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

A Big Thank You!

Before & After

It's been a hectic 10 days since my last post 'Introducing Me'. Various tests & check ups to make sure I'm fit for surgery, having my haircut & getting my ponytail sent off to the Little Princess Trust charity amongst it all. I've also been playing WoW much more - I guess I'm hiding in that wonderful world because I'm playing Horde now & don't know where anything is so I have to concentrate :)

I'd especially like to say a big THANK YOU for all the twitter retweets, comments on my post, private tweets & emails I've received. I won't list everyone - there were so many but I really appreciate that you all took the time to send a message to someone you've never met!

I'd like to make a special mention to my lovely friends & fellow bloggers for their support - I was overwhelmed when I read the first post or two - I honestly had no expectation of such responses to my own post.

First to surprise me was Alyzande over at The Gold Queen, she adapted a WoW icon and made it available for all to use to show their support. You can read her lovely post 'Pink Ribbon for Nev'. She's also been keeping me sane late at night on Facebook! mwah!

Then my kind & generous friend Jim over at PowerWord:Gold wrote a heart warming post 'Help Nev Support The Fight Against Breast Cancer'. Jim was the guy who persuaded me to join him on his fab podcast last year - an experience I thoroughly enjoyed & hope he'll have me back again sometime soon :)

Phat over at Phat Lewt's Gold blog also added a header to his latest post 'Lull Gold Making' sending his readers to my post in droves!

And then there was Focushot over at HunterMastery.com - a relatively new person in my circle of friends but one I've been following for a while :) His post 'Support Nev, The Fight Against Breast Cancer' made me choke up a little too.

A nice surprise for me was a brief post by Euripedes over at Call To Auction - one of the most popular podcasts that is making a comeback. Short & to the point 'Cancer Sucks' says everything :)

And last but not least by any means, my dear friend Cold over at Cold's Gold Factory shocked and amazed me with his post 'When Bad News Turns Good'. We had spoken in the days before his post came out so I knew he was planning something but I have to admit, I never expected that! I will also admit that I cried buckets when I saw what he had done for me - happy tears though. I just hope he forgives me for pinching his skype piccie! lol

Many others have added Alyzande's Pink Mageweave Shirt to their blogs & some have changed their Twitter icons for me. Retweets have been bouncing around & messages are still arriving. I knew there would be some response but I had no idea it would be this big!

So what next? Well, my op is next week with an estimated 4-6 week recovery time - but that's for normal peeps! I'm hoping I'll be able to play WoW & type blog posts long before then! Poor little Shoofly is kind of lonely at the moment but I hope to get her moving again soon so look out for some updates on that project. I've also been doing some more farming so if I can get my head into writing mode, there'll be another post or two there for lowbies & newbies :)

But in the meantime, I still need your money peeps! We're only at 27% of my £1000 target so please, spread the word however you wish & maybe donate a little bit too. Every Pound, Dollar or Euro counts so if you are embarrassed by donating a lil bit, you can stay anon by clicking the relevant box. My charity page is https://www.justgiving.com/Helen-Shorey - please, dig deep for such a worthy cause & don't forget Ladies - check, check & keep checking - early detection is vital! Love you all, thank you so much for your support

Helen/Nev :) xxx