How was your 2017?

[Undefeated Steak]

How was your year? Haven't posted on here much recently but still checked in to see how you're all getting on. Steak's cooking, a few ups and downs but looking forward to the new year. 

[SpursRiot2012]

Hmm. I'm not good with knowing what happened at the end of 2016 and what happened at the beginning of 2017. But I think it's been an ok year for the most part.

Visited Croatia in April, turned 30 in Mexico in June, watching May lose her majority. My second year of uni went well (on course for that 2:1 minimum.) Had a week in Barcelona in September, all by myself, which was nice as I love Barcelona. Got into my first choice masters for next year with an offer that means I'd have to actually fail my degree to not get in (unlikely.) 

So everything prior to November 4th was pretty good. Then my leg exploded and it's been a bit shit since then. 

Hopefully by February I'll be walking with both legs again. I'm developing my final year project - a platform I intend to keep running past the end of my undergraduate degree. I'm looking forward to my masters. Next year should be good. 

As always, money is an issue. I could always use more money. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Not much to report on for my 2017, only notable things were switching my hours in work for what was initially meant to be six months as cover for a lad who was on a union placement, ended up staying on for extra few weeks (that contract ends a week today with me going back to my weekend role on New Years Eve) and going on my first family holiday in a decade, first without my dad, to Portugal for the week in August which was awesome mainly for spending time with my niece and nephew who I was rarely seeing up to that point because of working weekends when they'd be down in mine

[Divorced Dad]

Pretty good overall.  Got married in May this year and had a fantastic time at the wedding, went on honeymoon in the summer and spent two weeks chilling on the beach and drinking. Started a job in a new school in August which has resulted in some great new friendships but also an increase in anxiety medication due to aspects of the job. Adopted a border collie pup in August too which has taken up a lot of my time since but I love the wee bastard! Overall a good year really!

[Astro Hollywood]

Pure shite.

[UK Kat Von D]

Things went to shit around May when I split with my ex and I became pretty dependant on cocaine and prescription medication. Then I went to LA and it lit the spark back under me. Since then everything’s is really good. 

Decided I quite enjoy travelling, so since mid October I worked in NYC for two weeks, then done a week in Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Soho. Buisness is going good, upped my prices while cutting down my hours. Got about 9 people working for me now which is stressful at times. Clothing line will be up and running by end of January (fingers crossed.) Few really fun projects lined up for next year too, some of which has been in the pipelines for over a year now.

Decided monogamous relationships are bullshit, so I’m happy just having three or four girlfriends and a string of random one night stands. Somehow managed to avoid catching anything.

Been to loads of gigs and started going to more wrestling shows.

Next year is looking good and I’m excited. I was worried recently I was dying, but turned out I just had man flu.

New Years resolutions are to work on improving my vocabulary and modesty. If I get time I might also try and quit drugs and only do them once a week. 

[Fog Dude]

Rather like the world as a whole, still largely shit but marginally an improvement on the absolute nadir that was 2016 (which was in turn a consequence of a build-up of neglect, poor choices and a lack of self-awareness from previous years). 

In February I had to get the police involved to finally help shake off my abusive former partner, so that wasn't a great start but it's gradually done my mental health the world of good compared to where it was pretty much the whole time we were going out.

In late spring I visited my Dad in Maine so I was actually in the same time zone as WrestleMania for once. Long way up the east coast, though – and it was still snowing there at the time. In May I spent a week in Spain thanks to my rich and generous but dying uncle. That was it as far as foreign travel went.

Said uncle was also responsible for a nice weekend with the extended family in Sandbanks right at the beginning of the year. I probably walked past 'Arry's back garden at one point. In June I attended the Women's Champions League final in Cardiff because tickets were cheaper and easier to come by than for the men's equivalent. It was an atrocious match and I didn't even bother to stick around for the penalty shootout.

Back here I've made some new friends and got to know the ones I met last year even better. In the autumn I've been on courses in assertiveness and employability but it remains to be seen if they were actually much help. Oh, and somewhere along the way I twice managed to be involved in a free tours of the Thatcher's cider brewery, which is only just down the road from me. Result!

 

[The Maestro]

Its been a brilliant 2017. My daughter was born on the fourth of January and it was the greatest moment of my life seeing her arrive in the world. I don't  know if was the combination of the lack of sleep and gas or just the pure emotion, but I just burst out in tears of joy the moment I saw her. And she's been a treat the whole year. Such a happy kid who sleeps the whole night through. I couldn't wish for anything more. 

Other highlights of 2017:

- work are putting faith in me by giving me a lot more duties and responsibility.

- visiting my Mum's house on Croatia for a few days in May.

- visiting Devon for the first time in September.

- been to a couple of good gigs seeing Queens of the Stone Age and Gogol Bordello.

- Got rid of my sympathy bump by losing a stone and a half.

- Winning a group fantasy football league and making a nice chunk of cash.

- Spending quality time with family and friends.

[bAzTNM#1]

Really shitty really. Got to be my worse year. Been sick most of it with gallbladder and stomach issues, which I've to get an operation for. Now I find out my Uncle has died. Horrible.

[Sir Steve Redgrave]

Pretty awful to be honest. The year began with my auntie suddenly passing away a few days in to January. My physical health has been a mess with my epilepsy going in to overdrive (100+ seizures). This has had a negative effect on my mental health leading to me being sectioned twice. With all this going on I have had to wind down to part time at work in a job I love which is also a massive downer. Also put on a couple of stone. Oh, and I support QPR. On the plus side I have had a lot of support from a great network of friends which is what has gotten me through it all.

[Nexus]

Up and down.

 

First academic year at my new school was really good, I was happy and I moved into a house that I owned in May/June time. I also got my cat who I absolutely adore. The Summer Holidays were pretty bang average - I can't really remember much about it but I definitely didn't do anything exceptionally exciting - mainly sorting out plumbers and stuff for the house and getting the cat house trained. 

 

After October things went to shit at work - a new learning structure was introduced which I really couldn't get on with, meaning that I failed a Lesson Observation, which led to a second, almost as bad Lesson Observation - the first time in five years where I've been judged as anything less than a Good teacher. This then led to loads of pressure which made me bitter about the amount of work I was doing compared to my colleagues, particularly those senior than me - I then got put on a coaching program but the lack of support hasn't actually benefitted me in any way. This, coupled with shit Y11 mock results is making me consider my position completely. I'm going to spend the Xmas holidays deciding what to do, but I may leave teaching. 

 

This, coupled with the fact that my partner was refusing to put the cat in a cattery over Xmas, meaning that she isn't coming home with me to my mum's, which my mum is pretty annoyed about so that's going to make Xmas pretty lame and then I have to deal with my dad on Boxing Day which I really cba with.

 

Plus my mental health has been on a long downslide since about September so there's also that. 

 

 

[Jazzy G]

Itwas an interesting year. The first 6 months  was "business as usual" afterlast year. Caring for my partner ass he continues to recover from her illness. The Manchester bombing was pretty  heavy going. I'd been at a gig in the city that night as well, but made it home without incident to news reports of something having happened at the arena. That morning when I woke up I had several messages from concerned family members and friends to make sure I was ok. That week was a tough one. I ended up having a little breakdown as I tried to process what was going on. It led for us (My partner as I stumbled over trying to form an actual sentence and just kind of mumbled the word Asperger's at him) to ask my GP to try and get me another diagnosis for my Asperger's after several failed or deflected efforts: repeated trips to CBT sessions, antidepressants, beta blockers. At one point a GP said "I would send you, but you'd be stuck with the label for life.".

My mental state was certainly much improved over previous years though, as I managed to get a job. It's in a warehouse picking orders. It's pretty easy, doesn't involve too much human interaction (or at least dealing with customers) and keeps me out of mischief. Passed my probation, was sent to learn to drive MEWPs (order picker trucks) and actual forklift trucks by my team leader, I'm still doing well there

My partner is kind of getting better. She's no longer got to keep going back to the Christie every 6 months, but is still under the care of her surgeon, and has their number in case she does need them. Next year will hopefully be the one to get her back as close to 100% as she can and just keep up the momentum we've built up over the second half of this year.

November was a pretty tricky time as I found out a good friend had taken his own life. We just used to bitch about the state of the world, make horrendously inappropriate jokes and admire beautiful ladies, but also hung out quite a lot, a really good friend who's very sadly missed by a lot of people.

I've certainly had worse years. 2015 will probably go down in mine and my O/H's personal history as one of those Annus Horribilis thingies like the Queen had that time, but things have slowly improved since then.

Also Sir Roger Moore passed away and I shed tears, but also watched The Persuaders.

[ColinBollocks]

2017 is probably my least favourite year and it's mostly down to the first four months, when I lost three close family members during a 6 month stretch. It's impossibly cruel knowing that when someone you love dies, you'll never get to experience another second of that person again. Such was the storm of grief, I truly understood why people choose to believe in God and heaven and what not, because it's a shit load more comforting than the truth; from that point of view, I'm never scoffing at someone that chooses to believe in such things again. I'm  doing ok now, but I felt so detached and cold and, well, shocked by it all that for 6 months of the year I was a bit of a shuffling cadaver.

This year would probably be pretty good, if it wasn't for that. I've done more traveling this year, Berlin and Prague being highlights.

[Gus Mears]

Good to see you posting again Steak, miss your contributions.

Year was horrible, although an improvement on 2016.  I've come to the somewhat upsetting conclusion that I am never going to overcome the chronic anxiety and depression I've been granted since the age of 12. Consequently, I am paying for psychotherapy twice a week, which has certainly been of use, although actually having to analyse and remember large chunks of my (non) childhood has been manifestly uncomfortable. It has given me a greater appreciation of why I am like I am and also the extent to which my formative years were really quite awful, which is both upsetting and of use when it comes to giving myself a break once in a while. 

It's somewhat emblematic of life itself, but I never seem to have a clear run at anything, which doesn't help the mental state. Lot of the year has been worrying about Dad, who is spending Christmas in rehab. I was pretty sure that he was going to die at various points over the year, but he seems to be making a crack at it. He hasn't had a drink since October, which is the longest time in 20 years. I am not confident that he has the infrastructure in place once he gets out, which is concerning me, because with his physical state, there isn't a second chance with this. In addition, a close friend of mine killed themselves just over a month ago, which has been extremely difficult for me to get over. 

I've excelled at work and am probably getting a promotion in January, which considering how I feel a lot of the time is extraordinary. Despite this, I just don't love it, I miss academia and thinking, as opposed to selling the ideas of others, which is the crux of lobbying. As a result, I'm going back to university and doing an MRES in politics and international studies (research masters) in September with the longer term ambition of either doing a doctorate or working for a think tank.

I've started performing my own music live, singing and piano, and it's going down very well. That means the world to me as I've basically spent 8 years repressing the fact that I would quite like to do something with my songs.

I'm still single and still spend my evenings drinking or reading classics.  I'm increasingly comfortable with this. 

Can I just say that all of you wazzocks on here mean more than you probably imagine. It's a stupid forum, where we post about taking a shit, 90's television and football, and it's probably done more to keep me anchored in the real world than almost anything else. Thanks, all of you, and may your 2018's be better than your 2017's. 

[Kaz Hayashi]

Absolutely fantastic year overall.

Started the year with an almost 2 month old baby girl and I’m finishing off with a 14 month old child. I’ve had 3 months off work to spend with her and have returned part time so I can spend 2 days a week with her until she goes to school.

I’ve sold my previous and bought a new house which I moved in to 3 months ago and have just finished off building work etc.

I’ve had a bit more time to make things with my joinery hobby and plan to do much more next year.

I reconnected with a friend I’ve not seen in 15 years and we’re close mates again. Another friend of mine went missing in Thailand for nearly 2 weeks (he lives out there). British Embassy and Thai gov were involved in the search but we managed to track him down and he’s now safe & well.

Although I work in the mental health sector, you tend to put your own mental health second. I have and still access counselling to overcome anger issues (with myself, not others). Goes to show that no matter how good things are, there can be an issue with deep rooted wiring and it needs addressing and resetting. It’s getting much better now.

Final note: No matter how good or bad everything around you is, if your heads in a shed, go and get it seen to by professionals. I’ve seen a lot of people on here having a hard time and where possible have tried to offer advice along with others. It’s getting advice like that, it’s also wonderful if you can sound off to friends/family, but always try to realise that there are professionals for a reason. They might not all work for you, but keep trying. Once they get to the crux the advice on offer can be magnificent. It’s hard, hard work and can fuck you up due to what you have to revisit, but persevere. Best advice I can give. Don’t give up, what’s the point? You’ll just feel shit anyway.