Sideshow Beastie

My eyes are dripping along with my nose and I’m scaring the cat with the volume of my cold. Which, incidentally, I probably caught from one of the lovely ladies I swapped spit with on NYE. In another lifetime I may have been repentant, but 2008 seemed to have been The Year of Growing Up, Not Old. So although my throat is aflame and my nose is raw, I’m rather cheerful that I got to pash hot chicks! And better still, said ‘hot chicks’ are actually friends of mine. Very open-minded friends…

2008 was not an unlovely year. Sure, some bits were fraught (my last shreds of faith in an old friend fell to the wind) and confronting (work = death, literally) but I was more accepting and happier than I was for many, many years. The blessings outweighed the curses - something to be grateful for.

Achievements for 2008 include: deciding to undertake more study, starting a burlesque troupe, trusting my partner and staying in a positive relationship, realising that it’s okay to be human (because others are too), doing good work, upgrading my tech (purty laptop is my frriiieeennd), not ending up in hospital, establishing and maintaining supportive and vibrant friendships, being reunited with a dearly beloved, being published (thanks !), dancing lots, having more fun, accepting that ‘getting older’ doesn’t mean ‘getting less interesting’.

I love being 30. I am relieved to realise that I’m not going to ‘go quietly into that good night’, not going to settle into a life which I’m passionless about. Every day is about the thrill of the chase and nailing what’s really good right now, then preparing for tomorrow’s adventures. Being an eccentric, a journeyman/woman, an interested party, a participant, a hunter of life’s Good Stuff - that’s not something you grow out of. It’s just something you are.

Thank you, 2008. The glass was definitely half full.