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coalescentAs of 9am this morning, I've had a livejournal for exactly one year,
although it won't be a year since my first post until about 5:30..
It's been a hell of a year.
In the past twelve months I have left Oxford, worked in a bookshop, persuaded Chris Rea to sign a truck book, met up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
applez in the States, fallen in and out of love (or something), crashed my car, bought a new car, gone on hiatus and been reborn. I've started a medical writing job, been to my first proper SF con, been to my first literary festival, met various people for the first time, been immortalised in a webcomic, asked Margaret Atwood about SF, bought a flat, and had one of the best birthdays I can remember. I've read some excellent books, seen some great television and one or two interesting films, and I've been able to share (or force) my thoughts onto the wider world. I've made new friends and better friends, and I've had people to turn to when things were bad. In the past 365 days, I've made 374 livejournal entries and received 2,798 comments. Thanks to everyone who's been reading: It wouldn't have been the same without you.
At my birthday meal, when I suggested that one of my friends should get herself a livejournal she said "I prefer to live my life, rather than write about it." It was meant largely in jest, and taken as such, but if I had to offer a response my response would be this:
I prefer to do both.
There's just one problem.
I'm one year out of university, and I've got a flat, a car, and a job.
What do I do next?
although it won't be a year since my first post until about 5:30..
It's been a hell of a year.
In the past twelve months I have left Oxford, worked in a bookshop, persuaded Chris Rea to sign a truck book, met up with
applez in the States, fallen in and out of love (or something), crashed my car, bought a new car, gone on hiatus and been reborn. I've started a medical writing job, been to my first proper SF con, been to my first literary festival, met various people for the first time, been immortalised in a webcomic, asked Margaret Atwood about SF, bought a flat, and had one of the best birthdays I can remember. I've read some excellent books, seen some great television and one or two interesting films, and I've been able to share (or force) my thoughts onto the wider world. I've made new friends and better friends, and I've had people to turn to when things were bad. In the past 365 days, I've made 374 livejournal entries and received 2,798 comments. Thanks to everyone who's been reading: It wouldn't have been the same without you.At my birthday meal, when I suggested that one of my friends should get herself a livejournal she said "I prefer to live my life, rather than write about it." It was meant largely in jest, and taken as such, but if I had to offer a response my response would be this:
I prefer to do both.
There's just one problem.
I'm one year out of university, and I've got a flat, a car, and a job.
What do I do next?
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 07:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 07:37 am (UTC)(Oh, and CDs turned up this morning. Cheers!)
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Date: 2003-07-24 07:46 am (UTC)pah - angle-brackets work in newsgroups!
But I think someone's reading comprehension needs work, anyway...
:p
Maybe I should have put get *a* girl, rather than *the* girl, given that I meant a generic girl rather than a specific one.....
(Oh, and CDs turned up this morning. Cheers!)
Crikey - I only posted 'em yesterday.....
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Date: 2003-07-24 07:48 am (UTC)I dunno. Fancy being a supervillain? I'll do my best to defeat you.
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Date: 2003-07-24 08:12 am (UTC)SunnydaleCleveland..no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 08:19 am (UTC)Maybe. But to be fair, that might sound a little too much like you're suggesting I go look in the Argos catalogue. :-)
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Date: 2003-07-24 08:19 am (UTC)Also - how come you get to be the hero?
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Date: 2003-07-24 08:26 am (UTC)Well, I thought I'd be nice and let you be the villain. Being a superhero is a shit job. The hours suck, you get no thanks and when you finally make it with a girl the villain kills/rapes her. But if you're the villian and you have enough ego to withsatnd being beaten every week, then you're sorted. Nice pad, cool toys and you're your own boss.
Bon aniversaire!
re: what next - well, finding a suitable female companion would probably be advisable. I tend to find that a very worthwhile endevour, even if it's often mated to long long loooong spans of suffering. :-)
Let's see...should we match you up to an equally tall woman so you can produce a nation of giants rampaging the Earth? Or should we find you a lovely midget woman so you can shock all around you with your sideshow ways? Nah, you just need someone patient enough with your idiosyncracies, of good heart, of sharp wit, and good looks.
Glückliche Jagd!
(according to questionable translation engines...hmmm)
Otherwise, I earnestly suggest you take on a new challenge to keep you growing - be it another degree, a new hobby, or to get serious about writing...maybe to lead to publication? Iirc, that is one of your sometime ambitions, no?
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 08:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 09:00 am (UTC)< = <
> = >
™ = ™
© = ©
and so on. There's a list of them
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Date: 2003-07-24 09:02 am (UTC)Perhaps you'll find a nice girl?
Go travelling?
Get published?
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Date: 2003-07-24 09:22 am (UTC)Little baby Nialls!
\me ducks
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Date: 2003-07-24 09:34 am (UTC)Re: Bon aniversaire!
Date: 2003-07-24 10:45 am (UTC)Why don't you just come right out and say 'get laid', Zac? :-p
Believe it or not, I've actually considered signing on to something like Match.com. Contrary to what Radiohead might have you believe, meeting people is Hard.
Otherwise, I earnestly suggest you take on a new challenge to keep you growing -
I hardly think the world needs me to be taller. :-)
a new hobby,
I'm considering learning how to cook. At the moment, my repertoire just about extends to frying some meat, maybe with a few herbs, and serving with rice/pasta/noodles (delete as appropriate) and a sauce. I can't even make the sauces. So learning to cook might be a thing.
or to get serious about writing...maybe to lead to publication? Iirc, that is one of your sometime ambitions, no?
That's the other thing I was thinking of working on. But that requires making actual free time. :)
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Date: 2003-07-24 10:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 10:47 am (UTC)I'm definitely considering that 'grand tour of the UK' idea, although maybe as a series of weekends rather than one long block. There's too much of my home country that I haven't seen. Friends, romans, countrymen, lend me your floors...
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Date: 2003-07-24 11:05 am (UTC)Re: Bon aniversaire!
Finding people IS Hard, you have my fully sympathies. By all means try out the Match.com thingy, I've used these sorts of thingies before, and wasn't successful with them in the least - but I know it has work fantabulously for a work collegue my age.
re: taller - nah, we need another Abe Lincoln, eh. ;-)
re: cookery - a damn good thing. It's been much stated, but Delia Smith does put together some very good basic recipe structures for one to learn from. I also highly recommend 'Joy of Cooking' ... the Encyclopedia Brittanica of recipes.
re: writing and free time ... well, you do commute, let the hell of driving the M-25 or the London Underground inspire you. :-)
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All bow to her evilness
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 12:13 pm (UTC)You'd be more than welcome up here in Manchester. And I can offer one step up from a floor: a futon.
(Offer extends for a limited time only. After 14th September this year, for "Manchester" read "London", and for "futon" read "floor" again.)
I do think a tour of the British Isles is a good idea. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip round central/Northern England and Scotland last October, and have been wanting to do something similar ever since, but this time as a holiday rather than work.
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Date: 2003-07-24 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 12:43 pm (UTC)Nialls from Brasil
So don't go putting ideas in his already very-idiosyncratic mind. :-)
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Addendum
Difficult, but not impossible. And no, I'm not gloating over my recent blessings.
I thought you had found someone special recently, though they went traveling or something???
Oh well, none of my business to pry.