Manchester Blogmeet III

While I remember, Lori has revealed details of the first Mancunian Blogmeet of 2004. Thursday Jan 22^nd at the ever-present Fab Cafe. If you can make it – or if you can’t – leave her a message here. We’ll also be looking at other venues for the new year – Kro₂ has already been mooted by Yours Truly, but others may be suggested too.

Utopia

At long last, a day completely off. A trip in to the city centre, a wander round while the weather attempted to snow (and failed abysmally) and some small purchases. Can’t be bad.

One thing I was really pleased with was to finally find the St Mary’s (Hidden Gem) church – I’d heard about it, but hadn’t managed to find it ’til today. Ok, fair enough, I’d hardly been looking intensively or anything, but I’m still pleased to have found it at last.

Oh, and the moose collection has had two additions, as I wrote before on d4d™ the latest Disney movie “Brother Bear” has two Moose characters, Rutt and Tuke, both of which the Disney store stocks. So now I just need to take photos of them to add to the Rogues Gallery. Sad, but true.

Other than that, just visiting a couple of shops, and a truly quiet pleasant day. Pax Festivicus.

And so that was the festering season™

Ah, thank God that’s over and done with. Only another 300ish shopping days ’til the next one. I wonder if I’ll be any more prepared for it in ’04?

There’s a lot to be said about this festering season™ just passed, and also one hell of a lot that I want to change before the next one. I’m not wanting to lay myself down targets of what to do, but there’s a definite feel for things I don’t want to do, so we’ll just have to see how it all works out.

I’m undecided about what to do for the festering season itself next year – three options really raise their heads for consideration.

1. Go somewhere sunny – and possibly non-christian.
   Now this one appeals, knowing my need for sun, and my desire to avoid as much of Christmas and it’s traditions as possible.
2. Go somewhere snowy
   Prague still really appeals, and the entire thing of going somewhere that’s capable of a “proper” christmas
3. Stay home, and work a soup kitchen or similar
   Done it before, and I’m pretty sure I’ll end up doing it again. Maybe not in ’04, but definitely before long. We’ll see though.

So – that’s the choices so far. As yet I’m not sure which I’ll go for, but first thing on my list is to take about a week off and just collapse and die. Definitely a good idea.

NYD

Over and done with. As always, a sense of let-down, of being annoyed with myself for hoping that this one will be different. No matter how much I try to expect absolutely nothing from December 31st, and all the hype and bullshit surrounding it, there’s still always a way for me to have been expecting too much.

I don’t know why – but yeah, in some way I buy into NYE each year, the entire “people getting in touch with those they care about to say ‘Happy New Year'” and so on. And it never really works out at all. I think that at the end of ’04, I’m going to leave my phone alone, and see who actually bothers to send anything. Yeah, it’ll be an acid test – and that’s why I’m going to leave this as a reminder, both for me and for others, so that I can refer back to it in a year’s time.

Maybe I’ll be proved wrong, but I fully expect to receive nothing, if I leave it to other people to make the first move. Happy New Year.

NYE

Well, it looks like ’04 is going to come in with much the same sense of occasion let-down and anticlimax as 2003. People ask why I loathe New Year’s Eve and all the shit that goes with it – it’s because the entire thing is (for me, anyway) a colossal let-down, a constant reminder that hope and optimism get dashed.

So here’s to you, 2003 – in some ways you’ve been a good year, and in others you’ve been a complete cunt. Cheers.

Addendum

Oh yeah, and Happy Birthday and lots of other sideways stuff for Peter over at Naked Blog. Not just a birthday, but another anniversary too. All the best for what looks like being a pretty arduous day…

Review of 2003 or
Thank fuck that’s over and done with

Well, most places seem to be doing their summing up of 2003, now that we’re on the final day of it. I’m not sure I’m quite going to go down the path of “best and worst of ’03” nor simply some “best bits“

2003’s been a bloody busy year here – as well as two blogmeets, and the now infamous change of domain name (thanks Wileys) d4d™ shot past the 100,000th page impression without even blinking, and had a load of content added all over the place. It’s been an eventful year for sure, although looking back at what I wanted to happen in 2003 and comparing it to now makes me realise I’ve achieved precisely fuck all of the hopes listed. A couple started, and then got put on hold again, and rather than buying a house I just moved to a different rented property after the two break-ins at the old place.

Things have changed a lot in the last year – mainly for the better. Now I just want to get today and tomorrow over and done with, then I can get on with the things I want to work on. I’ll probably add more odds, sods, and thoughts during the day, but for now – well, I hope everyone else has the New Year they expect/hope for/want, and all the best for 2004. Me, I’ve got a couple of friends and a dog, and we’re likely to be staying in, avoiding arseholes, and not doing much at all. Sounds like a plan to me…