Year in Review

[Moonfire]

So, this is a tradition I've done for the last few years where I sit back and review all the things that have happened in the past year, trying to focus on the positive, after I always try to set my goals for the new year, and I'd like to invite all of you share yours as well~!

Late December 2011
-Shaved half my head
-Quit my horrible office job on Christmas Eve
-Had Christmas with the parentals!
-Visit with Cain

January
-Spent New Years in Philadelphia
-Started the Baking and Pastry Program at Le Cordon Bleu- Miami
- Became Good Friends with someone I knew in High school but didn't really associate with.
-Got really REALLY into Laser Tag

February
- Had an amazing Valentine's Day with my friends, which my friend actually made a comic about. Involved the beach, cheap mexican food and a great deal of free tacos.
- Hosted a Laser Tag overnighter for my bestfriend's 20th birthday party. Developed PTSD after.
- Worked my tush off on a bake sale that I didn't really get any credit for XD

March
- Got a job at LCB as a work study
- Cut all my hair the same length/super short.
- Went to DisneyWorld! Stayed in the Nickoldeon resort which was surprisingly awesome. Somehow my brother got into the Nick Kids Choice awards party or something, hes pretty great at that.

April
- Visit Cain, again!
- Had a hilarious time trying to make eclairs in a kitchen that no one actually cooks in
- MOAR LASER TAG OVERNIGHTERS. MOAR PTSD.
- My 20th birthday!
- Got sorted in Slytherin on Pottermore, whaaaat?
- Totally rocked socks in Culinary School

May
- Lost my chef shoes and slipped and fell like a bajillion times in the kitchen that month XD
- Discovered the joys of Nutella! The greatest substance ever.
- Cain Graduated College! Conspired with my family to register a star in his honor, named Chinine =3
- Started the most amazing class I've ever taken, International Pastry and Cake Assembly.
- Came to terms with the fact that I'm probably a hipster.

June
-Decided to move to Philadelphia in September to be with Cain, began the craziness that entails with cross-country moves. Continues to stress until September 28th XD
-Harassed almost every bakery in the city of Philadelphia until I happened to secure a single interview for July.
-Found out I'm lactose intolerant D:
- Arhiem and Xinder came to visit! We had deliciously cheap Mexican food and went to see Prometheus! Arh lost his car keys in the movie theater so we sat in a parking lot for 3 hours just talking. It was actually really great.
- My cellphone got stuck in Korean for three weeks.
- Saw Brave and cried because so beautiful and meaningful to meeee.
- Brake lights thingy in my car stopped working right so my dad fixed it with a paperclip and some glue.
-Visit Cain AGAIN!

July
- Apartment hunting
- Interview at bakery in Philadelphia!
- Could only get the position as an unpaid intern. Took it anyway!
- Celebrated Cain's 26th birthday
- Cain got his first job out of college!
- Learned how to pull sugar!
- Dad's 39th birthday, isn't he oooold?!

August
- Met Dutch!~
- Learned how to make chocolates!!!
- Held SWUFlorida DnD meet with Arhiem, Xinder and Necrofear. Was really, fantastically awesome. Started playing DnD Weekly.
- Started packing my room
- Confirmed to start at bakery for October 1st.
- Finalized all plans for move
- My younger brother started High School, which honestly was a big deal for me. For years I hated him, but over the year of 2012 he became one of my closest friends.

September
- MOAR PACKING. SO MUCH PACKING.
- Friends threw me a farewell party, one of the most touching things to ever happen.
- Promoted to Civilian Mod!
- Finish the instruction portion of Culinary School, made a great deal of amazing friends and contacts in school, best decision of my entire life.
- Said goodbye to Hollywood Florida and all my friends and family there. Moved to Philadelphia!
- Learned how to traverse the public transportation system! Wooo!

October
-Started at bakery! Got settled in nicely
- STILL APARTMENT HUNTING
- ERMAGERD JOB HUNTING BECAUSE NEED PAID WORK
- Carved Star Wars pumpkins!
- Halloween movie night, attempt to make friends!
- Harry Potter fan meet in Philadelphia, actually pretty fun.

November
- STILL APARTMENT HUNTING
- EVEN MORE JOB HUNTING!
- Getting used to working in the bakery and getting up ungodly early in the morning.
- Got a job that directly led to me getting an apartment! Yaaay!
- Thanksgiving with Cain's family, SWU Concerns is born.
- Began buying things to prepare for moving into first apartment
- ... Ravid.

December
- Moved into new apartment!
- Last month at the bakery, learned a lot and made some friends and contacts, cool stuff dude!
- Got familiar with the new area I live in.
- Bought my first Christmas tree, its still pretty much undecorated.

And thats really everything thats happened so far, I'll add the Apocolpyse to the list if the whole Mayan calendar thing works out =P.

As for my goals for the new year? To get a paid job in baking! To make my apartment feel like people with personalities live here! To make some good friends and maybe even buy my first legally acquired alcoholic beverage. And of course to write lots and be here with all my favorite little SWUlings.

So, what are you goals? How has your year been?

[Otterling]

Honestly, my year has been strange and I can't recall every detail from most of it.

-got my CCNA certification
-got a new (and much better paying) job
-went on a week vacation to NC with my hubby and did my first caving expidition
-started looking for my first home
-started volunteering for Random Acts (a kindness non-profit)
-did my first bellydance show
-helped raise $250,000 for an orphanage in Haiti that will house over 300 children
-drew a few new major pieces of art
-began spending more time with local friends and went to a ton of incredible art events here in Atlanta to include something called Flux
-Found my first Catlanta street art
-biked 57 miles in one day to raise money for charity
-began hand stitching "Giving Bunnies" to leave around town. They're my new obsession.

I can't think of any other "HOMG" stuff from this year though I know there's more. As for next year? Hrm.

-attend even more art events, hipster events, and craft fairs
-set up a booth at a craft fair for my own work
-travel to one place I've never been
-put on 10 lbs of muscle
-perform my first solo dance for an audience using fire
-make a ridiculous ton of Giving Bunnies to leave around Atlanta
-start work on, and potentially earn, my CCNP certification
-Get back into college come fall
-own my first home
-have at least half a year's income in savings (I know, I'm an old person or something)
-change at least one person's life for the better

So yeah. I think that covers it. I might add to the list. I'd kind of like to do a zombie race at some point. They sound like immense fun. As for Giving Bunnies, if you don't know what they are, they're little plush stuffed bunnies that I hand embroider, give names, and then leave in public spaces for others to find. They all have tiny tags that tell their names and I make each one different. I gave one a scarf, made one look confused, stitched a heart on one, made a few fairy ones with different color wings and tiny bottles of glitter, ect. I like to think that someone finds them and it makes them smile for a bit. ^__^

[Raytheon]

Late December 2011


January


February


March


April


May


June


July


August


September


October


November


December


As for my goals for the new year?

Created a nice template for everyone to use.

[Ghostie]

I honestly can't remember what happened two weeks ago, so Imma do my best.

Late December 2011 -
- Met my dad's new girlfriend, who ends up becoming my stepmom
- Learned my mom was moving halfway across the country

January -
- Grandparent's 70th Birthday (yes, both of them in the same month)
- WinterJam 2012, a concert. Went with a friend who was able to get seats right next to the stage. Got to high-five the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, Skillet. Also got an awesome tee-shirt out of it.

February -
-Month went by so fast, I got nothing. Spent Valentines Day sharing my "love" via virtual bullets on Xbox Live.

March -
- Trip to Kentucky with friends, saw the Creation Museum. Pretty neat stuff.
- Helped my mother pack up her apartment as she moved to Nebraska.
- My Little Bro's birthday. Helped him become an actual teenager. Dude's getting old.
- Started growing out my facial hair. It's a long story why, but it's making my friends jealous now.
- Wasted $80 (that I saved up for all 2011) on the Collector's Edition of Mass Effect 3, expecting the game of a lifetime. I was met with mixed feelings instead.


April -
-Nothing important.

May -
- My 17th Birthday. Party included Halo and Modern Warfare Three all night long with pizza and pop. Y'know, gamer stuff.


June -
- End of Junior year in highschool
- Discovered Netflix for the first time. Insta-addict.
- Summer Camp. Out of 650+ teenagers and ten teams, we came in fourth overall. We were happy, to say the least.
- Met my step-family fully for the first time. I like them better than both my mom's and dad's family. Kinda sad and funny at the same time.


July -
- Participated in a "Relay For Life". It was an interesting experience to say the least.
- Helped out in my first garage sale. I had no strong feelings on it.
- Got to see the ending to The Dark Knight Trilogy. Batman's my favorite hero. Again, whether it's videogames or movies, I had mixed feelings on it.
- Went through a survival camp. For four days I lived out of a fanny pack with a partner. It was good and horrible at the same time. Lots of mental stuff to work out and get over, that was the hardest part.


August -
-Went and visited my mother for the whole month. Hadn't seen her since March. This included a trip to the Strategic Air Museum, the Mahogany, Nebraska State Park and driving around where we could were she works (Offut Air Force Base).
-Traveled via aircraft by myself for the first time, from Nebraska back to Ohio.
- Dad proposed to my new stepmom while we were in Nebraska.
- Spearpoint got approved and started rolling. Started sitckin' it to the Sith and makin' money at the same time. It's been a great chance to RP with people, and I love the response and eagerness people have had for it.


September-
- Senior Year begins. It sucks to be homeschooled.
- Grandparent's 50th Anniversary (yes, same ones from before)


October -
- Went Backpacking for the first time, Wayne Forest in Southern Ohio. While it was a miserable time between rain and hills, the views were nice as was the company.
- Witnessed Frontiers Reenacting for two days. It seemed like fun, and I enjoyed learning to throw a tomahawk. But not something I'd commit to.
- Moved to my new house, just a town over from my old one. Passed out candy on Halloween for the first time ever there.


November -
- First holiday with the step-family. Still like them better.
- Had to put my brother's dog down and bury her two days before Thanksgiving. Luckily, my grandparent's live out in the middle of nowhere, so we got a nice spot for her. He goes and 'visits' her whenever he wants.
- Dad's birthday, the old man's 49.
- Voting, of course. Always important for our country. For any country, really.


December-
- Older sister's birthday, she's thirty. She was kinda upset about that
- The Hobbit.
- Dad's and Stepmom's wedding. I'm the best man.
- Half-way through Senior Year.
- Flew out to Nebraska to see my mom for Christmas
- All the stuff in December happened/is happening within a week and a half - two weeks of each other. One helluva busy month.


As for my goals for the new year?
Scrape on through Senior Year, figure out what I'm doing for college, get my license, and find a part-time job. Time to grow up a bit.

[Juzt]

Late December 2011

Joined SWU

Kalan D'ravk Approved

First Christmas at the new house


January

Rejoined Sheffield Hallam University and started my disastrous PHD course

22nd, My little Niece Leyla is born

February

I honestly Can't remember


March

Mine and my Brother's Birthday (14th and 30th). My Dad forgets it and the only thing I get from him is a phone call asking to borrow the printer


April

No idea


May

My Brother Philip is forced to resign from his old job due to a nervous breakdown.

June


My First major bit of PhD work is flatly rejected. I am asked if I want to leave


July


August

Philip finds a new job


September

My Aunt is asked to Quit the flat as she has no right to be there.

We begin emergency attempts to clear her old house and get it sold so she can stay at the flat.

I decide to get more involved in SWU again.

13th Siala Elrad is approved and becomes part of DLA
20th Simo Kirrin is approved


October

Attempts to stop her from being evicted reach her local MP, and under a doctor's advice her housing people stop proceedings.




November

More attempts to clear out her house.

Simo Joins Spearpoint

I am forced to leave University having wasted £3,000

I re attend the Job Center and start looking for work

27th My Aunt dies.

We are told we have until Christmas eve to clear out the flat now as well, or we will be liable for a clean up operation.


December



10th My Aunt's funeral at St Patrick's Walsall. At which almost no one turns up.

Reiko Shae posted





As for my goals for the new year?

I would like a job and a Girlfriend, more than anything else in the world. However, it has been a rotten last couple of years and I doubt I will do any better in those stakes than I normally do. Another miserable year beckons YAY!!

[Adobi-Wan Kenobi]

I might as well chime in a bit.

May (because i don't have much that happened before that.)

My Garage was broken into, police do nothing about it, i end up figuring out who had broke in, police still don't do anything.

June

Started my coolest character yet: Aldric Cibre. Based off of things i had done in my life and stories i have written.

September

He's accepted.

Future goals: Whatever comes my way, comes my way.

[Mara]

Well, my life's pretty boring, but I might have a few things...


Jan. --

N/A


Feb. --

N/A


March --

I turn 28.


April --

N/A


May --

My dad gets fired from his job of 30+ years for something silly.


June --

Fired as mod at SWU, despite other reports.


July --

I find out my company was sold to a bigger company, of which doesn't want to keep my office open, and thusly, I'll be losing my (real) job.

Plans to start looking for a house in the fall no longer necessary. Resign myself to continued living with my parents.

Intense feelings of anger for about two-four weeks because of this, in addition to other things.

Despite this, I still go to the Dark Knight marathon two weeks later and have a blast watching all three films in one day, ending with the new one at midnight.


August --

Anger replaced by depression, which lasts about a month before I just get resigned to the facts of my life.

After a lengthy process of arbitration and lawyers and stuff, my dad gets his job back.


September --

Told our office is closing beginning of November.

Somehow, I just lose my interest in writing. I still have a million ideas and things I want to write about... but that inspiration has no outlet.

My life feels robotic.


October --

Told our office is actually closing beginning of December.


November --

Told our office is now closing mid-December.


December --

Despite everything, having kept my preordered tickets, go to see Lord of the Rings marathon in the theater. For a whole day, forget about my problems.

Week later, see the Hobbit at midnight.

Next day, my office closes; my job is over.

I am now unemployed and signed up for $293 a week in unemployment.



Plans for 2013?


Find a job.

Buy a house and move out.

Find my passion for writing.



That's it for me. At least the important stuff/stuff I remember.