Year in review 2021

Every January I do a review of where I spent my time, money, and attention in the year just ended. This lets me add or remove subscriptions, memberships, recurring payments, and social media follows. It also lets me see if I have any biases or blind spots, or if I’m unknowingly stuck in any kind of echo chamber.

This year I’ve decided to document and share some of my 2021 review.

Podcasts

I subscribed to 41 podcasts in 2021:

  • I listened to every single episode of 83% of them

  • 46% of them I supported financially in one way or another (eg memberships, recurring Patreon support, digital subscriptions, one-off donations)

  • Women and non-binary people hosted 54% of the podcasts I listened to

  • I mostly listened to technology podcasts (eg This Week in Tech, Security Now, Rocket, Command Line Heroes, Darknet Diaries)

People

I directly supported 12 people through recurring payments in 2021:

  • Most of these people are YouTubers (or at least started on that platform)

  • 67% of them identified as female or non-binary

News and information

I paid for eight news and information sources (through recurring subscriptions):

  1. The Guardian

  2. The Conversation

  3. Wired

  4. Quartz

  5. The Sizzle newsletter

  6. CHOICE magazine

  7. Offscreen magazine

  8. Hodinkee magazine

Given that list, it makes sense that Blindspotter thinks my media diet:

  • leans left + centre (with the Conversation, the Guardian, and ABC Australia as my top 3 news sources) and

  • is somewhat narrow (since its sourced mostly from independently owned sources).

(This analysis was based off 53 of my most recent tweets that contained a link to a news article, by the way, so take it with a grain of salt.)

Do I want to engage more with media sources that lean to the right or are owned by large media conglomerates? Not really. Which means I’m quite happy with my current media balance.

My current media diet matches the latest ABC Vote Compass analysis of my political leanings (from the 2019 Australian Federal election) which puts me somewhere between the Greens and the Australian Labor Party. So that checks out.

Subscriptions and donations

I like getting and using things for free, but I pay for what’s important to me and what I can afford at the time.

So over 2021:

Twitter

The social network I participate in the most is Twitter.

Over 2021:

  • I posted 1,010 tweets, 33% of which were replies

  • I tweeted the most in June and August (131 and 139 tweets in those months, respectively)

  • On average my tweets get 198 impressions, and 5.8% of people who see my tweets engage with them (like, reply, retweet, etc)

  • My most popular tweet in 2021 got 45,237 impressions

  • My most engaging tweets in 2021 (of which there were a few) got 33.3% engagement

Overall, I’m happy with how much energy I put into Twitter and how much engagement I have with the people on this social network.

Over the year I also used tools like (the free versions of) Followerwonk and followerAudit to analyse my Twitter graph, which told me interesting things like:

  • I follow more female users (29%) than male users (22%) – though this tool only estimates within the gender binary

  • That said, gender isn’t relevant to most (49%) of the Twitter users I follow (eg they’re not personal accounts)

  • 5.6% of my followers are estimated to be fake, which is lower than the 7% world average

  • 92% of the people I follow have been on Twitter for more than 5 years (I myself have been on Twitter for more than 13 years)

Finally, to get the most out of Twitter, I did these things:

  • I followed really good users and several interesting topics

  • I maintained a bunch of lists to keep my main feed from being overrun by stuff I didn’t want to see all the time (and then I used TweetDeck to track what’s been said by users in those lists)

  • I audited the users I follow, and then did at least two bulk unfollows last year

You have to put in the work if you want to have a good experience on your social network of choice. That’s what I did with Twitter, and that’s why it continues to be one of my favourite places to hang out.

(FYI. Most of the rest of my online energy goes into YouTube, Reddit, tumblr, and the broader decentralised, RSS-based web via NewsBlur.)

Where to from here?

I did do more analysis than this, but I’m not going talk about it all here.

Though maybe I should mention that the ‘Wedding song lyrics’ page on this website continues to be the most popular page year after year. I’m glad I refreshed it a few months ago, correcting some lyrics and adding audio references for all the songs I’ve catalogued there.

What I’ll do now is spend the next few days unfollowing and unsubscribing on Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, NewsBlur, and email. That should be fun, and it’ll help get 2022 off to a good start.

I intend to have a fantastic 2022 and I trust you do too. I hope this year exceeds all your expectations and that you have a truly fantabulous time!

Fifth Maggie-versary!

It’s our fifth Maggie-versary! We adopted Maggie — a red heeler, kelpie, staffie mix found wandering around the bush near Dubbo, NSW — five years ago today.

Photo of a red dog sitting on the floor on a green mat, looking somewhat nervously at the photographer.

Sadly our little doggo spent this morning and early afternoon at the vet getting some non-urgent dental work done. She’s back now, but is still worn down from the general anaesthetic.

At least she’s been reunited with her pack so she can rest properly.

Photo of a weary looking red dog who is resting her head on her paw, eyes closed, while lying next to a human.

The folks at Hobsons Bay Veterinary Clinic are fantastic, by the way. 10/10 would recommend.

Also, I love the design of the crepe bandage they used to hold the drip needle in place :)

Photo of a dog’s foreleg that has a green crepe bandage wrapped around it. The bandage has large blue paw prints stamped along its length.

The nurse said to keep Maggie warm but she’s managing that just fine on her own – given it’s a bright and sunny 34 degrees in Melbourne this afternoon!

Photo of a dog sitting on the grass in a residential garden on a bright, sunny day. The dog has its eyes half closed.

When she’s indoors, though, we give her a bit of a hand.

Photo of a red dog asleep on a towel that’s been placed across a leather sofa. The back half of the dog is covered with a soft blanket.

Overall she’s a little tired and a little stressed, but she’s eating well and is recovering nicely.

Christmas barbecue FTW!

All clear for the Christmas barbecue!

Photo of two rapid antigen tests lying next to each other on a counter. Both tests are showing a negative result for COVID-19.

The barbecue itself was a great success. This here is just a photo of the meat tray taken halfway through the meal. Not shown are the snacks, salads, vegetarian options, pile of haloumi, and desserts! :)

Photo of a tray piled with barbecued meats, including sausages, burger patties, cutlets, and ribs.

Thank you James for the barbecuing and Bec for the hosting! #ChosenFamily

Holiday transition movie

As is tradition since I was a teenager, I started off my big annual holiday with a big movie :)

Speaking of which, I really enjoyed Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. The team that made this film captured the scale, texture, and music of this universe as I imagined it to be. I’m quite impressed.

Photo of a cinema screen in a darkened theatre. The screen shows the Warner Bros logo on a cloudy blue sky background.

Mango summer

Nothing quite like a bowl of cold, diced mango on a hot summer day.

Photo of a hand holding a pink and white bowl that’s full of diced chunks of mango.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When your fridge freezes your diced mango (because you inadvertently knocked the temperature dial to a higher setting) make mango milkshake.

Photo of a blue glass full of mango milkshake.

Making the most of a little bit of sun

Maggie made the most of what little sun we got today.

Photo of a red dog sitting on the grass on a mildly sunny day. The dog is looking at the photographer.

She’s definitely living the life!

(Meanwhile I spent the day in back-to-back meetings from 9am to 4pm, with only two short breaks in between. *sigh*)

Photo of a red dog asleep on its side in a residential garden.

Favourite garden tool

Today I used my favourite garden tool (which I didn’t know was my favourite garden tool till I used it today): a line trimmer (aka whipper snipper). Same with my new self-propelled lawn mower, which now my second favourite.

Photo of a grass-spattered line trimmer (whipper snipper) and battery powered lawn mower on an outdoor deck.

Springing into (lockdown-free) spring

Nadia and I made the most of the gorgeous, post-lockdown Sunday we had today.

First we had brunch at the Altona North Jolly Miller Café. (I’d been missing Eggs Benedict so much! Not enough to make any at home though.)

Photo taken from the top of a table in a café. On the table is a menu that’s out of focus because it’s so close to the camera. Behind the menu are a water bottle, two glasses, a salt shaker, and a pepper grinder. In the background are other tables and chairs, as well as floor-to-ceiling windows through which you can see a bright blue sky.

And then we went for a relaxing, hour-long walk through the lovely Paisley-Challis wetlands nearby.

Selfie of a man and a woman wearing hats, sunglasses, and light jackets. They are standing in a flat wetland area, with lots of green grass, several bushes, and pools of water. In the background, behind all this greenery, is the sea.

There were several walkers, runners, and cyclists on the track, but the rest of the place was so peaceful.

A wide-angle photograph of a green, brushy wetlands area, with the blue sea in the background. On the extreme left of the image you can see a thin walking trail with a single person on it.

A lovely way to spring into post-lockdown spring in Melbourne.

Battered, but not too bruised

We had heavy rain and seriously wild winds across Melbourne overnight and well into this morning.

Screenshot of a smartphone weather app showing a large band of heavy rain moving towards Melbourne from the west.

Luckily just three weeks ago our local council and the power companies that supply our side of the city had come through and cut down all the tree branches that were close to powerlines in our neighbourhood. They’d asked us to do the same with the trees in our front yard too.

Photo of a letter titled ‘Vegetation clearance responsibilities’ with diagrams showing how residents need to trim trees around power lines in front of their houses.

Not that this stopped whole trees and massive tree branches from falling across roads in and around Melbourne’s west, of course.

Screenshot of a smartphone app showing a continuing list of ‘Tree Down’ incidents across several suburbs in Melbourne’s west (including the suburbs of Brooklyn, Ascot Vale, and Maidstone).

Which inevitably led to a bunch of power outages.

Screenshot of an ‘Electricity Outages’ webpage from electricity supplier Jemena. The map on the screenshot shows several pockets of power outages across Jemena’s area of supply, which is mainly to the inner west and inner north of Melbourne. There are no outages at the bottom of the map – between Altona North and Williamstown – which is where the suburb of Newport is situated.

But we lucked out in our neighbourhood: we did have a couple of brownouts during the worst of the wind, but we never actually lost power.

This was the biggest branch that fell on our street.

Photo of a large branch that has fallen off a massive tree on the side of a residential street. The branch that has fallen off is as long as the house behind it is wide.

Fortunately most of the branches that did fall were thinner and leafier, like this one. (Medium sized dog for scale.)

Photo of a relatively thin tree branch that has fallen and is lying on the nature strip next to a residential street. A red dog on a leash is standing next to the branch on the grass.

So chalk one up for proactive maintenance from the Hobson’s Bay City Council, Jemena, and Zinfra!

Drive-in movie during thunderstorm

There’s a first time for everything. Like today, when Nadia and I watched a movie at the Village Cinemas drive-in during a thunderstorm! Which is a lot less disruptive than you think it might be, by the way. As long as you’re not too fussed with watching a movie with the windshield wipers on :)

Also, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a fun movie.

Photo of a large, outdoor cinema screen taken from inside a car at a drive-in cinema. Being projected onto the screen is the Marvel Studios opening titles sequence.

Spring picnics FTW!

I’m not a fan of summer picnics, but spring picnics are most excellent – especially post-lockdown ones! And Newport Lakes Reserve is a great place for a picnic.

Selfie of a man and a woman in a large park on an overcast day. The man is sitting in a low picnic chair. The woman is sitting on the ground and is leaning back on to the man. Both have been caught mid-laugh.

(Don’t worry, Nadia and I only took our masks off while eating lunch, which was immediately before we took this selfie.)

And, since it was such a lovely day, here’s another selfie :)

Selfie of a man sitting in the share of a tree in a large park. The man is balk, bespectacled, and has a salt-and-pepper beard. He is wearing a black t-shirt that’s the original cover of the book ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams.

Wrapped around

Yes, Maggie. Feel free to circle around me while I’m holding onto your lead. Our walk will go really well if you do that. *sigh*

Photo of the front a man’s legs with a dog standing behind him. The dog’s lead has been wrapped around the man’s ankles.

Lunchtime baking on a rainy Friday

When life gives you lemons you make lemonade.

When life gives you leftover fruit — and you’re working from home on a rainy Friday afternoon — you make a mixed berry crisp…

Photo of a baked berry dessert with one portion scooped out. The dessert consists of dark red berries underneath a golden-brown chewy top layer.

And a pear crisp!

Photo of a baked pear dessert with one portion scooped out. The dessert consists of several layers of cooked pears underneath a golden-brown crunchy top layer.

Life can be good. (And delicious.)

Carrot cake!

So the carrot cake I made yesterday turned out pretty great. (Carrot cake is always better the second day, isn’t it?)

Photo of a moist, two-layer, half-eaten carrot cake with raisins and cream cheese frosting.

Yesterday, of course, we lit it on fire and celebrated :)

Photo of a man leaning on a countertop with his elbows. On the counter is a home made cream-cheese-frosted cake with several lit candles on it.

And I made the most of the sunny day in Melbourne with the daffodils and jonquils that Nadia grew for me for my birthday! <3

Photo of a man on a paved section next to a residential garden. The man is crouched behind four large planting pots with yellow and white flowers growing in them.

COVID-19 contact tracing at work

So I was at a Tier 2 COVID-19 exposure site in Altona North last week.

(Night time texts from DHHS? Not fun. Would not recommend.)

Screenshot of a text message received at 9:49pm that reads: “This is a message from the Victorian Department of Health. You are receiving this message because you have been identified as a Tier 2 contact of a person with confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) after recently attending Woolworths Supermarket Millers Junction, Altona North. WHAT YOU SHOULD DO: Get tested for coronavirus immediately and quarantine until you get a negative result. For more information on testing sites please visit” and then there is a URL.

I immediately checked the Victorian Government’s coronavirus public exposure sites page for confirmation of exposure and, sure enough, the Woolworths at Millers Junction in Altona North was listed as a Tier 2 site.

The exposure period was on 13 August from 6:30 to 8:15pm.

Screenshot of a website entry for Woolworths Altona North. The exposure period for this site is 13/08/2021 6:30pm to 8:15pm. The health advice listed is “Tier 2 - get tested urgently and isolate until you have a negative result”.

I then checked my Google Maps timeline to confirm that I’d been there at the same time. And, indeed, I had been there from 7:47 to 8:46pm on that day to do our weekly grocery shop.

I’d checked-in via the Services Victoria app, which is how they’d traced me. (Thank you contact tracers!)

Screenshot of a Google Maps timeline for Fri, 13 Aug 2021 that shows two entries. The first is for driving. The second is for Woolworths on Millers Road in Altona North in Victoria, Australia from 7:47 to 8:46pm.

I got that text last night, so early this morning Nadia and I went for a drive-through COVID-19 test in Newport.

Lots of other people were there to get tested too so the the whole process took us two hours! But we got through it in the end.

Photo of a large white tent set up in a parking lot with several cars queued up to drive through the tent. The car this photo is taken from is waiting behind an orange traffic cone well behind the queue that's in front of the tent.

Now normally COVID-19 tests take 24-ish hours to process. But given I’d been mandated by the Department of Health to take this test, it looks like they expedited mine.

So just before 1am tonight I was told that my test had come back negative. Yay!

Screenshot of a text message that reads: “Dear Ameel, Test on 20/08/2021. Result: COVID-19 virus was NOT DETECTED. Test performed by Aust Clinical Labs. Plus do not reply to this text message.”

Screenshot of a text message that reads: “Dear Ameel, Test on 20/08/2021. Result: COVID-19 virus was NOT DETECTED. Test performed by Aust Clinical Labs. Plus do not reply to this text message.”

So, phew!

Of course I do our weekly shop, well, weekly. And in Newport (which is the suburb where I live) there’s a sizeable COVID-19 cluster. Which means there’s a good chance this’ll happen to me again.

Fortunately, I’m careful, I’m fully vaccinated, and I wear a good quality face mask so the likelihood of me actually getting infected and then falling very ill is tiny. But, still, it’s not fun to be reminded (and then be able to document) your close calls.

Possum on a tree

Why, yes. that is a possum perched on the topmost branch of our neighbour’s tree. It’s keeping a close eye on Maggie, who is scent-marking her territory in the back garden before we get to bed at night.

Dark, desaturated photo of a leafless tree that’s next to a two storey house. Perched on top-most branches of this tree, silhouetted by the dimly lit, cloudy sky is a little possum.