Happy new year!

So much has changed in the last year. I spent some time looking over my Xanga and journal to get a rough idea of a timeline. At the start of the year, I’d barely met the CU, I lived at home and I was deeply grieving a friend. I was single and hurt. I struggled with missing my old friends, and struggled with a difficult group at university. It sounds awful doesn’t it? Well it wasn’t that bad, when you face difficult times, you face each moment as it comes.

How the progression to today seems so seamless:
I bumped into all my new friends one day.
I was baptised at cornerstone with all my new friends around me.
I got ideas of where my life should be heading.
I maintained an addiction to coffee.
I grew in my relationship with God.
I found a wonderfully insane, beautiful girlfriend.
I moved out.
I got a job on the side.
I unleashed a cloud of chlorine gas at said job.

How can I know what the next year will bring when this one has brought so much change. I’ll just walk with God. I’m going to aim in the general direction of:
Getting ready for the police (fitness, full biker licence).
Saving up for a bike.
Nailing my uni work.

I’ll not be too specific really :) I’m also going to search the area for somewhere nice to escape to. Nowhere around here will be as nice as home, but I’ll see if anywhere comes close in Richmond park. I’ll probably post a picture if I find anywhere.

Stee

The Historian is a stunning book. 10/10, zomgosh get this book kinda stunning. I could give you a summary, but I'm a slow writer if I'm trying to do something well so I'll yoink this one:

"About the book
Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters addressed ominously to 'My dear and unfortunate successor'. Her discovery plunges her into a world she never dreamed of - a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an evil hidden in the depths of history. In those few quiet moments, she unwittingly assumes a quest she will discover is her birthright - a hunt for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the Dracula myth. Deciphering obscure signs and hidden texts, reading codes worked into the fabric of medieval monastic traditions, and evading terrifying adversaries, one woman comes ever closer to the secret of her own past and a confrontation with the very definition of evil. Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel is an adventure of monumental proportions - a captivating tale that blends fact and fantasy, history and the present with an assurance that is almost unbearably suspenseful - and utterly unforgettable."

If it sounds a bit Da-Vinci-Code-meets-dracula-ish, don't worry! The characters in this book are 3d and realistic, the plot is captivating and the details are rich and colourful. I think it was started about 10 years ago anyway so it’s by no means a jump on a bandwagon.  And even if you did like the nattering gabble of Da Vinci Code, then burn your copy and buy this instead.

 Stee

Update time!

University – Cousework due for the 12 and I’m workin hard to make it. It’s taking up most of my free time which bugs me since it’s only one module! Next years gonna hurt when I’ve 4 at a time!

 Work – I’m still a fishmonger by trade and still love it. Of all the ways I could possibly get hurt I managed to get 3 paper cuts. It’s quite astounding really. HOWEVER!!!! I’m signing up to the specials. No idea whether I’ll get in or not, but I’m gonna try.

 Social life – I’m feeling a bit invisible within’ the uni crowd. Nothing much new there though, I’m usually the one that’s forgotten (usually to the extent of something being given to everyone except me followed about an hour later by – “oh? You didn’t get given one? I thought everyone did”). My old friends are coming back soon though and there’s a massive party already arranged. Looking forward to that – I’ve never felt left out with them.

 Other – Get me out of this concrete jungle! Mef…

 Stee

I recently started to get a little frustrated with the concrete jungle that is London. I woke up Thursday morning feeling a need to escape, not just my house, but the area, the crowded grey city, starbucks and… well everything! I toyed with the idea of just heading into the Surrey hills and the more I did the more it seemed like a good idea. I think after about 4 seconds of consideration I was packing my bag.

I found a nice spot to have lunch. There’s nothing to give a scale of it, but that tree was huge, and I think it wanted me to have lunch in it, so I did. I think I was right as it had provided a little snack, but I didn’t quite fancy the mushrooms on offer so stuck to my grapes :P

The sunset was breathtaking and the only part of the day where I kinda wished I wasn’t alone. Not that I can complain at all, best day I’ve had in a long time.