MY AIMS IN MY LIFE

        There are many things that I would love to do in my life, but I am aware that limited time is a significant issue, but I would like to share a small collection of the existential to-do list in my life.

AIMS

2021

  • Dom’90kg (In progress)
  • Craftmanship
  • AberRPG Story (in progress)
  • T project (In progress)
  • Driving licence
  • DomQuest 2021
  • 4 Book in 2021 (One per quater)
  • Family Trips (1 Week/1 Weekend long holiday in new places)

2020

  • Dom’90kg (Partly Done)
  • Craftmanship (Partly Done)
  • Driving license (Postponed)
  • Improve Chinese (Failed)
  • Gardering (herbs) (Done)
  • 12 books in 2020 (Partly Done)
  • DomQuest 2020 (Plan A,B and C cancelled due to Covid but I did small one instead,Done)
  • Family Trip (Done, Some cancelled due to Covid)
  • Reduce social media and news (Done)

2019

  • Lazy holiday (Done)
  • DomQuests [2 homes, 1 European Union adventure] (Done)
  • [Top Secret] (Done)
  • Personal Project [Denva] (Done)
  • Dom’90kg (In progress)
  • Driving license
  • Craftmanship
  • Improve Chinese

HEALTH (in progress)

        Aim: 90kg. Be healthy and have good condition. I don’t need to have muscles like a strong man like Mariusz Pudzianowski or looks like George Clooney. I just want to be healthy.

        In 2009 between February 2009 and July 2009, I lost more than 20kg! I weight changed from 114.2 kg to 93.3 kg. I achieve it by doing exercise and improve my food style. I am very proud of myself!

However, I back to 125kg a few years later, so it is time to achieve the same goal, again.

Running in races. (Done)

      I needed the motivation to do exercises because sitting 8 hours on your bottom at work can cause many health problems. My belly expanded quicker than the universe. It looked like a giant ball of fat, and I should start to practice sumo. My friend and I came out with the idea that if we want to force ourselves to run regularly, we need to sign-in to a running race, so … we signed to Nick Beer 10km 2012 in Llandudno. I like running because it is a straightforward, relaxing, healthy thing to do. I feel much more energetic. My record in the run/walk was 36km around Snowdon (Highest Mountain in Wales). When I moved to London, then I stopped to run. In 2019 I decided to back into running. More about runs and result can be found here: https://dominiksymonowicz.com/aims/my-runs/

(E-)BOOKS 

Read one book per year  (Done)

       When I heard that more than 50% polish people did not read any book per year, I decided to belong to a minority, who read books. Long commute to and from work in London creates a unique opportunity to read some books.  Below is a collection of them, which I read and enjoyed in the past.

FINISHED BOOKS

  1. Gene Kim – The Unicorn Project (2020)
  2. Gene Kim, George Spafford, and Kevin Behr – The Phoenix Project (2019, re-read)
  3. Dean Burnett – The Idiot Brain (2018)
  4. Rob Kemp – The New Dad’s Survival Guide: What to Expect in the First Year and Beyond  (2017)
  5. Rob Kemp – The Expectant Dad’s Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know (2016)
  6. Robin C. Martin – Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship ( 2016)
  7. Simon Brown – Software Architecture for Developers (2015)
  8. Michael T. Nygard – Release It!: Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software (2014)
  9. Adam Cash – Psychology For Dummies (2013)
  10. Anita Werner, Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz – Nieoficjalnie (2013)
  11. David J. Anderson – Kanban (2012)
  12. Jeremy Clarkson – How Hard Can It Be?: The World According to Clarkson Volume 4 (2012)
  13. Terry Deary, Martin Brown – Horrible Histories – Ruthless Romans (2011)
  14. Terry Deary, Martin Brown – Horrible Histories – Rotten Romans (2011)
  15. Joe Navarro – What everybody is saying (2011)
  16. Eric Steven Raymond – How To Become A Hacker (2011)
  17. Paul Ekman – Emotions revealed (2011)
  18. Terry Pratchett – Thud! (2010)
  19. Steve Krug – Don’t Make Me Think. A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (2007)
  20. Pet Southern – Julius Caesar (2002)
  21. Terry Pratchett – Guards! Guards! (200x)
  22. Terry Pratchett – Wyrd sister (200x)
  23. Terry Pratchett – Sourcery (200x)
  24. Terry Pratchett – MORT (200x)
  25. Terry Pratchett – Equal rites (199x)
  26. Terry Pratchett – The light fantastic (199x)
  27. Terry Pratchett – The colour of magic (199x)

EDUCATION

Computer Science (Done)

        I chose Computer Science for a few reasons. I like to create things, solve logical problems and thinking about usability. It is a type of work which has high demand today and in the future. This gives me many opportunities to do various kind of exciting projects.

        I finished Computer Science at Aberystwyth University with 2.2. It is a big success for me because I achieved all 3 goals.  I learned English, work to be independent and graduate with the result better than 3.

Master degree

        I finished an undergraduate degree in Computer Science in 2010. I am planning to do a master degree in future in psychology. I want to do Cyberpsychology.  It will help me want to combine my interest in people’s psychology on the Internet and user experience (UX).

Psychology (Done)

        As I mentioned above. I want to do masters in Cyberpsychology. However, I am also interested in interpersonal perception and deception and abnormal psychology.

Why these three?

I was fascinated by the way how people behave differently on the Internet compare to real-life interaction since high school, and it was one of the first reason why was interest in psychology. I spent some time reading and research Cyberpsychology, where I came across articles about interpersonal perception and how the body express what people think, which was one of the parts that are missing in Internet communication.

I completed a 3-day course about exclusions of mental people. It teaches me to have empathy for the mentally ill and disabled people.

English (Done)

        It may seem weird, but English is a useful language in UK where I live now. It comes handy to speak with people from all over the world and in the IT universe.

Mandarin Chinese (In progress)

        There are a few reasons for me, why I should know this language. I gave one reason. My wife is Chinese.

EVENTS

Castle Party, Poland

        Amazing Gothic party in the castle in Poland.

Love Parade, Berlin (Done)

       The Love Parade was the biggest techno party in the world. I took part in this event in 2000 on my 18th birthday. There were 1.300.000 people and these people didn’t know that they celebrate my birthday :). I never saw that many people before. Well, it is not valid statement anymore since I went to London and saw how many people can be squeezed in the Tube during rush hour. However, I went to China, and I stopped to complain about overcrowding in the Tube. It is half empty in comparison to Subway in Beijing and Shanghai during evening rush hours. Back to the topic. Love parade was the best party I ever attended.

Woodstock (known as Poland Rock Festival), Poland

       The biggest event in Poland and the most amazing one, because is not just music it is also lots of remarkable events happen there.

Oktoberfest, Germany

     Man’s heaven. Beers, women … sounds like the perfect place to be for adult men.

I have been in Oktoberfest in London but I guess it is not the same experience as in Germany.

La Tomatina in Buñol, Spain

     Nothing better than using tomato as a primary weapon to smash innocent people in big Ketchup war.

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

        I always want to see the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, because I love samba music. Hot rhythms, all-night samba party. I hope to look at this legendary event someday.

TRAVEL

China and Japan  (China Done) 

      I want to see these two countries because I am fascinated by their cultures. I want to experience daily life there in big cities and the countryside. I want to look at the influence of the western culture on Asian culture and especially to get to know how does living in a big Asian city centre look like, slums and small countryside. I am interested in what is the most amazing aspects of Polish, Western, Chinese and Japanese cultures and their difference and similarities. I wish to write a book about it to show amazing things in different cultures.

Canada

      I want to go to Canada for a month, to rest far away from civilisation. Just stay within the little cottage and go to forests and mountains.

Poland

        It may sound weird, but since I live abroad, I discovered, that I haven’t seen too much Poland actually.

So fst I visited following places that I recommend you to see: Kraków, Wieliczka (Salt mine!), Oświęcim (Auschwitz Birkenau) – Nazi concentration camps. A place, when you can discover how people can be evil during the war and learn why war is a catastrophic event for generations. Zakopane, Malbork

Scandinavia   (Sweden Done) 

        There are many things to see there like: Mountains, lakes, country of Santa.

I was in Sweden in 2014.

Mars

        Nowadays, if you have $20.000.000, you can have a trip to the space station. So I’m hoping, that in future I will be able to go to MARS. I just need $20.000.000 ;P. I should start thinking about the little application for iOS or AndroidOS and make some money to achieve that.

Brazil

        I want to go to Brazil to see the carnival in Rio. Since I love parties, Latin music, and dance, I must see the Capitol of Dance. Another reason is to see the capital of Capoeira ;).

Italy

        I want to go to Italy to see the remains of the ancient Roman civilisation. I want to look at Coliseum, the Pantheon, Roman Forum, Piazza Navona, Baths of Diocletian, Baths of Caracalla, Via Appia Antica and Catacombs.

TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD ON THE MOST INTERESTING TRAINS AND AIRPLANE ROUTES

       It is something that I would love to do someday because I am amazed how world is great and beautiful. I want to explore it.

CREATIVITY

Parody of homepage  (Done)

      I want to have my homepage, and it must be very sarcastic without dull staff to show people how “AMAZING” you are. It

Create an RPG game  (in progress)

        I always dream to create RPG/Strategy action. One concept was a little bit similar to UFO: Enemy Unknown, but with the more complex storyline (created at random) and another one was similar to final fantasy VII/VIII.

Create some songs  (Done)

        I wrote a few songs. They are not a masterpiece of electronic music, and they will never be as famous as Psy – Gangnam style on YouTube, but I am proud of them.

CASTLES, CATHEDRALS, AND TEMPLES

I love this kind of buildings because there is something magical about them.

  • Książe (Poland) (Done)
  • Lidzbark Warminski (Poland) (Done)
  • Zamek Królewski w Krakowie (Poland) (Done at 9.2008)
  • Beaumaris Castle (Wales) (Done in 2.2011)
  • Conwy Castle (Wales) (Done in 11.2010)
  • Caernarfon (Wales) (Done in 7.2010)  – My favourite Welsh Castle.
  • Criccieth (Wales) (Done in 2.2010)
  • Harlech (Wales) (Done in 12.2009)
  • Aberystwyth (Wales) (Done in 6.2006) – Quite nice ruins.
  • Carmarthen (Wales) (Done in 10.2006)
  • Dover (4.2011) – One of the most amazing castles that include building from Ancient Roman times, Norman times and Medieval times.
  • Canterbury (4.2011)
  • Lincoln (8.2011)

JOBS

Work for Space Company

        I always thinking about working for a company who sent shuttles, spacecraft or building space station.

Software developer  (Done)

        Since I was a teenager, I dream to have a computer to play a game and create my own ones. I always enjoy to design games and solve problems during development. As a kid, I couldn’t afford to have a computer, so I created them on the paper. I thought it is too childish to be a game developer, so I want to write various software instead.

Architect

        I’ve always wanted to design buildings in sacral style or stylish little mansions. I’m also interested in creating futuristic-looking architecture (Train Stations), vehicles (trains, trams) and spaceships, space bases etc. I would like made this as pragmatic and usable as possible.

Lecturer

        I think this is a great job, talking to students, doing research and having fun, especially when you see those poor faces on exams. I think, if I got a chance, then I want to do a research about Cyberpsychology and how this can be applied to UX design.

Astronaut

        One of my childhood dreams was to be a part of the crew that will be sent to Mars to transform the planet and create for being habitable for humans, and I wanted to be a scientist on the spaceship and explore space… hmmm … Maybe I just watched too many episodes of Star Trek as a kid.

Bus/Train/Travel Driver (Done)

As kid I always wanted to be bus, tram or train driver. I didn’t drive any of these vehicles yet.

  • As kid I was allowed to press  open/close doors on the bus Icarus 280 on line 131.
  • I was allow to seat behind cockpit of Airbus 320 in 2018.
  • When I was teenager I knew I couldn’t be bus driver but I decided to travel on all bus lines in Wrocław and I did it in 1997-1998. I did almost all line with 2 exceptions (1 line and all lines that go out outside of Wrocław boundary).

WHAT WILL I DO, IF I WON LOTS OF MONEY ON LOTTERY?

  • Secure a future for my family and me, my parents with sister and some relatives.
  • Build the house of my dreams.
  • Have a channel on some social platform when I am exploring places around the world and travel on various trams, trains, aeroplanes.
  • Contribute to open source projects.
  • The primary target will be … study many interesting subjects.
  • If possible, I want a fly to ISS (I know, it cost around $20.000.000).
  • Support some organisation in cancer research, forest care and support WOSP (Info about WOSP on Wikipedia) and their website Official Website of WOSP)
  • Do some voluntary work.

OTHER

  • Extreme Rescue Team I want to join the rescue team, who helps people during big catastrophes(after earthquakes and etc.).
  • Train carriage as office. I love to travel by train, and I dream to have an office on the train or at least have a carriage converted into the office.
  • Experience a zero-gravity flight
  • Support some charities.  (Done)  I chose: