten. Part of autism is I go through Hyper-focuses. I recently went through one for history and am now going through one for tech. Both of these are recurring and difficult to balance with each other at times.
So if you was to ask my career goals six months ago it would have been something to do with history, probably going back to uni, doing my degree, and then going onto a PhD and trying to get a lecturing job. As my hyper-focus has changed so have my goals. Now I want to finish my Computer Science degree and get a job in tech, preferably cyber security. As you can imagine, this changing hyper-focus is difficult to deal with.
So for now I’m going to sit tight and focus on That’s So Fandom while I establish what I REALLY want, rather than what my hyper-focused autistic brain wants. It may take a while but I’m sure I’ll get there sooner rather than later.
Gainsborough Old Hall is situated in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. It is over five hundred years old and is the one of the best preserved manor houses of the medieval period in England. It is also my nearest major historical site, since I live in Gainsborough.
In 1460 the hall was build by Sir Thomas Burgh. Incidentally Sir Thomas was one of the people who rescued King Edward IV from the Earl of Warwick, who was being kept prisoner in his castle in Middleham. In 1471 Sir Thomas was the first to rally to Edward IV side when he came to reclaim the throne. Sir Thomas also fought Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury, as well as later fighting in the Battle of Bosworth.
The first monarch to stay at the hall was Richard III, in 1484. However despite hosting Richard III , it is thought that Thomas Burgh fought on the side of Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth. The son of Thomas Burgh, Edward, was imprisoned in the Old Hall after being declared a Lunatic. In 1528 Edward died, and was succeeded by his eldest son, another Thomas. Thomas Burgh II had an eldest son, also called Edward who married Catherine Parr who readers may recognise as one of the wives of Henry VIII. Edward and Catherine stayed at the Old Hall until they were granted their own manor in the nearby Kirton-in-Lindsey.
Henry VIII would visit Gainsborough twice, in 1509 and 1541. Catherine Howard, with whom Henry visited in 1541 was accused of affairs in both Gainsborough and nearby Lincoln and would go on to be executed. Catherine Parr had by this time been widowed twice, with Edward Burgh dying in 1533 and would go on to become Henry VIII sixth wife.
Thomas, the fifth Lord Burgh would die without an heir, and in 1596 Gainsborough Old Hall would be sold to William Hickman, a merchant from London. He would make many improvements to the Hall, especially in the East Wing. The Hickman family would play a prominent role in developing Gainsborough, with a prominent hill in Gainsborough going on to be named ‘Hickman Hill’.
In 1720, on the edge of town at Thonock, a new manor was built and the Old Hall became unoccupied with it being used for a variety of purposes, but staying in the family.
The Old Hall has changed little over the years, being principally Timber framed giving it a black and white stripped appearance. The on the north-east is a brick tower and a great view of the town can be found at the top, if you’re willing to climb the steps as I did as a teenager. The tower is said to be haunted by the Grey Lady, but I never found any spooky goings on. The kitchen is considered possibly the most complete medieval kitchen in England.
From 1949 the house was looked after by a volunteer group, the Friends of the Old Hall. They saved the building from demolition and first opened it to the public. The then owner, Sir Edmund Bacon gave it to the nation in 1970. After being run by Lincolnshire County Council, it is now owned by English Heritage and is open to the public as a museum. It is listed as a Grade I building and the Friends of the Old Hall provides volunteer guides and other expertise.
Welcome to Peter’s History Corner! “What is Peter’s History Corner?” I hear you ask. Well this will be the posts where I talk about history, and the bits of history that interest me. You may have seen I’ve already done a bit of this with my posts on some of the Popes in the Middles Ages. Well this will be formalised into (hopefully) regular posts.
What areas of history will I be discussing? Well various areas that interest me! I have wide ranging interests, mainly focused on political, religious and military history. Below is a list of topics that will be covered, and I have already started researching some of these areas.
The Norman Conquest
The Angevin Empire
The Holy Wars, from the First Crusade to Third Crusade
Warfare and Strategy of England and Western Europe from 1066 to 1485
Rise and fall of the Knights Templar
Politics and Warfare of the Papal States and Wider City States in Italian Renaissance
Early Ottoman Empire, from the taking of Constantinople to death of Suleiman the Magnificent
British Cavalry from the Napoloeonic Wars to end of the First World War
Fight against the Ottomans, 1914-1918
Britain in the Western Front 1914-1918
Britain and United States after D-Day 1944-1945
The Italian Campaign, 1943-1945
The RAF from the Second World War to Afghanistan 1945-2012
British Intelligence and Special Forces 1939-Modern Day
I hope you enjoy these topics. The biographies of the Popes will still go ahead, but might take a back seat to some of the topics mentioned above.
The last few months have been tough. Mentally I have not been in a good place, and physically I have been an even worse place. While I was accepted into University to study Military History, I have not been successful in my application for funding. As such I will not be attending university again.
So whats next? Thats a good question. I don’t know is the answer to that, but I do have a few options. In the background I’ve been working on a business idea to sell collectables to geeks. That is definitely going to go ahead, though I can’t say when yet. I could go back and finish my Computer Science degree in 2025, if Lincoln College would have me. But my programming is very rusty and would need to be brought back up to scratch before then.
I’ve long had an interest in WordPress development and .NET development. Thats also an option. My old goal of cyber security will likely remain a passion, but not a career option right now. Maybe in the future, but not right now.
On a personal level theres a lot going on I need to sort. And I have started sorting it. The first step in un-messing up my life has been a healthy morning routine. You can see the morning routine below
Making the bed helps me feel like I’m organised first thing in the morning.
A walk helps me clear my head and organise my thoughts for the day.
A shower to keep clean obviously.
Taking blood sugars and meds are important to keep healthy.
Breakfast and brushing my teeth to finish the morning routine.
Then I give myself an hour or so of free time to relax before I crack on with what needs doing in the day. Hopefully this morning routine will set me up for success in the future, with whatever path I go down!
As alluded to recently in my last post I am coming back to history! Soon I will be starting to post biographies on several people. The early Kings of England and the early Bishops of Rome (Popes) will be my first topics.
Also I have applied to study Military History at Bishop Grosseteste University. I have a two pronged application for this. One is the application to the university itself which is a straightforward through UCAS application. However my application to Student Finance England is more complicated as I’ve had previous funding. I hope that because I left the courses due to illness they’;; accept me under the Compelling Personal Reasons scheme. Here’s hoping to a start in September 2024!
Have you ever received news that rocked your world? I did on Thursday 7th March. It was not good news and has really made me revaluate what I want from life. So from now on, this website will mainly be focused on my passion for history!
You’ll see plenty of changes to the site coming up (though not immediately) and many areas of History will be covered. “What are those areas?” I hear in the distance. Well find them below! Expect no great historical insights as I am an enthusiastic amateur, but expect plenty of passion.
Posts will focus on;
Monarchy of England from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth I History of Bishops of Rome (The Pope), from Saint Peter to Francis I (though there will be more emphasis on Popes in the Italian Renaissance) The Norman Conquest 1066-1072 The Angevin Empire 1154-1259 The Crusades 1095-1192 Warfare and Strategy of England and Western Europe 1066-1485 The Knights Templar 1119-1312 Politics and Warfare of the Papal States and Wider Italy 1450-1600 Early Ottoman Empire 1453-1566 The Western and Ottoman fronts of the First World War 1914-1918 The Western Front 1944-1945 The Italian Campaign 1943-1945 The RAF since the Second World War 1945-2012
This is not an exhaustive list of what I will post about but covers most of it. I have a passing interest in the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic Wars. I also have a more detailed interest in espionage and Special Forces, but those topics are obviously harder to research. But these are the main topics I will be writing about.
Hi everybody! This is just a quick post on my current plans.
I’m currently taking several courses. One course is on WordPress development, with the hope of improving this website and building more. I’m also doing a course on Search Engine Optimisation to benefit, again, both this site and others I build. The final course I’m doing is one on HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Although I’ve had experience with these languages, that was several years ago and I feel a refresher is needed.
You may be forgiven for thinking with this I’m aiming for a front end developer job sooner or later. Indeed that is amongst my thoughts. But I’m also thinking of going down the route of my own e-commerce business selling collectables from various fandoms (I am a huge geek). Indeed I’m not sure which path I will go down yet, but I feel it will be one of those two.
Health wise things are up and down right now. My physical health is improving with medication, but my mental health is still variable. Indeed I’ve come to the conclusion that my mental health will be variable for a long time, perhaps forever. It seems its all about controlling those variations rather than getting rid of them.
I hope you’re all well and hope to write another post soon!
My last post I spoke about the reasons I regretted quitting my degree. This one I will speak about the reasons I don’t regret quitting.
During my whole degree I was purely focused on one goal. Getting into Cyber Security by getting a Computer Science degree and then a job afterwards. Since quitting my degree I’ve flirted with other opportunities. WordPress Development, .Net development with C# and even moving away from tech all together. I think if I’d have stayed at my degree, I would have still been focused on getting into Cyber Security, which looking back was too narrow minded of me.
Another reason I don’t regret quitting my degree is if I had stayed with my degree, I don’t think I would be doing the voluntary work I am currently doing. Working in the voluntary sector is hugely rewarding and something I would encourage anyone with the time to do, even if its just an hour a week. I doubt I would have bothered looking at volunteering opportunities if I was still in education.
The final reason I don’t regret quitting my degree is the fact that at the end of the day, I had little choice. I suffer with some health issues and for the last year of my degree they were hell to deal with. I tried to power through, but I just couldn’t do it. Ultimately it was to protect my health I quit, and my health has to come first. For this reason, I don’t regret quitting my degree.
So on balance do I regret quitting my degree, taking these last two posts into account? The answer is no. I regret missing out on some opportunities and miss the relationship with my lecturers but all in all it was the right decision, when all factors were taken into consideration.
Bear with me as this will be a slightly rambling style post.
In March 2022 I left my Computer Science Degree at Lincoln College. It was a decision I agonised over for a long time, but I eventually decided it was the right decision. But did I make the right choice? Over this and my next post I will discuss what I regret about quitting, and what I don’t regret abut quitting.
First off, I was near the end. I was in March of my third year. That might sound stupid to quit that late, but I did have another yet to go. You see I’d split my final year into two part time years, mostly to help juggle my workload along with some health difficulties I had. But still, I’d completed one module that year (Mobile Application Development) and had started another (Cloud Computing) and halfway through my final module that year (Artificial Intelligence). Relatively speaking I was so close to the end. And I quit.
Secondly, I miss the people. My lecturers were great (special shout out to Dan Rogers, Stephen Smith, Stephen Trevor, Jeremy Davis and John Rogers). And the other people on the course were so friendly and helpful (special shout out to Ben here, who I’m still in touch with). I got on well with virtually everyone on the course and miss them all.
The final reason I regret quitting my degree is I personally put a lot of stock in my own academic achievements. Other peoples? Not so much, I accept academics aren’t for everyone. But for my own? I place great value on them. I was always one of the smarter kids in school and put all my worth in my academic achievements. So to not have a degree (especially when I once had dreams of doing a PhD) is something I’ve had a lot of difficulty coming to terms with.
Do I overall regret quitting my degree? Sometimes. But not all the time, and the next blog post will discuss the reasons I DON’T regret quitting my degree.
