I, er, went fishing.

Hello.

Sorry about the year-and-a-half's absence - I got a bit lazy and then a bit busy and now I'm sort of both, but I've realised that if I want to be a writer, the act of writing stuff is sort of necessary, which is, frankly, a pain (except when I've finished something).

It's been a while. I'm now halfway to forty. A drop-out primary teacher. A waitress. A girlfriend. Tattooed.

I've learned several things since we last had a heart-to-heart ("we" being myself and my impressive collection of Four Whole Followers). Here are a few - it's the usual mix of philosophical musings and superficial bollocks; I haven't changed in that sense.

1. I don't have to actually worry any more about biting my nails. I have mastered the knack of sticking on plastic ones and filing them down to look real, which allows me to enjoy both the feeling of having lovely nails and the complete refusal to uphold any willpower regarding the tips of my fingers EVER AGAIN. Which certainly opens up some different options for my New Year's resolutions - although "I will stop eating crap" and "I will attempt to become a normal, social, non-entirely-Netflix-and-junk-food-reliant potato at some point" are still on the annual list.

2. It is a complicated but beautiful thing to begin to share your life with someone else. It means compromise, facing up to your flaws, exposing your most vulnerable side to someone and hoping against hope that they won't trample all over it one day. It means risking everything - but how will you ever meet the moon, if you're too afraid to fly?

3. Some people are absolutely awful when it comes to leaving a tip.

4. The most beautiful thing about life now, in my twenties, is being completely blind to what is around the corner. A few important things are mapped out, but the twisting and turning unpredictability of life is what adds the colour and makes every chapter a story in its own right.

5. I am terrible at managing my time, being responsible and getting important things done, which, almost reassuringly, tells me I haven't grown up yet. GOOD. One day I might be organised and smug, with hair that does as it's told, a gym membership and a sensible car - but my twenties are a time for flustered jogs back home for my keys, spending the last of my account balance on Chinese food and turning up the volume on my headphones all the way past the legally recommended level.

6. I have made the choice between what is right and what is easy. I have chosen to write a new path for myself and I feel brave.

7. Lastly (because 7 is my favourite number and I am a cliche), Taylor Swift just gets better. She JUST. GETS. BETTER.

So that's my list. There is so much more that I have learned and experienced in this time - it has been a rollercoaster - some of which I'll probably share at a later date, and some that I'll keep under my hat. But I'm learning every day, and I can feel myself changing and growing and making progressively more important life decisions. I'm filled with excitement and fear and confusion and happiness, and it's overwhelming, but I'm still here, and still enjoying the ride.

Catch you on the flip side x

I have a crush on cyberspace.

Well sort of.
So as I've infiltrated most of the other major internet portals, I felt it was time to begin a blog. A proper, write-about-stuffz blog. Because I like writing about stuffz.

I'm going to try and keep this a daily thing as well. Not STRICTLY daily - you aren't allowed to send letterbombs if I skip a couple; it's... er... loosely daily. Just to give myself a bit of wiggle room. Because we all like wiggling. I've won trophies for wiggling. Actually not joking. Happyways dancing classes when I was about three. Wiggler of the Week. That's right.

ANYWAY.

I wanted to do this for various reasons. Writing is slowly becoming a very important part of my life. With a few ideas for novels floating around in my nog, I need to get back into the practice of typing prose regularly - since leaving college, I've been incredibly lax in that department, with my typing strictly limited to Facebook statuses - "I feel uncomfortable with the fact that I'm comfortable doing laundry now. It's like a false sense of security before something bad happens and my knickers all turn orange and start exploding" - Tweets - "Window's open, room's cold, I'm too toasty in bed to get out and shut it, therefore I'm sort of half toasty, half freezing. #logicorwhat"  - and YouTube video descriptions - "SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE HUGS." Not exactly the height of writing sophistication. Ha. As if this will be, either.

And as you can see from what I've just shown you, the internet is becoming a mahoosive part of my life. It has brought me a whole new dimension of friends and laughs, and I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of today's generation. I have a personal YouTube channel that I'm having a lot of fun with, and have a few ideas for. I'm part of a collaborative channel with three amazing girls from all over the world. I'm proud to be a part of various internet communities, such as YouTube obviously, but also the Nerdfighters, where again I have met some incredible people, and Team Starkid, which just makes my life better every day just by being there and being awesome - ahem - supermegafoxyawesomehot.

I never used to understand the fascination some people had with the internet. From what I could see, it was just people trying to be 'scene' on MySpace, various confusing games that I suck at because of my crap hand-eye co-ordination, and Google. I never realised the scope for finding out about yourself, making friends with amazing people and pushing your creativity to the limits. I'm so thankful that I've found it now, just when I need it so desperately. I'm away from home, in another country, missing my family and friends and feeling rather lonely. Except for the internet, the one constant thing in my life. It gives me a vital connection to friends and family, and a vast range of choices of things to do when I'm at my most homesick. It also helps expand my other interests - aside from welcoming me into the Harry Potter community (first Potter reference, WOOT), it's introduced me to a whole world of books, music, writing and charity projects that I would have struggled to discover otherwise.

So fankz, internet. You're awesome.
Now I'm going to wrap up the proper writing and go back to 140-character musings for the rest of my evening. See you tomorrow.

Lessthanthree.