Goodbye 2023

[Carbomb]

20 minutes ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

@Carbomb Consider me attracted as a potential partner. There you go, one ticked off already 😘

Was great to meet you, Frankie and Wretch in the summer, we must do so again this year! 

Absolutely bloody should. Was a blast hanging out with you all.

The long-mooted Keff-Up should happen this year.

[Hugh Thesz]

Been in hospital since Saturday with me ol' mate Diabetic Keto Acidosis.

Now I have an upset stomach.

2024 can only get better.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Happy New Year to all of you good people. I look back on 2023 with no particular fondness for reasons I no longer wish to contemplate in this new year. Fingers crossed for a better 2024 for myself and a good one for you all. 

[TheBurningRed]

2023 was quite something.
Negatives

Was in a job that was boring, had bad management, idiots in my team who should never have been hired. A job I would dread going to so much, it caused me stomach problems 

My mum fell over and broke her femur. While in hospital we found out she has terminal cancer

Had to put my cat down very suddenly. Something I’m still very heartbroken about. My girlfriend however drew me a beautiful picture of me and him for my birthday

Man Utd in general 

Bought a moped. Second day of riding it, I had an accident. Nearly died. Bike instantly sold. Put me off for life. 

Positives

Moved in with my girlfriend in November. 

Left my awful job and got a new one near where I live. Have a good work schedule, better pay, more responsibility and actually busy so the days and nights fly by. I’ve really landed on my feet. 

After we only went away on short breaks abroad, me and my girlfriend went on our first proper holiday to Fuerteventura. A great time and met some amazing people 

Then surprised her in September with a travel man style trip away with 48 hours in Copenhagen and Malmo. 

Going to All In. 

More positives than negatives which I should take as a good year. But my mum and cat have made it a really shitty and upsetting year for the most part. I hope 2024 is better. Not just for myself, but for all of you too. 

[Bus Surfer]

Happy New Year all. I've struggled quite a bit since my Mam passed away and having a big fallout with a sibling over some family matters. It's been almost 4 years and I can never seem to get passed it and I always feel like I'm in limbo. Hoping 2024 will be a little easier on the brain. 

[Gus Mears]

I thought it would be a great idea to pour about a gallon of hot sauce on my lunch yesterday and spent the evening at a house party covertly going to the upstairs bog for a shit every half hour between bouts of intense stomach pain.

Happy New Year everyone.

[Frankie Crisp]

2023 was the best year of my life, and then some. I didn’t think it was possible to be this happy.

But I won’t post a load of nostalgia and photos and memories and all that shite. I know what it can be like when you’re on your arse then someone throws happiness in your face online.

As someone who’s been on the bad end, tried to end it and didn’t see the point in carrying on; if you feel the same then please try to keep your head up because you never know the day it could turn around. It can happen, even if your brain tells you otherwise.

All the very best to you all; look after yourselves.

Edited January 1 by Frankie Crisp

[waters44]

2023 was a nightmare personally. Buried my Dad in January and then my brother died on my wife’s birthday in May. So almost within a year the Waters bloodline was taken out (Grandad 90, Dad 62, brother 30). They died so close together that my brothers kids have just received my Grandads inheritance! It went down three generations - that just shouldn’t happen. 

Put the house on the market in June and still not sold. Just stress after stress. And the final sting in the tale - on the 30th of December one of my brothers mates drowned in the lake that is right behind my house.

https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/police-find-body-in-lake-9346658/
 

In amongst the shit there have been some good things, mainly reconnecting with old family which wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t have two funerals to deal with. It’s a shame that’s what it took but there you go! 

I also love my job and earning some good money now so looking at buying houses that I can’t quite believe I could live in one day soon. That’s nice to focus on. I also feel a lot closer to my daughter as she gets older, I used to dread the weekends as I rubbish with her when she was younger, now I can’t wait to spend time with her. 

So not all doom and gloom and 2024 should hopefully be better. Just need to get into a new house and have a fresh start I think.

Thank you all for helping me through some tough times and I hope you all have a healthy and happy 2024

[BomberPat]

Most years I do a bit of a "Year In Review" post on Facebook, and I wasn't going to this year because I was feeling miserable, and thought most of this year was a complete pisser. I'm glad I eventually did it, because I looked back over photos and stuff, and realised that it's been alright in spite of all that.

The Bad:
An old mate of mine in Jersey, genuinely one of the nicest people you could ever meet, was killed in a hit-and-run alongside his young son. Really horrible stuff.

Not that we were close, but Kurtis Chapman's death coming right at the end of the year fucked me up in the way that only losing someone a lot younger than you can. He was someone I always assumed I'd see around, and work with again. 

My health has been shit. Long Covid, or whatever it is, meant that there have been times I could barely go for a walk around the block or hang the washing out without getting out of breath, and chest pains are just a fact of life now. I've spent more time in and out of hospitals and the doctors' for checkups and tests than I have in my entire adult life, being trialled on various heart medications, and all compounded by how fucked the NHS is right now, meaning getting an appointment is nigh-on impossible in the first place. I spent the end of November and a good chunk of December laid up with a really nasty illness that again saw me spending a morning in hospital. Mental health has taken a knock as a result of all of that, and work, too.

Work has not been good. Restructures, redundancies, zero money, and being further away than ever from the kind of work I actually want to be doing in education, instead spending all my time on financial matters and busywork.

The general state of the world.
 

The Good:
I actually achieved a lot this year, and I'm not very good at taking stock of that, or accepting praise or positive feedback and so on. So recognising that has helped me pull myself somewhat out of the doldrums that everything I just wrote about put me in.

I released my first book, after three years of work on it, and people seem to like it. 

I co-promoted and booked a fundraising wrestling show that exceeded my expectations in terms of who would be prepared to work for free for a good cause, and the scale of what we could achieve. It raised a lot of money, and was a damn good show even if I do say so myself. There were two or three matches at least on this show that I would gladly hold up against almost anything booked in BritWres this year, I honestly think it got some eyes on and provided opportunities for some wrestlers who wouldn't have otherwise got them, and the very first match I booked for it ended up briefly sending some quarters of the internet fucking mental. Nothing I have ever done has blown up my social media quite like Jerry Bakewell vs. Blue Kane did, and hearing it discussed on Jeff Jarrett's podcast was one of the more surreal moments of the year.

On both that show and the book, I collaborated with an old friend of mine who I've known since college, and who broke into wrestling on the same day as me - he did all the artwork for both the show and book. Working with him has been great, as has just generally reconnecting and spending maybe an hour on the artwork and then the rest of the day getting pissed together. Friendship in general has been a good point of this year, as there's a few people I've got closer with or reconnected with, new friends I've made, and with all the ill health and everything, I've really been moved by who has been there for me and whatnot.

Given said ill health, I thought this year would quietly be my last year in wrestling - I didn't think I would referee again, but I ended up working Pro Wrestling EAST in Cambridge back in February as a last minute replacement just to help them out, agreeing to do two simple matches that I thought I would be able to keep up with. The card ended up rebooked pretty drastically thanks to absences and late arrivals, came out better than planned, and was ridiculous fun to work. I said at the time that if they were all like that, I'd never have given any thought to quitting. 
On top of that, I started working as the "Commissioner" for CIWW in Jersey, was something of an MC to intro and outro the show I booked, and made my commentary debut for Resurgence last month, on top of the general crewing and helping out at other shows that I always do, so I've actually taken on some new roles and look like I might be busier next year than I've been in wrestling for a long time, and it's the first time in a while that I'm quite excited by the prospect.

My relationship has gone from strength to strength, and she makes me a better person.

I went on three holidays this year - a week in the Forest of Dean, a week in Scotland, and a weekend in Malta. All were lovely. I basically never went on "proper" holidays for the better part of twenty years, so just taking that time for ourselves has been really novel and a highlight of the year.

 

The Stuff:

I went to some ridiculously good gigs this year - PJ Harvey, Laibach, Mono, Sparks, Mars Volta, and Joe Hisaishi all come to mind.

Some great stuff at the theatre too - My Neighbour Totoro was so good I'm seeing it again this month, Derren Brown's Unbelievable blew my mind, and getting to see Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell performed in the Coach & Horses pub by Robert Bathurst was a personal highlight.

A great year for music in general; really enjoyed the new albums from Sparks, Anohni & The Johnsons, Khanate, Racetraitor, and PJ Harvey, to name but a few.

[Loki]

To all of those who had a tough 2023, I wish you a better 2024.  

Like @Frankie Crisp I had a good year, but don’t wish to rub it in excessively.  I’ve found a great new client, Jagex, and am making a game I really enjoy.  Mrs Loki has started a change in career and is much happier, which makes me happier.

 Due to Project Cars 4 being cancelled and other timings, I’ve not released a game since 2020!  So 2024 I’ll get at least one game out to break that streak.

 

[Jesse]

Did a load of work with Jagex back in my gaming event days, putting on RuneFest for them. They're by and large lovely to work with, a lot of my industry friends have done spells there and only have good things to say.

[Rule One]

I'm really glad I've made it through 2023 as it was an absolute thundercunt.

I attended 8 funerals last year, 3 being family. I lost both my grandads in the space of 4 months.

I found my maternal grandad dead just days into 2023 and it's ripped a massive hole out of me because I never really thought of the magnitude that he was part of my life, my every day pretty much. Now it echoes every time I wake up.

His last words to me were just a generic goodbye the day before as I left and told him I'd see him in the morning. His last text to me will always humour me though: 'Any chance u can get me 2 strong beers- BEERS' which he was taken the last time I saw him. He made sure those beers were drunk before he went.

I don't think I've really recovered since then, just an endless shit sandwich of death and misery has followed.

I haven't looked after myself fully either, just a barely functioning shell so this year I'm just hoping to crawl slowly forwards in the hopes of returning to my feet.

I wanted to write more but I'll spare you the depressive tones we all can do without and it pains me to continue to do so.

To those who had a better 2023, I'm happy for you, especially @Frankie Crisp I hope it continues on and we all get to a better place eventually. Here's to a brighter future and thank-you to all of you for keeping the board ticking over. (Special shout-out to @SuperBacon for his posting in 2023.)

 

[Nexus]

2023 was pretty fucking wank. We discovered my wife was pregnant (despite being told it was unlikely) in June, told it would be difficult, prepared ourselves for everything, then at our first scan no heartbeat was found. Absolutely heartbreaking, and genuinely the worst thing that I have ever experienced. My wife's health then took a further battering because during the pregnancy she got a clot in her leg, and they refused to operate because of the baby, then when they got around to being able to fix it, it's completely fucked, scarred and unfixable. This means her long term health is impacted, and probably means little to no flights for us for the forseeable. It's also confirmed the fact we won't be trying to have a child again, but it was a horrible last four months of the year. It also meant I missed a close friend's wedding because grieving. Also my Mother-In-Law was fucking awful throughout, and that made things 100 times more difficult.  

 

Work's been really hard. We had OFSTED in the second week of term, our headteacher who I was really close with got shoved out the back door and went on gardening leave, and the new heads are not my cup of tea. There's been a bit of turmoil in my department, they decided to promote someone against my judgement to work directly below me, and he's not great. Alongside this, we gained a new member of staff who was also 3 months pregnant when she started (which I'm finding v difficult to be around), and has been off a lot, which puts extra pressure on the department. 

 

Re-mortgage means that we're probably paying 50% extra per month, on top of other bills going up, which is difficult. 

 

Positives - went back to gigs this year - Carly Rae Jepsen, Scene Queen, Paramore and Fallout Boy - all of which filled me with joy. I think my wife and I's relationship is much stronger, despite the horrific nature of the year, and I have my lovely cats. 

 

Looking forward to 2024 being slightly less shit. 

[Onyx2]

A tip to start to 2024 (on the third day of said year) is to do something I did by accident. Press the 'mark forum as read' button. You can start reading about pies and McColls as it happens!

[Kfogg1991]

As everyone is sharing for once I feel comfortable and safe sharing here too for once.

2023 was a hard year for me with a couple of extremely personal and devastating things happening that really set me back.

My band split up when I found out the lead guitarist was doing nothing but talking shit about me behind my back whilst go my face every single week emotionally tearing me down.

A friend I let live with us and our kids saw as a member of the family fucked me over and turned his back on me when he made some new friends after having nothing at all for a full year and openly admitting the week before if we hadn't opened our house and family unit too him when we did he would have been dead because he had no one else in the world

Also had another setback with my addiction with my painkillers which I'm trying to get back on track with but this horrendous weather has me in so much pain every single day it's not easy.

2024 has to be better and I hope it is for everyone else that struggled last year