Review of 2003
Jan. 2nd, 2004 09:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vyvyanx January Back from our honeymoon, G and I embarked on married life. Went to the Winter Ale Festival; visited and were visited by many friends; went to Coventry for Heresy. G and I played a lot of online Dungeon Siege, and began looking for jobs. I bought a printer and made preparations for teaching my first OU course. I was also negotiating with OUP about publishing my book.
February G's job at the Benefits Office ended, and my (very part-time) OU job began. We both tried to sign on for unemployment benefit, and failed completely. We applied for many jobs. We had a lot of unpleasant arguments, and ended up vowing not to drink alcohol for a month, since it seemed to be making things worse.
March We stuck to our no-alcohol pledge, miraculously (except for G drinking at one Calling in the middle). It seemed to have the desired effect, in that we stopped arguing with each other! I also became a lot more motivated and organised. G played a lot of Jagged Alliance, and I wrote a piece of database software. We began watching Babylon 5 again (this became a bit of theme throughout the year). My book proposal fell through, annoyingly, but I heard about two academic jobs I wanted to apply for: in my old Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic department in the University here, and in the English Faculty (teaching Old and Middle English) in Oxford. Also this month, G got an interesting body modification. Our landlord finally arranged for a carpet to be laid on our staircase (after about 8 months of bare boards), and G's old friend Gus turned up on our doorstep one day.
April I spent the early part of this month faffing with my academic job applications (one of which required 11 copies of my CV, hunting down referees from far-flung corners of the world etc. The Post Office suddenly forgot where we lived and failed to deliver any mail for a few weeks (this was particularly annoying, as I was expecting a lot of important job-related post at the time). G and I went to Whitby and then straight on to Eastercon later in the month.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zotz stayed with us in Whitby, and also came to Eastercon with us. G heroically gave up smoking in the middle of Eastercon, and has stuck to this, almost completely, through the rest of the year. I think this is very impressive! Got back from holiday to find a pile of job rejections waiting for me unfortunately - I had no luck with my academic applications, or with any of the other countless tedious admin jobs I'd been applying for. At the end of the month, G particularly upset me at a Calling of which he has no memory.
May G started his new job at http://www.games-puzzles.co.uk and remained there happily for the rest of the year. My parents got a lovely new cat, G played a lot of Postal, and we both did volunteer work at the Cambridge Beer Festival (mostly fun, though I did walk home on my own one night after a row with G, to discover the next day that he'd spent the night unconscious on a bench on Jesus Green, and then went straight to the shop to open up next morning!). I bought some bathroom scales for the first time, and over the next few months, my weight seemed to fall from its usual 8 1/2 stone (where it's been since my late teens) to around 7 1/2 stone. Hmm.
June Early in the month, I had a horrific experience with cannabis, and gave it up completely (unfortunately, this was only a few days before Strawberry Fair, but never mind!) It took a while to sort my head out from that - it was such a traumatic event. I seem to have a written troubled private posts about it for some time afterwards.zotz sadly departed Cambridge for Edinburgh. We visited my parents to see their new cat, and I dyed my hair very red again.
July I wrote almost nothing in my lj this month, so I can only assume that very little of interest happened!
August I found a mutant egg in a carton of Sainsbury's free range. G and I worked at Conjuration, and I saw several people I haven't seen for ages (damerell, PT and DC - an ex from a long time ago). Later in the month, G and I found an absolutely enormous spider on our staircase, and G captured it and removed it!
September G and I went to a wedding in Harrogate. Mid-month, after spending all year applying for jobs and not even getting asked to interview, I suddenly was offered a part-time job in one of the University Departments, without even needing an interview! (And, incidentally, was called for interview for another job in the same week.) Began work, and finally had a month in which my bank balance looked better at the end than at the start (I've been effectively living off savings for most of the year). Finished off my OU teaching with a final revision tutorial. G and I had minor operations to remove worrisome moles from our backs around this time.
October I started a custom friends group for my newly-created angband journal - I thought recording each day's progress in the game might provide me with the necessary incentive to actually win the thing, which has been a goal of mine for several years. Most of my posts for the next couple of months are therefore angband-related! Also this month, G and I began going swimming regularly. The OU suddenly asked me to be an exam scriptmarker for the course I'd taught during the year, and I agreed with some trepidation (since I knew it would be a lot of work). G's grandfather sadly died at the end of the month, and we went up to Edinburgh for the funeral.
November I went to Milton Keynes for an exam coordination meeting, and soon after was deluged with scripts to mark. It was quite good fun, actually. I embarked on an OU Astronomy short course this month, as a student - since staff can take OU courses free of charge, up to a point. Mid-month, it was my birthday (I turned 29) and I had a fantastic day with G.
December G and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary, and his 24th birthday. Much drunkenness and enjoyment. I did more stargazing during the wonderfully clear nights mid-month. I was robbed in a minor way, at the swimming pool. On the 18th on this month, I won angband, and so achieved one of my life goals :-) I finished work for the year, having been appointed as secretary to a newly-formed committee at the Institute. G was kept very busy in the shop in the lead-up to Christmas. And then we celebrated Christmas and New Year, with visits to both our families, and two New Year parties (one of goths, one of geeks). I ended 2003 very happy with my darling G, with my studies, with my job, with our flat, and with our friends.
Best wishes for 2004!
February G's job at the Benefits Office ended, and my (very part-time) OU job began. We both tried to sign on for unemployment benefit, and failed completely. We applied for many jobs. We had a lot of unpleasant arguments, and ended up vowing not to drink alcohol for a month, since it seemed to be making things worse.
March We stuck to our no-alcohol pledge, miraculously (except for G drinking at one Calling in the middle). It seemed to have the desired effect, in that we stopped arguing with each other! I also became a lot more motivated and organised. G played a lot of Jagged Alliance, and I wrote a piece of database software. We began watching Babylon 5 again (this became a bit of theme throughout the year). My book proposal fell through, annoyingly, but I heard about two academic jobs I wanted to apply for: in my old Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic department in the University here, and in the English Faculty (teaching Old and Middle English) in Oxford. Also this month, G got an interesting body modification. Our landlord finally arranged for a carpet to be laid on our staircase (after about 8 months of bare boards), and G's old friend Gus turned up on our doorstep one day.
April I spent the early part of this month faffing with my academic job applications (one of which required 11 copies of my CV, hunting down referees from far-flung corners of the world etc. The Post Office suddenly forgot where we lived and failed to deliver any mail for a few weeks (this was particularly annoying, as I was expecting a lot of important job-related post at the time). G and I went to Whitby and then straight on to Eastercon later in the month.
zotz stayed with us in Whitby, and also came to Eastercon with us. G heroically gave up smoking in the middle of Eastercon, and has stuck to this, almost completely, through the rest of the year. I think this is very impressive! Got back from holiday to find a pile of job rejections waiting for me unfortunately - I had no luck with my academic applications, or with any of the other countless tedious admin jobs I'd been applying for. At the end of the month, G particularly upset me at a Calling of which he has no memory.May G started his new job at http://www.games-puzzles.co.uk and remained there happily for the rest of the year. My parents got a lovely new cat, G played a lot of Postal, and we both did volunteer work at the Cambridge Beer Festival (mostly fun, though I did walk home on my own one night after a row with G, to discover the next day that he'd spent the night unconscious on a bench on Jesus Green, and then went straight to the shop to open up next morning!). I bought some bathroom scales for the first time, and over the next few months, my weight seemed to fall from its usual 8 1/2 stone (where it's been since my late teens) to around 7 1/2 stone. Hmm.
June Early in the month, I had a horrific experience with cannabis, and gave it up completely (unfortunately, this was only a few days before Strawberry Fair, but never mind!) It took a while to sort my head out from that - it was such a traumatic event. I seem to have a written troubled private posts about it for some time afterwards.
zotz sadly departed Cambridge for Edinburgh. We visited my parents to see their new cat, and I dyed my hair very red again.July I wrote almost nothing in my lj this month, so I can only assume that very little of interest happened!
August I found a mutant egg in a carton of Sainsbury's free range. G and I worked at Conjuration, and I saw several people I haven't seen for ages (
damerell, PT and DC - an ex from a long time ago). Later in the month, G and I found an absolutely enormous spider on our staircase, and G captured it and removed it!September G and I went to a wedding in Harrogate. Mid-month, after spending all year applying for jobs and not even getting asked to interview, I suddenly was offered a part-time job in one of the University Departments, without even needing an interview! (And, incidentally, was called for interview for another job in the same week.) Began work, and finally had a month in which my bank balance looked better at the end than at the start (I've been effectively living off savings for most of the year). Finished off my OU teaching with a final revision tutorial. G and I had minor operations to remove worrisome moles from our backs around this time.
October I started a custom friends group for my newly-created angband journal - I thought recording each day's progress in the game might provide me with the necessary incentive to actually win the thing, which has been a goal of mine for several years. Most of my posts for the next couple of months are therefore angband-related! Also this month, G and I began going swimming regularly. The OU suddenly asked me to be an exam scriptmarker for the course I'd taught during the year, and I agreed with some trepidation (since I knew it would be a lot of work). G's grandfather sadly died at the end of the month, and we went up to Edinburgh for the funeral.
November I went to Milton Keynes for an exam coordination meeting, and soon after was deluged with scripts to mark. It was quite good fun, actually. I embarked on an OU Astronomy short course this month, as a student - since staff can take OU courses free of charge, up to a point. Mid-month, it was my birthday (I turned 29) and I had a fantastic day with G.
December G and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary, and his 24th birthday. Much drunkenness and enjoyment. I did more stargazing during the wonderfully clear nights mid-month. I was robbed in a minor way, at the swimming pool. On the 18th on this month, I won angband, and so achieved one of my life goals :-) I finished work for the year, having been appointed as secretary to a newly-formed committee at the Institute. G was kept very busy in the shop in the lead-up to Christmas. And then we celebrated Christmas and New Year, with visits to both our families, and two New Year parties (one of goths, one of geeks). I ended 2003 very happy with my darling G, with my studies, with my job, with our flat, and with our friends.
Best wishes for 2004!
