Friday, 31st December, 2004

2004: A Year In Pictures

Two years ago, the last thing I wrote in this diary for the year was a semi-round-up of what had been going on in my life. I would have done it last year as well, had I not lost my bloody broadband access (No fault of my own — honest :unsure;)

This year, I thought I'd do a little round-up of what's been going on, but in picture form.

So, sit yourselves down, have a glass of wine, and join me in a pink-spectacled summary of all the fun things that's happened to me this year...

January

One thing happened in January that was to set the whole theme of the year for me: I met Katie. That's an entire story in itself, to be honest — but what else happened...

Well, I stuck MacOSX Server on Erin, and got back online. Um, that's about it really...

February

Ah — much more excitement

I went to New York Well, actually, New York was a stop over for the main event, which was going to Cincinatti to see Emma

(That's not Emma — that's me and Talia Bluegrass at Emma's house)

Also, I cut my hand open on a wine glass on Friday the 13th:

And my old-computer-fetish continued to drain my bank account:

March

March was the month that I said goodbye to Katie as she went on her four-week adventure in Australia and New Zealand

And also the month that George climbed into lots of boxes

April

Ah — April. My month-long non-Katie experience While she was away, I (a) missed her terribly, and (b) did some pretty drastic things to my house:

My bedroom went from that, to this:

And my studio went from this:

To this:

May

May was the Quest For The Abandoned House month. It started with me noticing this out of the window of the train I get to work:

Which prompted me and Katie to go on an adventure up a river to find this strange house:

I'm still day-dreaming about renovating it BTW...

Also in May — we went paintballing — and I got shot on the bum

June

The inspiration for the dress that Beth is making me

And the first time I ever went out dressed without me wig:

That was a pretty big landmark for me. Since then, I've been obsessing about my hair. The last time I got it cut like a boy was in April — the day before Katie came back. It's very long now — but not nearly as long as I want it

June was also the month I had my little faux pas with Eddie Izzard — but (thankfully ) there are no pictures of that.

Oh — and it was also the month that I made a pretty pattern by only blogging ever other day

July

In July, I fulfilled my promise to Katie that I'd take her up to Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick. It's a beautiful place — and I'm hoping that when Beth finishes the dress, I'll be able to go up and do a photoshoot there, early some morning

George and Biscuit were cute ...

...the weather was shite...

...and I surpassed myself in the bodging stakes by performing multiple roadside patches to my exhaust on the way back from Katie's holiday home in Scotland:

(Never used lead to fix an exhaust — use a coke can instead )

August

In August, I took Katie over to Ireland to meet my parents. I think it went pretty well

The main excitement though, was that we got to stay in a Castle ...

But we also did stuff like climbing up hills...

Saw poorly sheep ...

Visiting old wells...

And (surprise surprise) stone circles...

September

Ah, another month, another trip to see Pauline at the Birdcage

Katie and I won a treasure hunt (no photos ), and I got new tits!

The big thing in September though, was my new kitchen My downstairs had been a right state for years — I'd been repurposing bits from the old kitchen around the house, and as a result, it looked like this:

although, I had, for the first time in about three years managed to get my yard loooking nice...

The sink nearly fell off the wall...

But after three days of struggle and sawing and drilling and (slight) bodging...

(I also got some new pyjamas in September )

October

Picture-wise, October seems to have been a pretty sparse month. It was dominated with me moaning about work and stuff, and the re-arrival of Emer after her logic board got replaced (for free )

...although I did do something rather daring and go out dressed as a witch on Haloween:

November

A month of obsessing about traveling here: Trains and cars...

Some other things happened though — Katie and I went up to Holker Hall in the Lake District, and saw a lovely sunset:

and Katie tried her hardest to take pictures out of the back window of my car:

There were more trains:

...and I got my brand new digital SLR and took loads of photos with it

And, in a beautiful move to counteract my non-trannie ramblings, the wedding dress shop unveiled their pink explosion:

December

Nearly there...

By December, my hair had got really long — and I'd had it coloured too This was a picture Katie took just before we went out to a World AIDS Day rememberance/celebration event.

The combination of my new camera and my increasingly-chuffed-with-myself hair was too much to bear, and I took about 500 pictures one morning — mostly just trying to be pretty, but also playing with (even more) gender boundaries

Ooh, also, while Katie and I were down in London, I picked up the Big Print™ that I'd been waiting for for ages...

And finally, Katie and I did Christmas, and went for a walk on the day after Boxing Day

...

There was obviously a lot more things going on than just the stuff I took pictures of, but too much to repeat here

So, I guess it's been a bit of a weird year. On the one hand, it's been the best year of my life in that it's the year I met Katie — who has totally changed my life (in a good way BTW ), but it's also been a little odd. I've ended the year being a little unsure about who I am, what I want to do with my life, and where all this is going.

There have been times when I've been absolutely overjoyed about life, and times when I've felt really poo.

Anyway, Murphy is back from the vet and much better They say that he'll be fine tonight on his own, so I think the pair of us are going to Glasgow to see in the new year there. If we could, we'd take him — but he hates travelling

So. Um. Happy New Year Whatever you're doing have fun. Remember — first footers have to be tall, dark and handsome. And they must have coal.

Geena writes:

What's the deal about coal? ?

Sally writes:

Will short, dark and pretty do??? Have a wonderful time both of you — a very Happy New Year to you

jan writes:

you look fab sitting/lying/femmefatalling/on the sofa.how do you spell fatalle...fatle ..well anything but fat

death warmed over writes:

Oh that I might be a paintball on that cheek...