2009: Review of the Year Thread thread thread thread

[hpmons]

Upside:
I don't remember a thing.

Downside:
I don't remember a thing.

I've probably posted in this thread before.  I don't remember.

_{I do remember 100 digits of pi though. That's the only thing I can remember.}

[Little Hoover]

I've got uni coursework hanging over me, and I feel like I can't look back until it's all done, but I won't get it done for at least another week. That's the thing about school/college/uni it makes the end of the calendar year feel a bit meaningless.
Anyway it's been an interesting year. I quit my job around Christmas time last year and so spent the first half of the year trying to get a new one to fill the time. In the first few weeks of the year I was panicking about my ucas application but I got that done and over the year I managed to sort out all my halls accommodation and student loan application and everything else uni related. Which isn't really much to be proud of, but I am.
I'm coping with my course (in creative writing and journalism) but I'm still feel like I might have made a terrible mistake in choosing it, but it's interesting and I'm enjoying it.
Halls is a bit disappointing, I got on ok with a few people at first but the more I get to know everyone the more I dislike them which makes me just want to hide away, so I'm trying to avoid doing that too much.
On the plus side living close to Central London is good as I go to gigs and comedy shows a lot more and see a few people from this site semi-regularly which is nice.
I suppose I'm far less worried and uncertain about the future than I was last year, so that's something.

[Omerta]

Started the year quite nicely - I remember it well - sitting down, sipping coffee, eating chocolate and writing my essays in front of the TV while admiring the Christmas tree.

Started back at uni, looking to complete my masters course until anxiety problems meant I found it incredibly difficult to attend classes. I'd sleep on my way to lectures, feeling relaxed until I reached my stop. Sometimes found it difficult to even walk off the bus; I was so filled with anxiety and trepedation.

Eventually, I quit university and spent the next 3 months pretending to people that I was still studying and would make frequent visits to the countryside to make people think I was in lectures. Looking back - those days spent eating sandwiches in the wilderness were at once beautifully tranquil (I wish somebody could have drawn my picture) and terribly sad (an apparantly bright future destroyed for reasons I can't understand).

Anxiety and an increasingly depressed personality meant I abandoned my deteriorating allotment, which is upsetting because I loved picking chard and talking to old people.

Spent the summer trying to calm myself down and find some purpose.

Started working as a part time chef in a beautiful restaurant and enjoyed it lots for the first few months. My withdrawn personality and my unwillingness to engage in 'banter' with my fellow chefs meant I gradually ostracized myself to the point, where I began utterly dreading going into work each morning. Anxiety remanifesting itself in a way that has made me feel terribly alone.

Things have only been made worse by the fact I've gone back to living with parents and have had a big family christmas. My sister was proposed to over Christmas lunch - which was lovely but then I was filled with bitterness at being reminded that out of my 2 brothers and 2 sisters, I am now the only one not going to be married. My cousin sat talking about her new jet-set life style with her incredibly rich boyfriend and I just sat there staring into space thinking what a pathetic failure I am. Not helped by the fact that my parents seem genuinely quite disappointed with me.

On the plus side, I discovered the Thick of it, Peep Show, Outnumbered and 15 Storeys High so I've laughed plenty!

[massive bereavement]

I always start and end the year the same way, looking out of the window at fireworks going off and thinking back on all the stresses of the past 12 months and hoping that the next 12 months will be stress free.

[the midnight watch baboon]

Have they decided what the new decade'll be called yet? I hope it's not the noughties again, that was far too optimistic and shit. Two-tens I say.

[Lee]

Have they decided what the new decade'll be called yet? I hope it's not the noughties again, that was far too optimistic and shit. Two-tens I say.

Someone's just referred to them as the "teenies". Which sounds wrong on a number of levels.

EDIT: January: had a job. February: lost a job. March: found out I'd lost said job. April-December: general dossing about.

EDIT 2: I'll bet they didn't have this problem in 1909.

[the midnight watch baboon]

I've heard awful rumours of teenies/tweenies. Three of the years won't even be teens! And none of them tweens. Let's just call them tweeties and be done with it. 

[An tSaoi]

Let's call them, "The Years Two Thousand Ten to Two Thousand Twenty"ieses.

[falafel]

Would next year actually be Two Thousand and Teeny Zero then?
And this windingdown year the year Two Thousand and Noughty Nine?

Oddly compelling when put that way.

[always sober]

I like reading these. So here's mine.

Scraped a 2:1 for the last academic year, after missing one essay last December due to a mix up. This meant I got my scholarship this year. Doing slightly better so far this academic year, still nowhere near as confident as I was about my ability a couple of years ago though.

The more personal stuff. Mostly similar to the last couple of years. Complete failure to make new friends, much solitude at Uni. Just enough friends back home to keep me from thinking I'm a lost cause. Went with these friends to a few comedy nights, which were real highlights. Saw Stewart Lee do 20 minutes at Bar FM, and we're going to his full show in a few days. Then we saw the Comedy Store Players which was also good. But the best one was Daniel Kitson at Lincoln in November. The timing coincided with an inaugural phone call from someone special, below, making it a very memorable day.

The big change happened in October when out of the blue I started talking to a girl on last.fm, which led to me installing MSN, which we've since barely closed except to sleep. However this somewhat exacerbated my ... body image problems, what with the prospect of her not liking me when we meet when she's in England soon. But, I'm getting the supposedly best medical treatment now - that's another thing, never thought I'd go private, but I guess love does crazy things, especially when you've never spent a penny of your student loan or scholarship on going out and socialising. Anyway, we've swapped pics and talked stuff through a lot, and maybe it's Channel's 4 Alternative Christmas Message still fresh in my mind, but I think I will have the confidence to meet her and I don't think I'm completely unlovable like I did at the turn of last year.

This place, of course, has been important to me in 2009. Whatever's going on in my life I come on here and feel comfortable. Home is where the CaB is. Oh, and Wimblemong, I got almost 30% of the vote against CTS! I think that's the thing of which I'm most proud.

[chand]

Have they decided what the new decade'll be called yet? I hope it's not the noughties again, that was far too optimistic and shit. Two-tens I say.

Don't mention decades, you'll have some smug and utterly wrong prick in here in a minute claiming that aaaaactually the decade doesn't finish for another year because there was no year 0, therefore the first decade was 1-10, therefore the nineties was somehow 1991-2000, and then I'll have to smash their head in with a brick.

[AsparagusTrevor]

Start of year my workplace was recovering from a massive redundancy where only 8 of us from 30 people in my department were kept on, so it was a bit of a depressing start.

Nothing really of note happened until I proposed to my girlfriend of 4 years in June, and we're all set to be married May 2010 or summat.

Then later in the Summer there were more redundancies at my work, affecting all of us who remained in my department. Luckily there was one post created in another department, a completely different job though, which we all applied for and I was the one who got it. So I'm still in work for now, which I'm happy about even though I don't like the job itself. I lost some good work mates too, although we still meet up from time to time. It sapped my creativity also. My job before redundancy was graphic design, using Quark, Illustrator, Photoshop etc. Now I just send publication pages to press and do admin stuff, so I try to keep the creative juices flowing at home but I'm just too knackered half the time.

October was the first anniversary of moving in with the missus, running our own house for one whole year, makes me feel all growed up, which is good and bad.

In less personal news, I killed a long-time CaB lurking period by starting to actually post stuff, using words and stuff. I discovered a few TV programmes I like a lot, such as The Thick of It and Dexter.

[hoverdonkey]

It's been a year, that much is true. Other facts include:

Good:
Prepare to gag, but Mrs Donkey and I have continued our inexorable progress towards the spending the rest of our days together.
My little boy has been a constant source of joy, despite refusing to learn to talk. Coming in from work and having him toddle towards me for a big cuddle can transform the shittest of days.
Started my bus odyssey, which I have greatly enjoyed and am looking forward to cracking on with in 2010 as I have a  bit of catching up to do.
Kept my job, which I neither hate nor love. I simply appreciate it and can see how others think it's a very cushy number.
Sold our flat (subject to contract) and bought a house (subject to contract) and cannot wait to have our own front door, an upstairs that belongs to us and a garden.
Have really enjoyed following my NHL team, the Chicago Blackhawks, who might be on the verge of something special in 2010

Bad:
Coping and helping with Mrs Donkey's post-natal depression on no sleep.
Put my book to one side in April and haven't looked at it since, thanks largely to aforementioned bus adventure. This must be rectified in 2010 because it's fucking brilliant.
Done virtually no exercise all year - this is offset by being a non smoker and barely drinking, but I need to get the heart racing more often in 2010.
I fell out of love with football and Tottenham. They're doing well at the moment, but I can't bring myself to care about the sport anymore. Following the NHL and the honesty of their players has brought this home to me.
All the little moments when idiots who have nothing to do with me interrupt my quest to go quietly and happily about my business by being total twats.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

What is this bus odyssey? I've seen you mention it in two posts but I have no idea what you're talking about!

[hoverdonkey]

I'm riding on every London bus route from start to finish and writing about my adventures.

[An tSaoi]

Day 1: Seat was uncomfortable. Bus smelt funny.
Day 2: Didn't have exact change. Bus smelt funny...

[rudi]

Nah, it's a rather lovely blog, the address of which is on my other computer...

[An tSaoi]

It actually sounds potentially fascinating, I'm only having a bit of fun.

[always sober]

The big change happened in October when out of the blue I started talking to a girl on last.fm, which led to me installing MSN, which we've since barely closed except to sleep. However this somewhat exacerbated my ... body image problems, what with the prospect of her not liking me when we meet when she's in England soon. But, I'm getting the supposedly best medical treatment now - that's another thing, never thought I'd go private, but I guess love does crazy things, especially when you've never spent a penny of your student loan or scholarship on going out and socialising. Anyway, we've swapped pics and talked stuff through a lot, and maybe it's Channel's 4 Alternative Christmas Message still fresh in my mind, but I think I will have the confidence to meet her and I don't think I'm completely unlovable like I did at the turn of last year.

Hahafuckingha. This ended tonight with her coming on MSN drunk saying she'd met someone else. It's still 2009 for fuck's sake. Where to go from here...

[DJ One Record]

January: Yay!
February: Yay!
March: Yay!
April: Yay!
May: Double yay!
June: Yay!
July: Yay!
August: Double yay!
September: Yay!
October: Yay!
November: Double yay!
December: Triple yay!

Overall: god, what a shit year.

[always sober]

It's only internet! I actually fucking lold in the middle of all this. Did I fall in love with, and get trolled by, Pedro_Bear for 3 months?

[chand]

Did I fall in love with, and get trolled by, Pedro_Bear for 3 months?

It happened to us all. :(

[Small Man Big Horse]

Hahafuckingha. This ended tonight with her coming on MSN drunk saying she'd met someone else. It's still 2009 for fuck's sake. Where to go from here...

:( Sorry to hear that AS, but tomorrow is New Year's Eve - get yourself down to Essex wearing clothes without holes in them and a wallet full of twenty pound notes (not to end up in some seedy brothel, but to create the illusion of wealth) and by 3am you'll end up desperately pounding away upon some girl whose name you've already forgotten, wishing you hadn't drunk so much so that you could actually enjoy the sex.

Then in the New Year get yourself on to a dating site. If SPC can find someone, surely anyone can!

[Ronnie the Raincoat]

Ah well, I'm bored.

Good stuff this year:

*I've been rather un-insane, except for a funny few months.
*The Radio 4 play being not-hated-by-everyone, and the surreal and making-me-want-to-hide experience of it all.
*Actually being paid, albeit very little, for writing
*I have a literary agent now.  One in Northern Ireland was lovely, but then I talked to one in London who were lovelier and far bigger and more established and also not in Northern Ireland therefore I only need to get the tube to see them.  I wish I had known it was a "business" talk because then I wouldn't have turned up covered in talcum powder rolling a fag.  The whole thing gave me a confidence boost when I just wanted to crawl under a rock and never reappear.
*The above meaning a book might actually happen and get published and stuff so January will be nicely busy, and I would welcome some busyness very much.
*Bumping into my very ex-ex, becoming friends and falling in love again.
*Going to Barcelona
*Moving into a flat with central heating.  At last a winter without freezing.

Bad stuff:

*The break up of a four year relationship which was partly caused by the fact I had to have an abortion.  Which isn't nice to admit to here, but was heartbreaking and pretty much meant from April-August I was a total mess.
*The fact that despite the stuff in Good Things, it's been an oddly inert and unproductive year where I have felt sleepy and not-all-there.  And literally not there since I have had no social life this year.
*That I have barely read, though this is due to my increasingly bad concentration and memory
*The worrying aspect of ^, when I don't know why it's happening
*My grandmother died, which was shit.
*Putting on a stone, a trifle, really (ahahaha), but it's made me feel unhappy
*Being skint most of the time
*The suspicion that I don't deserve any of the good things of the year

So, yeah, a mixed bag.  Personal life was shite for most of the year, the rest, pretty good.  By the end of 2010 I'd like to be back in work full time.

[VegaLA]

So in just over four hours you will all be walking into 2010.

2009 was another weird one.
Started the year watching my Dept. crumble and dissolve into nothing, very painfull as I had turned down a good offer from another Dept. but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

April saw the birth of my Son Kai Vega who just lights me up every time i'm with him.

Summer saw my parents, they came to visit but their new grandson was the reason for the trip. Spent some much needed quality time with the family.

Humbly applied for a position at the Dept. I turned down late last year only for them to deny me despite the fact they pratically tried to kidnap me before. Obviously really bitter about that but may be a blessing, time will tell.
Locked a position with another dept. based in Texas, not as technical as it was sold to me but have to be happy i'm actually employed.

Got to travel a bit, went up north to San Francisco for the first time, then overseas to the Philipines for my first ever trip to Asia which was a nice escape.

Hope to bring in the new year in a positive light but still need to tie up some lose ends of 2009.

Happy New Year VerbWhores!

[Artemis]

2009? It was alright, I 'spose.

GOOD STUFF

- Applying for a permanent visa to Australia. That was actually a big achievement for me, and took most of the year to make happen. I started in January and the last of several stages were finished in November. It may still take two or three years to be processed (as things stand) but my ongoing job as a migration agent helping others get their own visa there means I get paid for having my ear to the ground, which works on a personal level obviously.
- My job continued throughout the year which is weird because I don't tend to stay in them very long.
- The girl I hated moved out in April and now two new people are in my flat with the other three of us (it's a big place).
- Being able to walk to work in London.
- The arrival of my two one year old cats, Manuel and Alex (brother and sister). They are adorable and I love them.
- Being relatively stable geographically, after many years of having absolutely no clue what to do or where to go.
- My bedroom. Now truly my sanctuary away from the madness, with all mod-cons bought and paid for.
- Finding a new close friend, a friend of my housemates, who is lovely.
- My job. It's actually quite interesting and a good launch pad for all sorts of things I'd really enjoy.


BAD STUFF

- No payrise for my job. It's still the same as it was in 2008. It's not really enough and makes things strained.
- A steadily increasing fear for my own mental stability. Pretty severe mood swings and the infrequent sensation of fighting back an all-consumung low isn't fun.
- Still not in a relationship, despite futile memberships to match.com.
- A now almost total inability to be with more than a couple of people at a time.
- My involvement in my ex's divorce and custody trials which have both been running for years. I was a critical witness to a lot of stuff in contention so my involvement is fairly crucial for her and I feel it's the right thing to do but it's going on and on and on and it's all very draining and time consuming


So all in all, a fairly stable year, albeit not terribly exciting one. Next year? A great holiday for three weeks over Easter, and a determination both to save money so the ever-present risk of redundancy isn't too catastrophic, and a commitment to buy a really nice keyboard so I can start playing and writing music again.