I'm back. And this time it's 2006.
Written at 9:34 a.m. on 2006-01-03
Arrgh. I�m back at work. My body has adjusted to getting up at midday and going to bed at 4am so 7am this morning was a bit of a shock to it. As was the fact that I don�t have a hangover. This is the first morning for a while that I haven�t had a hangover. My liver is now a quivering wreck who screams for mercy at the mere mention of the word �vodka� and I�d forgotten that it was possible to wake up without a headache.
I had a lovely Christmas and New Year. For anyone who might be reading this and was doing so before the holidays, I didn�t go to the in-laws in Scotland. M is going next weekend but unfortunately I can�t go because I have a course running every Friday until June. We had a big chat about it while we were pissed on Christmas day. He asked why I don�t want to go to Scotland and I very carefully and tactfully explained that it wasn�t that I had anything against Scotland or the majority of his family, it�s just that his sister is a vicious, nasty, swivel eyed lunatic and I�d rather spend a week locked in a restaurant dustbin that 10 minutes in her company. He took it rather well, considering, and did in fact mention that I wasn�t the first person to have said this. I�m not bloody surprised to be honest, she�s a nutter.
Got some fab Christmas presents including a brilliant digital camera! So I�ll be able to piccies on soon. Well once I�ve worked out how to get the pictures from the camera to the computer anyway, it took me a little while to get the hang of taking pictures but hey, how hard can it be to get them from a gadget to a machine? As long as it�s easier than presetting the video I should be ok. New Year was also a laugh, although I do still have a slightly sore eye. This is because Lou poked me in it while prodding around trying to find out which of the 3 of me that she could see was the real one at 3am.
Eeeeeeooooow. I�ve just been into the kitchen to hunt down more caffeine and one of the site clerks was in there. She�s in her late 40s or early 50s and has just spent 20 minutes telling me about the operation she had in November that she�s only just come back from. Now I�m not at my brightest and best this morning but even I managed to grasp the fact that she�s had some sort of prolapse and had surgery to put a kind of sling in there to hold the bits and pieces together and it�s fastened to her spine somehow. She apparently has a big scar running down her middle and if she moves too much she can feel it pulling. I suppose I should be grateful that she didn�t offer to show me the scar. I�m exceedingly squeamish and not at all good with stuff like that. And why the hell would you want to be telling someone you barely know about your gynaecological problems at ten past eight in the morning. It�s not right and I�m sure there must be some sort of law against it. If there isn�t, there bloody well should be. Oh and of course she was at pains to stress she�s had the operation done privately rather than at an NHS hospital like most people. Bugger off woman, I don�t care if you can afford to have a private operation, I only wanted coffee, not a complete history of your reproductive organs.
Anyway, to sum up my year I thought I�d pinch this off theflyingrat!
1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Got engaged. No one has ever proposed to me before. By the time she was my age, my great aunt Connie had had 6 proposals and my grandma had been married twice.
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn�t make any last year but this year I�m determined to lose some of the new lardy bits I�ve grown and to smoke less.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No but my friend Helen is pregnant and after 3 miscarriages and a stillbirth we�ve all got everything crossed for her. Would appreciate it if anyone reads this, if you�d do the same, she needs all the luck we can scrape together for her.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Fortunately not.
5. What countries did you visit?
Scotland, Ireland and Fuerteventura.
6. What would you like to have in 2006 which you lacked in 2005?
Decent salary? Better temper? An account in credit? New carpet? Where do I start?
7. What date from 2005 will remain etched in your memory, and why?
June 16th, M proposed on a jetty in the Canary Islands. Was gorgeous!!!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Surviving and not getting fired.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Still being a grumpy cow for at least half the time
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yep. I fractured my sodding kneecap. And I don�t care what anyone says, if you�re in a cast from your ankle to upper thigh you have a right to be bad tempered.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Shoes. Lots of shoes. Lovely shoes, mmmmmm
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Certainly not mine. Erm, my mum and aunt have been very good looking after my grandma every day so I�ll say them.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Lou�s sister Cheryl. She�s a manipulative compulsive liar and to be honest, she�s a total horror.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Not entirely certain but it definitely went. In a big way. In fact this month it has gone so much that I�m not quite sure how I�m going to reach the 28th without getting fined by the bank. C�est la vie.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Getting engaged!!! (anyone spot a repetitive theme here?)
16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
Anything by Kylie. My best friend Cass and I have been very into Kylie this year. Muchos karaoke. And believe me, Mariah Carey we are not.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: Happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter? Richer or poorer?
Happier, fatter, poorer!!
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Saving money, ringing my friends.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Arguing with M!
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
We spent it getting exceedingly drunk at my mum and dad�s!
21. What was your favourite TV program?
Spooks. I got very into that.
22. What was the best book you read?
I�ve read loads of books this year but I was very impressed by �The Sheep That Changed the World� by Ian someone or other, and �The Electric Michaelangelo� by Sarah somebody. Very specific I know.
23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Royksopp. Lovely. Relaxing and a bit sort of 80s sounding.
24. What did you want and get?
Digital camera, hurrah! I�ve gone mental on the photo thing, I�ve photoed everything since Christmas and now have a collection of hundreds of terminally boring and pointless photos that I will doubtless never look at again, YAY!!
25. What did you want and not get?
A decent pay rise.
26. What was your favorite film of this year?
Not seen many films this year to be honest. Watched Gone with the Wind the other day though and I still love that. Cheesy I know�..
27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old did you turn?
I turned 26 (hurtling toward 30 at an alarming rate) and I went to Rain Bar and some strange neon lit dark place with my friends. Got v v drunk and sat contemplating life and the cosmos in the beer garden. In the rain.
28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A job I enjoyed which challenged me.
29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
Individual. I don�t wear what�s in fashion, I wear what I think suits me. For example I am well aware that at the moment skinny jeans may be very fashionable but they wouldn�t be a good look for me.
30. What kept you sane?
Geoffrey. My dog. He listens to me rant and doesn�t give me shit.
31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I would have to agree with Jenn on this one, Johnny Depp. There�s just something a little bit mischievous in his eyes.
32. What political issue stirred you the most?
The war in Iraq and the way the British government lied to the populace to get public support for it. That still has the power to send me off on a rant.
33. Whom did you miss?
Ben. Sometimes you don�t realise a friend�s true value until they bow out of your life.
34. Who was the best new person you met?
Suzanne. A friend I met at a wedding. She�s on my wavelength.
35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005:
If you lose your temper, don�t act on it. Wait till you�ve calmed down and then think about what to do. This will usually avoid the need for embarrassing apologies for your behaviour.
36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
We are living in a material world and I am a material girl.
