Tuesday, 1 January 2013

Hello 2013

Seeing as it’s the majestic first day of the new year, it’s the perfect opportunity to reflect back on the last 366 days (it was a leap year remember) and evaluate how 2012 was for me.  

It’s been a funny one...I remember at the beginning of the year thinking that this would be the big year of change for me (based largely on crude horoscopes) but it hasn't really. Yes I graduated from uni and whilst I was glad to finish academia after 17 years solid, it’s been largely anticlimactic since. Part of me wonders whether I should’ve done a different degree altogether.

With graduation in July, I naively thought that by October I would have landed a Grad job in London or Brighton and be hitting the office wearing heels that cost more than £15, my skin would be spot free (thanks to all the fancy facials I would be able to afford) and heaven forbid, I might even have owned a couple of blouses.

Obviously that didn't happen as you can tell from my previous posts about my attempts to secure a job/career. 2012 in short has been a graduate purgatory year, in which I'm stuck floating between the metaphorical heaven, complete independence and adulthood, and the metaphorical hell, childhood. God, I'm just like a neuron undergoing cellular migration during brain formation except I don’t have the radial glial cells to guide me nor the Reelin to lead me on the right path to my future.

This year has not gone to plan at all.

So instead I'm pinning all my hopes on 2013 to be The Year.  

Obviously 2012 wasn't all disappointing, here are my personal highlights of my most anticlimactic year to date:

The Olympics & Paralympics- Where do I start? I’d been waiting 4 years for this bad boy to hit London town and when it did, it did so in style. It was the best time of the year for me hands down! It was fantastic to watch (every day 9am-9pm) our Olympic team haul in a record breaking 65 medals and come third in the leader board overall! I don’t know if we’ll ever see that again. Truly spectacular. I also paid good money to watch the splendid Tom Daley do his thing in the Aquatics Centre which was a pleasure. Then came Jonnie Peacock, Sarah Storey, Oscar Pistorius, Ellie Simmonds, Hannah Cockcroft and David Weir who all claimed gold and were my most impressive Paralympians.

So well done team GB and the organisers! Gold medals all round!

Diamond Jubilee- Yes I was one of those people soaking wet, freezing to death, wet socked and shivering who stood on the embankment and watched as a billion boats sailed past just so I could get a glimpse of the Queen looking slightly miffed that it was raining. Still good fun though.

Coldplay at the Emirates Stadium- Debated whether to include this as a highlight because whilst the band was amazing and had been on my list of ‘bands to see live’ forever, the 99% of drunken 30-somethings around me with no sense of personal space, and the downpour of rain kind of ruined it for me. Why they did not close the stadium roof I will never know. Getting out was a nightmare too, I nearly got squashed and couldn't see where I was going through the battering rain (did I mention I forgot a coat and umbrella?). The queue for the tiny station stretched nearly a mile long. However, whilst waiting, I did see the biggest horse I've ever seen in my life so that just managed to tip the night over into the ‘highlight’ category for me. It was a police horse, all black and dashing, shiny hair, salivating everywhere…he must have been about 18 hands tall, you would need a step ladder to mount him. Magnificent. 

Gangnam Style- This is a highlight because I'm just glad that there is a song out there, so world encompassing that has reached a billion views on YouTube, made no.1 in the UK and no.2 in the USA (damn you Maroon 5 for getting in the way) that isn't in English. So big congratulations to Psy, he’s coping with this massive fame overload well I think. Also, the dance is amazing.

BBC Work Experience- The best thing that has happened to my CV, ever. I still can’t believe I got it. I can’t even imagine how many people applied for it so I am eternally grateful to Ms. Warwicker for choosing me, and her kindness during my time there. She is the most patient, hard-working, kind individual you will find behind those BBC doors, I guarantee it!

Amelia’s 21st in Thorpe Park- It was as if we had the park to ourselves. We will never be so lucky again to go on rollercoasters 18 times in 4 hours. We went on the new ride The Swarm which I was actually cacking myself over but it turned out to be the smoothest, most delightful ride. Another highlight was the Rumba Rapids in which everybody got soaked apart from me. I am after all Poseidon, God of the sea. The only bad thing was my fatal mistake of ordering a KFC Krushems. What is that foul thing?? Why does it exist? Disgusting! Should be banned.

Menorca- Long overdue relaxing sunbathing holiday with my partner in crime Chesca. In the words of Boris Johnson, very nice. 


Well that was 2012 for me. Overall impression = room for improvement, must try harder next year. C-


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