So last year was truly awful. Worst year of my life, and I'm not going to discuss the bad aspects of it any further than that. Instead, I'm going to grab at the positive stuff, so that I can officially put last year behind me, and move on.

This is all long, and irrelevant to you. Feel free to ignore it. I'm sorry I talk soooo much drivel on here, but this is the nearest thing I have to a diary (I've never been able to commit to a real diary for long).

Holidays :Me and my boyfriend went on our first real holiday together. We'd been out for weekends here and there in the past, but only to stay in B&B's while we frequented conventions. Last year, we went to Wales. Ok, so it's not overseas, but it's a start! At my pressing, we climbed the Great Orme, and in the most awkward way possible - a sort of zig-zaggy goat trail the was way too steep for me and Vogun, who both have a minor fear of heights XD Every now and then I had to stop and wait for the vertigo to pass, but we made it! He didn't think we could even get half way up there, so I'm pretty proud of myself for completing my self assigned challenge. We also went horse riding, visited a bunch of castles (I love ruined castles!) and other dorky stuff.

Dance that is Not Dance! : Last year was an art travesty. Drawing was a forced process, and it showed in the results. However, since I didn't draw much, I had to find something else to do. The drawing gap was filled with extreme amounts of... DDR! o_O I'm serious - hey, stop laughing at me u_u
But yah, I spend a lot of time on DDR now. It's good exercise, and can be fun. I was on 7-footers, but I stopped DDR before Christmas after a DDR induced injury *snickers* and have only just restarted playing it. I've found I'm back to struggling with six footers now. I'm buying myself a metal dance mat when I get a PS3, I think I've earned it.

Shoes : I've never really cared much about shoes. I've never understood what women are supposed to see in them. All my shoes have always been boyish, thick-soled, plain, black shoes (if not actual boys shoes >_>. In fact, despite being 25, I've worn the same pair of plain back shoes for over 10 years. That's right, only one pair of shoes since I was at high school!
But something in me snapped when I saw these : [link] which I now own, thanks to Christmas >XD True, I'm not obsessed with shoes, in the traditional manner of women and footware, but now I am starting to care. A little bit. I now have three *gasp* pairs of shoes, two of which have painfully massive platform heels. I doubt I'll be buying any more for a while, but still.

Nails :I have always, since as far back as I can remember, bitten my nails. They were disgusting. But I decided to stop biting them between October and November as a birthday present to my deceased grandparents. During their life, they always really wanted me to stop and I was never able. I managed my self imposed cease-bite, and continue it now =3

MMORPGS : Last year I played iRO, Flyff, Granado Espada and it's European equivalent, Sword of the New World. I didn't play any of them for particularly long.

-iRO, as you all know, I love unconditionally, but playing it makes me think of Fortuna, which hurts my heart, even after so long u_u I know, I'm insane, but I can't help it.

-Flyff is cute. That's it's only real appeal. The player base is mostly inane adolescents who think they are cool, the gameplay is basic and dull, and there is little for the RPer in me. However, it is adorable, and to my visually-orientated self, that was reason enough. I still play it from time to time. Infact, I've been playing it this week as I'm feeling ill which is making my art look crappier than usual and my patience short. Since I can't draw or DDR, I've seen a return to flyff.

-Granado Espada/SotNW is the most beautiful MMORPG I've ever played, and I'd recommend you try it just to look at it . Unfortunately it's mostly full of people afk levelling. I left GE due to the lack of understanding of the English language, and massive army of bots. Instead I moved to SotNW, but I forcibly left that after a prolonged period of Computer-Being-Dead. I may go back some day, but right now I'm trying to stay semi-mmorpg clean.

MMORPG's are like a drug. I become addicted, and everything else in my life falls apart while I obsess over them. That's why I'm currently playing Flyff every once in a blue moon, it's the least fun, least addictive and ergo it's easiest for me to quit and go do other things. I both long for and dread RO2 comming to our shores, I'm not sure I'll be able to resist it...

Christmas and Holly: I was very ill all though December, but that didn't stop me from going home to see my family, and attempt to fix the bonds that had been broken over the very stressful year.

It's been a long time since I had a family Christmas that didn't hurt me to the core. True, there was still a small amount of typical holiday hurt and stress, but on the whole, it was actually a nice Christmas!! Do you see that? Two exclamation marks! Punctuation abuse, and I don't care, it's worth it! I had a nice Christmas with my family!!

I put the oddly pleasant seasonal experience down to my big sister, and to my adorable niece, Holly, who I had no end of fun playing with! She's 3 now, and very much into the Disney Princesses^^ I also hit the sales at 5am with my sister, which was my first real 'January sales'. Worth the pain! I bought myself this really cool shirt from Next that makes me think of Vagary, and a bunch of other stuff. I also ran into an old mate from Hymers College! I must remember to ring her up some time.

Software : I can now tentativly add 3D modelling softwares Maya and Zbrush to my list of art tools. I'm a complete newbie to both of them, but I'm enjoying the learning process. Maya is unnatural to me and for the life of me, I can't find the ability or the patience to create UV's. I've started a few models, but never finished them. 3D is not my field >_>;; But I will persevere. Or try to. A bit. Until I tire of it. Maybe. <_<;

TV and Film :

-Lost : Is every bit as awesome as everyone else is making it out to be. Go watch it. All the characters are interestingly compelling, but my personal favourite is Sawyer. I can't wait till the next season, though I must admit, I did not enjoy the 'future' aspect with which the last season ended.
-Heroes : Is another 'hyped-up' show which, for a long time I avoided, but as it turns out, is also very good! Nathan Petrelli (mean businessmen who actually care for-the-win), his brother Peter (Who makes Godmoding look cool), and Ando and Hiro are my current favourites, but I like a lot of the characters. I've just started watching Season 2, so I'm not yet familiar with newer characters.
-Beowulf: Rocks. If it's still on at your local cinema, and you haven't see it, go now while you still can. You'll regret it if you download it. You see, I knew Beowulf was a digital 3D film, but what I did not know was it was a 3D 3D film. By which I mean you get goggles, like the kind you used to play with as a child that allow you to see some red/green drawing...things as... well, 3D.

The novelty of having everything pop out of the screen like that was an unexpected treat! 3D dragons reduce me to a state of child-like bliss! After coming out of the cinema, I was filled with the need to draw dragons.
The story itself is pretty simple, but none the less enjoyable. Even without the eye-popping 3D gimmickry, it was a good film, but it was the 3D that will make it stand out in my memory for all time. All films should be made like this.


Ghosts of Last Night :In more recent news, last night my partner was reading a particularly meaningful section of story to me, when at precisely midnight, an old musicbox of mine started playing on it's own without any cause. It's never done this before, and I got it when I was a tot! The experience was both chilling and heartwarming. A message from the afterlife, or just a strangely timed coincidence?

Urk, too long! Enough! I've typed way too much again >_>;;; Next Journal entry, I'm gonna add a list of old Fortuna friends to the footer I think. For now, I'll just add my Vogun.