2023 July-December Summary (Catch-Up)

A busy 2023 both Home and Away meant blogging had been on hold for most of the year with plans to finally reboot to make sure 2024 began as up to date as is possible However, 2024 has began and this blog among others is still catching up, this post focusing on the July-December period of 2023.

Home

The Countdown Weights reached the milestone of 1.5 Million lifts in August and at the end of the year the overall total had reached 1.7 Million with a new weekly high total of 12,000, daily records of just over 2450 and a round high of 166. 

After the transition work wise earlier in the year, it continued strongly with the desk based role feeling better overall. The online friendships saw two new additions to my close friends with both being in the UK so the connections formed easily while other connections continued to reach milestones both home and overseas. 

Gaming saw a mixed second half of 2023 with July and September under 150 unlocks but supported by August, October, November and December all above 200 unlocks with December itself ending on 295. There was a choice to either go for 300 or make the overall Gamerscore goal of 950,000 the focus which worked the better so as 2023 close, the long-term goal of the 1 Million Gamerscore was just 50,000 away. The year itself became the second highest for unlocks with 2192 but a long way off the record of 2768 set in 2021 and also with a healthy Gamerscore total of 180,380. Also there was a transition in August as the Xbox One hit difficulties meaning an upgrade to the Xbox Series X.

Rugby League (Wigan)

After the huge haul of 78 attendances in the first half of 2023, the year became the record year for attendances in reaching an epic 114 overall which included a number of new events and venues.

However, the second part of 2023 began with an Golden Point extra time loss of 27-26 away to Wakefield before a return to winning ways at home to Rochdale Wheelchair completing a home/away double success. A home to Leeds Women saw a true example of the 'game of two halves' cliché as Wigan went from just 0-8 at HT to lose 0-52. Another new venue the following Wednesday saw a visit to Cowley International College as the Women's Academy salvaged a 22-22 draw against St Helens. 

A perfect home Warrington Weekender saw the Academy, Men's & Women's teams all secure wins over the Wolves. Another unique event for the records came the following weekend with a Challenge Cup Semi Final double-header in Leeds, sadly it was double woe as both the Men's and Women's sides lost out to Hull KR and Leeds.  A first visit to Hindley on a thundery Wednesday saw success over Bradford Scholarship and the success continued against Leigh.

There was a nice surprise and some history the following weekend as during the Academy/Men's Friday double delight at home to Hull KR, there was a reunion with Lauréane Biville with a casual selfie and chat before she played in her first Women's Derby that Sunday in an hard-fought 12-4 loss to St Helens where she joined the kit pic list for 2023 as well. The history came as the Hull KR Men's game was the 91st attendance of the season meaning the 2022 record of 90 was toppled with three months to spare.

The Women's Academy had success the following Wednesday with victory over York Valkyrie but that weekend the Women's first team lost out to York while the Reserves/Men's double delight came against Hull FC. As August ended and September began, attendances saw a five game winning run with wins over St Helens Academy, Salford, Sheffield Wheelchair and the re-arranged Leeds Reserves game from earlier in the season culminating with the Huddersfield Women which became the 100th attendance of 2023 so a first every centurion season. 

The annual Women's/Men's double-header in Leeds saw mixed results as the Women lost 24-0, alike the reverse meeting it was a close first half and torrid second half but the Men eased to a whopping 50-0 win making the trip home a positive one. Another unbeaten run saw home wins over Castleford and Warrington Academy before the final Women's Academy attendance of the season saw a 22-22 draw on a cold Wednesday at Wigan St Judes. However, a strange blow came as the Academy SF win over Warrington was overturned due to Wigan miscounting interchanges and meant the Academy Grand Final wouldn't be attended as Warrington faced St Helens.

A busy weekend of travels saw an away win at Leigh and a first ever trip to York Valkyrie as the Women's team lost a hard-fought Women's SL Semi Final. The Reserves claimed the first trophy of the attending season with a stunning 24-0 over St Helens at Robin Park Arena and later that day, the Wheelchair Reserves eased past Sheffield Wheelchair to seal a place in the Wheelchair Championship Grand Final. 

The hopes of a Grand Final trilogy to end the season bore fruit as the Men defeated Hull KR at the DW Stadium and the following day via an online stream I saw the Wheelchair side edge out London Roosters (Non-attendance) to reach the Wheelchair SL Grand Final. My 2023 season ended with an epic Manchester Weekender with the Saturday seeing the SL Grand Final won by Wigan against Catalans Dragons at Old Trafford before the 10th new venue of the season on the Sunday. 

This was a visit to Manchester Basketball Centre which saw a reuniting selfie with Jenna Brooks and seeing the Wheelchair Reserves lose out to North Wales Crusaders but my record season of 114 attendances was to have a happy ending as the Wheelchair first team stunned Leeds with a 50-42 victory to become Wheelchair SL Champions for the first time. 

Goals 

In terms of goals, 23 were completed between July and December across many levels as follows. 

• 12 Jul - First Women's Academy Away/90th Women's attendance, 29 Jul - 650th RL attendance since my records began in 2010.
• 4 Aug- 350 Home attendances, 16 Aug- 150,000G on Windows games.
• 2 Sept-   175 Countdown weeks, 15 Sept- 450 Xbox Completions, 27 Sept - 2500 Windows unlocks.
• 15 Oct- 10 new RL venues.
• 2 Nov - 1,324,445 TA total (beating 2022), 3 Nov- 916.765 G (beating 2022)
• 13 Dec 250 pool sessions in 2023, 18 Dec - 950 Countdown days 21-Dec- Reached highest ever savings total in bank and overall. 22 Dec - 23211 Ach (beating 2022). 
• 28 Dec - 350 Xbox One Completions/Pool sessions in every week of 2023, Remain in same job and employed for whole of 2023. 
• Among other records the total for 2023 was 60/78 so a 76 % success rate. 

Visual Highlights between July and December are also below...

2023 January-June Summary (Catch-Up)

A busy 2023 both Home and Away meant blogging has been on hold for most of the year with plans to finally reboot to make sure 2024 begin as up to date as is possible. As the tag for this year was the split between Home and Away it seems fitting to title the sections as such in this opening summary of 2023.

Home

The Countdown Weights reached their third anniversary of existence back in April with the pursuit of 1.5 Million lifts well underway. A number of milestones in the first four months of the year included regularly hitting weekly totals of 11,000, round totals of above 150 and daily records going above 2200.  At the halfway point of 2023, the status was 156 in terms of round total, 11,400 as a weekly high and also an overall of around 1.4 Million. 

Work continued with the future transition from the last post taking place in February which saw a move from using a laptop to a desktop and a mini office space created at home. The online friendships with my closest friends both here and overseas had both growth and weakness alike the last post with some connections loosening before gaining new strength and other sadly ending altogether. 

As the new season of attendances began in February, Gaming increased with all but March and May above 150 unlocks with the best month being the haul of 253 unlocks in January.

Rugby League (Wigan)

After a record 90 attendances in 2022, the first half of 2023 saw a whopping 78 attendances across many levels and also meant it was a case of when rather than if the 2022 record would be toppled.

The season began with a unique RPA/DW double against Salford with the Academy storming to an 84-0 win before the seniors had success in Sam Powell's Testimonial. Back-to-back losses saw the Academy defeated by Oldham with SL's opener at Hull KR being a hard loss to take given the journey.  Wins over Wakefield, Castleford for the men and first visit to Salford Roosters to see the Wigan Women overcome Salford saw February end well and March begin positively which included the start of the Women's squad pic goal to have all 30 or so players in a selfie across the season. 

Losses to Catalans and St Helens/Warrington Scholarships tri-sandwiched a haul of seven wins which included the highest score of the season in a 102-0 hammering of Newcastle Thunder Academy at RPA as well as success over Huddersfield and Salford. Four new venues saw victories with Halifax Wheelchair (RP Leisure Centre), Leigh Leopards Women (Twist Lane), Bradford Wheelchair (Preston College) and Barrow Ladies (Matt Johnson Prestige Stadium). 

A Warrington Weekender saw the Men and Reserves secure wins while the Women salvaged a 22-22 draw at Victoria Park in the WSL opener before double success against Wakefield for the Men and Academy the following week. Another new venue at the end of April saw a trip to Rochdale Leisure Centre to see the Wheelchair Reserves over come Rochdale Wheelchair. This came a day after an England/France double in Warrington where I reunited with Lauréane Biville completing the selfie set with her playing for France and hinting of a Wigan return in Summer.

Mixed results followed with a win over Huddersfield Scholarship, SL losses to Hull and Leeds and draw with Leeds Reserves as the game was abandoned at 22-22 due to a Leeds player suffering a serious injury. The biggest winning streak so far saw eight victories and began with a perfect Women's Nines Group stage for Wigan as they eased past Castleford, London and Leigh on a day which saw four groups viewed and a first ever meeting and selfie with WN organiser and England captain Jodie Cunningham at Victoria Park. 

Success followed against Warrington Women's Academy with a 72-0 hammering at WSJ before both the Men and Women sealed passage in the Challenge Cup with wins over Salford Women and Leeds. Redemption in SL with joy away at Hull KR and then Leeds Development Wheelchair in a RPLC festival double which saw the streak end with defeat to Leeds Wheelchair. 

Victory away at Huddersfield Women opened June before a humbling by Catalans at Magic Weekend in Newcastle was followed by a St Helens trilogy with victories for the Women's Academy and Reserves sandwiching an SL defeat at the TW Stadium. A Challenge Cup double between RPA/DW saw success over Huddersfield Women and Warrington which led to another double being created for July in Leeds. 

The Women came achingly close to a first trophy success of the year as they lost out in the Women's Nines final to Leeds having drawn with them in the group and stunning York Valkyrie and defeating Warrington. The first half of the year drew to a close with double successes over Salford (Men/Reserves) and Huddersfield (Academy/Men) bookending a scholarship victory against Hull FC. 

Goals 

In terms of goals, a huge haul of 28 were completed between January and June across many levels as follows. 

• 21 Jan- 850,000 TA on Xbox One, 27 Jan - 60% Completion on TA.
• 3- Feb -150,000 TA on Windows. 10 Feb- 550,00G on Xbox One , 24 Feb - 3000 miles on Nike +
• 15 Mar- 1.5 Million Countdown lifts, 17 Mar- 500 Wigan attendances as ST holder, 26 Mar- 3 new venues. 27 Mar- 50 attendances in 2023.
• 1 Apr- First Wigan Wheelchair Reserves attendance, 2 Apr- 5 new venues/ 150 away attendances/75th away win, 5 Apr- First Scholarship away attendance, 8 Apr- 250 attendances between RPA/DW Stadium. 28 Apr- 3 years of Countdown lifts.
• 5 May - 500 RL Men's attendances, 14 May- 75 Women's attendances, 21 May - 600 RL attendances/ 350 RL wins, 22 May- 800 Countdown lift days, 25 May 300 SL (Non Wigan) attendances/350 SL attendances inc Wigan.
• 7 Jun- 250 home wins, 11 June- 25th Women's Super League, 14 Jun- 1,250,000 TA, 18 Jun- 50 Miles walked in 2023, 28 Jun- 25 Scholarship attendances, 30 Jun- 80 Men's Academy attendances.

Visual Highlights between Jan and June are also below...

2022 July-December Summary (Catch-Up)

A positive first half of 2022 on many fronts as seen in the previous post but such is life, what is good doesn't always last, However, there are also instances where goodness can come by surprise with a few appearing in this July- December summary. 

Rugby League (Wigan)

A mixed start to the second half of the year with the Women losing at home to Leeds where I prioritised them over the Men's loop game at Wakefield and then the long awaited return to Magic Weekend (Newcastle) being an agonising derby defeat to St Helens. July ended with another first for 2022 with a Men/Women Double Header as Wigan visited Leeds, sadly two losses but that night began a new connection that would flourish across the remainder of the season. 

The signing of French international Lauréane Biville saw a 'good luck on your debut post' lead to interviewing her with squad housemate and my favourite player Anna Davies at the home win over Huddersfield in August. This duo piece went on the Wigan website and with the surprise images from John Baldwin made for a truly memorable experience. Another great experience which this time didn't include Wigan was seeing every game of the Women's Nines Finals day with the winners being York City Knights Ladies.

August ended with a Derby Quartet with two wins and two losses on the space of a week or so against St Helens. The domestic season ended with just one success trophy wise with the Reserves Grand Final win over Wakefield closing the campaign bit on the Women's front, a hard fought loss in the Semi Final to York which saw Lauréane Biville cross for our only try and my celebration was caught on the TV coverage. 

The year ended on a record high of 90 RL attendances with the England double at the DW which saw Georgia Wilson score a try and Vicky Molyneux win Player of the Match which was great to see first hand having wished both good luck in the World Cup at the WSL Semi Final and despite her French side coming away without success, it was lovely to be able to also interact and support Lauréane from afar and news at the turn of the year is that she will reunite with Wigan this year (2023) so hopes are on the up for a good 2023 in RL attendances.

Leisure

The Countdown Weights of the second half of the year saw the huge milestone of 1,000,000 lifts reached in September and a first ever 500,000 lifts in a single year. The daily and weekly records saw 2100 hit in a day and 10,000 and then 10,500 in a single week. Meaning the hopes for early 2023 of 2200 and 11,000 in daily and weekly totals. 

Work continued nicely despite numerous team movements due to some restructuring but as the year came to a close, news of a future transition arrived but it would be the not a job change but a contract change which will happen in February. 

The online friendships with my closest friends both here and overseas had both growth and weakness with some connections loosening before gaining new strength,  The romantic connection did come to an end though as long distance meant a very tough period with no contact from overseas led to my ending of the connection rather than wait to be let go as i always have been.

As the attending eased later in the year and work remained consistent, Gaming increased with all but July above 150 unlocks and the final three all above 200 meaning that despite being a long way off the all-time record total from 2021, this year passed 2000 to become the third year to do so. 

In terms of overall goals for the year

Visual Highlights between July and December are also below...

2022 Jan-June Summary (Catch-Up)

After a huge delay with the 2021 summaries, 2022 will be summarised in two posts spanning Jan-June and July-December in order to finally catch up to the present time of writing here in 2023 where the blog becomes  HomeWork & AwayPlay in 2023.

Rugby League (Wigan)

A great start to the year began with a first away trip since July 2021, ironically alike then it was to see the Warriors face Warrington and this time around it was a successful trip, The success continued into what became my longest winning streak and unbeaten run of 17 games before a first defeat of the season against St Helens on Good Friday. The streak featured some new horizons in the Women's attendances with first ever trips to see Salford Women and Bradford Women and also a first clash against Dewsbury Moor Women. 

However, there was a surprise switch in focus after the Easter loss as I took the steps to become a Media Volunteer for Wigan and it meant actually doing match reports and updates with the first covering the Women's Nines Festival at Warrington's Victoria Park. Finally after many near-misses, I graced the infamous venue and although Wigan lost out to Catalans Deésses in their group (wins came against Hull FC/Wakefield), interacting with the Wigan Women's squad was a superb experience. 

That experience extended into a first ever trip to see the Women play Huddersfield in early June which included interviewing Becky G and Beth H and despite the content not being used by the club due the focus on the Men's news that week, the interview took the negatives of my PMRs into a new positive.

Another unique double was seeing both the Men's and Women's Challenge Cup finals in May, the first was at Elland Road as St Helens Women defeated Leeds Women ahead of another  memorable experience against Huddersfield with victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in May's Challenge Cup Final following Wigan.

The strangest game was my first covering the reserves as the Warriors eased to a 100-0 win over Castleford which made the report easy to write but led to some happy chaos in rapid updating and across the first half of the year, having the 17 game streak and then an eight game streak made for a hopes of an equally great second half of 2022. 

Leisure

After the lockdown of 2020/21 saw Leisure limited to being at home, this continued around the aforementioned attending with the Countdown Weights surpassing the second anniversary on April 28th. The first half of the year saw almost 250,000 lifts bringing the overall total to around 850,000 meaning the Million would hopefully happen in 2022. Various records graced the whiteboard including the first ever day of 2000 lifts and also 500 days of the CW as an idea itself. 

A nice transition around April saw work become more secure in the move from an agency agent to a permanent agent which came days after the Rugby Derby defeat in happening on Easter Monday. 

The online friendships with my closest friends both here and overseas grew stronger and led to new friends across the pond so to speak. However, the most significant connection change came as a friend who sadly disappeared last year, reunited in May and that began us forging an online relationship which added to the joy of the aforementioned Huddersfield Women trip in June as the 'Yes' came while standing soaked on the touchline.

As both the attending and work situations increased into 2022, this meant Gaming became less of a focus and any hopes of matching or even topping the epic 2021 was going to be tough. This was clear in the fact only three of the six months from Jan-June included more than 150 unlocks and just ONE over 200 as shown in the monthly totals below. 

Visual Highlights between Jan and June are also below...

2021 Winter Summary (Nov /Dec) (Catch Up)

The final months of 2021 saw the Autumn/Winter Life/Gaming balance continue and after 2020, this year (2021) was always going to be a mixed one as the Pandemic continued alongside the slight return of some sort of normality in life as has been shown in the previous monthly summaries.

Life

The Countdown Weights saw 124/125/126/127/128 completed and new weekly milestones of 9272, 9343 & 9391. There were many daily highs of 1873, 1878, 1890, 1892, 1893,1899, 1902, 1907, 1915, 1916 & 1917 which meant the hope of reaching 2000 in a day would become possible in 2022. 

A milestone of hitting  400,000 for the year and a new best month of 40,184 in November followed by a new high of 42,576 in December to end the year with joy. 

November saw the celebration of my new best friend's birthday where she loved the gift we decided on and being online only friends, the process was done with discussions. The work side of life continued with some mixed quality checks but the long term goal of being fully employed across two years came true as I ended December and would began January still in the same job.

After beginning the year having lost an online close friend who stopped replying on Dec 31st 2020. it was nice to end this year not only with an amazing best friend who has been the most supportive and caring woman in my life since April but a few new close friends who ensure a good end to the year in an emotional sense. 

Gaming

The gaming boost saw a slight drop with a haul of 145 unlocks and a good ratio of 5 completions from 9 games played. A good end to the year saw a huge haul of 227 unlocks which completed a truly historic gaming year. The ratio for the month is a strange one with 8 completions from 34 games played but not in a bad way as many games were used specifically for the True Achievements 20/20 & Christmas challenges. 

A few homebased highlights from the months...

2021 Autumn Summary (Sept/Oct) (Catch-Up)

September saw two huge life changes in terms of a starting and ending career wise and that transition saw October become attendance less for the first year in a long time. 

Sport

A mixed start to the month football wise with a 2-0 loss in the FA Cup away to Radcliffe before a 3-1 win away at Northwich Victoria in an evening game. The next game saw the biggest win in my 4 1/2 years involved with the club as visiting FA Vase opponents Retford suffered a 9-1 humiliation but the immense joy was soon soured by an insult from the chairman post-match with the gist being that he felt I hadn't ever 'contributed' to the club. 

An insult so powerful would usually have led to rage but after actually contributing for 4 1/2 years, my final contribution was resigning on the spot and severing all ties with such a toxic club and staff. As someone who played a significant part in the saving and promotion of the club across the years, I knew my luck would be that they would prosper while I move on.

Attendances in RL came to an end with premature endings for the Men and Women with the Academy simply ending their season on time. A 20-6 home loss to York City Ladies was made worse by the Magic Weekend virtual loss of 10-6 against Warrington Wolves. Next up, a virtual 10-0 win away at Hull FC was followed by a winning double of Catalans Dragons (12-8) and Hull KR Academy (38-12) both at home. 

Women's attending ended for the year with a 52-0 loss away at St Helens Women before the Men's first team also saw an early end to the season with an 8-0 home loss to Leeds Rhinos in the Play-Off Eliminator. The final sports attendance of the year saw success with a 40-18 win over Bradford Bulls Academy. 

Life

The Countdown Weights saw 122/123 completed and 124 in the early stages to end the month of September. Records wise, a new weekly high of 8916 was coupled with the daily high of 1845 and a new best monthly total of 39.074. October saw 123/124 completed and 125 in the early stages to end the month. Records wise, a new weekly milestone of 9000 was followed by a further high of 9152 was coupled with the daily highs of 1857, 1860, 1862 and 1865.

A nice mix of friend connections continued to grow with my new best friend becoming my biggest supporter and a number of friend birthdays either taking place or in the planning for November. The long term connections continued with one of the recent additions to my close friend group becoming someone I consider to my best friend as our connection has become very strong.

The biggest news in this section from last month extended with the new job officially starting and developing new work friendships too. The work side of life saw some early worries ease with several perfect quality checks and growing connections both in and out of work.

Gaming

The gaming boost continued with a lower than usual total of 131 unlocks and a mixed ratio of 7 completions from 15 games played. October saw a rise with a double century haul of 200 unlocks with a good ratio of 11 completions from 15 games played.

A mix of home and being out and about, highlights below are boosted by some adventures. 

Gaming and Sport Combine In Awesome August

A long delay on this and all blogs which continues into 2022 but hopefully will soon even out, next up is August where Sport and Gaming combined closely. 

Sport

Football wise, physical attending continued with Skem U closing pre-season and beginning the cup and league campaigns, the NWCP opened with a 1-0 home loss to Longridge Town before a 0-0 draw away at Vauxhall Motors in the FA Cup followed by a 2-0 win over Motors to secure progression in midweek. The success continued with away wins at Runcorn Town (4-2) and Charnock Richard (3-1) and a huge 5-1 FA Cup win at Irlam. The month ended with mixed results as the good run ended in a 1-0 loss away to Motors before a 3-1 home victory over Litherland Remyca.

Physical attendances continued in RL with a great start to the month in home wins against Leigh (50-6) and Salford (16-6) before the lack of club travel meant a virtual att in a 26-14 loss to Hull KR. Then the physical return featured a home double of defeats against St Helens (26-2) and Leeds (14-0) with the latter being viewed in hospitality with a friend after winning a Riversiders raffle. A first Women's physical attendance finally arrived with mixed emotions as it was a 10-6 home loss to Castleford Women and the month closed with a virtual 22-0 win over Castleford on Bank Hol Monday. 

Life

The Countdown Weights saw 121 and 122 in terms of round totals with three record weekly totals from 8850-8876 and a new best monthly total of 38,839 which toppled the previous month's high of 38184.

Updating on the friends front, the long term connections continued while the two recent additions to my friends grew ever stronger as a bond with a plus being one over here and the other in the US so  the ability to interact freely between the time-zones. 

The biggest news in this section came late in the month with a successful interview meaning I began training for a new job on the 31st and will be as a home-worker. 

Gaming

The gaming boost continued a haul of 249 unlocks and a good ratio of 14 completions from 17 games played and as always more details can be found in the 

 Xbox Achievement Adventure August Summary.

As the month has seen a mix of home and being out and about, highlights below are boosted by some adventures.