2016, a disgustingly good year (bar all the shit)

Left: your gal Libby. In the blue: Jezza C.
Good evening.

I'm starting writing this post in the afternoon but there's a lot of food in the house at the moment and I'm prone to distraction so it'll take me a while to finish this.

I've not blogged since I got a job. That's because at the end of the work day I'm so sick of staring at my laptop screen that I can't bring myself to blog. But I'm not back at work til Jan 3rd so here we are.

Yeah, so, 2016 was a bit out there wasn't it? On my to-do list for 2016 I included "do something that 2015 Libby wouldn't have done". I did way too many of those things, which is great, because it proves I've grown as a person, but is also terrible, because here are some of those things I've done:

  1. Tried coffee.Ended up crying on North Bridge in Edinburgh at 3.30am. Between the hours of 5 and 6am I went for a walk somewhere. I only know this thanks to FitBit.
  2. Spoke to a guru for advice, and trusted said advice.
    I like to be in control of all aspects of my life, uncontrollable ones included, so this was an odd thing for me. Ended up taking a year out from uni by following said advice. No idea what I would do in the year. Less than a week later, a job appeared. I don't entirely credit coincidence.
  3. Went on a camping road trip.
    I learnt a lot doing this, mostly that I can't reverse to save my life and that you need to take the handbrake off to make a car move without weird alarms going off.
  4. Answered the phone to a journalist whilst hungover.
    Worst mistake of the year. If you Google "Libby Mayfield BBC" you find the article. I went out with my mates that night, and was reading the comments at pre-drinks. I had a drink for every mean comment: a) I broke my mate's pull up bar and b) threw up by my car at 3am.
  5. Went on tour.
    Tour is 90% insults and 10% music from the two days I experienced. 
But among all my bad choices there were the greatest moments I've had in my life. There's no doubt in my mind when I say that this year was the best year of my life. Allow me to brag my way through the highlights.
  1. Interviewed John McDonnell.
  2. Worked at Fringe and in doing so worked behind a bar for the first time in my life.
  3. Started writing for the lovely Cultured Vultures.
  4. Started writing for the lovely EvolvePolitics.
  5. Got a car (thanks Grandad).
  6. Learnt to drive car after forgetting how to.
  7. Played more than one gig.
  8. Saw a lot of dogs.
  9. Started selling paintings.
  10. Spoke alongside Jeremy Corbyn at his rally in Derby.
  11. Gave a lot of money to charity.
  12. Began to get my anaemia under control.
  13. Because of the above, got a lot better at running, and can now run 7.5 miles.
  14. Went on national prime time TV, local radio, international radio, Canadian radio, financial radio.
  15. Photobombed a lot of club photos.
  16. Learnt a lot about what it takes to be a good person.
  17. Memorised 'If' by Rudyard Kipling.
  18. Passed my 100wpm shorthand exam.
  19. Got poetry and short stories published online.
  20. Got a short story published in print in America.
  21. Watched all of How I Met Your Mother in a month.
  22. Traveled to new places and places I already love on my own and with friends: exploration.
  23. Drank Prosecco off the floor.
  24. Got a job as a Wordsmith and Tweet Queen.
  25. Have never filled my car up with the wrong fuel.
Not bad not bad not bad.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

25 highlights of my first uni year

Image
I finished my first year at university nearly two months ago. I ran for the first train out of there and haven't had chance to craft a blog post in the time since. It's been an odd year, half living in Stoke and half living on a train bound out of Stoke. I don't want to write a tedious post on the ins and outs of the year, so I've crafted a few listicles. Everyone loves those, right? Please bear in mind when I say "uni", I mean the time between moving in and moving out. A lot didn't actually take place "at uni". In no particular order, my top 10 favourite moments of uni: Cartwheel in Edinburgh When in Edinburgh, the hotel was big enough for me to do a cartwheel in. It was very odd, especially as I was underground, but I was so far away from everything and spending the weekend on my own, and it was nice. Postman's Park in London For a few years, whenever I went to London I'd been trying to find Postman's Park. On my last
Read more

MPs that sound like IKEA products

Anyone friend of mine will tell you I can spot a piece of IKEA furniture a mile off - I famously walked into someone's house and said, "you've got Ektorps". Not having the same knowledge I have, they thought I meant some sort of disease. I meant their sofa. So I thought it was about time to put my knowledge to good use and I decided to formulate a list of top five MPs surnames that sound like something you'd find in IKEA - and what product they would be. Position: 5 Full name: Rt. Hon. David Evennett Constituency: Bexleyheath and Crayford Nature of product: Rack that holds utensils in a kitchen on a wall Closest example: GRUNDTAL Position: 4 Full name: Robert Flello Constituency: Stoke-on-Trent South Nature of product: Tea towel Closest example: VINTER Position: 3 Full name: Mary Glindon Constituency: North Tyneside Nature of product: Office chair, but one with arms and that spins without creaking Closest example:  VOLMAR Position: 2 Full n
Read more