…in my own, small, canine ways. ^__^

Before beginning, here’s hoping that you had a very Merry Christmas, and have made the last few days of this year enjoyable, relaxing, and full of good food! My best wishes are with you, always.

For the eight time in my life, I find myself sitting at my little laptop. Reading back over past journals, trying to think back on all that has taken place over the past year, reminding myself both of who I am and of who I aspire to be, and then typing that out into a format that – I hope, at least – is engaging and entertaining for you, my dear reader. Having kindly taken the time to stop by and see what I have to write, I consider it a duty to ensure that time is well-spent. It is you, after all, who are the reason why I have remained on this site, in this fandom, for as long as I have, and why it is unlikely that I will ever leave. You are wonderful in your own ways, and my life would be incalculably worse without you. Diolch. ^^

As is said in “Dinner for One” – another New Year’s tradition that you should absolutely watch – this will be the same procedure as last year! Having set out some wishes and goals in my last journal, how have I done? What else has happened that may have altered those wishes? What do I hope the new year will bring? Have you noticed that I ask a lot of questions?

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Travel:
By a circumstance that was entirely my own fault, I ended up visiting North America not once, but twice in 2022. And no, the second time wasn’t to apologise…much. Having crossed the Atlantic the first time in March for Furnal Equinox, I learned that losing one’s passport and consequently sobbing in the gents’ lavatories in Burlington GO Transit station is not a pleasant experience. While that did leave a stain on the trip, I did have a superb time at the convention as always, and am grateful to the superb  MatthiasRat and  Fulminar for rooming with me, and to the venerable  Soba for braving the blisteringly cold conditions to meet me in Niagara. My second attempt came 10 weeks later in June, whereupon I crossed the Atlantic again with a (literally) day-old passport, and at long last got to see my good buddy  UrsusArctos and to meet the very kind  JoeBear67 .

Ho-meow-nership:
No, that still isn’t not funny to me. ;-p

After much delay, January saw the exterior of La Maison de Chien finally put in order, with repairs made to the roof and joineries. Nice a feeling as that definitely was, what felt even better was fulfilling my dream of setting up my own little garden farm. Four hours of digging, and many more of planting and watering, and I finally understood the literal meaning of ‘you reap what you sow’. While I was happy with how my oregano, thyme, and peppers turned out, I was delighted with how my cherry tomatoes took to the soil! They grew to be nearly as tall as me, and were still bearing edible fruit as late as early December. I couldn’t be prouder of my babies. :D

Having gotten my home in order, I have been delighted to be able to host friends both from within and outside the fandom! There are some elements to my hosting that I hope to improve, but it’s been so nice to have that dream of owning a house and having friends round to stay in it realised, and I can’t wait to welcome more of you across my threshold with a hug and a mug o’ tea in the near future! ^^

The real test of my being a good host came – and to an extent is still ongoing – with the arrival of a Ukrainian refugee at my front gate at the end of September. It’s hard to believe that he’s been here for three months already, and while it has admittedly been difficult to adapt to having someone else live with me, I think we’re a good fit for living under the same roof despite being rather different personalities. In the nicest possible way, I’m hopeful that he won’t have to live here much longer. I sense that both he and I want all of this to be over and for him to be back in a free and peaceful Kyiv, training to be the Orthodox priest he was born to be. But until that becomes possible – and today’s unjustifiable rocket attacks on civilian targets make it painfully clear that it won’t be for a while – I’m content for him to stay in my spare room for as long as he needs to.

Cycling:
Ahh, my poor little Daicycle. Don’t worry; she’s fine. But this year she has barely had the chance to be pedalled across the lanes and B-roads of Britain, partly because of how busy I’ve been. To my shame, I have mostly only used her for commuting and shopping runs, this year. The exceptions to this were thrice in the summer, when I cycled once to Swansea for the Wales Air Show, and again to Swansea and beyond to the airport, to get clarity on the status of my pilot’s licence.

Flying:
And speaking of flying, that is another badge of shame for this year that I must carry. For all my hopes of getting back into the air, I just haven’t had the time to do so. On the plus side, I now finally have a British CAA Private Pilot’s Licence and a British medical certificate, which means that when the time is right, I will be able to get back into the air. Furthermore, as mentioned above, I did pay the flying club at Swansea Airport a visit to make sure they still recognised me (they did ^^), and to confirm next steps for how I will, eventually, be able to get into the cockpit of a light aircraft and take to the air once again. :)

The rest – writing, work, and life stuff:
Much to my own disappointment in myself, I have given little to no attention to writing anything over the past year. Plenty of ideas, but no real motivation to try and get anything down on paper…or, rather, down on pixels. For the most part, this is down to my attention being drawn elsewhere, both by work and volunteering.

My work responsibilities have been chopped and changed over the last year, and while I’m doing less now than I was at the start of the year, that coincided perfectly with my volunteering roles requiring a lot more of my attention (specifically, the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal). While I was very proud of what I accomplished as Poppy Appeal Organiser for my little district – pulling in 25% more in donations than we did last year – I felt that it just wasn’t sustainable for me to keep doing it while I was looking to advance my career, nor to do it for a district I don’t even live in (I live about 10 miles away). This then prompted me to take a wider look at my volunteering responsibilities, and re-evaluate what I was doing so as to give myself some more headspace, and avoid a possible burnout before it happened. While I’ve taken on an at-con staffing role at Anthro New England (more on that later), I’ve scaled back my work with the RBL, and the community library in the village in which I used to live.

In terms of wider life events, my sister has moved back to Wales, one set of relatives has moved back to Scotland, and my grandmother passed away at the ripe old age of 91. It was strange, knowing that she wasn’t here this Christmas. She was always so conscientious about sending cards out, even as her mental state deteriorated. I’m admittedly a bit of a hoarder when it comes to things like that, and in particular I’m going to cherish the last birthday card she sent to me. Silly, I know – it’s a piece of card with some ink on it – but for me it’s a reminder of who she was, and one of the many reasons why I’ll always carry her in my heart.

There will always be people who come into our lives, some of them having been there from the start, and then leave it for whatever reason. Let's all live our lives in such a way that when those people leave, they leave it having been made better, and consequently we ourselves are made better, then when they entered our lives. That being said, here are some of the experiences which await me after the clock strikes midnight, tonight.

- Conventions: Next year, I am set to definitely attend three – and possibly attend two more – furry conventions. I will be attending my first Anthro New England in Boston, my seventh Furnal Equinox in Toronto, and my first Confuzzled in Birmingham, UK. I will have a small staffing role at ANE, and having met some of the other staff already, I’m content that I made the right choice, and that I’ll have a jolly good time in my favourite North American city. For Confuzzled, I’m honoured to be rooming with  Huskyteer , and while we didn’t get a room in the main hotel, thank goodness there’s another hotel right next door. The possible conventions are two other British ones – JustFurTheWeekend in Bristol, and Furcation in Minehead. I had a thoroughly good time at JFTW in 2018 and 2019, and so I hope to return there if the convention is put on again next year. As for Furcation, I’ve had an offer from a local furry friend to attend, but I’ll have to see how my finances and my schedule are fixed.

So, if you’ll be at ANE, FE, or CFZ, and you see me wandering around with a bewildered expression on my face, please do rock up and say hi! I may also be partial to a hug. D’oh, what am I saying? I’m always partial to a hug! ^__^

- La Maison de Chien: With the outside of my house nice and secure (and waterproof!), it’s time to focus on the inside. I think my main project for this year is going to be the renovation of my upstairs bathroom – installing a nice big bath in place of the shower, giving it a lick of paint, and finally tearing up that horrible carpet and burning it on a large bonfire (or perhaps gift-wrapping it and sending it to the Kremlin). I also plan to change a couple of worn-down carpets, and perhaps save up some money to redo my bedroom’s attached changing room into a flight simulator room, as I’ve been wanting to do for some time.

- Creative pursuits: With my work responsibilities now (mostly) settled, and my volunteering positions scaled back to a manageable place, I’m now hoping to finally get back to serious writing. Well, as serious as I get, anyway. Caradoc is in serious need of attention, and I have a couple of ideas for Cory Gladstone as well. As for Dai, well, his backstory needs a bit of work to flesh it out, so you can expect some work on that, as well.

- Cycling: After a lost year, I’m going to spend the winter getting back into a decent shape, and training to once again try for London. I have planned out the route already, and while it is quite a bit longer, it will take more time – factoring in more breaks and my own capabilities – and more importantly avoids the worst of the mountains that define the South Wales valleys. 4,000ft of climb has now been reduced to 1,000ft: an accumulated ascent that’s perfectly manageable for my canine calves. :)

- Flying: Building further on the theme of ‘things I didn’t do last year but am definitely going to do this year’, I’m also going to spend the winter and spring revising my notes for flying, and come the warmer, dryer weather of summer I’m going to get my licence revalidated, and I’m going to take the skies once again. After a few local flights, both solo and carrying people to whom I have long overdue promises of aerial adventures, I plan on doing a longer trip up to Scotland. My grandma won’t be there waiting for me, and I regret not doing this sooner, but I hope that the moment of relief as the wheels touch down on the tarmac at Prestwick will make it all worthwhile.

- Work: Despite my numerous changes of responsibilities, I am effectively on the same salary now as I was almost 4 years ago, when I started working for my organisation. Having been told multiple times by colleagues that I should be at a higher pay grade, I’m going to take their words to heart, and start looking seriously for a higher-paid job. Not only will that mean more satisfaction from my work, but will also give me more disposable income to spend on commissions and gifts for people. What, you thought I’d want more money for myself? ;-p

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Well, my dears, I think that just about wraps up my experience of 2022, and my hopes for 2023! Funny how things change, year on year. Last year at this time, I was sitting out on a sunny balcony in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol, glass of sangria in hand, listening to the waves of the Mediterranean lap against the sandy shore a few hundred feet away. This year, I’m in my bedroom, looking out at my neighbour’s house as the rain bounces off his roof, preparing to venture out into it to get the last few bits and bobs before a small New Year’s Eve gathering. One guest has left my house to return to my dad’s place, and another has arrived for an entirely less wholesome reason. Yet, what has stayed the same is the affection and goodwill I feel for you who is reading this. Perhaps we’ve met many times before, or perhaps this is the first time you’re reading this. Whatever your relationship to me may be, I’m exceedingly grateful for your time in reading my ramblings, and for the joy you’ve undoubtedly given me in my life. I continue to wish you my very best, as always.

Flt/Lt. Dai, out.