Its been a long December
 

and theres reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last.

How would GD citizens rate this year for them personally, out of 100? What were the positive and negative aspects of your year?





Year Score

56%.

Positives

Im still alive, and im still healthy. I kicked drugs and other unhealthy habits, i simultaenously became more independant but more willing to accept help. It looks like im going to get a good degree and i actually have a passion for what i do for the first time in a while. Learned some useful skills.

Negatives

I'm no clearer about what i want to do, im further in debt and independance has come at the cost of neglecting many other parts of my life. The old slogan holds true that "the more i find out, the less i know" and im pretty disconcerted and confused with various things.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Year Score

90%

Positives

I've had a brilliant year!
Got a 2:1 in my degree.
Got a job that I enjoy with decent prospects and a decent salary.
Met lots of cool new people - including quite a few of GD :) (I <3 you guys)
Had lots of sex :up: with quite a few different girls :up: and it's been great with my girlfriend :up::up:
Went abroad 5 times - Italy twice, 3 weeks in Spain with the girlfriend, Copenhagen and Dublin
Got a nice inheritance payout (my grandpa died in 2004 so it doesn't tarnish this year) so my money problems aren't too bad. As well as the job of course.

Negatives

I've been living in Croydon...
Haven't kept in contact with people as much as I should, but realised a lot of them aren't really worth it.
Finished the uni life.. but I guess half the year was uni life so it evens itself out this year.
got 3 points on my license for speeding :( oh and a parking ticket.


So yeh - 2005 :D It's been a good one!

Re: Its been a long December
 

to join in with the thread##yar score 89%

yes im not as positi9ve as ste but i know what im doing, im married, i can drink when i wan t and i have a beautoiful sson whom i love very much

i may be drunk tonight , but by god i knoe im lucky

Re: Its been a long December
 

Year Score

70

Positives

Got the exact job I wanted for when I leave uni.
Wales won the Grand Slam and I had tickets for it all.
Went abroad a few times with friends and parents so got to see some nice places (Love Gibraltor)
Liverpool won the CL
Won a few hundread pound playing poker
Made some really good friends and generally had a great time
Had the best boxing day ever


Negatives

Didn't do as well in last years exams as I thought I should have
Love life hasn't been particularly great
The Lions were humilated
Wales managed to get worse at football
Slight money troubles
My grandfather died and my grandmother has been put in a nursing home

Re: Its been a long December
 

year score

35

positives:
-got on a really good music torrent network that has improved my access to awesome music significantly, something that was sorely missed
-made friends with a few people i never really knew
-hibs got into the UEFA cup

negatives:
-school went completely tits up
-subsequently, no chance of Oxford
-friend dramas, constantly
-huge numbers of people dying in natural disasters was a bit of a bummer

Re: Its been a long December
 

In before the complaints/sniping over the use of a % "score".

I'd have to say 70%

Positives
I have experimented more fully with a range of psychoactives from valium to ritalin to amphetamine to MDMA which has given a better understanding of the human condition generally and my own psychology in particular.

I found a place to live, with four of my closest friends. It's in a good location, it's convenient for transport, shops, etc. And not overly expensive either.

I have actually found my job quite bearable. I've become a key part of the department I am in, and find myself focused on the tasks at hand. I'm not hugely behind on what I am supposed to be doing, which I have been in past years. Everything seems to be going OK for now.

For ten months of 2005 I went out with a great girl. We had many good times and almost zero bad times. No arguments, no bitching about not seeing each other often enough (or too often). No bitching about not getting gifts for birthdays/anniversaries/etc. In short, it was ridiculously easy and fun which I didn't even realise was possible.

I have continued clubbing and worked myself into a new routine with my good friend Jon (T&F). We are now pretty much "regulars" at our chosen Saturday night haunt which reaps continued rewards. Undoubtedly I or we will get bored at some point, but for now it's still insanely fun. Combined with recreational drugs I find myself in situations which I still find amusing (e.g. trying to chat up a girl who was far too good for me by pretending that I had seen on her on the Sci-Fi channel, having to escort a girl from Texas home across London after she pleaded with me to strangle her while ****ing her, making friends with a mentally disturbed man called Logan who discussed Mike Leigh films casually after telling me he receives money from the government because he threatened to kill his mother and sister, etc)

I have received enough positive feedback from members of the opposite sex to avoid slipping into a mood of "OMG I'm so ugly how could anyone ever love me" banality which dogged me from ages 13 to 18 or so. Now I realise that either I'm mildly fantastic (unlikely) or that you can get affection regardless how much of a wastrel one aspires to be (more likely).

I've met various people from GD, which has increased the feeling it is part of my life (emo++).

I've managed to go the entire year only brushing my teeth maybe 4 times in total. I consider that a result.

Negative

My girlfriend went to University which ended things in October. Obviously it would have been nice to have continued things, but these things happen. I knew it was coming, and I quite enjoy being single anyway as I'm a slag when it comes to casual affection.

Money. For the nth year in a row I've been broke most of the time. I'll spare you the details but suffice to say I owe more money now than I did in January despite having paid at least £7k in debt servicing and fk all to show for it. I'd like to say I don't really care about money, but it obviously has a knock on effect to how the rest of my life is lived. Another year like this and I'll probably go down the bankruptcy route. I have about 6 pending CCJ's so I'm not overly concerned about my credit rating for the next 6 years.

Health. I've been ill / gained weight / generally felt shit more often than previously. Partially it's a side-effect from drugs-taking (which I accept as a reasonable price to pay) but mostly it's the fact I eat utter shit and don't exercise ever. It's also getitng old. All my friends (including the ones who don't drink or take any drugs) are starting to feeling it, which is a bit sad really as we're only 25 or 26. But hey, this is the decline, enjoy the ride.

Reading & Writing. Yet another year where not only have I not only read enough, I've not written enough. I don't see that changing, realistically speaking, any time soon.

Generally
That's personally. I was going to do a seperate thread (but never got round to it) about positive or negative trends generally, so I'll do it here very quickly :

Positive Trend : Latin America (in particular Venezuala and Bolivia). A region beset with continued crisis has genuinely taken a step forward with the recent developments in Bolivia. The links between Venezuala, Cuba and Bolivia could indeed made interesting times (especially when US forieng policy is aimed at a totally different area of the world). Even things like Argentina's decision to pay off their IMF debt was a (risky) step in the right direction : towards a unified Latin America opposed to European and American imperialism and for their own self-development.

Negative Trend : The continued march down a DRM future. Our future freedoms (i.e. what constitutes 'fair use', what is patentable) are being decided right now by the US Congress and by a variety of judicial rulings. There have been some bright spots (Sony hilariously ****ing up with their copy protection stuff) but overall the trend has been pretty depressing.

Re: Its been a long December
 

year score: 95


summarising the positives:

- study went perfectly, much better than expected, got fantastic grades, had a fun and succesful job placement and can graduate now;
- found a lovely girl and made her mine;
- made enough money on the job placement to not need a shitty job for the rest of 2005 (and will probably not need any untill june/july in the next year aswell);
- became champion with my hockeyteam last season;
- Twente beat Ajax in their own stadium and didn't lose any match at all after the winterstop of last season;
- Holland qualified for the WC 2006;
- had a great summerholiday;
- and i'm still healthy.

nn :)

Re: Its been a long December
 

10%

positives
exponentially improved musical/film/general tastes. "wider" social life. and pretty much completed conquest of a "control" of my mind, i've learnt a lot about myself and generally grown more this year in a psychologically-aware manner more than well, ever.

negatives
loss of first love - long term girlfriend(pretty much killed the whole year really.) average gcse results, and continuation of absolute minimal effort into my as-levels. ever-growing troubles at home meaning i really need to move out soon. and insert general other adolescent issues here too, since i pretty much live the teenage cliche worsened slightly.

Re: Its been a long December
 

I did realise that when i re-read my post, but i'm sort of optimistically hoping people will think its a good thread and overlook that minor defect.

Re: Its been a long December
 

You ****ers are all too young to give shit scores.
Oh no! I'm still in school or college! Oh no!
Bah....****ers

Re: Its been a long December
 

School (not college or university) is far worse than anything else that comes after it (unless you have a really ace school life / really sucky adult life).

Re: Its been a long December
 

Or you find that you now lead a crap home life, and a crap 'adult' life simultaenously, whilst trying to justify remortgaging your ass for a bit of paper you cant care less about.

Re: Its been a long December
 

As much as school/college sucks, real life sucks quite a more substantial set of balls I've found.

Re: Its been a long December
 

don't pay attention to jerome.

he's emo.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Im not sure if 75% if a bit high but we shall go with that :

Positives:

Got some ace January results in my exams for Uni boosting my chances of getting a 2:1 to around 99%
Graduated with a 2:1 after 3 years of "hard work" at university.
Joined family business so am earning casheroo and can afford things like clothes and cds and computer thingies \o/
Finally visited Ireland which ive wanted to do for ages.
Went on holiday with 2 mates and had an ace time in Florida
Finally cracked the whole 'give me your number' instead of 'heres my number' malarky
Changed my car from a VW to a BMW that kicks car ass.
Dated a lovely girl from about Jan to May but ended it due to various reasons.
Caught up with about 20 different people in the past week who i havnt seen in around 5 years.


Negatives:

I have to face the reality of living at home until i can get enough cash together for a house (not long now tho i hope)
Start of the year was tremendously shit due to an ex gf. (by tremendously i mean absolutely utterly crap)
Not dating anyone since summertime ish
Realised ive lost contact with a lot of people over university years.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Life sucks. No support, no family, no money. I am a big fat sacrifice.
Positive: I am still here. :)

Re: Its been a long December
 

Positives:

Had a gf for a while, which makes a change, it was fun.
Moved into a much more comfortable house at uni, double bed \o/
I still have an ace family, making me incredibly lucky
I tried Ketamine, which is the last major one I wanted to try, so I effectively now have the "full set"
I've had enormous fun going out on a number of occassions
I discovered wodehouse and have read ~40 of his books now
I fell into a brilliant job this summer where I have very little to do every day and smoking weed between jobs is the norm :) They want me back whenever I can come
My confidence has grown (not that it was particularly low), this may not be a good thing objectively, but at least it feels good
More stuff that I can't think of right now

Negatives:

I am still ****ing up uni, it looks like the only sensible thing to do right now would be to defer, but breaking it to the people who are paying is going to be the problem.
I am going out less recently, this is something I will actively try to change though
my weed tolerance has gone up a fair bit
I stopped improving at go a bit earlier this year and have given up, I think I would need to study to improve and I really don't want to do that.

...

I can't think of anything else

75%

Re: Its been a long December
 

100%

I just love life, even the bad parts of it.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Positives
I didn't die of alcohol poisoning

Negatives
I didn't die of alcohol poisoning

Re: Its been a long December
 

Not sure about a percentage, it's been a pretty strange year.

Positives

Spent 2 weeks in Japan. An awesome experience and one I wish to repeat. I even met Batista, Shane McMahon, Chris Jericho and Triple H in a nightclub over there.
Met my dad for the first time in my life, a very wierd encounter.
Went to Download and Reading festival, drank lots, saw some good bands, all good.
Got my septum pierced after wanting it done for about 6-7 years.
Came close to getting my tattoo finished though it will have to be completed this year.
Did coke, speed and mushrooms for the first time. Mushrooms were amazing, the other 2 were ok I guess.
Bought many books resulting in me needing a third bookcase.
Stopped harming myself.

Negatives

Got turned down for a promotion at work. 'We don't want friends managing friends.' They gave the job to an asshole who doesn't give a shit.
My uncle followed his younger brother and commited suicide.
Went to hospital twice for stitches.
Been recommended to speak to a doctor about my self harm.
Possibly lost one of my closest friends after lashing out at her verbally on a night out.
Got toothache on the 30th of december and still have it.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Yeah, I had a good year. Some weird stuff, but certainly not boring. 2006 should be interesting.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Well, since I fell positive today, I will give 2005 a 80%.

Positive:

Passed all exams. Did very well on the one that really mattered to me.
I seem to attract the attention of some girls, even when Im not playing the game. Always good with some ego-boosting :p
Had a interesting job this summer, looking after children ageed 7-10. I had a number of nice coworkers there. Thinking of applying again. Partly becouse of this one coworker :)
Some nice parties and stuff with friends.
Made some new friends.
Chavez telling U.S to **** off.
Got rid of position in a organization who just led to lot of work and little results.

Negatives:
My grades should have been better.
Those children made me go all emo. "Once you upon up for someone, its hard to close it" to make a rough quote from "All about a boy" by Nick Hornby. So true.
I need to go out more.
Not going abroad in the summer.
Should have done more party work.

Re: Its been a long December
 

:( Didn't the doctor prescribe a new type of antidepressant then? Like an MAOI or some such.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Ok, going to sum up score for the following ten sections of my life, so that my score doesn't seem so arbitrary:

Love:
Started the year fancying some guy. :)
He turned me down. :(
But we're still friends. :)
Turns out I didn't know him all that well and it would have been a bad idea anyway. :)
Was only single person I knew for ages. :(
But being single meant that when the hottest most lovely guy on the planet who I'd secretly fancied for ages but had given up on cos we live in different cities asked me out, I could say yes. :):)
We're still together, and he's still perfect. :):):):):)
Score: 10/10

Uni:
Got a first. :)
Didn't rank near the top. :(
I was never going to anyway as long as I had a social life. :p
Getting a first in spite of great social life. :):):):):):)
Got a DPhil place in a great group. :):)
Not doing QC :(:(
But doing something potentially very valuable to the scientific community. :):):):):)
Score: 10/10

Work:
Spent summer working for college, in very boring job. :(:(:(
Job included working in Hall, which filled me with terror. :(:(
Turns out I'm actually not a bad waitress, overcame my phobia of the general public, and got lots of tip £££££££££ :):):):):):)
Had to give in tip because we 'pool' tips. :(
Everyone else tell me they'd have just given in £20 and kept the rest. :(:(:(:(:(:(
Being pathologically honest will probably get me into heaven. :):):):)
Got enough money to be reasonably comfortable in my first term. :):):):):)
Discovered I'm was actually going to be loaded next term. :)
So I didn't actually need to work all summer after all, and could have spent the summer enjoying myself with my family instead. :(:(:(:(:(
Score: 5/10 + bonus point for overcoming phobia = 6/10

Money:
Was not terribly well off for the first part of the year. :(
But got a DPhil place + funding :):)
Discovered I'm misunderstoof how my funding works, in that my fees are paid for me, but not out of the £12,000 stipend I get, leaving me £5000 a year better off than I thought I would be. :):):):):):)
Awarded Scholarship, worth nearly £2,000 a year. :):):):):):)
Could afford to buy people nice Xmas pressies this year :):):):):)
Score: 10/10

Friends:
Moved into house with new housemates my lovely friends <3<3<3 :):):):):)
Keeping in touch with friends back home in spite of living in Oxford 90% of the time, by viture of the fact the my boyfriend lives there. :):)
Housemate split up with boyfriend (who is also my friend) so prolly won't see him much anymore, and she's really upset :(:(:(
Managed to preserve the quasi-friendship I have with a guy who is a bit of a tosser, which is probably good for my karma, since everyone else treats him like the twat he is. :)
Aforementioned twat stepped up the harrassment he'd been shelling out to me over the last two years. :(:(:(:(:(:(
Aforementioned twat gets sat on by his tutor and Chaplain for harrassing me. :):)
Chaplain calls aforementioned twat a 'little shit'. :D
Aforementioned twat promises to stop harrassing me and telling people inappropriate tihngs about me. :):)
I question his motives for doing so. :(
Nevertheless, I know he'll have to keep his promise or face not particularly nice consequences. :)
I make lots of new friends in the form of all the choir newbies and jitsu newbies. :):):):)
Score: 6/10

Jitsu:
Still the same grade I was this time last year due to work- and aforementioned twat-induced stress preventing me getting to relevant courses. :(:(:(
Haven't trained in nearly 2 months due to aforementioned reasons. :(:(
Am out of shape am feeling rather fat. :(:(
Boyfriend doesn't seem to care. :):)
Got gold and bronze medals at jitsu-judo nats in March. :):):):)
Entered women's open, got 4th place, nearly beat the 2nd dan I fought. Well impressed. :):):):):)
Got TJF and BUSA purple belt gold medals in the jitsu atemi nationals in November. :):):):):):):):):):)
Score: 7/10

Singing:
Have been hailed as a Godsend by the newbies. :):)
Regarded by the 'adults' running the choir as highly valued member, and consequently can pretty much do what I want cos they'll cut me miles of slack. :):):)
Still can't sight-read. :(
Music's a bit easy cos of so many new people being in the choir. :(:(
Missed lots of choir last term and nearly missed carol service because of previously mentioned twat. :(:(
Have to wear my gown to services instead of a surplice. :(:(:(
Going to Japan and Korea on tour in August :):):):):):):):):):)
Score: 7/10

Family life:
Don't see them much. :(:(:(
All members still as well as can be expected. :):):)
But my cat died. :(:(:(
And my family in general is great, and approve of my new man. :):):):)
Score: 5/10

Holidays/fun:
No family holiday this year. :(
Saving up to go somewhere nice next year, maybe. :)
Choir tour mentioned above. :):)
Life is generally a laugh, don't get out as much as I'd like, but keep getting invited to posh dinners in Hall/SCR etc. :):)
Sex life no longer non-existent. Far from it. :):):):):):):):)
Score:6/10

Other:
Got some highlights done, and am generally looking foxy. :):)
Except for the weight gain thing. :(:(
Had an argument with God the other night. He's still not speaking to me. :(:(:(:(
Apart from the last couple of months, have actually improved my fitness quite a lot.:):):)
No longer need to worry about parents' fear that I might have lesbian tendancies. :):):):)
Score: 8/10

General comments:
On the plus side, I'm still me, yey :) And my lifestyle in general is even better than before.
On the down side, meh, occasionally shit happens in life. It even happens to me.

Total: 75%
But since I really should give more weight to the more important things, it's prolly more like 90%.

Minus 1% for wasting my time doing this, only to pull an arbitrary figure out of my arse.
So 89% it is, then.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Mmm... It's been kind of a twisted year to be honest.

Negatives:

-Got dumped by gal I had been seeing for 3 and a bit years.
-Tried seeing another gal and then ended up breaking off with her due to a lot of shite that happened.
-I have more of a social life at work than I do outside of it
-School and work have combined to produce a rock the size of mount rushmore for me to live under

Positives:
-Got one scholarship for decent academic standing
-Seem to have discovered a career choice that I'm somewhat useful at
-Got promoted at work and actually make some decent cash
-Got dumped by the gal I had been seeing for 3 and a bit years.
-Protected me mother from two drunken idiots
-Own my own pair of skiis finally and have a ski trip coming up

Well. My social life sucks as usual, but everything else is going just peachy :up:

70%

Re: Its been a long December
 

Good on you mate, and if he doesnt tell him you'll sue for negligance! On a serious note, if you tell your pharmacist that you're resistant to the drugs he'll ring up your prescriber (assuming hes competent :/) and ask him why you havn't been switched to anything else. You'll have to go without any meds for a while though, cos some freaky shit can happen if you have more than one type of anti-d in your system at the same time.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Jennifer makes me angry and sad inside, but not jealous.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Why, cos I went against the flow and made 'categories'? You make me sad too. But not angry. It's hard to make me angry.

Re: Its been a long December
 

I had many good nights out. I dropped out of college again. I didn't get a job for ages. I haven't really read all the books I wanted to. I've enjoyed the amount of time I've spent online. I had sex less than I wanted to and rather more meaningfully less than I was willing to put in the effort for. It's been a decent year healthwise. I've helped a good few people along the way, probably more than you can be realistically expected to. Poker's gone well but I let it fade off recently but now I'm back in the game so fingers crossed. I had a very good holiday in the states and met some interesting people over there. Someone I knew very well died but considering previous years the fact it was only one person is probably an improvement. Family and friends did pretty well out of the year.

I'd give it an 81%. It's been good but not great.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Stereotypical elitist-ness

Re: Its been a long December
 

Positives:

-Finishing a 6000 word project a day early (out of necessity, but what they hey") after switching topics about halfway through the term
-Joined the University Socialist Society
-Went on an anti-cimate change demonstration in London
-tasted many more food-stuffs (thanks to a housefull of broad-palletted pushy housemates ;) )
-Been generally well-motivated, particulaly this term
-Got better at the guitar
-Feel that I have begun to grow spiritually and emotionally as a human being
-Met some coke-snorting hookers
-Didn't get a job
-Got a great new housemate
-Didn't have to help finding a new housemate
-Chelsea won the League
-Started reading and writing poetry

Negatives:

-Running out of money due to going abroad for the first time
-Spent 90% of my time during uni lying on the living room sofa
-still not found a post-uni job
-Missed the Masters application deadline
-Didn't get to see t&f's film
-Liverpool won the CL
-became infauated with my new (unavailable) housemate

Overall I would say 65%
Whilst my life is still uneventful I feel that positive strides have been made this year which will hopefully provide me with the momentum to increase my enjoyment of life

Re: Its been a long December
 

The way you set out your post says more about you than anything actually contained within it.

I'm just guessing, but I assume that is something of what he was getting at.

Re: Its been a long December
 

Kind of.

I feel that living whith these people that I share the house with (whom I only met on the day I moved in) has provided an environment in which I can feel comfortable enough to let my guard
down. this has become particularly pronounced since the return for the second year, especially with the arrival of the new housemate.

I believe that my desire to read poetry as been encouraged by the environment in which I live. I also believe that is now helping to continue my development.

there are two other factors which have played a considerable part in this.

the sight of seeing thousands of people from all sorts of backgrounds gathered together to fight for a single cause filled me with amasement. there were so many different people there. there was odd clothing, music and random dancing in the street. the sense of unity and purpose moved something inside of me.

this one is the most confusing to me. I don't know if my infatuation is because she is so cool (which she is) or because I can't have her so I don't have to expose myself to the humiliation of rejection. I think it's the first one but I'm not really sure. Without sounding uber-emofaggoty, at the moment she is my creative insperation and part of the reason why I'm finding it difficult to do my work.


that seems to be the shortest way of explaining it, sorry. ;)

Re: Its been a long December
 

score 100%

I am alive.

I do love being alive. It is so much better than sleeping.

Positives:
too numerous to count.

but my angel being born.
my love of gd
my flat
my cottage
my iranian caviar
my gin
my fizz

Live and love and Love and Live.

Negatives:
Boring trivial issues which will be over come and that I would never dream of dignifying with my attention.

P.S. some of you are so terribly negative. I don't understand why you do it to yourselves.

Re: Its been a long December
 

He's right.
100%.

Positives: I really pretty song I heard on the radio last night. I don't care if last night's not 'last year'.
Negatives: I still don't have my cat. :( But he was a great kitty and he had a good life. Yey :)

Re: Its been a long December
 

I'd say around 80%.

Positives:
Got engaged.
Had a great time at Uni
Started playing pool competatively again.
Liverpool won the CL
Did better at Uni in the latter half of the year

Negatives:
Didn't do as good at Uni as I'd hoped (first half of year)
Missed out on the Edinburgh Festival casue of Uni
Lack of money

On the whole it was a good year. Looking forward to graduating (hopefully with a 2:1) and getting a decent job.

Re: Its been a long December
 

i can't do math so..

bad things:
my roommate moved away
had to get a second job
dislocated my kneecap
went mental working 2 jobs
grandpa had a stroke
quit jobs to move home
grandpa had a quintuple bypass
grandpa had another stroke

good things:
phil came for 2 months \o/
a2 came for a week and i got to meet squidly and ph8
got a great calgary health region job
my grandpa DIDN'T die.

since today is the 5th and i was just offered full time at work (started as casual) i think this is gonna be a better year. (also i'm going to the uk so \o/)

Re: Its been a long December
 

Positives:

Spent a Month at ether end of the year in australia
Met an awsome girl who seems to over look all my flaws
Got a good job
Started hanging with my old mates again who i had lost touch with
Only woke up in a garden on 1 occasion
Spent christmas day diving the great barrier reef
Im alive

Negatives:

Grandma not well
Got beg bugs in a hostal i was staying in (anyone who has expecianced these know how they can ruin your life)

Overall: 90

Re: Its been a long December
 

Only if you don't wash everything that went near the bed on a high temperature.
There were some in the hostal I stayed in in Budapest :(
They meant i got bitten a couple of times every time I slept in my sleeping bag but I would hardly say they ruined my life.