(yes, this IS copy-pasted from my deviantART page...so shaddup. I'm short on time here, and it already says what I want it to say)

Whether 2008 was a good year for me is a contentious issue.

On one hand, Grampa and Gemma both passed away in it, and the result for me was intense depression and anxiety over death. They were both very important to me, and the former was in the retirement village's hospital for a very long time before he died, so it affected me a lot.

Year 11 at school piled on the stress, and homework. The fact that, for most of the year, the texts we studied in English were very much centered around death did not help me at all.

On the other hand...

I went to Scotland. This was just after Gemma died, so it was good to get away from it all. It was an amazing place (and I should really find the photos to put up here), and I really want to go back there sometime in the future.

I socialised a lot more with other people in my year group (and, to some extent, outside of it). This led me to knowing more people than I would have done if I hadn't decided to go outside my usual circle of friends. Considering that next year is the final year that our class group was together, I think it was important to get to know them better.

Fandom-wise, things were great. I'll admit Transformers kind of took me over, but it's a very active fandom, with new things happening all the time, whether it be new toys or a new cartoon episode-in contrast to the Godzilla fandom which I was a part of last year, which was active only because it erupted in flame wars hourly. Avatar ended, giving a fitting end (but not a complete end) to a great series. Doctor Who reached new levels of awesomeness with the season finale, and gave us Donna Noble, the Greatest Companion Ever.

I GOT A KILT FOR CHRISTMAS. Ironically, I feel that I drifted away from my Scottish identity this year. I shall work hard to get it back.

Finally, we got Zoe, who is a fun little dog, despite her attempts to destroy stuff with her teeth.

So yeah. 2008. I suspect I played up the bad parts, but I reckon that the good parts outweighed those quite a bit.

Now...2009...HSC...crap.

Happy New Year, people!