For final yr’s phrases belong to final yr’s language
And subsequent yr’s phrases await one other voice.
And to make an finish is to make a starting.
from 4 Quartets, ‘Little Gidding’ by T. S. Eliot.
For the final three years I’ve been sharing a listing of issues I plan, to do within the New Yr. Sadly it appears to have been just about the identical checklist every time. Right here it’s once more for completeness.
Go to extra stay live shows. Though I benefit from the radio and recordings, I far want to take heed to stay music at live shows. Attending such occasions helps additionally help the venues and musicians as with out an viewers each would die.
See extra of Eire. I moved to Maynooth 5 years in the past however, other than one go to to Galway and one to Armagh, I nonetheless haven’t travelled a lot past the Dublin space. I have to get round extra, particularly to the South.
No extra working weekends. I’ve been within the workplace for no less than at some point each weekend since I began at Maynooth. I did the identical after I was at Sussex too, and appear to have relapsed. I’ve all the time had issues managing my very own work/life stability however I notice it’s not setting a superb instance to youthful folks to be getting it so clearly improper. I’ll add not studying work emails at weekends to this.
Be a greater colleague. That is one thing I believe one ought to all the time attempt to be, however I’ve explicit want to enhance. I do know that during the last 5 years or so issues weighed very closely on me behind the scenes and I ended up letting individuals down on too many events. I apologize for that and can attempt to do higher in future.
Learn extra books. I was a voracious reader of all types of books, each fiction and non-fiction, however I in some way received out of the behavior. I now have a stack of unread works that I have to attempt to learn earlier than the yr is out!
End extra issues! Not unrelated to No. 4 above, I’ve been very poor over the previous couple of years at finishing initiatives and writing papers. I must clear the backlog and get on with some new issues.
Do extra to advertise Open Entry publishing. I’m not stunned that the established order in tutorial publishing is proving exhausting to dislodge, however I imagine that change may be achieved if researchers take the initiative. I’m pleased with what we have now achieved thus far on the Open Journal of Astrophysics however there’s far more to be executed.
I achieved only a few of those in 2020, 2021 or 2022. The pandemic made the primary two unattainable however no less than I managed to get out to a couple live shows in 2022 and plan to see extra this yr. The Irish Nationwide Astronomy Assembly in 2023 is within the positive metropolis of Cork, and I’m trying ahead to going there. Quantity 3 modified once we needed to begin working from dwelling, which made it troublesome to get away from work in any respect however since I moved into my home in August 2020 I no less than have a research on which I can shut the door. I haven’t improved a lot on the 4th one both, though the explanations for the previous two years are completely different. Likewise with 5 and 6. I’ve executed as a lot as I probably can on 7 however it’s been a little bit of a battle getting papers rotated promptly. I believe there are a variety of busy and/or drained individuals on the market!
I didn’t deal with the stress and isolation of being a Head of Division throughout the Covid-19 period in addition to I might need executed. I don’t know whether or not it was the excessive ranges of hysteria that sapped my power or whether or not I’m simply feeling the results of age. Anyway I’m glad I accomplished my time period in September final yr, and have no less than managed to finish a few papers since then. I hope to complete one other within the following week or so.
Lastly I ought to point out that the visitors to this weblog was up a large 4.5% in 2022 in contrast with 2021. Curiously the most well-liked publish of the yr wasn’t both of the 2 about Chorizogate (right here or right here) however an previous one I wrote in 2012 concerning the Shell Home Raid which got here again to life due to a movie on Netflix.
