Dec 31 2005
2005
It’s the time of year when all you get on TV and radio are reviews of the year. A few years ago I got an e-mail from a friend of mine; listing everything she had done in the previous year. As I read it I remember thinking “Well that made my year look dullâ€Â. So I decided then and there that dull years were not a good thing. So what has 2005 meant for me? It’s certainly been a strange year, with its ups, and its downs.
I began 2005 dressed as an Arabian prince, riding though the streets of a small Devonshire town on the back of a pantomime horse. It’s the strangest new year I have ever had, and this one doesn’t look like it will be any stranger, so I guess that’s going to stand for now.
The spring was characterised by dance competitions. In February I competed in my first competition, not doing very well, but at least I can say I have competed. I love dancing, and photographing competitions, but actually competing doesn’t give me the same thrill it seems to give some of my friends. So I will leave that to them (for now at least) and stick to the photos. March was the first time that the student dance nationals were held in Blackpool, the dance Mecca. I was there, driving all the tech set up in a small white van up from London, staying up all night rigging the networking, and then on my feet all the next day doing photos. I don’t think I have ever been so tired in my life, and I don’t except I ever will be again; well, not before I do the same thing this year of course.
April was when Bryony and I split up. That kinda hit me hard, though I was expecting it. I went numb for a while, and by the time that passed I had been to Italy, and was in the final stages of my PhD. Apart from another short trip away, this time to Norway, the PhD consumed my summer like a viscous beast. It feels like I can’t remember any of the summer, but when I stop carefully and think, I can remember writing, most days. It just wasn’t interesting enough to stand out.
At the end of September the thesis was submitted, and my life went into a strange limbo, two months of waiting for the viva. Would I pass, would I have more work to do, was it safe to get a job, should I just sleep a decade? In fact I ended up sleeping for about 6 weeks, before preparing for and passing the viva, making me a doctor. In the meantime I did interview for one job, making it to the final two before loosing out to the other applicant.
That pretty much led to December, which was full of PhD corrections, and Christmas preparations. Christmas has now gone, the corrections are started and I can look forward to the New Year.
So what will 2006 bring? I have a quote in my thesis by Bohr: “Prediction is always hard, especially about the futureâ€Â. Some things I do know though. I will finish my corrections. I will look for and, I certainly hope, find a job, I will spend some time revamping the online community tools for the dance circuit, and today I booked for a 5 week photography course at St Martins - Recommended to me by none other than the girl who first sent me her view of the year. Other than that, I will have to wait to find out
