Friday 31 December 2010

2010 - Highlights of the year

Well, its NYE and thought I'd re-cap 2010. Yeah, nice. 2010 has had a lot of ups and downs, some of it has been pretty damn awesome, while some of it has been just plain shit. Here's just a list of some of the stuff that happened to me this year.

1. Liam and I got engaged. 11.23pm on Christmas Eve. I couldn't be happier and I'm very lucky to have such an amazing boyfriend.
2. Got a B in my first ever university essay.
3. Endured several weeks of university filled with crying and complaining that I had no friends and just generally hated it.
4. Moved in with Liam after months of being scared it wouldn't happen, but now living in a rather nice flat in Northampton.
5. Failed my second driving test
6. Got into my chosen course at The University of Northampton
7. Passed all my exams with grades that are sharable - English Lit-C, Psychology-B and Food Tech-A
8. Failed my first driving test - but only got 5 minors.
9. Went on a week long holiday to Dawlish with 8 friends intending to get massively pissed, but actually had several nights of being sober and just having general chats, but still had a great time
10. Endured awful exams - all of which were essay based and published by AQA - whom I didn't trust after the biology exam everyone complained about!
11. Went through several weeks of exposure therapy for my vomit phobia after my mum ranted to a doctor about it and got me some counselling. Never completed it, but just got to the stage where I could watch a video where someone is almost sick. Hm. Don't think it helped that much.
12. Celebrated my 18th birthday with a meal at The Somerset Arms and a party. Also got over £600 worth of birthday money, 80% of which I drank due to the fact I was now old enough to go out. I missed that once I went to uni...
13. Said goodbye to my beautiful baby, my cat Ozzy, after he was hit by a car. He broke his jaw and had severe injuries to his face. Vet was optimistic he'd get better but after a week he still couldn't eat for himself and we were forced to have him put down, just a week before his 6th birthday, and my 18th. Rest in peace Ozzy, I still miss you.
14. Saw Dara O'Brian live at the Bristol Hippodrome
15. Endured awful stomach aches, which led to blood tetsts, some IBS tablets, and my mum having to go to the doctors with me for the first time in years.
16. Celebrated being with Liam for a year on Valentine's Day with a meal and roses
17. Had my brace removed and for the first time in over 10 years, I was able to smile in photos!
18. Rung in the 2010 completely sober, but merry, with Liam and several other friends, after an evening of playing Singstar and Buzz, and not having to worry about anyone throwing up!

So, aside from a few glitches, I think this year went rather well. Hoping 2011 is vomit and stress free! Although I'm a student, so there will probably be a fuckload of stress. A few things I have to look forward to in 2011...

1. Seeing Russell Howard at the LG Arena in Birmingham in February
2. Celebrating 2 years being with Liam on Valentine's day
3. Seeing Ed Byrne in Northampton in April
4. Celebrating my 19th birthday, also with a possible exam resit depending on how well I did a few weeks ago
5. Hopefully getting a job
6. Making some friends properly and just not being a general twat.
7. Starting driving lessons again, although that depends on when I get a job
8. Completing my first year of university (hopefully - if I don't pussy out at any stage)
9. Finishing one or two modules that I can't stand
10. Next Christmas :)

Saturday 11 December 2010

Brief update

It's been a while since I last wrote, so here goes. So basically, I gave up with my exposure therapy. Mainly because I was never contacted to get another appointment because the system at my old GP surgery was lets face it, fucked up.
Anyway, I got into the University of Northampton with some surprisingly good grades, and I'm now living in a privately rented flat with my boyfriend. Aah, all grown up now.

Anywho, in terms of uni, things are moderate. I've had some serious ups and downs in the last couple of weeks, in terms of making friends and getting on with the work. The course I actually haven't found that bad, just one module involves far too much maths for my liking (for those interested, I'm studying BSc Psychology and Counselling). In terms of friendships, I don't believe that the friends you make at uni are your friends for life. Mainly due to the fact I haven't made any proper ones and I'm having more contact with my friends at home. Everyone I've spoken to has said that if I stick it out a bit further, things will change, but lets face it, it's been over 3 months now. I have been hanging around with a group of lovely people, but I'm very cautious to use the word friends as I don't want to jinx things. If things keep up after Christmas, I may begin to use that term. People I hung round with at the beginning of the year were slowly referred to as friends but once I did this, I began to feel very left out and excluded, so I'm not exactly with them anymore, aside from brief hellos in the corridoors.

I think things would have been different if I'd either been in halls or a shared house. I mean, I didn't want to do that mainly because I was worried about people nicking my stuff (and yes I will also admit I was scared of any girls nicking my boyfriend because I'm a paranoid freak) and just generally being all up in my space. But in the last few months I've been seeing how close people are in their flat groups and I do begin to think I would have made some really good friends if I'd gone into halls. Don't get me wrong, I really don't regret moving in with my boyfriend, it's brilliant, and it's nice to always have someone to come home to - I'm trying to look at it from this way: I could be in halls with 8 other girls (and girls can be very bitchy) and have absolutely no friends, or I could be in a private flat, have no friends on campus, but an amazing, lovely boyfriend to come home to when I've had such a crap day. A massive thank-you to him for putting up wth so much of my tantrums and being miserable on a day to day basis!