And so this is Christmas...

I was about to say that 2004 has been a big year, but I still haven't really decided whether or not it has.

I suppose my biggest achievement would be having made a decision about what I was going to do with my life, more specifically with respect to my studies. It's one of those significant decisions that will never seem quite as bad written/spoken as it was to make.

2004, the year of the Monkey, saw my:
- first secondment to a professional show (which was awesome and a great learning experience)
- first taste of daily "long" distance travel between two jobs and what it's like to live in a car
- first paid gig on a festival
- first three months of Spiegel
- first debit card
- first festive season without my family
- first full time job (which lasted all of two months before I had a minor epiphany and remembered that I didn't want to work in a call centre for the rest of my life, regardless of how great a place my work place is)
- second dispute (unsuccessful) with a university
- second discontinuation from a university course
- second house move with my better half and our first housemate

Looking back on that, it has been an eventful year, but no more eventful than any others really. It certainly isn't the most eventful year. that would have to have been four years ago when there were a few deaths in quick succession of people that I knew, some more surprising than others.

I'm ready for the new year, as ready as I ever am. Armed with my new organiser with its lovely blue ball point pen and the hope that I will achieve a few of my goals for the year. I'm looking forward to making the most of my year off study.

Having said that, we'll see how I fare when the year actually begins...