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Y!J Search and alumni
Originally uploaded by angrydicemoose

2010 is here and just had my first official day at my new job. I've know most of these folks for over five years now so the familiarity is nice. Plenty of new and fun challenges ahead, so this should be a fun year. (NOTE: photo and blog post are unrelated)

2010も始まり、今日は新しい職場での初仕事。殆どのメンバーは知り合って5年以上たつので、すでにエンジンかかった状態でスタート（？）。年男な今年は新しい職場でのチャレンジが楽しみです。(写真は去年の年末に参加した検索チームの卒業生と現役メンバーの集まり。。。)

I've been absent for a week or so, thanks to my laptop wishing me a happy christmas by dying on its arse while my live-in computer fix-it man was in Inverness visiting his family, so apologies to anyone whose comments or posts I've not replied to/ written about. As I'm back at work now with quite literally bog all to do until the sites start generating some work for me I thought I'd have a look at some of my stats for the years 2000 - 2010.

Things Lost/ given away:

• 3 grandparents, 1 sort of surrogate grandmother brought in replace one of the actual ones who was a cow, 1 great aunt and 1 great uncle. Blimey, there's been a bit of a cull in the family this past decade!
• 2 boyfriends, one of whom was a nice guy but just not for me, one of whom was a complete twat that I can't believe I bothered with. Let me give you the benefit of my wisdom - never date anyone you met on a train, it didn't end well for me and it ended even less well for my cousin who married the nutjob she met on one. Now that's a long and bizarre story which also happened in my 'decade under review'!
• 1 family dog, Barney, a hairy creature that moulted more than I ever believed a creature could without ending up bald. His ability to start a random fight with dogs much bigger than himself, leaving the owners clinging onto their beasts for dear life while I tried to drag the grouchy bundle of hair and teeth up the road by the scruff of the neck was awe-inspiring. I will also never forget the time he chased a chav down the road and over a fence for no better reason than that he had a rabid dislike of anyone in a beanie hat. Plus his attacks on the hoover never stopped being funny. He was put down last year after the tumour on his back began to affect his mobility and I'm sure that wherever he is he's having a great time starting fights with dogs 4 times his size and scoffing his own bodyweight in dog biscuits.
  
• 1 job, when back in 2003 my dad fired me as an incentive for me to go out and find a proper job instead of flouncing about being the cook for the nursing home they own.
• 3 cars - my first car, Cyril I, a silver Nissan Micra that was 12 years old when my parents bought it off my grandparents (as a way to stop them driving) and that ran like a dream until my then boyfriend Ben had been driving it for a while. After that you had to get up early if it was set to rain because you'd have to disconnect all the plugs and wipe them out with WD40. The RAC man was out to it so often that I got a christmas card off him. Nice chap. I loved that car. Also a ginger Peugeot 106 that coordinated beautifully with my ginger best friend and a harlot scarlet Ford Fiesta that ended up with my brother in London after a rather complicated swap involving my parents, my brother, a Peugeot 307 and a bank loan.
• 1 friend/ flatmate who turned out to be a sociopathic slut who would offer my live in boyfriend sex while I was at work. He didn't take her up on it but it pissed me off none the less. Possibly it was not a good idea for me to attempt to have it out with her while fuelled up on cheap vodka but to be honest, she deserved every single one of the names I called her and I feel no guilt about aiming for her weak spots - popularity and looks. 
• Umpteen thousands of pounds on pointless crap that I didn't need/ alcohol/ cigarettes/ clothes that I looked shocking in and shoes I couldn't walk in.
• 7 guinea pigs. Shit, that sounds really bad when you write it down doesn't it? I swear I'm not some sort of psycho small furry critter killer.
  

• 1 job. I've been here 7 years this march which is truly terrifying.
• My 30s, and I don't want to even think about it, let alone talk about it.
• 20 odd pairs of shoes / boots (conservative estimate). This decade I made the awesome discovery that is Duo, a company who makes boots in different calf widths, meaning finally I could have a pair of knee high boots that didn't look like wellies. A revelation, I'm sure you'll agree.
• 1 dog - Geoffrey, who has featured in the blog before. He's a barmpot and as camp as christmas but everyone loves him.
  
• 9 guinea pigs. 7 of which I have managed to dispatch to that great rabbit run in the sky, leaving me with 2 currently. Who, to the irritation of my other half are currently living in an indoor cage in the conservatory because it's minus 8 outside. "Of course they'll only be inside for a couple of days" I said 2 weeks ago. Smirk...
• 6 second cousins, 3 of which were born to the same family. No family should have more than 2 kids, at least not if they expect me to remember all of their birthdays and buy them decent gifts at christmas.
• 1 husband. We've been married for 4 years this year and that means that even if we were to divorce tomorrow we wouldn't have the worst marital record in my family, as two of my cousins only made it to the 2 year mark. Happy days.
  
• 1 degree and 1 diploma. I am now a very highly qualified time waster, an achievement indeed.
• Some wrinkles, the number of which I have not had the courage to count.
  
• About two stone in weight, 1 of which I think I put on this christmas. I put my work trousers on this morning and decided, as I desperately struggled with the stupid button that either the mischief gnome had been in the wardrobe over the holidays and altered the dimensions of all my clothing or I needed to step away from the Terry's Chocolate Orange and head towards the salad. Sigh...
• The ability to get from A to B without major injury. Only one this decade, a fractured kneecap, which was a vast improvement on the previous 2 decades when my inability to judge what was going on at the ends of my limbs led to me practically having my own dedicated seat in the A&E department. I think it might have been a family thing because my brother was also well known for his ability to fall over or into things as well.
  
• A number of friends I'd lost touch with but in particular the lovely BGS girls who I went to school with and a girl who I went to primary school with and lived down the road from. I can't imagine now why we didn't all keep in touch, it seems ridiculous when we have such a good time.
  
• A sister in law. Which is weird because that means my little brother is married. I realise that at 26, 6ft 4 or so he probably isn't that little but still....
• Lots of lovely friends on Vox and even a few from back in the days when I started out online, on Diaryland!
  

mmm

mmm

This was taken on New Year's Eve. I did not bring my D90 *hitsmyheadagain* so here is a video taken with my copact

what I really mean with that is that I'm finally admitting that today.. I'm really2 tired.. I had a really bad migraine attack yesterday.. the kind which leaves the piercing pain in my brain the day after and where the photophobia lingers and the nauseousness. What made is worse is that I have sorethroat.. cold.. noseblock and feeling feverish more often than not for the past 2 days. Afya's got her voice back.. but I lost mine. Yet still I peel myself off of that sick bed and did some work.. slowly but surely.. ticking off the check list.. one by one.. thankfully, I'm down to the last one and a half urgent ones and now it's already 5 pm and I'm just soooo tired.

This year has been one of the most interesting years I've ever experienced.  I've sung for a lot of people, I've found my place at a new school, I'm another 30+ hours closer to finishing my (undergrad) degree, I've met many people, made a couple of really good friends, become an "aunt", grown more into myself.  While I can say that this last semester was the most difficult semester I've ever had at school, I can also say I've learned a great deal and that it has set me up well for this coming year.

What to do in 2010?  There isn't really a theme for this list, unless it's "becoming closer to the person I want to be"...and aren't all resolution lists like that to a certain degree?

-I will learn how to decorate a cake.  This year, I relearnt the art of baking a cake, and while that still needs some practice, I think I can say that I can create a fairly scrumptious cake by now.  The next step, it seems, will be to make it look as pretty as it tastes.  Nothing fancy--I don't see tiers happening anytime soon--but some scrolling/scalloping/flowers would be neat.

-I will book-cross at least twelve books.

-I will learn how to give myself a proper manicure, complete with nail polish.  I usually have my nails filed and shaped, and often buff them, but I still can't seem to paint them without getting the polish all messy.

-I will read three Shakespearean plays.  One will be "The Merchant of Venice".  The others will be picked up as I go along.

-I will not buy a pair of shoes unless they are comfortable and, excepting walking sneakers, purty/magnificent/gorgeous.  Life is too short for torturous or ugly shoes.

-I will put up two quality posts per week on here.  Other items may be posted, but not that many people have a strong desire to know my schedule for the day.  Sure, such posts help me organize my thoughts and priorities, but I suspect that most people (please correct me if I'm wrong) come here for the customer service posts, with a smattering of those interested in my book posts.  Two posts per week seems doable on my school/work schedule.

-This is related to the previous resolution, but it's a little more specific: I will post a bit more often about frugal living, careful saving, and cheap-but-good cooking.  I've become more interested in these things over the last year, and while "throw a bunch of stuff in the crockpot" often has tasty results, not everyone knows what foods and what quantities to add.  I, for one, need to look up some more recipes to play around with, and perhaps these recipes might help other people. I know that reading other blogs that offer real-life suggestions on this sort of thing has helped me a great deal.

-I will become more of a bookseller and less of a retail drone.  I've had several opportunities in the last few weeks to really booksell, rather than just mindlessly fill requests or ring a register.  To me, bookselling means actively helping someone discover a great read, and I genuinely love that aspect of my job.  One can't booksell to every or even most customers, mind you; most customers want a brain-dead and personality-devoid utilitarian retail drone who would be just as in place bagging groceries at Walmart as she would be in a bookshop.  Still, there are some out there who want to meet a real bookseller when they walk into a book store, and I'll do my best to fill that role.   It's good for me, because it brings some sorely-needed interest and joy to my job, and I think it's good for a real lover of books to meet a real bookseller once in a while.

-Finally, and most importantly, I will spend more time in a practice room, and the time I spend in there will be sancrosanct.  It will be made, and it will be spent in learning and developing and--dare I say it?--enjoying this magical thing called music rather than stressing over deadlines and work and assignments.

I will try to do a post every month or two in which I check in on these resolutions.  Should be interesting (to me, at least) to see how well I keep up on them.

ETA: while typing tags for this post, I had what was either an utterly demented or absolutely marvelous idea for a post series.  What think you of a monthly "Shoes and Shakespeare" feature in which lovely shoes are paired with a Shakespeare quote?  And wouldn't that be a fantastic name for a blog?   If I only had time for another blog, I would snap that name up so fast...