A Year in Reflections @paulfrank366project - Tumblr Blog

Day 366 - Monday, 31st December

Well, here it is, the final day of 2012 and with comes the final photo and the final blog. Although in the interests of openness I should add that I am in fact writing this in 2013. Even if I was behind on the blogs for much of the year I can at least say that I went out with an upto date blog with just one post left to write. I did consider writing this first thing this morning (about 1am) but I don't think that I could've done justice to 12 months of work in the half drunken and really tired state that I was. I'd rather take time out of the final day of my holiday to write it, much better use of my time obviously.

The last day of 2012 turned out to be pretty eventful. We'd been to Ikea on Saturday to get an indication of how much we were looking at to buy a new sofa and it was with this in mind that we headed to town to have a look in the British Heart Foundation furniture store, just in case there was some nice stuff which hadn't already been sold. We did look at beds here when we first moved in but had eventually settled on one from Dreams. It was less than five minutes before we spotted what turned out to be a sofa suite now discounted to under £200. There was nothing visibly wrong with it and we both knew that we'd regret not buying it.

After a quick look around the rest if the store, and the acquisition of a bookcase (£15) and a tv stand (£30) we found ourselves the owners of three of the key pieces of furniture we'd been looking for, for £175 less than we would've spent on just the sofa at Ikea. Quite how we'd managed to find a sofa with such little effort I'm not sure, we were clearly very lucky. The sofas which we brought had apparantly been in the store for over a month, but by coming in when we did we had managed to get them at a sale price, so desperate was the manager to be rid of them.

I've never been one to 'party it up' on New Years Eve, preferring instead to eat, drink and play board games. Which was precisely what we did this evening. We had a couple of friend's over, ate Chinese takeaway and then played two versions of Logo, and a Mr and Mrs game. They're people who we see fairly regularly but it was nice to see in the new year in the company of friend's and people who I am pretty sure we'll be in contact with for a long time to come. After Jools Holland's Hootenanny was described as being 'a bit weird' we saw out the last 10 minutes of 2012 with Gabby Logan and some spine-tingling footage reminding us all of just how good the Olympic were, the whole thing did even make me feel patriotic, in spite of my views on the monarchy.

We chatted then for another couple of hours, on perhaps more serious topics that you might think, and I did have to control myself when discussing the complete cock-up which Michael Gove seems set to make of the education system. All of this, whilst my girlfriend tried out her new platting skills on her friend's hair. I'd decided to stay off of Facebook after seeing too many '2012 wasn't great, let's hope for better things' type statuses. Seriously, get over yourself.

As for me, I've had several major achievements in 2012: leaving home, finishing my MA, starting out on my career and most importantly taking a picture and writing a blog for every single day of the year. It's been a pain in the arse at times, which have included me carting my laptop to work so that I can write blog entries in Word to them upload once I have an internet connection again. It have also leapt out of bed to take a photo and almost had a breakdown when I thought that some had been lost. 2012 has been a lot of things, and I'm really glad that I've done this thing. It'll be something on which I can look back in the future, reflect on my decisions and remember one of the most eventful years of my life so far.

For however long you've read this, thank you. To those who I know have read it (one of you has featured in the pictures at least three times) I want to thank especially for giving me a reason to keep up this stupid project. It's been a lot of fun, and hopefully I'll keep using my camera just as much, if not more in 2013. I will also be keeping a diary, it'll be private and not as regular, but still something which I now understand the value of much better. I am also going to start up another blog, about books, philosophy news and stuff. One which I'll write as and when I can be bothered.

Thank you, and have a fantastic 2013!

Bye!

PaulFrank

Day 365 - Sunday 30th December

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Never was a sentiment so true as when it is applied to the attitude of shoppers in Southampton. It may not have been the hysteria of Boxing Day (why? really, why?) but it was still packed. As long time readers will know, my girlfriend and I have vowed against ever driving to Southampton for shopping again. I can't recall precisely when this was and I don't have the time now to find it. It'll be a Saturday, probably in September or October. Needless to say, it was such a horrific experience that we vowed to never head there in a four-wheeled vehicle again.

We took the train, always a preferable option it would seem. Especially when there are four or so return trains an hour from Southampton to Fareham. My girlfriend's birthday and Christmas has brought with it yet more Blu-Rays and DVDs. We watch a lot of films and buy them pretty regularly as well. I did go through my collection and weeded out a few which I will never watch again (and which made me wonder why I had ever brought them in the first place). I can now fit all of my current films onto the bookshelf that I have, but without space for any more.

We do also need a sofa, the one we have currently was loaned to us by my girlfriend's parents when we moved in, as a mutual arrangement to better enable them to redecorate their living room. This is now done and they're hoping to get everything back to normal. We started off with Ikea and although we may have had different ideas about whether or not we were actually going to purchase anything today, it was helpful as a guide to how much we could pay for a suite that would match the furniture we currently own.

There was a reasonable choice and we failed to settle on any one single design, it did also give us a chance to have a look at the other furniture in stock and make notes accordingly. Now that we don't need to buy a tv we've got some spare cash to buy some proper furniture that isn't donated or makeshift.

After Ikea we headed into the main part of town to have an obligatory look around the shops. The sales were really disappointing. The only thing worth infamous noting being that Ruggero Deodato's infamous 'Cannibal Holocaust' is now available in a two disk version featuring the 'Ultimate Director's Cut' on the 'Horror' shelf at HMV. A film which became well-known as the most notorious of all video nasties, isn't actually a very good film. It's the first 'found footage' film but the uncut version does feature real animal cruelty. Making the cut version preferable. Not that it's a film which I'd recommend anyone watch. Unless you have an expressed interest in the history of extreme cinema.

That the bete noire of the video nasties is now available alongside hundreds of other B-movie horror fair is an oddly comparable point to the crass consumerisation (and mass infantilisation) which the Disney store represents. I wrote heavily on Disney for my MA dissertation, noting that the stores don't have staff but 'cast members'. Perhaps a more appropriate picture for today would be one of the world with a giant 'For Sale' sign sticking out.

One day to go!

Day 364 - Saturday, 29th December

Final Saturday of 2012 and it brought with it the third and final Christmas for my girlfriend and I. We travelled with my parents down to Wareham to see my extended family. A prominent feature in this blog over the past 363 days has been my now 15 month year old cousin, the speed at which she has grown and how she is already interacting with cameras (to be fair, she was fascinated by it at her party in April). It’s not often that we get together and both of my grandparents have been rather ill this year.

It’s times like this when I do my upmost to make the most of the time which I get to have with my family. I know that I’m extremely lucky to have the family that I do and don’t stop to think about that fact frequently enough. We only get to spend a relatively short amount of time with our family and it’s vital that we really do make the most of the time we have with them.

We arrived shortly before midday, with the rest of the party arriving not long after before we sat down to eat. As is always the case with my family, there was more than enough food to go round but with little left over as everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. My girlfriend had made some more cake pops and they were a hit. Whereas the first batch had been distinctly American in taste, much like a twinkie (all taste – no goodness) this batch had a more cake-like mixture, and as such were still filling but less sickly.

The weather was pretty miserable for most of the afternoon, but after a mass present opening session, where most eyes were on my cousin as she attempted to open her presents. She has obviously improved on last year when my Uncle did it all for her. I’m not sure about which present for her favourite, but we all appreciated the new dressing gown which did make her look like a boxer in training.

Filled with food and tired out we arrived home, washed and ate some chips. In that order. Christmas 2012 was over, I now had to confront the credit card bill. I’m not stupid with money and so this wasn’t really a daunting task at all. Just another reminder of the tedium of adulthood. I did also make the decision today that although I won’t be writing a daily blog for 2013, I will start writing a personal diary. It’ll give me something to reflect on in years to come and it’s a good motivation to write. At least that’s the plan.

Two days to go!

Day 363 - Friday, 28th December

I've written before about the subject of enjoying meals out more than actual nights out and how this is likely indicative of a growing maturity. I do also find that I am now more susceptible to hangovers than I can ever recall being and whereas when I was at University I could have a night out, catch roughly four hours sleep and still make it into Uni for a 9 o'clock lecture. Admittedly I did once have to leave a lecture to be sick, only to not make it to the toilet in time and have to admit to the reception staff that I had just been sick. Omitting of course that it was alcohol induced.

Thankfully I was working from home again today and as such was able to start relatively late. I had also worked for longer than I needed to yesterday so was able to take things relatively easily today. I didn't attempt to solve the issue which had felt equivalent to banging my head against a wall again, choosing instead to wait until next week when I can ask someone far more experienced than I about what it is that I should be doing in order to resolve the problem.

My wireless headphones packed up about a month ago and although I have being using a decent headset for the PC, I've been lacking one for the PS3 since I brought it. I saw this one in ASDA for £10 and figured that it would be better than nothing, it would also mean that I could play without disturbing my girlfriend. Unfortunately, when I got it home, charged and connected it turned out that the PS3 doesn't actually send any game sound via Bluetooth and that the headset only functions as a means to shout at other people whilst you're playing.

Needless to say I was somewhat irritated to make this discovery and will be returning the headset in due course. I have no idea why I can't set the game sound to be transmitted via Bluetooth (as would seem the logical way). The one consolation being that hundreds of strangers all across the internet shared this frustration with me. Comfort in the arms of strangers and all.

Three days to go!

Day 362 - Thursday, 27th December

I had originally been scheduled to return to work today. Although this wasn't looking like the easiest of tasks given that the trains were either cancelled or running a very sporatic timetable. At least, that was the situation in the days leading upto today and given that there hadn't been a marked improvement in the weather I wasn't hopeful for a smooth ride. Finally, at around half 7 on Boxing Day evening I recieved a message from my boss that I was to work from home until next Wednesday. By which time public transport would've resumed it's normal service. I was extremely happy about this, mostly because it meant that I didn't have to force myself out of bed before 8am this morning.

In spite of what 'working from home' normally signals to people, I did actually get a fair amount done. I did spend about an hour and a half attempting to get a single Drupal module to work (without any success) trawling forums and help guides in order to find a solution. Even digging down into the code in the control panel and following the in-built instructions didn't work. I worked into the afternoon, determined to get as much done as I could and also try and find a point where I could break and not leave myself at a loose end for Friday, when I'd be both tired and possibly hungover.

We had the annual Christmas meal this evening, it's one of the two or three times a year when as a group we all get together to eat, drink and discuss how dull our lives have become since we all graduated. It's also a time when we reflect on the previous twelve months and it's significant events (two of the couples have moved in together, one has become engaged - to be married in summer 2013 and another has broken up and then started up again). I've finished my MA, people have gone from unemployment, through jobs and are now in more full-time work (one of us is in television).

Essentially though, nothing has really changed in the five years since I first met these people (at least the majority). We have all grown up to an extent, and at least half have been through University and gained degrees. I've been the first to the Masters, with another one of us having started a part-time MA in September. We know that if we do this again next year then there'll be a married couple at the table. There is also another couple who may have finally got around to moving in together properly, as opposed to just spending most of the week at each other's houses.

A awful lot changes in one year. A lot more stays exactly the same. Hopefully everyone is happy with the compromise which is ultimately reached. I know I am.

Four days to go!

Day 361 - Wednesday, 26th December

With the arrival of boxing day, it also meant that we were going to have our second of three Christmases (it would've been four had it not been for a clash in scheduling). We were due at my parents for the day and in order to make the most of it we had intended to set off before 9. As it turned out, we didn't get away till nearly quarter to 10. Although this did mean that we had remembered all of the presents, thereby averting a far larger problem. We made good time, despite having to take a minor diversion due to flooding.

After cake, some drinks and more cake. We set about opening relevant presents. In recent years I've been coming round to the enjoyment of actually watching people open the presents which you have brought them more than opening the presents which they've brought for me. This doesn't mean that I don't still love getting presents though. Especially when it's a new bag for my assorted sailing kit. The old bag is about eight years old, isn't actually designed for sailing gear and has zips which are more full of salt than is normally advisable to keep them functioning.

We then sat down for a lunch which consisted of both leftovers and some fresh bread. As fresh as bread is having only been removed from the breadmaker about 15 minutes prior to being eaten. It was the kind of lunch where you can keep taking food and before you realise it you're completely stuffed. It wasn't like we had actually planned on doing anything in the afternoon. The rain had put pay to any prospect of us going for a walk.

In lieu of any exercise we settled down to watch The Muppets film. I am a genuine fan of the show (despite being a generation too young for it) although this is mostly as a result of hundreds of viewings of Muppet Treasure Island and Muppet Christmas Carol as a child. I haven't actually managed to read the source text for either yet, but I do now own them both on DVD. A duplication in presents with my parents has meant that it is likely that my 15 month year old cousin will be given her own copy of Muppet Christmas Carol. In order to shape her tastes from an early age. It's important that we do such things.

Five days to go!

Day 360 - Tuesday, 25th December

After much planning, discussion, organisation, buying, hiding and wrapping it was finally Christmas day. We woke at about nine and opened our stockings which had been brought by Santa (how he's managed to avoid being brought up on a breaking and entering charge I'll never know) but I figured that given the age of the building he knows about all the numerous secret passages still in existence. We were spending the day at my girlfriend's sister's. She and her partner brought the house at the end of October and today was intended partly as a way of marking this highly significant event alongside Christmas.

There was more than enough food for all of us (there was originally going to be more people). Three types of meat, loads of potatoes and more vegetables than I have seen in a fair while. There was so much that a couple of people (naming no names) who had eyes that were bigger than their stomachs and found themselves defeated. We decided to postpone any more food until after we had had a break and retreated to the living room to engage in a mass present opening session.

My girlfriend and I had decided that we would postpone our main presents to each until we were with everyone else. The presents were numerous and they were all lovely. I acquired some fetching new slippers (see above) alongside the usual assortment of films, clothes and coffee related products.

It was a relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable day. We'd spent the afternoon watching tv, playing board games and not doing a huge amount else. We headed home at around 8 and headed to bed shortly afterwards. The cake pops were a success, although they were too rich to have more than one at a time. The closest texture I can compare them to is Twinkies. Insofar as they have nothing whatsoever in terms of nutritional value and are likely to make you ill if you have more than one within an 8 hour period.

Six days to go!

Day 359 - Monday, 24th December

As Christmas Eve finally arrives everyone cheers as Channel 4 can finally stop showing that bloody trailer for the sequel to the Snowman. It also meant that my girlfriend was on action stations with the baking, eagerly getting ready for tomorrow. There wasn’t a huge amount to do, but enough to keep her occupied for a few hours. I pittered and pottered around, catching up with my blog and reading the final hundred pages of ‘The Morbid Age’. All very nice and seasonal.

It’s been the first Christmas holiday for about seven years when I haven’t had anything academic to worry about and as such I’ve found myself at a loose end more often than not. I did finally get around to starting up on ‘Borderlands’, about three months after I downloaded it. Although the continued lack of a decent headset for the PS3 meant that I couldn’t blow my ear drums in the process. A lighter-tinged version of Fallout, insofar as it’s an FPS set in a dystopian future with a comic book aesthetic.

As we’re seeing my parents on Boxing Day, my girlfriend and I went to see her Granddad, to take him his present and say Happy Christmas. He lives in a massive house, which does have central heating but which does also still have a log fire and I was once again reminded of my love for such things. I’d always choose a log fire and a room perpetually full of unread books over a tv. For one thing, a tv doesn’t keep you warm. At least not if it’s working properly. It would do if it was on fire.

I finally watched ‘Attack the Block’ this evening, it was on Film4 and I’ve been meaning to watch it since the original release. It’s not that funny or scary but it is entertaining and has some enjoyably gory moments. Including someone getting their face eaten off. The kind of stuff which would have caused the film to be banned twenty years ago, but which now passes as suitable for older teenagers.

And finally, coke is so much nicer out of a glass bottle. Don’t ask why, I just know that it is.

Day 358 - Sunday, 23rd December

One of the major challenges of living with my girlfriend over the past few months has been keeping her presents (both birthday and Christmas) hidden effectively. She did know where most of them were kept for most of the time but I had still had to find a way of getting them home. One birthday present had been a particular challenge. It's a very American style creation, a machine not too dissimilar in design to a toastie or waffle maker but designed to make 'cake pops'. I can't yet pass judgement on the quality of the produce, only on the difficulty which we both had with decorating them.

It was only after we'd started dipping the still lukewarm pops in melted chocolate that I read in the instructions that you are supposed to cool them in the freezer prior to decorating. A technique designed to help the chocolate solidify a lot quicker than it would do otherwise. Still, they came out well and were transferred to the fridge without any major mishaps. Although I did choose to take the picture without attempting to move them again as the potential consequences of a cake pop - kitchen floor interface didn't bear thinking about.

Having risen at a more acceptable time this morning I was also able to spend a good time reading. I've been planning on getting through as much material over the break as I can, meaning that I can start out in the new year with much of the back-log cleared. I don't view reading as a chore, but I do like to maintain a high turnover rate and I can't help but escape the feeling that I've neglected my most favoured past-time more than a little over the past month.

Choosing the shoot zombies over reading about Britain between the wars. Not a difficult choice for many, but one which I wish I'd gone the other way with more frequency. I'm planning on taking a thermos on the train again from January. Maybe that way I'll be able to kick start my brain into reading with a bit more ease than I've had until now. Nothing like enthusiasm making up for the likihood of eventual failure.

8 days left!

Day 357 - Saturday, 22nd December

With just over a week left of this project, I've found myself considering what I've actually learned as a photographer through the task of having to take a picture every single day. Especially given that there have been several days when I've done very little outside of the house and it is on these occasions that I have sought desperately to find something photogenic in the house. On this day of few eventful happenings I'm actually quite pleased with what I managed to get. If I'd thought about it I'd have lighted the candle - but the year isn't over yet and I may still need to use that idea for another day.

We woke up later than ever, not actually getting up till nearly one. Despite being up about three hours than usual on a Saturday we set about the normal task of cleaning the flat, accompanied with a thorough wipe down of the damp by the windows.

The age of the building and it's listed status means that it lacks the all important double glazing and the windows condense up faster than one can actually wipe them down. We've done our best to prevent it becoming too serious, and the measures we've taken have made some sort of impact on the speed at which the mould grows. However it would seem that without leaving the heating on permanently we will have to continue to combat it in the best way we can.

We had a few necessaries to pick up from town and although I don't want to say that I was glad it was raining, if it in any way lessened to amount of people packing into the shops then I was grateful for it. It would seem though that Christmas has already come and gone for the majority of retail stores who are already pushing through several layers of discount on the worthless tack which appears on sale on at this time of year. It's not even Christmas eve yet and there's all types of consumables that people buy for friend's and relatives haven't seen all year but feel like they should get them something as they'll be seeing each other this year.

It's both amusing and rather depressing that the stores are clearly aware that once Christmas is over for this year no one will actually want to spend £7.50 on a plastic bottle of those pink and blue cola bottles which aren't cola bottles but which taste so distinctly artificial that they can only have been the by-product of nuclear fission.

Day 356 - Friday, 21st December

As much as I've enjoyed not having to read anything too complex or intense over the past three months, I was pleased to finally collect my external membership card for the University library. Not having access to this building which was such a significant part of four years of my life gave me an odd sense of withdrawal. As an alumni of the University it costs £20 for 12 months membership and although I'm now limited to four loans (as opposed to twenty as a student - thereby increasing the risk of running up fines) it's still nice to have access to the wealth of material which is present.

I've been a little over-egging it on the Partially Examined Life Not School project and have found myself lagging behind in the reading. Although some of this has been the result of not having a physical copy of the text which I'm supposed to be reading, and the fact that I still find the Kindle screen alienating. I've been able to get by with the group on Derrida until know thanks to my existing knowledge of his work and the essays which I read as an Undergraduate. 'Writing and Difference' is on my 'books to buy once I've actually read those which I currently have' list and as due to the height of the pile of 'yet to read' I'm still tying my hands behind my back every time I walk into a bookshop.

Whichever career I end up taking I'll always have a fondness for criticism and philosophy. It's been nice to actually have free choice about what I read and not have to be accountable to anyone whom will ultimately reduce all of my hours spent reading and writing to a number on a page. A point which I have repeatedly made over the past 12 months to the point where you can probably see it coming a mile off and start running as soon as you see the glint on the horizon.

I also finally finished The Hobbit this evening. It's not a fantastic book, it's a brilliant story and Tolkien is a Master of creating worlds and characters. I did also try to keep in mind that it was written a book for children and as such will grate a little when reading as an adult. I'm not yet convinced to have another go at Lord of the Rings just yet, but no doubt I will at some point in the future. But I can't see it making my 2013 list.

Day 355 - Thursday, 20th December

I've been getting back into PC gaming steadily over the past nine months, this is mostly due to the enthusiasm of work colleagues and the access which my job has given me to heavily discounted computer components and the new PC which I purchased and built within my first month. In all honesty, until April, I was happy playing Age of Empires 2 and the occasion browser game. I'm not overly game-orientated now and I spend a relatively small amount of my money on games. Choosing to play those which I already have to death, and make the most of the free content that I get via Playstation Plus.

All of this aside, I have lacked a decent headset. Until last week I was able to make do with a (very) cheap pair of headphones and a small microphone not really designed for anything very serious. I had had one evening on Teamspeak where I attempted to use in-ear headphones with the webcam mic but was being repeatedly told that it sounded like I was shouting in a warehouse. This headset isn't ideal and was only a spare one which I'd managed to get from the office and the connection does tend to drop but it's better than what I was working with before.

There are occasions when I still marvel at the way in which the internet allows me to connect with complete strangers in parts of the world that I may well never visit. In order for us to spend several hours trying to kill each other in a virtual reality. All of this accompanied by swearing, shouting and some highly inventive insults in a mixture of languages and accents. You also run the risk of being a called a noob should you ask any obvious questions like 'Are there any hackers here, please don't kill me :)' - that's a genuine example.

A decent headset allows one to hear all of this in crisp quality whilst blocking out any background noise which would otherwise inhibit on the experience. I've yet to try it out on a proper conference call, where clarity is of more importance than when you're shouting at strangers because they just shot you and took all of your items.

Day 354 - Wednesday, 19th December

People of a certain age may well be familiar with an American sit-com, aired in the 1990's and now completely unavailable except for some clips which do still grace YouTube. No, it's not the one you're thinking of, it's the magnificent Keenan and Kel. I was reminded of just how much of a gem this show was, and how sad I am that it's not available on DVD, when an old school friend posted on Facebook that whilst K&K remains unreleased on the now rather old format. The fo-reality, end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it 'The Only Way Is Essex' is available to buy. All Keenan and Kel ever did was encourage kids to drink 'orange soda', without a plastic surgeon in sight.

I was again reminded of the lost innocence of children and orange soda along with it when my girlfriend opened the leftover bottle of 'Orangeade' which had originally been purchased for post-Hobbit consumption but was left untouched in favour of far more adult drinks like water and coffee. It has a taste which is completely unlike oranges and not entirely unlike soda water with some orange squash but which remains oddly enticing and tasty. The proportion of liquid to sugar is likely to quite low and its the rush of pure cane tooth-rotting taste that you experience.

Everyone has a distinct tendency to over-romanticise childhood memories and we quite often find ourselves in a position where we'd rather have not gone back to the objects and foods of which we had such fond memories, realising that they weren't quite as good as we'd previously been led to believe. Some things though, don't change and it would seem that the intense sugar rush caused by drinking orangeade is something which one is able to enjoy as much as an adult as you do when still a child.

There's two working days left till the break for Christmas and although I don't have as much time off as everyone else, I do effectively have two long weekends with a couple of days work in-between. If nothing else it'll be a chance to clear out a back-log of unfinished projects and clear the desk (literally and metaphorically) ready for 2013. Nothing like keeping yourself occupied.

Day 353 - Tuesday, 18th December

It was my girlfriend's birthday today! Which also means that it is now a week until Christmas. Today though, it was her birthday. A fact which was only slightly marred by the reality of both of us having to go into work. I did manage to give her a present and a card over breakfast, meaning that she at least had something to go into work happy about. I was told as ever that getting her a complimentary card makes me a 'suck up'. I had avoided buying anything which verged on being insulting, inappropriate or excessively tacky. After the hassle which I had tracking one down amongst the shelves of Christmas cards I might just buy it in August next year and keep it hidden for four months.

I had a pretty productive day in the office and felt like I was actually making something approaching significant steps in preparation for the new year. If everything goes to plan, then January will be relatively quiet, with the work load building steadily through February and March. Our office is also set to undergo a major refurbishment in January. All of this depending upon the world not ending on Friday as the Mayan's didn't say that it was going to. As you probably know the whole 'apocalypse' stuff is merely the invention of the last twenty or so years.

I was taking my girlfriend out for dinner this evening, but after the calamity that was last year - when the food was badly prepared, the waiting staff were rude and although I did consider seeking compensation, it didn't feel worthwhile and instead decided that we just wouldn't ever eat there again, also advising our friend's to do likewise. Chiquito's in Port Solent, in case you were wondering.

After some discussion we settled on Prezzo's and it turned out well. Dinner was excellent and the service was a massive improvement on last year. We decided against having dessert in the restaurant in favour of ice cream brought from Tesco. Although when we actually got back home neither of us felt able to actually eat any more. My girlfriend was thoroughly pleased with all of the presents she had received and went to bed happy. Given that the her previous two birthdays have been marred by either sickness or terrible food it was nice to have one which she had been able to enjoy without either of these impacting upon the day.

Day 352 - Monday, 17th December

The final week before Christmas cast a strange air over the train this morning. The private schools have already broken up for the holidays and the train was eerily quiet. As I got on this morning the train was both early and nearly empty, making me think that I’d somehow stepped onto the wrong train and would end up at one of those stations which no one actually thinks exists. I’ve occasionally considered buying a ticket to one of these more obscure destinations to find out if they are real and not just an excuse for the train driver to stop and have a coffee.

You might think that they do exist, you might think that you’ve seen them as the trains rush past, you may even think that you’ve actually had to change of one of these ‘stations’. In reality, they aren’t permanent stations. They’re only erected when someone such as you or I has to <s>make a change</s> miss a connection and become lost when the on-platform screens are broken. You might think that you see them as your train rumbles through but in reality it’s just a cardboard cut out. Like you used to get in cheap Western films will all of the appearance but none of the depth. No. I’m not going to make that joke.

It was slightly surreal to be back in the office today, it’s changed around quite a lot in the past three weeks and I’ve been temporarily robbed of a second monitor. My main monitor is still 27” so it’s not like I don’t have loads of space as it is. It’s just that when you’re used to being able to pull browser windows across two screens it comes as something of a shock to just have the single view. I don’t have quite this amount of monitor space at home, I do however still have two monitors – even if one of them is about 9 years old and square. I no longer feel comfortable using just the single square monitor with a PC, always getting the sense that something is missing.

I’ve had to learn a wealth of new skills since I started this job but today it was a relief to learn that my experience with Wordpress back when I still had aspirations towards being a music journalist will now come in useful with my actual paid work. My job role looks set to take on ever more tangents in the New Year and it’s refreshing to have something to which I can look forward. This time last year all I knew was that I had work up until the end of March, I was also knee deep in my first proper Masters assignment.

2012 certainly has been pretty eventful.

Day 351 - Sunday, 16th December

As I sat on the sofa this evening, watching The Mummy Returns, my girlfriend turned to me and said ‘bet you’ll be glad when you don’t have to write that any more’. The ‘that’ in that sentence being this very blog. I think that she’ll certainly be glad when I don’t have to write it. Or hastily take photos in the evening when I’ve neglected to do so throughout the rest of the day. It would seem that the possibility of me continuing to write this blog throughout 2013 and beyond. Simply to prove that the world didn’t end in 2012 and that I’m using the extra time which I’ve been given to indulge myself in writing about my life.

It was finally Hobbit time today. It’s over a decade since the first Lord of the Rings film came out in the cinema, and I sat as a bright-eyed child in awe of the story. Sitting in the cinema today I was aware of the fact that there were almost certainly going to be audience members who hadn’t even been conceived when the first film was released.

I have been greatly looking forward to the release of The Hobbit for well over a year and although Guillermo del Toro dropped out after the films financing nearly collapsed when MGM almost went under. It's been a messy birth but it's now finally here, it's the first of three and it's nearly three hours long. There has been a lot of material which Jackson has incorporated from the Appendices to Lord of the Rings as well as material from the three books which he wasn't able to get into the 12 hours of film which already been released. I did enjoy the Hobbit, but then I wasn't ever not going to, but it could've ended earlier than it did and whilst some people would cut the beginning, I'd have ended it earlier.

After the film people came back to ours for the kind of food which you'd remember from parties as a kid. Complete with orangeade and little plastic cups. Although out of habit I still managed to give people glasses and as a result there was a stack of washing up to be done. But neither I nor my girlfriend could muster the energy or the motivation to actually do it. She did point out to me that if I hadn't given people glasses then there would've been less washing up. There was also a fair amount of cake left over.

This is fine, because I really like cake.

Day 350 - Saturday, 15th December

I do feel like I should be marking this post as being a significant number - after all, I've made a point of acknowledging all of the 'hundreds' and I think at least one 'fifty' but given that there's just over two weeks left to the year it seems a little crass to mark this otherwise significant occasion. On the other hand, if I don't acknowledge it, if I don't suck this project for every possible piece of self-indulgence that I can, it'll all be done and dusted and I'll have to find another means of engaging in a meaningless activity which somehow fills my time.

It's my girlfriend's birthday party-ish-thing tomorrow, we're seeing The Hobbit and then having people come back for food and drink. It was because of this that she spent the majority of the day baking and preparing various foodstuffs as we won't have a chance to do it in the morning. Well, we would have a chance to do it in the morning but that would mean getting up at the same time on a Sunday as we do during the week and some things just aren't acceptable. Not on any level whatsoever. I'll only get up early on a Sunday under exceptional circumstances.

We were having Chinese at my girlfriend's parents in the evening. This much was certain. What hadn't been entirely certified were the arrangements for who would order and what everyone would want to have to eat. We were also under the impression that it would just be four of us eating. It was because of this that we ordered the food before we left and picked it up on the way through. When we arrived however, it turned out that not all of the communication had gone as smoothly as people had hoped and my girlfriend's mum was under the impression that there would be eight of us eating.

After some discussion it was decided that since my girlfriend's sister and her other half wouldn't be able to come over for an hour or so, we would share out the food which we had between six of us and then more would be brought later. This turned out to work pretty well as I didn't over-eat and had a long enough wait before the 'seconds' arrived that I was ready to eat more. All in all it was a pleasant evening and my girlfriend opened some of her presents. Saving the rest for Tuesday, which is her actual birthday.

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