A Fond Farewell to 2011, Hello and Welcome to 2012

I think 2011 was a good year. Really. It started off a bit shaky, as I had a bad flu and started the year bundled up, freezing and seething at the St George’s Circus bus stop in London – waiting for almost 2 hours for my bus.

But it was a year of successes and great people and I am happy about that. I had my fair share of stress –with exams in the very first week. Add trying to study with sinus headaches, sore throat, hacking cough and fever, in the dead of London winter, and you can imagine my ultimate joy! Semester 2, while on paper, looked like it would be a cake walk, was probably worse than the jam-packed semester 1. The assignments never stopped and then of course, the dreaded D – dissertation which was a nightmare of epic proportions! But even with all that, I managed to get it done, with Distinction, and will be heading back to the Big Smoke in no time at all for my graduation.

I started the year as a student and end it as a grad – an employed grad no less, which is much better than many others can say. I am beyond grateful for that, on a very serious level, because so many of my friends are still job hunting and scouring the job ads, and waiting. I gripe about having to roll off my bed at 3.30 am each day and about how tired I am, but I am thankful that I have a job to get off the bed for. The car won’t pay for itself. Yes…the end of public transportation came at the end of 2011 as well – a real triumph for the high heeled princess. I do not miss running after the South Eastern, South West or Southern trains, or hopping maxis back home. Nope. Don’t miss it.

The Pavilion, Brighton

Though I did not get on a plane this year, other than between home and London, I did manage to do some adventuring. The UK, while cold and grisly, is a beautiful country and I explored other parts of London I had not yet explored (not just the cocktail bars and pubs) and also ventured to areas outside of London for a change, including Windsor, Wales, Bath, Bristol, Brighton, Rye and Hastings. If I could sneak in a trip to Edinburgh on my short escape, 2012 would have started off nicely I think – cold but pleasant.

I enjoyed a few great festivals in London as well, like Taste of London and the Wine and Cheese Festival. I miss events like those actually.

Lots of cooking as well - and now that I am back home, I am sure there will be much more.

I also made my debut as tv star, in the T-Mobile wedding ad, though you can only see the length of my dress and not much else. Still it was a fun experience. Met some great people during that experience.

But not as great as the people I met over the year in London, from classmates, some of whom will be lifelong friends, to the oddball adventures, public dating disasters and funny stories, to those who made the cut. Lol. These people brought fun, laughter, support and everythingness. A girl can only be this lucky once, right? Well, I am awesome, so I have it a hundred times over. My peeps are great!

We lost a friend this year but move forward with renewed hope because friendship is powerful and so is forgiveness.

Blog-wise, I have not always been consistent. When I was too busy with school to blog, I then became too busy with work. Balancing a real life with blogging is often challenging. Still, it is a fun outlet. I did my one and only anonymous vlog, as did Pablo. Did a photo challenge, but in the end, I blogged when I could.

So what will 2012 bring? God knows. I am praying for it to be a happy year – more happiness than sadness. Really hoping everyone, including myself, remains safe and healthy and happy over the 366 days of 2012. We can only ever take it one day at a time but I can still have a long term vision!

The lovely Grenadines, West Indies - right next door

While my movements will be restricted for a while, seeing that I have started a new job and thus have no real vacation time, I will have weekends, so there are places I can still go on a time crunch, including St Lucia, Grenada/Grenadines, Antigua, Miami (of course!), New York (not in the winter like last time) and who knows where else. 2013 will see me back in Europe but until then, gonna love my hemisphere as best as I can.

People wise – the year will undoubtedly end with some farse aunt or family friend asking if the husband will come in 2012 and my farse and bright response will probably be, “Find him and ask him”. I will again be forced to defend singledom and my right to life despite not being tied to some loser til death do us part. I have no idea what life will hold for me but guess what…life does not wait. I have learnt a lot about myself in the past year and reaffirmed what I already knew, and I will be having fun and being the fabulista that I have always been.

That being said, I want to wish you all a very Happy 2012. May all the things you wish for yourselves and your loved ones come to pass, and just have fun. Life is short and love is endless – love life.

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Week One of 2011

Not the way I would have liked to spend the opening week of the year but such is my reality. But I am not stressed. I am not crying over textbooks or pulling my hair out. Au contraire. I have been fiddling around with cute hairstyles, I managed to do my nails over the weekend - after months of neglect. I have been cooking - today's winning meal was basmati rice, dhal and curried chicken. I think I am just, at this point, fed up and these exams can do with me as they will. I just want them to be over already! I would love to have a life again. To wake up and open the door and go walking just for the hell of it. If I can make any resolution for 2011, it would be have more fun this year. I have made a commitment to get this Masters degree and with distinction, but really?? Does this mean I am not allowed a life? REALLY??? Not only has this Masters plan made me a pariah in the dating world - because men don't want to date a student because they are so concerned about our studies (bollocks!) but I am starting to look like the wallpaper in my bedroom, which is not attractive. So Karen, that would be one of my 52 - maybe the entire 52. Have more fun. I am in one of the best cities in the world for crying out loud. I did not mean for this to go from idle chatter to a full blown rant, by the way.

Anyway...

Not only is studying bad for my emotional health, but it is also terrible for my physical health. You get hungry every 11 seconds and today's comfort snack was a nice teaplate with 3 mini pancakes, a dab of butter and honey. Yummo.

Bad Trininista....bad girl.

However, the plan is to make weekend #2 - technically it will be weekend #2 really - make up for the awful first week of 2011. I already know I will be having drinks (if my busy week has not already chased off my drinks date as per my statement above), maybe take in a movie (The King's Speech vs Black Swan, or both...live a little!) and maybe some culinary therapy. Not in the mood for drunken London club life this weekend or weird girls named Miranda (see previous entry). Maybe a day at National Gallery.  Maybe the British Museum. Maybe Greenwich. I mean, the possibilities are endless. I am 85% flu free, and will be 100% exam free. Go me!

But tonight, I don't want to write too much for fear that the info I just read for the millionth time seeps out of my brain with every non-research related word I type here. But wish me luck! First exam at 9.30am tomorrow. God help me!

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New Year Celebrations in London

When I opened my eyes at minutes to 2 this afternoon, I pulled the curtain to see what 2011 looked like in the day. It looked just like 2010 did 24 hours before - grey and bleak. My stomach was also bleak...rather empty and I just inhaled carbs and copious amounts of orange juice.

And I did say I woke up at minutes to 2 this afternoon, after ringing in the new year with friends at a bar/club in London. We almost ended up ringing the new year in the queue, until one dude started complaining to the owner - a rather unfortunate looking character who thought he was God's gift with his hair plugs and his shiny suit - with support from yours truly, and when the countdown began, I was indoors, in the queue at the bar. lol. But it was a great evening with friends, and lots of memorable highlights such as:

- Friend #1 (shall remain nameless) pissing in the sink at McDonald's because...well...he just had to go. I may never use a public bathroom again, and I scarcely do it now as it is
- Friend #1's friends (none of whom were quite sober) picking up a stray at McDonald's and by stray, I don't mean Sparkie. Just some random girl, named Miranda, who suddenly was part of our group
- Getting lost, asking Londoners for directions and them too drunk to be of any use - dude told me the street we were looking for was in Soho when the map clearly showed the street was right there somewhere.
- Miranda trying to pick fights with random black girls in the queue. I said silently to myself, Who on earth is this girl, and why is she being a nuisance? I will not be getting my hair pulled in a fight for some stranger
- Some crackhead looking person, clearly high on something, trying to pick a fight with me but as I told her, when she can be as stunning and lucid as I was, then try again. I think I might have been the only sober person in London last night!
- Miranda finally leaving, but via ambulance, because she was so wasted they had to call the NHS for her, after she apparently almost brought up her entire digestive system on the pavement

I hope wherever Miranda is - she is okay but cannot say I was sorry to see her leave. What a nutter.

New Year's Eve in London was quite an experience. I mean, I know the Brits on a good day love their tipple but Jesus...I was at Euston station at 9.30 and people were already wasted, falling over, screaming, and just being plain annoying. By the time I was walking to my bus stop this morning, there were bodies all over the pavement, friends propping up friends on benches...crazy. My New Year's Eve parties back home were always on the "bourgie" end of the spectrum so this...lol...was different.

But as we mention bus, it's been a while since I put up one of these but this was seriously called for...

Mayor Johnson, I sat at Bus Stop D at St George's Circus for maybe 110 minutes waiting for a bus that was supposed to come every 30 mins. I can now tell you every bus that services SE London - the N1, the 63, 453 etc, because I saw them at least 4 times each - thought I saw the N155 maybe about 6 times. But nowhere to be seen was my bus. Your TFL people on the street were very helpful, and after 100 minutes called in to see where oh where was my bus because I sat at the bus stop, not drunk, not falling over, not being a menace - but very quietly, albeit angrily, nursing what was a cold in remission, hoping it would not come back a second time.

Mr Bus Driver, forgive me for giving you a look laced with acid and not returning your "Happy New Year" when you finally got there - but you surely could understand my vexation at having to start my new year with an almost 2 hour wait in the dropping temperatures for a bus and then having to sit and listen to some drunk female cuss her mother on the phone in a most vile and alarming fashion. Oh London...

Other than that, and the fact that I must now open a textbook on the first day of the year, 2011 promises to be awesome.

Oh, I also got my delivery yesterday. I love sparkly stuff!

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2010 Recap; 2011 - Bring it On!

It's pretty damn sad when you get excited over an email announcing the sale at Sainsbury's. lol. Sainsbury's? Really?

But then, what else am I supposed to get excited about? I ordered some new bling, was promised it would be delivered in one day. One day later, I am blingless. Bear with me then as I jump up and down over the prospect of ordering pasta and orange juice at half price.

So another day has come and gone and today I did zero studying. My mind was just not in it. I woke up late, feeling groggy after taking stronger medication last night, and I just never really got into the swing of things. My email to the course director is still to be penned because it is alarming that in essence I have not even been afforded a hiatus from school work between semesters. I have been given 2 weeks off from the commute, but not from work. Not a robot, people. I cannot tend to my health as I would like because I am doomed to study every waking hour? Really?

High heel porn - I miss these shoes.

And another year has come and is almost gone. I cannot remember all the highs and lows of 2010 but there were some points that are kinda hard to miss. Let's see, I planned and executed my awesome vacation to Italy, and no Italians were harmed in the making of said vacation. I was an ardent fitness maven once more. I really love the gym. Really miss the gym. What else? Oh, happy year - it was a World Cup year. No explanation needed! Helped with the planning and hosting of the long overdue high school reunion - reuniting the best and brightest and most beautiful girls on the planet after eons. I gained a new cute nephew and became a first time aunt. I loved my job, hated my job, did well at my job, quit my job, and moved to the other side of the world, away from my world, my life, my people!!!! Moved miles away, with no job, barely any disposable income for the lifestyle I am used to, and paid people to be inconvenienced daily via assignments, studying and odd people. In case you could not ascertain the last part - I became a Masters student. lol. And after only blogging about my career, I started this blog in May to blog about life outside of the office. It's a good thing seeing that I have no job at the moment. lol

The other bits, which I do not blog about, went through some upheaval but all things happen for a reason I say. Leaving trash in the past and moving forward with only shiny, bright optimism.

I don't make resolutions - to be a better person, to diet or any of that crap. I do just try to learn from my mistakes and move past them, and try to make the new year more memorable than the last. And to be happy. And to ensure that the people I love most are happy and healthy. That's it really. Hopefully I will fall in love with London all over again in 2011 because as it is now, between school and illness and winter, London and I are headed for divorce. A bitter bitter divorce. More free time in semester two and good health, should be the therapy we need to keep the love alive.

Health. Hmm...there's a concept. I am on cup #100 of lemon flu tea and now I also have some weird stomach bug that is really keeping me on the NHS watchlist, so it's fun times at Casa de Estudiante. Really hoping to be at least 85% to ring in 2011 but if not, I know that the next 365 days have a lot of promise because I will it to be so.

Happy New Year guys.

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