A New Decade

Ah, this is the time of year when I normally reflect over the past 12 months and decide whether it was a good year, a bad year, or a rollercoaster. I think it's fair to say that this year has been one of the toughest for me, but the very toughest was very much rock bottom, so I'm going to look at this from a fresh and more positive perspective - why 2020 will be a wonderful year.

2020 will be the year I finally finish my apprenticeship. Following university (English with Creative Writing), I found myself struggling to get work based on lack of work experience, despite having the credentials needed. After five and a half years of being stuck in a dead-end job, two and half of which was longer than I wanted to be there, I realised that I needed to take a step back and acquire experience and a few more credentials to get to where I needed to be (a copywriter, or its more modern terminology - content writer). So into a marketing apprenticeship I went, but it's taken longer thanks to the apprenticeship provider going into administration, which meant I had to almost start over again. The end of January will mark the end of the apprenticeship, where I will finally be on a wage where I'm not scraping by (although I'm very much thankful for it) and finally have the experience needed to do whatever I need. I would like to stay in the company I'm working for, though, as I do receive a broad range of written work I enjoy doing.

This coming year will also see me march with Beeches Performance Ensemble for a US tour during the summer. That's a huge step for me. I've never been a big traveller outside of the UK and a large part of that comes down to my not-so-wealthy upbringing, where going abroad for a holiday was never a thing. When I was with Poly, it came more down to her not being keen on flying anywhere, and with neither of us being able to drive, it wasn't an option to drive to European territories, either. So, outside of going to Holland with marching bands, it's the first time I'll be able to travel about somewhat. This will likely be the last year I march, so playing the trumpet across the Eastern Coast of the US is massive... and likely one I will never get a chance to do again.

I marched with Beeches in 2019 in Drum Corps Europe, winning the bronze medal

I've reconnected with many friends towards the end of this year, one of which is someone I've known since 2013 from old Crash Bandicoot sites such as Ye Olde Vivendi Universal forums. Dingodilelover, whom I shall refer to as DDL, shares my real life surname and it's been a long time since we last saw one another (2011). She's visiting the UK in 2020 and it will be wonderful to see her again. Just another thing to look forward to!

Finally, it's likely Crash's future will be revealed in 2020. Who knows what form that will be, but the Crash Bandicoot Twitter account revealed one last image to end 2019 on that feels very... teaser-tastic. Time will tell!

Where was this ornament hiding? 🎄🤔 pic.twitter.com/4Vi4oqWvkN

— Crash Bandicoot (@CrashBandicoot) December 31, 2019

So there we go - several things I'm looking forward to in 2020 and why the year will be much better than 2019. What are you looking forward to? Let me know and join in the celebrations for an exciting new year!