#so i had to take an emergency trip to find an optician before they all closed

[cel-aerion]

Day Two of Colossalcon 2023, Addendum 2

...which is technically Day Three, but anyways they had a Build-a-Bear in the hotel where I was staying, and that Build-a-Bear had exclusive plushies of the hotel’s mascot characters, which includes wolves, but they closed before I got there on the day I wore the Roxy costume, so, yes, the next morning I did put the full costume on, including makeup, solely for the purpose of going and getting a plush wolf while dressed as a wolf.

I have zero regrets.

[ratherbeem-blog]

Twenty-two things to do at twenty-two

Hi. My name’s Emily. I’m a recent university graduate, and six weeks or so ago I started my first “real” job as a programmer. I mostly write XML and XSL at the moment, but someday soon I’ll be working in Perl and Java too, as well as a bit of web stuff. I enjoy my work, and the people I work with are pretty great.

Today’s my 22nd birthday. We get the day off work on our birthday, and then we bring cake to work either the day before or after. I’ll be picking up some cake this afternoon, and then going out for dinner with my boyfriend, James.

I found university difficult because of the lack of structure to my day, and being in full-time work is much better for me as a person, at least so far. I do think that there’s a danger that I’ll stagnate without quantifiable targets though, so I’ve decided that I’m going to challenge myself. To be all cutesy, I’m going to make it a list of twenty-two things that I want to do as a 22-year-old.

1.       Start a blog and keep it updated at least fortnightly.

Starting the blog is the easy part, but keeping it updated is the important part. I had a student blog, and I found that having the pressure to update it regularly kept me seeking out new and exciting things on campus, so this is an accountability blog I suppose. Because it was a paid blog for the uni, I wasn’t able to write about the full spectrum of things I was feeling or doing and I think that going solo will give me a bit more creative freedom, especially on my lower days.

2.       Read a book every month.

I really don’t read enough of substance, and don’t remember the last time I actually finished a book. I feel guilty that my reading is basically limited to mindlessly scrolling through Reddit. Maybe I’ll post a monthly “what I’m reading” or something here.

3.       Get involved in my local community.

I just moved to a new town, and I’ve not really made many friends here outside of work. There aren’t many twenty-somethings like James and I here, but I’d like to connect with the community in some way, even if it’s a one-off. There’s some community projects back home that I’d still like to go back to as well.

4.       Give more time to old friends.

I have a really close-knit group of friends from sixth form, most of whom I hardly see any more because we’re all scattered to the winds. They all live in really beautiful parts of the country, so it would be nice to visit some of them soon, rather than relying on all being back in our hometown at the same time.

5.       Hold a dinner party.

I love cooking, and I love hosting. We had a couple of James’ uni buddies over for lunch a few weeks ago, but I’d like to make it A Thing that I do semi-regularly.

6.       Borrow a pet.

I grew up with cocker spaniels, and dogs are very special to me. James is more of a cat person, but both us love animals generally and volunteered at a cat shelter over the summer. We live in a flat so we can’t have pets just yet, but we’re hoping to look after someone else’s.

7.       Save a £3000 emergency fund.

I make OK money for a graduate, but not great money for a programmer, so this is achievable but will be a challenge. I basically wiped my savings from my part-time job during my final year of uni, so I’ve not got much to start with. I’m a huge fan of The Financial Diet, and £3000 fits in their target of three to six months of living expenses.

8.       Go abroad with James.

We’ve been together a year and a half, but we’ve been friends for much longer. We’ve done a few domestic trips (Edinburgh, London, Manchester, Norfolk, Shropshire…), but I’d like to see a bit more of the world with him. I travelled a bit with family as a teenager because of perks from my dad’s job, but I haven’t left the UK so far in my 20s.

9.       Flesh out a homemade recipe book.

As mentioned above, I love cooking and it’s a very sentimental process to me. I want to have hard copies of my favourite recipes in one convenient location and not to rely on memorising URLs.

10.   Find out or create a new “fun fact” about myself.

When I was 18 I got an entire county banned from ordering astroturf samples. I’ve been using that as my fun fact for a few years now, and I think it’s about time I find a new one.

11.   Sort my health out.

Like a lot of students, I procrastinated on things that were good for me. I’ve recently made the step of going to an optician and registering with a GP, but I need to go to the dentist and also speak to my GP to address some other concerns I have about my own physical and mental health.

12.   Build relationships with my family.

A lot of people think I’m an only child, but I actually have two brothers and a sister who I barely ever talk to. My older brother and sister have kids who are closer in age to me than they are, and because we didn’t grow up together I never really formed a proper bond. I’m fairly close to James’ family, especially his mum, and I want to show them that I appreciate them.

13.   Learn a skill.

I started a watercolour class a few weeks ago, and it’s going well so far. I’ve got a long way to go until I’m a master, so it’s something I’d like to improve over the next year.

14.   Figure out how the central heating works.

I’m genuinely stumped. We’ve been lucky with the weather so far in this flat, but I can feel the evenings drawing in and I don’t want to freeze in my sleep during winter.

15.   Go a month without eating meat.

I already don’t eat much meat – James and I make a point of not buying any meat to cook at home, so all of the meals we currently make are vegetarian or vegan. I currently do eat meat sometimes when we go out to eat or sometimes when snacking on things that other people bring to work. I’d like to challenge myself to stick to the things that I believe are right.

16.   See a show.

I usually tell people that I don’t listen to music much, but the truth is that I enjoy musicals. I went to see Hamilton in London with some friends in March, and I’ve seen smaller amateur productions too. I think Come From Away is beautiful and I hope that I can see it in Europe.

17.   Get my five-a-day.

I know that the evidence says that we need to eat more than five portions of fruit and veg per day for optimum health, but I think this is a realistic and achievable goal. My parents didn’t really “do” vegetables when I was growing up – maybe one of peas or baked beans at dinner, or a couple of vegetables with a meat and potato roast, or a grim-looking iceberg lettuce leaf. I’ve generally felt better since leaving home and eating wider range of vegetables in higher quantities.

18.   Support local businesses where possible and sensible.

The town I’ve moved to has a great market which I go to every week to buy eggs and some of my vegetables. It’s pretty comparable to the local Asda in price for most things, and stuff is generally high-quality and in-season. I want to continue doing a significant portion of food shopping at the market and at independent retailers where it doesn’t break the bank. James and I also found a cute little bakery that we want to try the bread from soon.

19.   Reduce my plastic consumption.

I already use a reusable carrier bag, lunchbox and water bottle on a daily basis, and try to buy vegetables without plastic packaging where possible, but there’s definitely more I could do to cut down on plastic. Even if it’s just learning to use non-applicator tampons properly (I really want to try a menstrual cup, too, but I think ditching applicators might be a first step for me), or choosing retailers with less packaging more often, I want to make a difference to my habits.

20.   Sweep James off his feet regularly.

I love him and I want to show him that more. Growing up I was always scared that I was too tomboyish to have a boyfriend, because I didn’t really want to conform to the traditional feminine gender roles in relation to others, but I was lucky in finding someone who thinks the same way. James accepts me for who I am, and I accept him for who he is.

21.   Take at least three steps towards taking charge of my career.

I’m very happy with my job, but I want to make sure that I have skills to move on with and find something even better when the time is right. The fact is, I got a 2:2 in my degree, and I know that it will make some things harder for me. I want to network or to learn an extra programming language or to get some management experience or some extra responsibility or some volunteering to boost my CV so that I have stuff to back me up if and when I need it.

22.   Be my own mum.

I feel like, being the last bullet on a long list, this should be something poignant and meaningful, but it’s not. I’m messy and badly organised and need to take responsibility for myself. I’m not a teenager living at home any more, and I need to get stuff done like a real adult.

When I started this list, I thought that twenty-two bullets would be so hard to fill, because I didn’t even realise I wanted to do twenty-two things this year and that it would be kind of overwhelming. But looking at it now, there’s so much that I want to get done which doesn’t even fit on this list. I’m currently feeling very motivated and excited for the year ahead. I know it won’t always be easy but I want to see what I can achieve in these next 365 days, and I hope someone out there will find some sort of meaning in reading all of this.

Anyway, I’m off to eat and buy some paper for my painting class.