A lot has happened in recent weeks/months/however long it has been since I last posted anything on here. For a start, as the result of a series of mistakes and trespasses of trust, I am now single, and have been for about 2 months now I think. It’s a long story, and if anybody particularly wants to hear it, they’ll have to buy me several beers and keep me company for an evening.

In other news, it’s almost a year now that I’ve been living in Cambridge and working for BWS, and in 3 weeks’ time I’ll be moving back to my parents’ house as my tenancy here expires. On that note, I need to throw a wicked party here before I go, and I’m shit at planning things, so if anybody has any ideas, lemme know. I’ll certainly be sad to leave here, I’ve had a hell of a good time, and have had the honour of meeting and working with some of the smartest and most fascinating people I’ve ever met.

While I don’t really like Cambridge all that much as a city - the abundance of cyclists and lack of good driving roads makes it a bad place for a petrolhead - I’ll certainly miss its quirks. I’ve had numerous good nights out here, and there are some excellent drinking establishments around, although unfortunately the sheer quantity means that there are a number of utter dives around, and living on the cheap side of town, it ultimately means that they seem to be in congregation around my house. Having said that, a 20 minute walk will have me in the centre of town where I know many a watering hole in which I’ve enjoyed many a libation.

The fact is, however, since I’ve broken up with Caley I’ve been bored out of my mind. Living with Chris is neither entertaining nor fresh-smelling, and when most of my work mates live a fair distance away, finding something to do in the evenings is pretty difficult. And, given my lack of enthusiasm to do anything except for sit around on messenger and Facebook drinking more beer than the NHS recommends (I mean seriously, 3-4 units a day is apparently a lot), finding a hobby is not something that I plan to do. So, in the meantime, I’ll keep writing this blog.

Over the past hour in which I’ve been slowly writing this, I’ve realised that this house is far from ideal for a party. It’s small, has limited sleeping room, and the kitchen is smaller than small. Still, given a bit of rearrangement, it could be a pretty nice pad. It just needs to have the area that Chris sits fumigated and shampooed, and we’re in business. And then febreezed. That stuff smells fantastic. Like parma violets!

Jetzt ist es eins Uhr, und ich dachte mir, “ich hab vor kurzem kein Deutsch gesprochen.”

I have changed. I really have. For the first time in my life I’m trying my hardest, and this time round I’m too quietly proud of my achievements to stop myself.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, as ever. Still, this time I have some genuinely interesting things to say about my life (no guarantee there), rather than just a rant about how much I hate living here. The title of this post, self-actualisation, is a term that describes what I feel I have achieved over the past month. For those of you who are so heinously uneducated enough not to know, self-actualisation is the a state that sits atop Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (a model spoken about lots by marketing types). Upon reaching self-actualisation, a person feels that their physiological, security, affiliation and affection, self-respect, and recognition needs have been satisfied.

So, with the exception of financial security, I feel as though I have ‘arrived’ as it were. It’s taken me 6 months of being here, but I’m finally content with the way things are. I’ve realised that I am happy in my job as a developer, and I’m thoroughly enjoying my work so much that I’ve started throwing myself at as many tasks as I can possibly manage in the time I have, and I’m feeling more and more rewarded by it. The beauty of working for a small company such as BWS who have a large market footprint is that you can see the things you do well making a difference to people. The software that I write, improve and debug, the design work that I do, and dealing with support calls - all of it goes towards driving the company forwards, all giving me positive feedback. A good example of this is that the new website that me and Liz have been working hard on has more than doubled the number of incoming leads to the sales department since its launch a couple of months ago.

On top of enjoying my job, I feel that I’m really starting to fit into the company. I know the people there well, and we have a good time working together. And, what’s more, I feel respected for what I’m doing.

It’s a good feeling.