Monthly #7

A veeeeeery late look back at July, 2024. A month of highs, lows, lots of footy, and lots of travel.

🏉 Leading Team Taiwan at Touch World Cup 2024. The big focus at the start of the month was finalising preparations for our team's campaign at the 2024 Touch World Cup in Nottingham, England. The team came together as one for the first time a week before the tournament, and after some warm up games it was go time. I was given the honour of co-captaining the team alongside Charlotte Lee, one of our superstar female players. The campaign itself was tough, with some very close results just slipping away from us. We did manage to secure Taiwan's first ever international win though, defeating Spain in our final game of the event.

A truly remarkable week, in many ways. Came out of the event with so many memories, new friendships, and an appreciation for the game that's given me so much as an adult.

🍵 A week in the UK. After the World Cup wrapped up, Kay met me in London to kick off a long 1 month of travel. We started with a week in the UK - visiting many of the places that Kay spent time in as a student there. We also spent a refreshing couple of days in The Cotswolds, away from the bustle of the city.

🇳🇴 On to Norway. Our trip then went east & north, as we headed by (several) trains to Oslo, Norway. Most of the Norway trip happened in August, so that's for that update. We did spend the last day of July in Hamburg though. Kay wasn't that impressed by it, but I must admit it gave me some nice vibes, especially when comparing to other larger German cities like Berlin & Frankfurt or smaller ones I've visited like Dusseldorf. Wouldn't mind going back to spend another couple of days exploring.

These are things I set out to do more or less of in 2024. I'm not big on habit tracking, so this "tracking" report is all just vibes.

• Going to the gym regularly: 😐 Lol, nah. World Cup was taxing enough.
• Doing 20k+ bike rides each week: Nope ❎. Kicking this can down the road to October.
• Writing monthly reviews: Yep ⭐, you're reading it now.
• Taking the cat outside the apartment: Nope ❎. She was in a cat hotel while we were away, and seems very happy to be home.
• Capturing thoughts in a notebook: 😐 Didn't do as much as I hoped, especially during our travels.

• Sugary snacks: Kinda 😐. I feel like I cut back, even though travel tends to induce a massive sugar craving for me.
• Using my phone in bed: Nope ❎.

• Taking regular breaks/vacations with Kay: 😀 We're off again to the Himalayas next month !!
• Getting nerd-sniped by work stuff: Yes 😀. I still want to make a carbon tracking page for my website.
• Following other folks on RSS: Nope ❎. Waaaay behind now. Still gotta clean up my current feed.
• Building a financial safety-net: Nope, lol Norway ... bruh 🙁.