2011: A Review

It's NYE so in keeping up with last year and trying to build a tradition, I give you, my personal experiences of 2011. I'm not going to touch on what actually happened in the real world this year, as some of it, I don't care about - mainly the politics stuff - and if you think that makes me an idiot, that's your decision to make.

1. Got a job - Nearly 4 years after losing my job at Woolworths I finally got myself another job to ease the financial burden that is university. So far I'm enjoying it and have met some rather nice people. And endured some rude ones on the phone, but that comes with the job I guess.
2. First ride in an ambulance - I mentioned the incident that caused this to happen in my previous post, I won't mention it again. Although I'm secretly gutted that I was unconscious for my first ride in an ambulance.
3. Gained a Step-Dad - October saw my Mum and Rob getting married, again, mentioned in a previous post. A nice day overall.
4. Started my second year of university - Despite continuously saying I'd do my first year and then quit, here I am, nearly half way through my second year. I won't lie, I regret that decision. But, I may as well get a degree and better job prospects (in theory) out of my unhappiness.
5. Saw Lee Evans at the NIA in Birmingham - A brilliant night, Lee Evans is just amazing. What I love about him is that he is so genuine. At the beginning and end of the show and at the beginning and end of the interval, he was just so appreciative of people for coming and he kept saying "thank you for giving me a chance," and at the end he spend ages signing stuff and shaking hands, and even posing for pictures with people in the front row - he just seems like such a lovely, lovely person. I'm gutted we never got to meet him, but at a venue that big, we wouldn't have had a chance. Even the parking ticket we got and the fact that Birmingham is a complete bitch to drive around didn't spoil that night...
6. Passed my driving test - It was my fourth attempt, but I don't care - that was the ONE thing, if any, that I wanted to do this year, and I finally did it. One week before my theory test expired.
7. Saw Avenue Q - Something that I had originally requested to do for my 16th birthday, I finally got to do for my 19th, thanks to Liam. Originally, the show was based in London, but it went on tour and luckily, came to Northampton. Came out with a lovely sense of optimism.
8. Beach trip - During one of our summer trips home, we all took a brilliant trip to Bournemouth beach. It was one of the hottest days this year and it was awesome. Although the sunburn I ended up with afterwards was not.
9. Celebrated my 19th birthday - A reasonably uneventful birthday unfortunately. Not much happened which was a little sad. Still, I got some lovely presents and had a fairly quiet day.
10. Saw Ed Byrne - Bought the tickets for Liam for his birthday and we had a great night out seeing him. He was brilliantly funny, and he was even nice enough to stick around after the show to meet people and pose for pictures.
11. Met Sooty - My Mum decided to get another cat at the beginning of the year, which saw the introduction of Sooty to the family. At first a very naughty kitten, but he's turned into a nice, cuddly kitty since they've moved house.
12. Celebrated 2 year anniversary with Liam. With roses :)
13. Russell Howard - One of my favourite moments in 2011, my first ever arena gig, travelling to the LG Arena in Birmingham and seeing Russell Howard. He was fricking hilarious, especially at the end where he rapped Vanilla Ice because it was someone's birthday in the audience. We stuck around for a while at the end trying to meet him, but no such luck. I later realised at an arena tour you probably don't have much hope in meeting the act afterwards.
14. Brought in the year 2011 still reasonably sober by dancing in The Tavern after a pretty uneventful night. Still turned out well though.

2012 is looking alright at the moment. I'm looking forward to the following:
1. 3 year anniversary with Liam.
2. Seeing Jimmy Carr in April.
3. 20th Birthday and becoming half way to 40 - or officially an adult. I'm getting annoyed with being informed that technically I'm still a teenager because my age has 'teen' in it. I no longer live at home, I pay rent, I have a job, I can drive), oh, and I'm 18 - the age when you are legally considered an adult. Although that was a pretty childish rant...
4. Finishing Year 2 of that bloody evil place. No point quitting after that when there's one year to go though.

In terms of resolutions, I'm not bothering to make any official ones. Just the usual kerbing of my swearing, stop biting my nails and try and eat healthier. I also really need to get a motorway lesson.

Christmas and other mildly related incidents.

It's sad to say, but Christmas is now over. I genuinely am not a fan of the duration between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, as it's that depressing stage where the decorations are still up, but that lovely warm Christmassy feeling is gone. I'm not genuinely a fan of New Year's Eve either, but 9 times out of 10, it's an excuse to dress up and look nice. I won't be drinking after unfortunate events landed me in A&E covered in vomit a few weeks ago.

Personally, I think my drink was spiked, as there's 3-4 hours worth of that evening that I can't remember. And a vomit phobic like myself usually remembers such kind of incident - or would have been more careful to aim for the toilet rather than every item of clothing I was wearing (I spent hardly any money that night and considered it the cheapest night ever - ironic, as it ended up costing me £40 as I had to replace my pebble-dashed jeans, and also my boots). Either that, or mixing Rosé, Pinot Grigio, Jagerbombs and shots of apple sours and sambuca does not agree with me. The sheer amnesia of the situation points me towards the conclusion that my drink was spiked by an asshole. I mean, who doesn't like seeing the moderately unattractive and already pissed anyway speccy girl puke everywhere and pass out resulting in an ambulance being called? Gave the paramedics a laugh at the very least. No, seriously. I was informed they looked at the humourous side of the situation. But either way, a big thankyou to the two lovely people who I went out with in the first place for taking care of me, they know who they are. And also to Liam for looking after me the next day and sitting with me while I moaned like a small child whilst in hospital.

So, after that incident, this Christmas has been a moderately alcohol free one. Not completely, but since being at home from the 21st, I've had 2 drinks in total. NYE may be a different story, but rest assured, I will not be going ot A&E for a second time.

So not very Christmassy to start off with, but anyway, not much happened this Christmas. I actually enjoy it more now that I'm at uni and come home for it. I had two Christmas lunches which was genrally just awesome. As we did last year, Liam and I spent Christmas morning with Rob and my mum, and later on my grandparents, had a small lunch, and then went off to Liam's uncles' and had a proper massive one later in the evening. Both of which were lush. I have never eaten so much. Ever.

Presents were highly penguin related - penguin book, penguin poster, penguin socks, penguin pajamas, penguin microwave heat pack, penguin hot water bottle, chocolate penguin, cuddly penguin, Christmas singing penguin, squeezy Pingu toy that talks (in Pingu's language, of course) and some white chocolate penguins. Also had a few cat things too, cat calender, cat diary, cat book.

Got some lovely presents from Liam too, some of which more practical than others :P Some heart shaped silicon cake cases, a massive frame, a penguin poster for the massive frame, a whiteboard, a FRICKING ANGRY BIRDS CHARM BRACELET (words cannot describe how awesome), a yard of Jaffa Cakes, and best of all an eReader (a pink one xD), not only that, but a very romantic sentiment was that he'd put a handful of my books on there, including the textbooks I had to keep getting out of the library because publishers are stupidly extortionate.

We also had a pre-Christmas celebration once we came home with friends too. Including some rather dodgy, but purely brilliant, presents. I recieved a sleep mask with 'fuck off' written on it, and a notepad that you can draw cocks on, while Liam recieved a novelty apron with inflatable tits. Other presents that others recieved included nipple clamps (seriously), a heigh chart, a toast stamp, a bubble gun, fluffy dice, a solar system sticker book, a bike horn, a game called "Pin the Cucumber on the Hunk" and an alphabet book of various disgusting sex acts. Telling that to strangers makes it sound so much weirder than what it was. Although rest assured, they were fairly normal gifts for our group of friends.

Boxing day was spent doing the usual. Eating crap and watching DVDs. I recieved a nice awray of stand up DVDs: Alan Carr, Sarah Millican, Russell Kane, Rufus Hound, and the two Liam and I saw earlier this year, Ed Byrne and Lee Evans. All of which were pretty good, I was especially impressed with Sarah Millican, who was just brilliant. The Lee Evans DVD just brought back brilliant memories of when we saw him in Birmingham, the stage, the jokes, the music and the musical skit at the end, which was brilliant to see up close. Even though it was amazing live, it was great to watch it on the DVD so you could see what was going on even more. Although, after the song when we saw him, he did his brilliant interpretation of Bohemian Rhapsody. What I liked to see was that the audience actually stayed on their asses on the DVD during his musical number. Most in our area started getting up at that point, which I thought was just rude. If you buy tickets to see one of the most amazing comedians there is, why leave before it ends? Fans of Lee Evans will know that that's his thing at the end of his shows, and you wouldn't pay a lot of money for a ticket unless you're a fan of his. Although considering the que we sat in in the car park afterwards, maybe their reason for leaving was justified. Either way, it was still a little rude.

Wow, this blog post went off on one a bit. Not that anyone's interested, but I'll be reviewing my experiences of 2011 in my end of year blog on New Year's Eve. Till then.