2015 - Good or Bad?

Alike 2014, 2015 saw a mixed year in terms of keeping up with the monthly updates which is proved by the fact that the review of the year is being written 10 days into 2016. The use of highs and lows from the year worked well in the 2014 review so I will do the same for 2015.

January

Positives

• Starting my 'Out and About' series
• Skelmersdale United sitting on top of the NPL.

Negatives

• Deterioration of fitness
• No job progress

February

Positives

• As with every February, celebrating my birthday with this year being turning 28
• Watching Liverpool defeat Tottenham at Anfield 
• Super League returning with my fifth year in Row L Seat 112
• Attending the World Club Series training at Orrell

Negatives

• WCS defeat for Wigan against Brisbane
• Liverpool exiting the Europa League
• Still no job progress

March

Positives

• Early success in Away Days feature
• Joining the Serious About Rugby League Admin team
• Setting a new Best Gaming Day
• Skem United reaching Liverpool Senior Cup final

Negatives

• Skem United slipping of top spot in NPL
• Still no job progress

April

Positives

• A return to Anfield as a spectator against Newcastle
• Liverpool reached FA Cup semi finals
• Skem United won the  Liverpool Senior Cup  
• Wigan beat St Helens in the Good Friday derby

Negatives

• Limited job/fitness progress
• Liverpool lost in FA Cup semi final 
• Skem finished only seventh in NPL

May

Positives

•  Magic Weekend success in Newcastle
• Two trips to Anfield
• Feature on Henry Gallagher on YT set a new view record
• Reaches 10,000 and 15,000 YT channel views
• Joined The Riversiders

Negatives

• The sad passing of my Nan 
• Liverpool losing 6-1 on final day of season
• Wigan exited the Challenge Cup
• Missing out on two good jobs
• Man City claiming the PL title

June

Positives

• A winning return to the DW Stadium
• Reaching 50 subscribers on YT
• Hitting 20,000 and 25,000 YT channel views
• Achieving 3 million Nike Fuel
• 50th Xbox completion

Negatives

• Saying a final goodbye to my Nan

July

Positives

• Wigan end regular season in third spot
• Away Days ended with a win at Hull FC
• Wigan Academy thrash Hull KR 68-0
• 40th RL game of the year
• 100th Regular season attendance
• 100th win as a Season Ticket holder
• Skem United open pre-season with a win
• XBL renewed and set new Best Day/Month records
• 30,000 YT views
• Filmed Wigan Fan Day with some player interviews

Negatives

• No job progress

August

Positives

• Start of new season for Skem who complete the month unbeaten at home
• Liverpool return to league action with good success
• Wigan secure two Super 8 wins
• 150th game as a Season Ticker holder
• Super 8 Stories began
• 35,000 YT Views
• Wigan win Academy league

Negatives

• More job rejection
• Earning an 0/3 record at Headingley Stadium
• Liverpool and Skem suffer away from home

September

Positives

• Visited London with Wigan and interviewed Ian Lenegan (WW Chairman)
• Wigan Academy retained Grand Final title 
• Skem advanced in FA Cup
• NFL returned with good hopes for Redskins

Negatives

• Wigan miss out on League Leader Shield
• Missed out on a 15th away win as a spectator with Wigan
• Having to sign up for Universal Credit
• More job rejections

October 

Positives

• Skem advanced in FA Trophy
• Liverpool beat Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge
• 40,000 YT views
• Redskins beat Eagles and come from 24-0 down vs Bucs to win 
• Hit 225,000 TA, recorded Best Day with 100 unlocks 
• Reached 7500 achievements, set Best Month record
• Finally reached 40% game completion
• Beat 2014 records for TA and Gamerscore

Negatives

• Wigan losing SL Grand Final for a second year in a row
• Still on Universal Credit
• More job rejections

November

Positives

• Renewed Warriors season ticket ensuring a sixth season as an STH
• England RL win Test series
• Began volunteering at BHF F & E store
• First away game as a Skem spectator
• Hit 50,000 G on X1 and 150,000 G overall
• 25th Skem attendance of the year
• Redskins moved to NFC East summit
• LFC hire Jurgen Klopp and win 4-1 away at Man City
• Skem advance in FA Trophy

Negatives

• Still on Univ Credit
• LFC sack Brendan Rodgers
• Skem exit Doodson Cup
• More job application rejections

December

Positives 

• Redskins win NFC East title and reach the play-offs 
• Offered an interview at ALDI 
• Skem advance in FA Trophy and Liverpool Senior Cup
• LFC reach League Cup semis with 6-1 win at Southampton
• Full year of Out and About series
• 50,000 YT views
• Recorded Best Year in gaming with 1688 Achvs, 74,954 TA and 39,743 G
• Completed 48/67 goals for the year

Negatives

• Ended the year unemployed and single
• Failed to reach healthy weight
• Failed 19/67 goals overall
• Only had two Skem attendances due to weather causing postponements
• Still on Universal Credit. 

After a mixed year overall in 2015- the title for next year's blog will be - Bouncing Back in 2016? (of course due to a delay this blog is written in 2016 itself)

A Decent December Ends 2015

After a 'Nice November',  December saw a reasonable end to the year with a record month in terms of goals achieved with a huge haul of ten. A review of the year in short will follow this post hopefully with more highs than back in 2014's edition.

Sport

No action in terms of Rugby League but a lot of prep done for the new season in terms of tickets with the Magic Weekend and World Club Series booked on the back of November's Season Ticket purchase.

Skelmersdale United had a strange month as they played just five times with a slim two at Stormy Corner due to the bad weather conditions forcing postponements. A stunning start to the month saw them come from 2-1 down to win 5-2 at home to National League North side Chorley FC in an FA Trophy Qualifying replay. Followed up by an away win at Bootle following a week later in the Liverpool Senior Cup as they drew 1-1 before triumphing 4-3 on penalties.

A huge comeback from 3-0 down away to AFC Fylde in the FA Trophy 1st round saw Skem lead 4-3 late on only to draw 4-4. A 2-1 defeat to Ashton United on the 19th proved to be my final attendance of 2015 at Stormy Corner as the Fylde Replay was called off as was the festive game against Marine but United sadly ended the year with a 1-0 defeat away to high-flying Nantwich Town.

Liverpool's month started amazingly with a 6-1 hammering of Southampton in the Capital One Cup quarter final but a 2-0 slip-up at Newcastle brought the mood down but a 0-0 draw away at Sion in the Europa League ensured the Reds topped the group. A 2-2 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion was followed by a woeful 3-0 loss away to Watford but the month did end on a high as a couple of goals from Christian Benteke sealed 1-0 successes at home to Leicester City and away to Sunderland.

After mixed months for my UK based teams, my NFL side ended the year on a huge high as Washington Redskins sealed the NFC East title with a three game winning streak which began after suffering a 19-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in week 16. A narrow 24-21 win over the Chicago Bears started the streak with huge wins against Buffalo Bills (35-25) and division rivals Philadelphia Eagles (38-24) put them at 8-7 with one week left of the regular season. The fact that they reached the play-offs and won the division title meant two completed goals on my list.

Leisure

On the video front, Out and About reached week 51 meaning that with the exception of the first week of 2015, every week of my travels was documented and hopefully will continue in the same vain in 2016.  The proposed plan for Skem features was hampered by having just two with no camera for the first game while for the second, I was given the chance to film for the club as a tester for some new software. My spur of the moment plan to film across the year proved to be a good idea as I reached my goal of 50,000 views on my YouTube channel on the 12th.

Another goal came as I reached my target of walking 225 miles on the Runkeeper app which was used in conjunction with the Nike + app across the whole year meaning another successful goal.

The stay on Universal Credit continued and will into 2016 but a potential reduction in my free time came on the 8th as I received an invite for an interview at Aldi in early January so maybe a job at long last. The volunteering at my local British Heart Foundation Furniture and Electrical store reached a seventh week as the year came to a close and is enjoyable to be able to help the charity with the only downside being that it is unpaid but a minor issue overall. Christmas was a quieter one gifts wise due to my financial situation but was good to spend it with the family.

Gaming 

December sealed a record year across the three main fronts with the final goal of the trio coming on the 24th with 7796 unlocks reached (excluding apps) and this meant a full year of 100+ unlocks per month.Two completions came in the shape of Lego Jurassic World and Stick it to the Man with both on the Xbox One.

The second goal came as I achieved on 150 different games across the year which though less than 2014's target of 200 had some big hitters in terms of individual games. The month saw 108 unlocks with a 89/19 split across the platforms while 5,643 TA was split at 4,710/833 and the total of 3,165 G divided as 2,785/380.

The year itself smashed the highs of 2014 with a new high of 1688 unlocks with a split of 1258 on the Xbox One and a disappointing total of 430 on the Xbox 360/Windows platforms. A stunning haul of 74,954 TA included some boosts from the calculations but when split at 59,270/15,684 shows a domination from the Xbox One.

A total of 40,000 G would have been amazing but a record of 39,743 is stunning in itself with another win for the Xbox One as it dominated 31,907 over the Xbox 360/Windows total of just 7,836.

 

 

The year also saw a good collection of 18 completions with 13/5 being the difference between the platforms. The biggest goal of the gaming year was completing a streak of 730 days/ two years of earning achievements without missing a day which came on the 28th and plans are in motion for a third year in 2016.

What's Next?

As this post is being written with 2016 already a few days old, no notable plans have been devised for the month so will be referred to in the January update with the only real event being a trip to see Wigan face Leigh in prep for the new Super League season on the 17th.

Some other events may just pop up but only time will tell in the next post.

Photo/Video Highlights