Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013

Happy New Year 2013

It's that time of year again - everyone looking back at 2012 & looking forward to whatever 2013 may bring. I'm no different really although after the year I've had, 2012 is probably going down in my personal history book as a humdinger of a year!

I started the year with a post like this one - my first look back post on this blog. It had been a vague year, reaching goldcap in WoW was probably the highlight for me. This year started off in a similar vein, I set up my US account 2nd January, logged in once or twice then walked away from WoW totally for 3 or 4 months! I had no intentions of taking a break, it was just one of those random things that happen sometimes.

I was having some counselling for my depression & a very good friend online was metaphorically holding my hand every step of the way. I felt myself coming back to life, like snowdrops pushing their heads up through the snow & ice & when I did finally wake up, I realised some major changes needed to happen. Whilst in my cocoon of depression, I had changed & so had some of my closest loved ones. So I made a very difficult decision to walk away & start fresh on my own.

It wasn't quite so easy to actually do that though - finances kind of kept me stuck there so after a couple of pretty rough months, things calmed down to a point where we could start moving stuff along & make our separate plans. That's around the time I found my lump. If you've been reading for a while, you may remember my charity fund raising in the summer. I managed to raise 293GBP for Breast Cancer Care by chopping off most of my hair & donating it to a charity that makes wigs for children with cancer. With fantastic support from my fellow gold bloggers & my lovely Twitter peeps, I managed to keep my head & spirits high & after a short operation, I was given the all clear.

I have to say, I have never been so scared in my life! But so many of you, readers, twitter followers & gold blogging friends sent me positive support messages, it was like little rays of light shining through for me to follow a path out of that particular darkness. It also gave me a new impetus to get stuff done. I finally moved into my own little place & now I have a 'pit' to call my very own for the first time in my life.

I've been blogging like crazy, writing on Squidoo to make some cash there too & I even started a second World of Warcraft blog, She Rides Dragons, for my more general WoW ramblings. With some blogging guidance from my good friend, Cold, this blog has seen a huge increase in visitor numbers. I don't write just for the numbers but I will be honest, it really does make my day when I see just how many visitors are reading my stuff! My old school English teacher would have a heart attack if she saw me voluntarily writing all this stuff! I hated English lessons at school & essay writing homework was always the bane of my school existance!

And then there are the podcasts! I guest hosted with Jim on Power Word:Gold podcast a few times in 2011 & he was kind enough to invite me back for a few episodes this year. I played Hearthcast AoE against Rewt (twice! because of technical problems) & I finally got a chance to talk to Rez & Cold on Eviscerated Gaming Podcast last month. Brandon from Gold Shields blog also set up some Google + hangups late in the summer - just a bunch of gold makers hanging out on Google+ & shooting the breeze - those were fun & there's talk of more in the future once Mists of Pandaria activities die down a bit!

So what does the New Year bring? Who knows? I sure don't. This time last year, I was just hoping to get a job & keep blogging too but the job didn't happen. This year, I feel alive & just about ready to tackle anything! Obviously, I'm going to keep blogging here & She Rides Dragons too but I really want to get my photography blog up & running again. I spent most of my WoW gold too - all those lovely mounts & pretty pets available on the Auction House so I guess I will aim for goldcap once more but without glyphs this time!

I'd like to thank everyone personally but the list was long last year & has just got longer this year. New friends, new readers & followers as well as old friends & early followers - thank you all - your tweets & comments here keep me going & makes this all worthwhile for me. I hope my wordy ramblings help you too - I never did perfect the art of short answers - you can blame my Dad for that!

So I guess after all that I just want to say Goodbye 2012 & ooh hello 2013 - onwards & upwards for me & I hope 2013 is a great one for you too. Happy New Year everyone & thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you xxx


Image © Vironevaeh under Creative Commons licence