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How was 2018 for you?


garynysmon

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It’s been a pretty good year, especially after 2017 and my almost mental breakdown both here and in real life.

So, 2018.  I made some new friends in RL, something I especially have struggled with all my life. Work has been ok. I have done almost 100 podcasts which is my escapism. I’ve been looking at my mental health and think a change in diet and trying to understand my place in the world has helped with that. I am watching my daughter become a caring, well mannered and funny little person.

my marriage has been tested as my sons Autism has become more of a test to our everyday life. I think my wife and I have shared the same bed for less then a month this year due to my son’s nighttime routine. I have watched my wife fight for help and support from the council and social and got the news in December that my son has got one of only 2 available places for the local special needs school next year which we think we’ll really help him develop. 

And thanks to this place. It’s one of my favourite places I visit. it’s great to see people’s triumphs as well as see the support others get at a low point. 2019 will see us go on our first family holiday abroad by plane and will hopefully see me back in Orlando to do Halloween Horror Nights for a weekend. And I may finally get my book published. Here’s to a great 2019 to you all.

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12 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

And thanks to this place. It’s one of my favourite places I visit. it’s great to see people’s triumphs as well as see the support others get at a low point. 2019 will see us go on our first family holiday abroad by plane and will hopefully see me back in Orlando to do Halloween Horror Nights for a weekend. And I may finally get my book published. Here’s to a great 2019 to you all.

What’s the book? If it’s about Disneyland and theme parks consider me interested, I find the inner workings of places like that fascinating.

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Bit up and down to be honest. Ended up missing a month of work with an abcess in my thigh at the start of the year, pulled a muscle in my back. Went from getting by financially to struggling to get through the month because apparently my other half who can't make it the ten feet from bedroom to bathroom without help on a bad day and needs to spend at least a day in bed to recover on a "good" day doesn't need the benefits she was receiving, so has had them massively cut. Work went pretty well, though.  Got promoted, learned some jobs in other departments and led a few shifts, made some mistakes, paid the price for them, but dragged it back.

I had chicken pox for the first time as well.

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6 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

What’s the book? If it’s about Disneyland and theme parks consider me interested, I find the inner workings of places like that fascinating.

It’s a history/guide book of Disneyland Paris. The first draft has now been finished and just waiting to speak to some publishers. My friend writes a guide to Halloween Horror Nights and it’s history 

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5 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

What’s the book? If it’s about Disneyland and theme parks consider me interested, I find the inner workings of places like that fascinating.

Same, my wife is a bit Disneyworld obsessed and watches a host of youtube bloggers/series so this would be right up her street. Bought her one of her blogger's books for Xmas but we go in May and she wants at least 1 more book before we go.

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15 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

It’s a history/guide book of Disneyland Paris. The first draft has now been finished and just waiting to speak to some publishers. My friend writes a guide to Halloween Horror Nights and it’s history 

Sold! I’d definitely want to read that. Let us know if/when it becomes available.

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I can’t describe how proud I am, and most of the success is from her mum tbf! But I will share two recent anecdotes. First one was when meeting Father Christmas she said “May I have a Troll Castle for Christmas and can I ask for a Tornado Twist you for my brother who is unable to speak”. He said she was the first person to say may I have a and that should would be put at the top of the good list. She was overjoyed as were we.

the second on Christmas Day my son, for the first time, showed interest in opening presents which was wonderful in itself. But my daughter said she would only open a present after Lincoln had opened one. She’s 5 and has a passion for how animals are treated and the environment (though not enough to go Vegan 😆) and how caring people should be to each other. World would be a much better place if we all behaved more like the innocence of children.

sorry, this wasn’t supposed to be one of those posts, but I’m super proud and in a soppy mood tonight 

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Exactly one year ago I went back to working weekends at Primark having spent the bulk of 2017 working weekday mornings covering for a staff member who was on a 6 month placement (I was originally meant to only cover that 6 months but got asked to cover an extra two for the Christmas rush) but by the summer I was beginning to feel really ground down by it, I was getting needlessly wound up by the smallest things and just being moody in general so I made the decision to ask my manager if I could switch my hours to work evenings which, after a long 2 month wait due to them needing to cover my weekend (which still hasn't happened 5 months on from asking), finally happened in September. Within a week of starting the dark cloud over me lifted and I've begun to relax more and enjoy working again (although this Christmas has really tested my patience due to overdoing overtime on my part)

2019 is going to be a big year for me, all being well I'm going to be an uncle for a (technically) 4th time as my younger cousin is pregnant and I have the honour on August 2nd of walking my younger sister down the aisle as she gets married to her long term boyfriend 

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On 12/31/2018 at 3:24 PM, garynysmon said:

2018's not been that great for me so hoping for a better new year tbh.

Lost my grandmother quite suddenly during the turn of the year, (well as suddenly as can be expected for a 89 year old.) But we were very close as we grew up half a mile away and probably spent as much time in my grandparents' house as I did my own. 

Then a few months later, my girlfriend and I suffered a miscarriage for what would have been our first child. I don't feel people talk about these things enough and its taken us about 6 months to really tell people about it, but I'm sure it can't be that uncommon.

I've had pretty much the same thing happen to me towards the end of this year. I lost my grandma at the beginning of October (who was 102 but very healthy - still walking around on her own etc) very suddenly, she went in to hospital on Saturday with high blood pressure, had very sudden l lung failure on Sunday and died on Tuesday. She lived with me and my family since I was 5 so was like a second mother to me. Three weeks later I miscarried my first baby at 11 weeks. October 2018 was the worst month of my life so far.

People really don't talk about miscarriages, I've had so many people at work say 'It happen to me too' and then walk away.  It seems to happen to a lot of people and I know it's painful to talk about it but as a society we should. I know I go over old ground a lot but people seem to be keen to just tell me I need to move on, which I know I do but talking helps processing. Getting professional support has been pretty much impossible. 

To make things worse, I hate my job to the point that I've thought about just quitting and staying at home. I want to do something different but I'm not really qualified for any other field.  I feel stressed all the time (obviously my personal circumstances contribute to this), my hair is starting to fall out, I wake up with a sore jaw in the morning from grinding my teeth in my sleep.... sorry, this has turned in to a bit of a rant.  Hopefully 2019 will bring better days. 

@Wretch I'm so sorry for your loss. My little sister has had severe depression for a number of years and that was always a phonecall I dreaded getting and something I still worry about. I can only imagine how you feel. I hope 2019 is a better year for you though I know it will always be hard without him

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2018 was alright, bit of a standstill. Couple of unwanted hospital visits- I nearly tore my finger off and spent a week in hospital and several months rehabbing it before (it'll never quite be the same, but it works- I'm lucky I still have the finger so can't complain). My wife was also involved in a serious car crash and had to be cut out of my mum's car and was on crutches for a while, still has visits to the physio to fully recover.

Kids are doing well- growing up fast. My 9yo daughter passed a couple of karate gradings (was the only one to fully pass the last one from her class) so that was cool. My 6yo son started training with one of the local football clubs at the beginning of the year and by the end of the year he's a regular for their U-7s and I'm now helping out assisting the team coach with training and on matchdays, which I absolutely love. It's given me a new purpose and has opened my eyes to something I really want to get more involved with.

Work has been ok, probably the most samey year in a long time though. Had a couple of nice holidays in the UK and didn't use my passport throughout the year for the first time in a while.

Nothing major planned for 2019 as it stands. Might take my coaching badges at some point. Then my and @tiger_rick can one day co-manage Bolton like MacFarlane and Todd.

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Pretty good on my end overall. Did my first multi day motorbike trip around southern Vietnam and then a second in August. Got married in April and had an awesome honeymoon around Western Europe. Managed to pass my DELTA module 1 exam which was fucking hard but will end with a really solid teaching qualification, working on the second part now and have had a payrose at work after finishing some really cool projects with the local public schools doing teacher training. Lots of hard work to come this year but hopefully worth it in the long term.

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Reading some of the stuff posted here and my heart goes out to a lot of you guys. Hope things turn out better in 2019 for you.

Rosacea and anxiety issues really fucked with me early on and I hid myself at home out of sight and lost around 2 stone in weight trying to fix my health through drastic diet changes. The increasing ill health of my parents and the constant worry about the future care plans for my disabled brother made everything a hundred times worse. Thankfully I did end up speaking to someone about it and things have definitely been a little easier. 

Mid way through the year I rediscovered an old hobby from my childhood and it has been such a lifeline. I'm nerding out about something I love again and I've made a bunch of new friends and a reason not to shut my self in doors all the time. The exercise is a great added bonus for the head too. 

2018 ended in a much more positive way than it started, so I can't ask for much more than that. 

Cheers, fellas. 

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Hey,  @deathrey , sorry I can't be much help with any of the other stuff but you can and should get a mouth guard made by a dentist. Stopping you from grinding your teeth will not only prevent future pain and long-term damage it will alleviate the jaw ache and and related headaches you might get from the grinding.

My sister and my wife both have one and it has really helped.

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