(no subject)
FIRST POSTS OF EACH AND EVERY MONTH!
JANUARY
"About half-way through this year my world's going to be upturned when I GRADUATE annnnnd then, well, it depends, but whatever, I'll be living with Alex and Tom and Natalie in a house called Doris."
FEBRUARY
"The most annoying thing about applying for an MA...apart from the massive amounts of forms to fill in and people to talk to...and the uncertainty and stress...is the fact that gearing myself up for study further to this BA is making me feel like that which I'm doing now is comparatively worthless."
MARCH
"Joy of absolute joyous joys! I live in Joyston Vasey! "
APRIL
"MY WEEKEND OF GIGS (on the way home I saw a man carrying a white plastic bag which was billowing in the wind. In his other hand he was holding two spoons. At a glance it resembled a duck.)"
MAY
"We downed our coffee and started west for Dublin."
JUNE
"I'm finding myself endeared to no end by the story of the man who built a roller-coaster in his back garden."
JULY
"Whew, Rock Werchter."
AUGUST
"Good lord, I appear to have a job at which not only does it seem to be the case that I rock, but also which pays reasonably well and which, most crucially of all, I enjoy."
SEPTEMBER
"Chorlton's lovely."
OCTOBER
"For the first time in a long time I have one of those debilitating colds!"
NOVEMBER
"Something's happened to Liverpool."
DECEMBER
"Aw nuts, found another grammatical niggle over which I can get frustrated and smug."
Resolutions for 08:
1) Stay with Alex - Mission accomplished!
2) Go and see Nick Cave, REM, Radiohead, The Hold Steady...and whoever else might tour. Go to more gigs, basically. More and better gigs. - Mission accomplished!
3) See more films. - Mission failed!
4) Spend more time outside. - Could always do with spending a lot more time outside.
5) Get up earlier. - Well, I'm quite incapable of "sleeping in" these days - mission accomplished!
6) Learn to cook. - Mission failed!
7) Don't "do a Ryan" upon graduating. - I've a part-time job which I CAN abide, save for the monumental boredom and unsociable hours, and it's funding an MA about which I care passionately - Mission accomplished!
8) Write a lot. - I've written nine short stories and about 20,000 words of a novel this year! Mission accomplished!
Resolutions for 09:
1) Maintain and develop this glorious relationship.
2) Quit Alpha and find employment in a different city - the sort of employment which won't frown upon facial hair, creased clothing, the friendship bracelet from Charis and Claire.
3) Go to Glastonbury.
4) Rekindle old passions.
5) Listen to more NEW music - debut albums aplenty!
6) Be nice to people.
7) Say "yes" to more things.
8) Get a story published.
AND NOW - That big fat quiz of the year, as stolen from 2/4 of my housemates.
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?:
Worked full-time, lived with a lover AND a welshman (simultaneously). Gave a poetry reading. Travelled a distance to see a band - THAT I will be doing more often. Comfort zones are awful.
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?:
See above.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?:
You know, I don't know.
4. Did anyone close to you die?:
Yep - relatives of friends.
5. What countries did you visit?:
Belgium, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Doris.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?:
A ticket to Glastonbury! Merriweather Post Pavilion.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?:
Most of it. Eventful, coming of age year. Just like those pesky Mystery Jets predicted.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?:
I received an unconditional offer for my MA!
9. What was your biggest failure?:
A cow with a childsize car stuck to his head. Food poisoning and near immolation.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?:
Yes, those nasty bugs which made the rounds on several occasions.
11. What was the best thing you bought?:
Anything which brought any amount of happiness to anybody other than myself - cakes, coats, tickets.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?:
My parents, for putting aside their differences for just long enough to make my graduation wonderful. Ryan, for telling me that "there's always a solution", even though he's depressed and bipolar. Alex, for being a rock who rocks hardest.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?:
Complete strangers who go out of their way to make the lives of those they've never met a misery.
14. Where did most of your money go?:
Rent, tuition fees, tax!
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?:
Friends, loves, music!
16. What songs will always remind you of 2008?:
Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook; MGMT - Kids; Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa...
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i) ...happier or sadder?:
Happier!
ii) thinner or fatter?:
Thinner, need to put on some weight.
iii) richer or poorer?:
Richer, I think.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?:
Not working at the airport.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?:
Working at the airport.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?:
In Liverpool, on the beach.
22. Did you fall in love in 2008?:
Deeper.
23. How many one night stands?:
I don't do those, darling.
24. What were your favourite TV programmes?:
Gavin and Stacey, The IT Crowd.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?:
Eek, for the first time in my life, yes. I actually hate people.
26. What was the best book you read?
Those Lovecraft omnibuses. Lady Chatterly's Lover.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?:
Stereolab (too late, too late), Josh Rouse, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, The Whigs.
28. What did you want and get?:
A place on the creative writing course; a job...
29. What did you want and not get?:
I want for nothing.
30. What was your favourite film of this year?:
There Will Be Blood
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?:
21! It started off dull, grey and lonely but got better and better as it went along - I got a theremin and Alex came along! I believe we went for a meal.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?:
Nothing, it was pretty superb.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?:
Same old.
34. What kept you sane?:
Alex, Ryan, music.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?:
None, I've eyes for only one!
36. What political issue stirred you the most?:
The congestion charge/general ignorance, selfishness and stupidity of people in general.
37. Who did you miss?:
There will never be a time when I'm not missing someone who means something to me. Luckily, this year I was living with three of the people I'd missed most over the past couple of years.
38. Who was the best new person you met?:
The people on my writing course! Hopefully I'll be stuck with them for life.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Don't let those bastards bring you down.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Upwards to the vanguard where the pressure is too high!
JANUARY
"About half-way through this year my world's going to be upturned when I GRADUATE annnnnd then, well, it depends, but whatever, I'll be living with Alex and Tom and Natalie in a house called Doris."
FEBRUARY
"The most annoying thing about applying for an MA...apart from the massive amounts of forms to fill in and people to talk to...and the uncertainty and stress...is the fact that gearing myself up for study further to this BA is making me feel like that which I'm doing now is comparatively worthless."
MARCH
"Joy of absolute joyous joys! I live in Joyston Vasey! "
APRIL
"MY WEEKEND OF GIGS (on the way home I saw a man carrying a white plastic bag which was billowing in the wind. In his other hand he was holding two spoons. At a glance it resembled a duck.)"
MAY
"We downed our coffee and started west for Dublin."
JUNE
"I'm finding myself endeared to no end by the story of the man who built a roller-coaster in his back garden."
JULY
"Whew, Rock Werchter."
AUGUST
"Good lord, I appear to have a job at which not only does it seem to be the case that I rock, but also which pays reasonably well and which, most crucially of all, I enjoy."
SEPTEMBER
"Chorlton's lovely."
OCTOBER
"For the first time in a long time I have one of those debilitating colds!"
NOVEMBER
"Something's happened to Liverpool."
DECEMBER
"Aw nuts, found another grammatical niggle over which I can get frustrated and smug."
Resolutions for 08:
1) Stay with Alex - Mission accomplished!
2) Go and see Nick Cave, REM, Radiohead, The Hold Steady...and whoever else might tour. Go to more gigs, basically. More and better gigs. - Mission accomplished!
3) See more films. - Mission failed!
4) Spend more time outside. - Could always do with spending a lot more time outside.
5) Get up earlier. - Well, I'm quite incapable of "sleeping in" these days - mission accomplished!
6) Learn to cook. - Mission failed!
7) Don't "do a Ryan" upon graduating. - I've a part-time job which I CAN abide, save for the monumental boredom and unsociable hours, and it's funding an MA about which I care passionately - Mission accomplished!
8) Write a lot. - I've written nine short stories and about 20,000 words of a novel this year! Mission accomplished!
Resolutions for 09:
1) Maintain and develop this glorious relationship.
2) Quit Alpha and find employment in a different city - the sort of employment which won't frown upon facial hair, creased clothing, the friendship bracelet from Charis and Claire.
3) Go to Glastonbury.
4) Rekindle old passions.
5) Listen to more NEW music - debut albums aplenty!
6) Be nice to people.
7) Say "yes" to more things.
8) Get a story published.
AND NOW - That big fat quiz of the year, as stolen from 2/4 of my housemates.
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?:
Worked full-time, lived with a lover AND a welshman (simultaneously). Gave a poetry reading. Travelled a distance to see a band - THAT I will be doing more often. Comfort zones are awful.
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?:
See above.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?:
You know, I don't know.
4. Did anyone close to you die?:
Yep - relatives of friends.
5. What countries did you visit?:
Belgium, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Doris.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?:
A ticket to Glastonbury! Merriweather Post Pavilion.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?:
Most of it. Eventful, coming of age year. Just like those pesky Mystery Jets predicted.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?:
I received an unconditional offer for my MA!
9. What was your biggest failure?:
A cow with a childsize car stuck to his head. Food poisoning and near immolation.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?:
Yes, those nasty bugs which made the rounds on several occasions.
11. What was the best thing you bought?:
Anything which brought any amount of happiness to anybody other than myself - cakes, coats, tickets.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?:
My parents, for putting aside their differences for just long enough to make my graduation wonderful. Ryan, for telling me that "there's always a solution", even though he's depressed and bipolar. Alex, for being a rock who rocks hardest.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?:
Complete strangers who go out of their way to make the lives of those they've never met a misery.
14. Where did most of your money go?:
Rent, tuition fees, tax!
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?:
Friends, loves, music!
16. What songs will always remind you of 2008?:
Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook; MGMT - Kids; Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa...
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i) ...happier or sadder?:
Happier!
ii) thinner or fatter?:
Thinner, need to put on some weight.
iii) richer or poorer?:
Richer, I think.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?:
Not working at the airport.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?:
Working at the airport.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?:
In Liverpool, on the beach.
22. Did you fall in love in 2008?:
Deeper.
23. How many one night stands?:
I don't do those, darling.
24. What were your favourite TV programmes?:
Gavin and Stacey, The IT Crowd.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?:
Eek, for the first time in my life, yes. I actually hate people.
26. What was the best book you read?
Those Lovecraft omnibuses. Lady Chatterly's Lover.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?:
Stereolab (too late, too late), Josh Rouse, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, The Whigs.
28. What did you want and get?:
A place on the creative writing course; a job...
29. What did you want and not get?:
I want for nothing.
30. What was your favourite film of this year?:
There Will Be Blood
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?:
21! It started off dull, grey and lonely but got better and better as it went along - I got a theremin and Alex came along! I believe we went for a meal.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?:
Nothing, it was pretty superb.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?:
Same old.
34. What kept you sane?:
Alex, Ryan, music.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?:
None, I've eyes for only one!
36. What political issue stirred you the most?:
The congestion charge/general ignorance, selfishness and stupidity of people in general.
37. Who did you miss?:
There will never be a time when I'm not missing someone who means something to me. Luckily, this year I was living with three of the people I'd missed most over the past couple of years.
38. Who was the best new person you met?:
The people on my writing course! Hopefully I'll be stuck with them for life.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Don't let those bastards bring you down.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Upwards to the vanguard where the pressure is too high!