Yes, I know. My first blog post in over a year and a half. Regularity isn't my strong point, it seems. ;)
So. Why did I decide to write one now? What am I doing?
Well. That's the question. What am I doing? Well, not much, it seems. Especially compared to last year. At the moment I find that, aside from work, which I view not as a fulfilling profession but as something that gets me enough money to have a roof over my head and decent meals, I'm not doing much at all. Especially compared to last year. Oh, of course, I'm reading a lot and I'm probably gaming more than I have in a while, but that's not really what I mean. Before, I wasn't really the guy who cleaned the kitchen for a living. I was a literature student, or an amateur theater practitioner, who just happened to clean the kitchen for money because the more important things unfortunately don't earn you a steady wage. This year though, I seem to be doing little in the way of either studying or being involved in theatre. I had to decline being in the sketch show this year because of shift patterns, and although I do have a part in the panto this year - I play Mr. Darling, and I have a stunning daughter, an awesome ftm son and another son who I don't really see a lot - I really haven't been able to be involved much. This is partly, again, due to my work schedule, though to be fair I have been available at least once a week - I just haven't been needed. As for my lit studies, well, I looked up enroling myself onto my next module today, and I found that it had already closed. This is quite a blow, since I was basicallyplanning 2014 around it. It's that fact that has caused me quite a bit of confusion as to what the heck I'm meant to be doing. It's left a bit of a gap and I'm trying to think of some worthy pursuit to fill it.
Another thing, that is in a way connected: I feel quite more isolated, somehow, that I did last year. Last year I was living with some close friends, and a handful of my dearest friends, people who I would do almost anything for, are people I either met or got closer to during it. OK, we lost a few people to the lands outside of Bangor at the end of it (or just after, Christmas, in one case) and they are sorely missed, though I have seen a few of them since (and one of them is in Hong Kong so we'll forgive her not having been around :P), but still, I made quite a few meaningful connections last year, and got involved in quite a few things. I even got to put my directing hat on for the first time in a while. I wasn't as involved as I was back in the day where my evenings were always my own, but my working life at least didn't get TOO much in the way.
This year, though... well, I think I've already highlighted the problem so I may be running around in circles a bit. Basically though, not being able to get involved with things much has led to not being able to get to know people like I used to, and not being able to spend time with the people I already know. In fact, I've only really gotten to know one person among those new to Bangor this year. She is really lovely, though, and to be fair I have befriended (or re-befriended in Chib's case) a couple of people who were already around.
And that leads me tangentically to this fact - my most reliable time of socialisation at the moment is SODA's karaoke social on a Saturday night. This is despite my steadfast refusal to partake in karaoke, and the fact I will almost certainly never actually join SODA. (Sorry guys, but I don't have anything relevant to offer the musical theater cause.) Still, there are a lot more of my friends there than there used to be, and I'm sure of a welcome from at least part of the crowd there. There's that.
