Unless you have been living in a hovel in the middle of nowhere with no calendar/computer/iPhone/way to tell what the date is, you will be aware that it is the New Year. The newest of years to date.
A review of 2010:
Due to my oft chronicled bad-memory, I am relying on past posts and facebook to review last year. I think, therefore, that this is roughly in chronological order:
I spent a lot of time at home - after eleven years at boarding school, this was both heaven and hell. Hell in the sense that I went form living with 80 girls and seeing my best friends everyday to living in a Hamlet 300 miles away. Heaven in the sense that I got to live at home, with my darling mother and her excellent cooking!
<-to->
My sister, her beau and I went to the Isle of Wight Festival and had a rather dandy time! (minus the rain, dirt, dust, heat and sleepless nights) I am still having problems with my ear though, after standing less than a metre from Noah and the Whale's speakers. Despite all that, it was one of the best weekends of my life!
Hop Farm with Laura M, Mumford & sons, Johnny Flynn and Devandra Banhart, but you can read about that in the earlier post. (I still have a camera to develop from Hop Farm - I'll do it when I get back to Swansea)
I did photoshoots. I did not post much about them here, but I did do them! The results are on my Flickr. I'm going to do some more now that I know some of what's on offer in Abertawe (I am perfectly fluent in Welsh now, yn amlwg)
I started at the University of Swansea. I've only been there a few months, but I really do love it there - the people are pretty awesome too. You'll hear more about them in the future, no doubt! (I have managed to avoid almost all D&B but have had to put up with horrific mainstream club music instead). Also, I quoted my own post on feminism and genuinely believed I'd read it somewhere - everyone else seemed to buy it so it was ok…
Laura Marling played live in Cardiff and I stood front row, one foot on stage and was repeatedly hit by Pete Roe's keyboard. Best music I have ever heard (Have bought tickets for my sister and I to see Noah and the Whale at the Brudenell Club in Leeds in March)
We (Mummy B, Sister and I) spent Christmas in the most quintessential Dorset cottage ever. It's called Smugglers Cottage and was perfect. We all had flu, and I had an additional kidney infection, but it was marvellous all the same!
New Years Eve - I had originally planned to spend it in Dorset with some of my uni friends (they come from there too) but with the flu and everything, I spent the night in the appropriately named 'The Hut' in the village. Everyone made an excellent effort and I had a really good night involving New Ears, people being surprised at their own noses and being gifted a tin of olives.
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| There seems to be no one else there... promise there was! |
There's more, but I can't remember it…
It is customary for people to make New Year's Resolutions and though I normally avoid this, last year I made three:
1: Become a vegetarian
2: Be as self-sufficient as possible
3: Learn guitar
I have, minus the tiniest bit of turkey at Christmas, have managed to be vegetarian for a year AND taught myself guitar. Self-sufficeincy went on the backburner when we had to put our house up for sale in the Spring (still here though, so in hindsight, could've used the allotment).
In many respects I am a quitter. In many more respects I am stubborn and refuse to give-up, but when it comes to self-improvement by resolution, I am the first to give it the old heave-ho and wave tatty-bye to such things. Therefore, my keeping two resolutions for an entire year calls for a celebration. Huzzah! There, done.
It is with some trepidation that I thought of this year and any possible resolutions - can I follow last year's victory? I don't thing so, but I'll give it a damn good try. I am going to write them here, so if in the coming year and I am not doing them, give me a sharp jab to the ribs and make me get on with it.
FionaFBaillie's resolutions 2011:
1: Write something worth playing and play it
2: Learn to surf
3: (This one's under construction - will write when I've perfected it!)
Ok, so they're not the most challenging/epic, but baby steps Fi, baby steps.
And I think learning to surf's got to wait to the summer. Wales is cold. Very, very cold. In terms of guitar, I rather need to expand my repertoire to more than the entire LM back catalogue, Bruce Springsteen and Noah and the Whale and the occasional Joni Mitchell...
Things I hope will happen in 2011:
I will pass my exams
We will find a nice house to live in and be happy
Lots of other lovely things!
Ok, think I may have gone into the rambling realms of Frank Pickle and so will sign off for the time being.
TTFN x
