Introduction
Well this year’s been tough. There’s no easy way to preface this so just scroll down and read. I’ll see you at the end.
School
Since COVID-19 cancelled my final IGCSE exams, my final grades were based on my mocks and classwork. Honestly, I’m quite happy with my results as I was expecting to be worse in nearly all subjects. You can see the final results on my portfolio page.
After that, there isn’t much to talk about school apart from the past few months. They have been brutal. The IB is so much more difficult than I thought and I don’t think my subject choices help. I definitely could have picked less demanding subjects. My main struggle is Maths and Physics as I don’t get how the numbers are meant to work together but I’ll get there.
For my Extended Essay, I’ve decided to pick Economics but I’m not sure what exactly the topic of my paper will be. Personally, I find the banking and finance industry very interesting but what exactly I’ll talk about is a mystery. Plus, I might not be able to get the necessary information I need for my paper. This is largely the case for my Internal Assessments – I know a broad topic I want to look into but struggle to narrow it down to something achievable to find a concrete sub-topic to talk about.
While this isn’t strictly related to my grades, I think that the impression my teachers and my school, in general, has of me has significantly improved. This is mostly due to HUSMUN and the amount of involvement the school had in the project which let them see how I work and what I’m like in general. Oh, and some of the teachers know about this blog which is definitely a plus.
Business
Manaclo hasn’t seen many sales. The last order was sometime in February. However, we have been looking into other distribution methods and have started holding our own inventory instead of outsourcing nearly everything. If all goes well, the money will start rolling in. I do need to take more product photos and will actually have to set up photoshoots to get that done.
Personal relationships
Friends
This is a curveball. Some friendships have deteriorated – there are some people in my class I haven’t talked to since the pandemic happened but on the other hand, I have met so many new people thanks to HMUN and joining a few organisations and using social media in general. Apart from meeting new people, existing friendships with a very small number of people have gotten closer. Since I like to keep my circle small, it’s fulfilling to have these relationships become stronger.
For the most part, I’m quite non-confrontational and don’t really fall into a lot of drama. I tend to watch from the sidelines if anything but this year was the first time I’d ever had a major falling-out with a person. While this wasn’t a major aspect of my year, it was a first.
Family
I don’t think my relationship with my family has changed much – if at all. The most defining moment with my family this year was the death of one of my cats, Leo. He didn’t deserve to die that young and I hope he’s in a better place now.
Learning
I’ve had quite a lot of time to spend learning whatever I wanted to. This year, I’ve spent time learning how to:
- Cook
- PVP in Minecraft
- Code in Javascript (didn’t go well)
- Code in Java (went better)
- Manage a team
- Hold myself accountable
While that list is short, the single most important thing I’ve learnt this year is that you have time. This may sound simple (because it is) but it’s a valid reminder in a world where we’re expected to be successful by 20. If anything, it’s kept me sane.
Creativity
This blog has been my creative outlet for roughly half the year. Before then I don’t remember what I did. Reading books is a safe guess. Apart from writing, there hasn’t been much creative stuff going on this year. I don’t play any instruments, I don’t draw or do art, I don’t do crafts. Well, technically graphic design could count in which case, most designs on Manaclo count.
Emotions
Emotions are a weird topic for me. I’m extremely apathetic to almost everything in general and most news has little to no effect on me. No, I’m not a robot. I think I’ve become more comfortable with what I feel and have gotten better at processing said emotions. Unfortunately, I’m quite unstable and every now and then, something small will just cause a meltdown. I’m still building a support system for me but I can say that there are people I can rely on and trust.
Other stuff I want to say
2020 has been the year with both my lowest and highest points so far. It’s been demanding and I doubt I’ll ever have to go through something like this again (unless another pandemic is on the way). The reason I think that 2020 was a good year is because it’s been a challenge. Yeah sure it wasn’t easy but I got through it and that has to count for something.
This is one of the more emotionally charged posts I’ve done and I’m not sure how to wrap things up so I’ll just have a few things I want to do/happen next year.
- Get to 1000 subscribers
- Reach 4000 all-time views on my blog
- Get the grades I want
- Build and publish an app