Yep, it's that time of the year again where I reflect on the past year - the good, the bad and the plain ugly! ( public post under cut )

I'd like to wish everyone a very happy new year. I hope 2008 is what you are all hoping for.

Here we are again, the end of another year. Reading my post last year, 2006 has pretty much been like 2005 on many fronts. As this is a public post, there's many things I can't go into. Some of you will know more things then others, but lets see what can be covered. ( cut for length )

Thank you for reading. All comments will be screened, and anonymous comments are disabled (sorry to those of you sent here via my blog on MySpace .. you can comment on there though).

Finally, I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. I hope 2007 is good for you all.

In a rare public post, I wanted to share the email below with everyone. It's got alot of truth in it, and the part in bold I think has the most truth to it.

( put under cut )

This link was emailed through to me today, and I think it's pretty cool :) So I put my birthday in ( and this is what it came up with )

It has to be said, I certainly live upto my Life path number (3) LOL

*EDIT @ 22.35*

Actually, I'm very much like the tree too ... am making this a public post :p

I've been writing this post for a few days now, mainly so I can get it right as it's a rare public post.

So, my journal is 2 years old today! I honestly didn't think my blogging would become such a huge part of my life .. neither did I expect to meet some wonderful people on here either *mwah* As I briefly covered my first year last year, I thought I'd just cover the past 12 months. ( and what a year it's been! )

Got my coach ticket sorted out this morning to J's ... I go on the night bus on March 3rd from Burnley and come home on the night bus on March 6th :D Already planned to treat each other on the Sunday ... brekkie from be at a local French Pattisarie (if that's how you spell it .... and if it's open) called Sable d'Or and J is treating me to dinner at The Ultimate Burger.

Managed to make it to the Bingo this afternoon too, didn't win anything but was most annoyed at being beaten to a full house on the last game! I had 1 number left to come out to win £150! GRRRR

Chinese for dinner tonight then out to the winter league for me and mum. We're using dad as an excuse to get onto the dart board first tonight in the second round ... we play against each other that round and dad kinda needs help with the stairs.

I feel that the past few weeks I've been ignoring my friends. I know it's not really the case, working the hours that I have been the last thing I've wanted to do is spend time in front of the PC. But it still feels like I've not been making any effort (not TOTALLY true, but there is some truth in there).

I've been spending some time online, but not really on messenger. When I have then it's mainly been on Yahoo and not MSN. This is due to there being way too many people on MSN, and if I logged on I'd end up with a number on conversations. So if anyone wants to catch me, then for the forseeable future Yahoo is the place to be! The main people I actually speak to these days are on there anyways (at least have a Yahoo ID, not always logged on there). Those of you not on Yahoo and want/need a chat, then please do email/text/call me and I'll either call you or log onto MSN.

I know that there may look as though there's some double standards going on, and I'm also aware that it may look as though I don't "need" any of my friends now that J is on the scene fully. I know that the people who know me well enough will know the truth, most have known me for long enough. Those that don't understand need to get to know me better I guess.

Right now, I really need to get my head around things at home and get life straight at work. Once the overtime calms right down then I'll have the energy to spend a couple of hours in an evening catching up with friends. I really hope it's sooner rather then later ... I so need my friends for support right now and wish that I didn't need to depend on this machine to keep in touch with them.

Dispite this post seeming like I'm justifying myself, I still feel guilty for maybe not giving them the attention they may need. I know what it feels like and it's not nice.

Well, it's been a long and tiring day. Think I'll grab a shower and watch some TV in bed.

...hasn't been as bad as expected.

The funeral was ... well, as nice as these things are. Andrew (George's son) did a wonderful speech and didn't shed a single tear. There was a good turn out, not everyone got into the church. This was catered for by using a PA System outseide the church. For me it was just, well, a funeral I guess. I know it sounds awful but for the most of it I felt really uncomfortable. This is due to me not being very religious and spending time in church where hymns are being sung and prayers are being said makes me feel the way I did (doesn't really hold out much hope for me at Em's wedding next year does it, or Sarah's for that matter if she opts for a church). The crem service was very short and sweet, think we were only in there 5 minutes.

Dad is doing well. He had his op this morning and when we got back home at 3.30pm he was in bed sat up. He won't be able to wear his leg for 3-5 weeks (though knowing my dad he'll have it on in 2). They want to change his dressing 2/3 times before he's discharged, so the absolute earliest he'll be out is tomorrow evening. If he's staying in then I'll go on with mum tomorrow evening to visit.

Away from this .. if I get my wage in early (ie on Saturday) then I'm gonna go to Bingo Saturday afternoon in Burnley. Emma at work has shown an interest in going with me, so I've to let her know what I'm going to do. I'm also heading over to Bradford next Saturday, then it's down to London the weekend after so it's kinda all go. Really need to look at the public transport actually for when I head to London, dad won't be able to take me and I can't really depend on mum to run me on. May mean me hanging around Burnley for an hour before my coach is due to leave but it'll have to be done.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4714992.stm

( report under cut )


Now, I'm a non-smoker but I think it's quite mad that smoking is being banned in public places. Sure, I hate the smell of smoke on my skin and in my hair after a night out BUT I expect it. It's part of going out.

Maybe I'm being small minded here (and probably opened a can of worms with this post) ... what do other people think??

Yeah, ok, so it's supposed to be a romantic "lovey dovey" day. Maybe I'm in the elite here (you'd think so looking round at work) but why do people need 1 day to be romantic?? What happened to the other 364 days in the year??

Sure, I sent a little something to J and sent him a text this morning. But I'll tell you something, I don't stop at being romantic 3 days a year (today, birthday and christmas) ... it's something that should be done all year round, on a whim and because you simply feel like it. The postie hasn't been yet, but I know that J has sent me something (which I appreciate).

For all those who are like me ... visit the Be My Anti-Valentine website :) I got a card from there last year and think it's a wicked site :)

BTW .. hope everyone has their pin numbers to day! Yup, chip n pin is now in full swing as from today :p

The texts .... being sent to my OLD number. It appears he still has it programmed into his phone and when my new number was put in there, no one replaced it (keeping in mind that he's still getting the hang of using a mobile).

My mood yesterday ... look at today's date! After last year I've not really got fantastic associations with it (not that I actually had before). Obviously in the back of my mind.

My dream last night was way too weird too ... must get that blogged up next before I totally forget too.

I got a wicked email through the other day about Being British! The first part is fantastic .. it reads:

Being British....
......... is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV. And the most British thing of all? Suspicion of anything foreign.

Until the last 5 minutes, Wales were winning easily! But Scotland .... OMG .... 2 tries in the last 5 and the final try was wicked!

I think it could be an interesting match in a couple of weeks for us.

2nd match and 2nd win!

24-16 to us against Italy ... not sure who we play next weekend but I know that the main team we'll face a tough match with is France. Todays wasn't the easiest, we were losing at half time and looked as though we were going to lose the whole match but Matt Dawson is a little good luck charm :p

**EDIT**

Dad informed me that we scored again after I went to the post office (here was me thinking the match was over). So we won 31-16 in the end.

What a shame :p

At 29-3 against Ireland at half time ... think France will win this one!

Hell, after 10 mins they've won it!

**EDIT**

Hats off to Ireland for the comeback ... final score was 43-31 to France

Apart from next week, my thoughts have been quite varied to be honest!

Been pondering on going into work on overtime over the weekend. There's some stuff I wanted to get done this week that I've simply been unable to get done. Mainly archiving stuff ... the top of the filing cabinets are piled high with Arch Lever files and it doens't look as though we're gonna get the extra shelf into the cabinet we've inherited any time soon.

Then there's been my weight, or more to the point my clothes when my sizes drop so much that the clothes I have a far too big to look right. My Simply Be catalogue is out unless REALLY desperate (which will be footwear more then anything). Plus there's the added fact that I really don't want to fork out money on clothes that I may either only wear once or will be too big for me a few months down the line. Evans tends to be pretty naff unless your between a 16 and 20 at the best of times. What am I opting for? The good old charity shops I'm thinking, or even Matalan. Cheap clothes! I'm not really that bothered about wearing second hand clothes (shoes yes, clothes no). Money is gonna be tight this year and what I don't need is expensive clothes (which seems to be the norm these days).

Hows the diet going? It seems to be going ok. I didn't get to class this week as it was 7pm before I left work, but I'm actually really proud of the fact that I've had NO chocolate or crisps in over a week. The sweets from class help loads at work, they are gums and you can get a pack of 3 for just under £2. Sugar free but gotta be careful how many I eat as they give me the runs if I eat a full tube (if you can call them that) all at once. Not gonna be able to buy more next week, but will the week after and get stocked up.

Also thought about holidays too. Been thinking about booking whit week off. I only use 4 days holiday as it's a bank holiday, and get a week off about half way through the year. HOPEFULLY it'll put me on til Christmas. Either that or I was thinking about August Bank Holiday week as whit week is right after Take That and I have a couple of weekends off already around then. Hmm, decissions decissions.

Ches is in the Champion of Champions in The Games this year ... and it's on a Friday ... and it's the day before I head to Sarah's.

Apart from it being on that weekend, I've got only 8½ days holiday left to take this year (got NO week's booked off yet PLUS I may need time off for Aerosmith and Leppard) and no real money to speak of for a hotel bill (got concert tickets for the above to buy when they are announced). So, Faye can't go.

I'm a little disappointed as I really did want to go, it was loads of fun last year (even though I came back ill) but it's also not the end of the world. I'm sure there'll be a gig that I CAN actually make this year, even if there isn't there's always next year.

Talking of Leppard and Aerosmith .... really hope there's at least 1 weekend date, with the rate my holiday is depleating I won't be able to make any mid-week. Got visiting London to think of!