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morethanmonotonous · 6 years

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MMXVII

I’m sitting in a park in Pemulway near where the ducks live while Matthew gets what will probably be his final haircut in western sydney. I am beyond excited for what 2018 will have in store, but I wanted to stop and reflect on what the past year has been.

This has been my first year dating Matthew, and I genuinely couldn’t be happier. It’s unbelievable that I’ve met someone so suited to me in every single way - we have crazy things in common that I can’t believe, and having him by my side makes me feel like I can achieve literally anything. I’m sure that a lot I achieved this year wouldn’t have been possible without his continual love and support.

I guess I’ll structure this in some kind of chronological way, I think doing this thematically would be too difficult.

The year kicked off with a party at mine, drunk under my back tree accidentally telling Matthew that I was in love with him. I didn’t think I’d ever be the first one in a relationship to say that but I have never been so sure and full of love, I didn’t want to keep it to myself. It’s been a huge year of ‘I love you’ and it’s almost crazy to look back and see how guarded I was about that for so long, to the point I was crying in my bed because I was so scared and wasn’t sure how to express myself. I’m so glad that Matthew and I can be so open and communicative around our love, I really got what I always wanted.

Unify kicked off January right - huge groups of mates (Unify is always like a cross over episode), including Brooke and Keira, all the boys, and Ritchie and his mates. It was a beautiful drug fueled bender, balancing ups and downs and with lots of quite blurry moments, scatted among songs by Savior, Luca Brasi, Moose Blood, Deez Nuts (and trying to get into Every Time I Die but it’s just so bad). Had another acid trip, which I always enjoy so much. Being in a tent with Ritchie while we were sure that there was some sort of cyclone outside, Brooke and Brad’s tent collapsing, and some kind of post apocalyptic dust covered dance party to the sound of Sandstorm. Nothing makes me feel more lucky than being able to spend time with my favourie people in the whole world being incredibly messy and listening to the best music.

Work was interesting this year, spending my 3rd year at Woolworths. After fighting for far too many months and jumping through every hoop that managers decided to create for me, I finally got my promotion to Senior Category Ranging Analyst, hitting my ‘earning 100K at 24’ milestone. The money is great, the job was fun, managing a team is average at best (who gets kicks out of gannt charting everything and only getting spoken to when people want to move timelines?).

I spent my birthday this year at Dubbo Zoo, which was so amazing. We got a little air bnb in Dubbo, and spent both the days at the zoo. We got a golf cart on the first day which was so much fun zooming around and seeing all the cute animals. We got bikes the second day, I’m so grateful I learned how to ride a bike in 2016! It was such a purely happy weekend of adventure, the cutest otters in the world (Pocket!) and the best company. I didn’t know what would be able to compete with Japan last yeat with Mappy but I was so happy to be able to spend my birthday doing such cute things.

Splendour in the Grass was another key part of 2017, as it has been for the past few years. Went with just Keira this year, which I knew was going to be different. I discovered some cool new bands (LCD soundsystem, Client Liason, Kingswood), and saw some old classics (Smith Street, Luca Brasi, Paul Kelly). Had my first ever bad acid trip (just fucking cold and sick, not really a bad mental time). It was nice to spend time with her in that way but fuck it can just feel like a lot of effort sometimes.

[Death Proof by Slowly Slowly just came on shuffle and that feels like the most relevant thing ever while I write this paragraph]. This year I embarked on my biggest overseas adventure (actually, I think just my biggest overall adventure) of my life, alongside the best human I’ve ever met - I went to Europe with Ritchie. I really feel like this could get a blog of it’s own, and I don’t know how much detail to go into because I know I won’t ever really forget that trip. The first 2 weeks with Ritchie’s mates worked so well, I absolutely loved Amsterdam, and I feel like the fact that they don’t have day weed in Sydney might be a good thing for my general life. It was like nothing else, along with the magic of a new city, amazing people, good food, and the excitement that comes along with starting the biggest trip of your life.

Berlin was fantastic for history but lacking in much else to be honest, it’s so great to be dating someone who is happy to go out at night and get absolutely fucked up but then wants to get up to go to museums in the morning. The Berlin pills were like nothing else, a third and I felt like I was bursting out of my skin but in the best possible way at some tiny karaoke place, singing Man I Feel Like a Woman and Truly Madly Deeply (which I’m sure is the most romantic song in the whole wide world). I also learned that Ritchie can make a sick bong out of a green apple and there’s something magical about doing lines of left over coke and having lots of sex.

Prague was a huge highlight too. I mean, the city was okay - you really only need one day there, but fuck, the nightlife was great. We did a pub crawl which was fantastic, drunk off $1 ciders I bought with Ryan at the servo and unlimited shots for $20. Ritchie and I bought magical Prague coke for basically free (compared to Sydney pricing). I’ve never been so fucked as I was with Ritchie, Daniel, and Jaylan, smoking inside and enjoying terrible Euro pop way too much. Ritchie was saying the absolute sweetest things to me about how I’d changed his life and what our lives together would look like. I have never felt so luck than being at some shitty club at stupid AM, off my face, in some foreign country, with the love of my life.

We fell in love with Switzerland (Zurich), Sweden (Stockholm), and Denmark (Copenhagen), but I’m sure that any future Jade reading this will know that and even hopefully be living in one of those cities within the next few years.

There were so many other highlights, like Iceland, where I’ve never seen so many things in my life that were all the coolest thing I’ve seen in my life, driving through Germany (180 on the Autobahn!), going through that 50 euro tunnel listening to Tina Arena, staying in little cabins through the french Alpes, seeing bears in Bern, beach chairs in Nice, the best bread I’ve ever eaten throughout france, learning so much about various parts of European history, going to the West End theaters, and doing it all with the love of my life.

I’ve realised I’m interchanging ‘Matthew’ and ‘Ritchie’, I think I refer to him as ‘Ritchie’ to others but call him ‘Matthew’ to him? Anyway, I digress..

This year has been a big one of lessons for me about spending time with people who energise and recharge me rather than anything based on obligation. I think being away for 2 months makes you realise who you actually miss, and it was really people like Blake and Milan. I think this really links with my 2016 entry. Having lost Tim brought all of the guys so much closer together and broke down so much of the stigma around speaking about mental health and changed the whole dynamic of those relationships. I am so incredibly lucky to have such a great group of mates in my life.

I started the beautiful cult which was F45 this year too. I’ve never been so close to achieving so many of my fitness goals and I’m so proud of myself. I’ve been working so hard and I keep getting more and more comfortable in my own skin, from wearing bikinis at the beach to dressing sexy for Ritchie. I’m excited to see what 2018 looks like for my fitness goals. This year I did the city to surf again, I didn’t beat my best time but I recovered much much easier which must count for something, I am hoping I can keep building up my endurance and eventually be able to do a half and then full marathon.

This year we went to some great gigs too. I think the best show I’ve ever been to in my life was the Hellions show at Oxford Art Factory, where they played the entirety of Indian Summer and Opera Oblivia including interludes. Every single song was perfect and having the little breaks in songs was the best thing, being able to recharge and get ready for the next party song. I’ve never been so wrecked or happy after a show. Saw Luca Brasi again a couple of times, every time they play is so much fun. Smith Street sold out the Enmore this year which was pretty insane, it was a good show except for the all ages element. It’s always a little bit sad when your favourite band gets really popular - like, I’m happy for them, but the gigs aren’t what they used to be. Saw Ambleside, Columbus, Trophy Eyes, Conor Oberst at the Opera House, Touche Amore, Architects, Ceres, Speakeasy, The Hard Aches.

MMRS had their final night this year, AMPM has replaced it monthly which is great but man I miss the messy nights that were MMRS. Nights at the Quinn have become increasingly important too, I guess as we are all getting a bit older we are more and more valuing spending good time together chatting around a table and a couple of beers rather than getting wrecked (although getting wrecked is definitely still a priority in my life - everything in moderation). I have really gotten a lot closer with Blake this year which I am really grateful for, it’s so nice having such a great mate that I can share anything with.

This year Keira moved out to Canberra, her and James bought a real family home. We went down to visit them, it’s so nice seeing them so happy and settled and in love. It’s crazy thinking that they’re going to settle there and eventually have kids and that’s the place that the future family things will be held at. They’ll be getting married in a couple of months too, I’m pretty excited to get dressed up (in my size 8 dress!) and see them get married. So much to still organise though!

Ritchie and I started cooking more and more this year which I really enjoy. It’s so fun creating something out of nothing, thinking outside of the box for ideas, having our little jobs around the kitchen, and being able to make great veggie food that we can enjoy together.

One of the other biggest things that’s happened late this year is getting new jobs. Ritchie has moved on from Syple and gotten a job at hipages, I’m so proud of him for working so hard on his portfolio and applications to get it and I really do hope he loves it. I got a job as ‘Business Executive’ (generic as fuck) at British American Tobacco, so I know next year is going to be a huge one for me. I’m excited for the challenge, to have a whole new industry to learn, new people to get to know, and to work in a category so limited and restricted, to learn how it all works. I am also so excited about the international opportunities there, I would really love to be living with Ritchie somewhere in Northern Europe in the next few years.

Us both getting city jobs makes us moving into the city such a reality now, I can’t wait for what the next few months will hold.

I got a couple of tattoos to add to my collection this year, my duckies are now coloured, and I finally got my sternum piece done and I absolutely love it. I also got a front fringe for the first time in years and I sold out and bought an iPhone (and got AirPods for Christmas), I’m a real Apple fangirl now. I fell in love with my first cat (Simon / Pablo!), we discovered our little waterfall in Kurringai, I had my first trip to Port Stephens for our anniversary, and we explored Canberra a lot more than we had, but I’m sure we will be spending a lot more time there. Oh and Zoe and Ben got married which was a good night of beers and hanging out with Brooke and Brad.

It’s been a huge year of music, mates, travel, work, and love, and I couldn’t be happier. I feel like 2017 has set me up in so many ways to have some really big years coming up in so many different aspects of my life. It’s been a much nicer and easier year than 2016 and I’m so grateful for that. Having the best people in my life makes me feel like I can do anything and I can’t wait to see what the next year is like.

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