Right now I'm surrounded by all the mementos I've collected this year from my various travels and jaunts. There are loyalty cards for milkshake shacks, luggage tags from San Fransisco, train tickets to Wales, a flyer about Haircuts by Kids from Cork,a leaflet for ghost hunting in Edinburgh, my Snow Ball Golden Ticket, a Night of A Thousand Wizards wristband, a sign proclaiming in very bad French that I'm a loser. Numerous postcards and other train tickets, luggage tags, flyers, stickers, posters and other bits and bobs. The idea was to put them all in a notebook I bought back in Florida in summer but it turns out I've too many memories to fit inside this book. I need a notepad version of a pensieve.
Earlier we covered the resolutions I set myself last year and discovered that I'd not accomplished as many of them as I'd have liked. But this has still been the most amazing year of my life! Tenny has been good to me. Very good. Tenny has taken my life and shaken it all about and left me surrounded by awesome. I am in a snowglobe of awesome.
Here, bullet-pointed for your convenience, are the highlights:
- Climbing and almost falling off a cliff in Wales, all to see a seal
- Beguiling half of the male population of Cork just by existing (Seriously, one guy looked at me as though I was the answer to every question he'd ever had - Lizzy witnessed it too. I was dead popular)
- Watching Emerson Spartz swim rapidly away from a bunch of HH/HG shippers during the poolside screening of HBP in Florida
- Discovering that I could summon A-Carp if shit ever got real
- Discovering that bacon and maple syrup is nice
- Running through a corn maze pretending velociraptors were after me
- Standing on Mt Tam in San Fransisco and watching Turkey Buzzards fly below me
- A snow ball fight in Grey Friars graveyard and using one of my best friends as a human shield
- Helping the HPA win the Chase Community Giving grant, attending the cheque presentation and then in December making a speech at The Snow Ball about the HPA
- Hearing John Green read from Paper Towns in London and getting my copy of Will Grayson, Will Grayson signed
- Going to see Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish have a chat at the BFI in London
- The National History Museum
- Seeing Iron and Wine at Union Chapel
- Scott Pilgrim, Chinese food and air hockey with Steve
- Being kidnapped by Kylie and Matt and the film-that-must-not-be-named
- Watching Ministry of Magic and Harry and the Potters play live
- Everything that has anything to do with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
- Handing out Valentines Day cards with the UK chapter of the HPA
- My first Thanksgiving dinner
- Leaving Coventry and moving to the seaside
- Sitting on the actual dock of the actual bay and watching the sea lions on Pier 39
- Having a burger, fries and shakes in a genuine diner
- Playing gin rummy and getting drunk with Pris in Old Hat
- Getting a hug from Andrew Slack
- All the art and jewellery Kylie made me
- The magic shop in Oakland
- Going to a 1930s party on a boat on the Thames
- Surprising my mum on Christmas day
- Being Harry, Ron and Hermione, AVPM style, with Emma and Emilie
- Meeting Bevin, James, Kristen, Gini, Eliza, Jonny, Rachael, Ismene and all the new friends I've made this year
- Camping overnight in Leicester Square for the DH premiere... even though I had to wait a month to see the film due to an Unbreakable Vow
- Buying my first wand at Ollivanders and having dinner at The Three Broomsticks
- Wearing a bikini in public and not spontaneously combusting
- Watching (or trying to watch) all three extended versions of LotR in one sitting
- Being the merch girl for HatP, Siriusly Hazza P and Romilda Vane and the Chocolate Cauldrons
- Every minute of The Snow Ball
- The train party on the Hogwarts Express
- Getting a lap dance during Swish and Flick (and later in the year having an 'erotic' dance off courtesy of the same band).
- A 12 hour train journey back from Scotland all because I had to play the hero
And here are some photos of some of the awesome moments this year has had.
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| The market in Cork with Lizzy, Kylie and Amy |
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| A dance off with Emilie during The Snow Ball 2010 |
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| At the Premiere for Deathly Hallows pt 1 |
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| Outside Hogwarts with Lizzy, Emma, Emilie, Bevin and Kylie |
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| Getting a lap dance during Swish and Flick in Florida |
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| With Kylie by the sea in Wales |
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| With Emilie, Asma, Kylie, Lizzy and VoldeMargo and the Deathsticks in London |
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| With Emilie and Emma in Florida |
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| Edinburgh <3 |
All in all it has been the most spectacular year. The only terrible thing to happen was losing my Nana in September. She was my best friend and I miss her so much more as each day passes. But it's kind of for her that I need to try and make next year as awesome as possible. And so I'm going to... and tomorrow we will detail all the things which will make Christmas Future so exciting.
