The year began with fireworks and a rumbling sky and it promises to end that way as well. No surprise really.

Looking through my non-travel highlights for 2018 and it seems they are mainly concerts or karate. The first concert of the year was Star Wars with the SSO in Sydney, the last The Empire Strikes Back with the MSO in Melbourne, just this month.

As for karate, by the end of the year both Alex and I had graded to third kyu blue belts and we both won medals in the club tournament, though my was more due to a lack of competitors.

Alex was also awarded the MVP trophy for tee-ball at school. It’s the first year he’s done interschool sports, first soccer, then tee-ball. I’m very proud of him, even more so for his amazing academic achievements.

We hosted another Japanese student, Satoe, through the school. She was great, another big sister to Alex.

Both B and I worked hard in our jobs. It’s been a stressful year for her, learning the ropes of her new role. But she’s got through it.

I was very pleased to release version one of a new WordPress theme framework that promises to make developing new themes much easier for us. We “finished” it just before Christmas, so we’ll see how it goes in the new year.

The other two haven’t last until midnight and even the dog would rather be in bed. The neighbours have been letting off their own fireworks, but I’ll stay up to watch the city midnight show from our driveway.

Hope your year has been good and all the best for the new one.