Trips to Japan and New York were the high points. Tokyo was simply brilliant. It was my first time there and loved every minute of it. Kyoto was beautiful too. The Japanese are the nicest people. This year’s New York trip was my third time there and was great as always. I saw more of Queens and Bronx this time round. Best city in the world.
Thankfully, I haven’t had any personal bad things/tragedies. Low point was The EU Referendum result. I’m still pissed off and will be for decades. The morning after was horrible. The moment I realised Trump won was horrible too but I felt far worse on the Friday after the referendum.
There’s been some good bits but I’m really struggling to find an actual high tbh.
Low points: EU referendum for sure, and the realisation of what half the population thinks. Also the acquisition of a new colleague who is hideous to work with.
i really enjoyed going to see Radiohead at the Roundhouse, whenever that was.
i’m almost certain there was another gig i went to that i thought was ace, but can’t for the life of me remember who it was. thought it might have been Metric, but that was 2015.
my OCD has got a lot better - still not perfect by any means but much better that it was getting over the summer
my one goal for 2016 was to get a new job, and i didn’t get a new job. i applied for one that i actually really wanted, but didn’t hear back and that knocked my confidence a bit so i gave up looking at that point altogether
in fact, i could probably just list every single goal i had for 2016 and put a big cross next to them - been a very steady, same old kind of year for me which wasn’t what i wanted at all
Highs - travelled to Sri Lanka, New York (solo!!), Madrid, Paris and USA road trip (San Fran to Austin)
Other highs include overcoming insomnia and anxiety disorder. And getting a payout for my face smashing incident of 2015 which ruined that year.
Lows - I can’t really think of any tbh. I’ve had a cracking year and I don’t like to dwell.
+Got a distinction in my Masters (and finished the bloody thing)
+Booked / planned my wedding
+My son did well in his GCSEs and is happy at college
+Saw friends more often
-Brexit
-Trump
-Stress at the beginning of the year as my son was bullied
-Some work stuff / becoming frustrated with my job
High points: music (a lot of albums I liked and gigs), an holiday in Croatia.
Low points: I lost my two grandmothers and my uncle, someone stole in my house, I got a penal sentence for defamation and I postponed again my graduation with my parents’ disappointment, the spread of racism and ignorance in the world with Brexit and Trump’s win like highlights.
daughter arrived in Feb
career change/major job upgrade in March
house move/relocation finally went through in the summer
Missus has a good new job and we are much closer to her family
Finally feeling like a settled family, my son is thriving at pre-school and my parents are back in the country which great
travelled a lot with work (US, Canada, Europe)
work life balance is wonky, and general work related grief. Completely knackered
i’m at my fattest/unfittest/unhealthiest ever. Big 2017 goal is to get back in shape
death of my grandmother and other family-related health issues
left a lot of friends in sheffield and find it hard to have a social life these days
eldest has now got a really good teacher at school
youngest has started school well and is really happy
my job is going to be make permanent from February
made some lovely new friends this year
I’m somehow a stone lighter at the end of the year than I was at the start of the year
I lost my stepmum to cancer in October (which is the second time my Dad has had to go through losing a partner to cancer, and he’s only 67)
found out last night that my nan is really unwell and probably only has a short time to live (though she is 92, it’s still sad)
general shiteness of Brexit and all it represents
+got a good job surrounded by really cool people that I’m probably gonna become good friends with in the years to come
+got a masters degree, which the Belgian people called a distinction even though it was the one below that in UK grade terms
-no real events of note, been quite stressed at times, struggled to make friends in places, had some really boring periods that I’m through the worst of I think. 2017 should be decent, rise of fascism aside.
High- Wales in the Euros
High- close family are all right, like
High- the fact we actually had some decent weather for once rather than it belting down with rain 90% of the time as happens in the UK most years.
Low- everything else