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2018 is almost over, so how did this year go for you? And do you look forward to 2019?

Vanessa28

Angel of Darkness
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ZD Legend
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Yahtzee, Supernatural
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Angel of Darkness
When a year has come to an end and a new year is standing at the front of us people always ask themselves: "What will this new year bring for me?" So that makes me wonder...how did 2018 go for you?
When it come to work it was a great year for me. More security and possibilities. I was able to do many tasks and have been in charge of internal transportation during the busiest times.
On a personal level it was boring. Not much different than any other year. But in general I can't really complain.
About 2019; yes I do look forward to it. A lot of opportunities are coming my way. In Jan me and my best friend (who is also my coworker) and her husband (former coworker) are going to work out the details for our trip to London in sept 2019. And I got a lot of things to look forward too.
So what about you?
 
I've had a few bad years in my life but 2018 has been one of the very worst.

I've suffered a death this year and all of the heartache and expenses that came with it.

I wasnt too kind to myself after that and was out of action for a little bit.

I lost my job and any sort of income.

I spiralled and am still spiralling enough to end up back on antidepressants with added counselling.

My rats are dying and it is a horrible slow burn giving them hospice care until the end since nothing can be done for them.

I still have no money, my pills are the strongest dose I can have, my heart still hurts and Christmas is a savage reminder of how wrong things really are.

I hope 2019 turns around. I hope i can put myself together enough to find a job early in the new year to have an income.

I wish a few other things but I don't know if I'll see them any time soon.
 

Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
Location
England
Gender
Absolute unit
2018 has been a wierd one. There have been some real highs this year. For instance leaving the job I despised and that had made me miserable for 2 years and which made me want to lobotomize myself with a breadbin. I even had the excitement of starting up my own business after leaving.

However the lows of this year were so crushing and ****ty that I'd rather forget the entire year ever happened. I now have two of the worst memories of my existence to date. And I have been eating very healthy, being strict with my cardio to try and reverse the formation of atherosclerotic plaque in my arteries which no doubt built up from the sheer stress of them!

Actually if I could erase just the first 11 months of this year from my mind I'd do so. December has actually been ok. I have enjoyed this month so far. Christmas has actually felt Christmassy for the first time in two years not having to think about that dreadful place.

I am sure next year is going to be an improvement over this one. I intend to return to Japan with my friends and once again stuff our faces with glorious Ichiran Ramen, the greatest food on earth. And to visit Tokyo which we didn't see last time.

There is also the growing of the business to do which should be exciting. I also started music production on the PC, having played piano for 13 years I know a bit about music anyway so I am hoping to get a few tracks made next year.

And of course going to carry on making improvements in the gym. Gonna get even more swole in 2019!
 

misskitten

Hello Sweetie!
Joined
Jun 18, 2011
Location
Norway
2018 has all in all been a great year for me. I started the year getting the night position I have always wanted, which came as an immense relieff after the stress and overtime towards the end of last year. It's been unbelievably good to not have to get up at the crack of dawn anymore. I've also got in control of my finances this year, keeping a proper budget, focusing more on saving and reducing loans and being ahead of any upcoming expenses. It makes for a stark contrast from last year where most of it felt like a neverending list of bills and expenses.

I've also started downsizing my possessions, eliminating the things I do not use or appreciate. It's made me feel great for several reasons, my home is tidier, I feel more relaxed and it makes me happy to see other people appreciating things that mostly felt like they were in the way. I still have plans to do some more of it when I go back home over new years.

Been abroad twice this year, which is the first time since getting my flat, I don't plan on doing more than one next year, though, but that's mostly because I want to try and save some more. I hope to eventually be able to afford a car :) In general I feel positive about the coming year, going to try and tweak my habits to do even better.
 

Emma

The Cassandra
Site Staff
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Location
Vegas
Well it didn't go perfectly, but there have been very good things.
I finally got my first ever job early in the year, and I was forced to leave it within a month. There was an incident, that's too much to get into and derail this thread with such a long story, that kind of soured the whole thing. It was decided in my favor, but still made me scared to keep doing the job. And, besides that, they expected me to do the work of eight people. And towards the end of my run, they were talking about laying people off because they thought they could make do with even less. It was a guest room attendant. Elevator conversations confirmed literally everyone has to cheat to get by because the expectations are not humanly possible no matter how incredibly skilled you are. Sheets are only changed if they are stained or damaged, disinfectant is rarely if ever used. Dusting is quick and dirty. Bathrooms are rushed (and not disinfected). Vacuums are only turned on for sound and they just quickly pick up whatever's visible instead of vacuuming the room. Do not stay in a large hotel if you can help it. They're not clean or safe. But if you do, tip your guest room attendant generously, it's not their fault. They do the best they can with the unrealistically sadistic pressure they're under.

My attempts to find a job since then have only been a constant series of rejections. And I never know exactly why. I have a solid inkling it's because I'm trans, it's the only explanation for a lot of them. But even though it's extremely illegal in this city, thankfully, I still can't prove they did it. They're not dumb enough to come out and say it's the reason. But you can see people's expressions. The shock when they see me. The almost hidden discomfort in their voice. And the few times I was told I was "unsuitable for front-of-the-house" despite me socializing better than the other candidates, being far friendlier, and helpful. Most people here have a "**** off" attitude and don't like the idea of being nice to strangers, something that's expected of everyone in the upper midwest where I come from. People here are mean. And they can't really change that in interviews. Can't hide that they just can't care to be nice to people. I do. But it's not enough to get around people's prejudices.

And there's this service that is supposed to be helping me get a job. But they won't listen to me when I try to explain that employers are being prejudiced against me. They just keep going on about different ways to improve my chances, like issues with how I do the interview or with my resume, without even acknowledging that problem I brought up. My interview skills are fine, they honestly cannot be improved. I've already been trained how to do them by several job coaches over several years. Same for my resume. And they seemed more concerned with looking good themselves than they were with getting me a job. I'd vastly improve my chances by getting funding for training in the job I'm going for. But they're refusing to do it. They want me to just apply directly for the jobs even though my chances of getting them, and the pay I will get, would be severely diminished by not having the training.

And getting doctors has been a pain. The government threatened to cancel my insurance unless I provided them with information from doctors.... that I need the insurance to even get in the first place. And they wanted it sooner than it was possible to obtain with the insanely long waiting lists for these kinds of doctors. Someone there though took pity on me when they read my explanation and extended my coverage. As for finding doctors... the first one I found was very green, didn't know what they were doing. Didn't really understand what was wrong with me when I came with very basic problems that a 24/7 clinic we went to had zero trouble identifying. And when I asked for referrals to psychologists (for the information the government wants), she gave me ones that didn't take my insurance. I went back and told her. She apologized and got me a new list... that was of the exact same people. I did not go back to her.

The next doctor had like a two month wait for a new patient appointment, and the front desk assured me that they took my insurance when I made the appointment there, in person, with them looking at my insurance card and running it through their system. Then, a few days before the appointment, they call me and say that they never accepted my insurance and that it'd be like $800 to pay for it myself.

And the next one I am trying, I know is supposed to take this insurance. But after another two month wait for him, I get a call a few days before and am told my appointment was canceled because the doctor had to be gone that day. And I had to set a new appointment sometime early next year. I've been trying to get primary doctor since October last year. So... yeah.


Besides that doom and gloom. This was the first full year living with my boyfriend, away from my family. It can be hard at times. But I am feeling good about it working out in the long haul. We're both going through similar struggles and that helps us bond. I am getting along with my transitioning and am getting some nice results. A lot of growth, skin softening, shaping, things like that. My hair is well past my shoulders. I've replaced a good chunk of my wardrobe with female versions. I'm... slowly, making progress with the voice. I'm just letting it change naturally with what I attempt to do bit by bit rather than concentrated training, though I may do that at some point.

I've made a few attempts to reach out to other family members. I'm being very cautious about it. I still don't know who wants anything to do with me and who doesn't. And whenever I ask any of the ones who do support me, they won't tell me what any of the others think. We did consider a visit with them. But... I had a lot of appointments I had to keep and I was still very nervous.

I managed to pay off one of my loans and that's made things significantly easier. I'm going to try to pay down another one soon if I can.
 
Joined
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Location
England
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Female
This year has been pretty eventful. Towards the start of the year, I bought my first main-series Pokémon game and hit it off with the series from there. I'd never really been interested in it before, so I had (and still mostly) a bunch of new games to play.

A few months back, it turned out I have a new condition I have to live with (fainting when stressed or anxious, which is pretty prevalent in my situation due to my PTSD and OCD, alongside other things).

Now, at the end of the year, I've started trying to get more fit and get my sleep schedule in order. I've also started meeting up with others in my town for Pokémon GO events and Raid Battles. I'm hoping that this will help a little with my social anxiety and social skills, as everyone at these all have a topic in common that can start a conversation, thus making it a little less awkward.

It's gone really quick.
I'm hoping for a better 2019 anyway.
 
2018 has been a very mixed bag to say the least.

I feel like I've made a lot in progress in my personal life. I only have one more semester left till I complete my Master's Degree. I also got some much needed research experience this year and took a relaxing vacation to San Diego, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas during the summer.

This year, I got to make a few more friends in real life and gotten to know a few more ZD members who I haven't spoken to as much. I would say the biggest influence on me this year has been Axle. I'm very thankful for all the hard times he's helped me through this year.

The hardest time for me this year was definitely Jamie's death. That hit me hard. This was the first time someone close to me who's my age has died. I may not have been as close to him as some other people on ZD, but that really got to me. It wasn't until mid-September until my mind began to feel more at ease about what had happened. Things have been better these last few months of the year, though I still do get some negative thoughts from time to time.

The other major thing that stressed me out this year was my grandma's health. I've always been very close to her. But after she fell down the stairs in 2013, she hasn't been as well. She got very sick in September, and I wasn't sure if she would be able to make it through. Thankfully, things worked out, but, at 83 years old, I shouldn't take my remaining time with her for granted.

At the end of the year, I got some experience being a teaching assistant. I was really stressed out about it at first, but all but one of my students gave me positive evaluations. I'm glad I got to do it and look forward to helping out with the follow-up class in the spring.

As for the next year, we'll see what it holds. Aside from finishing my Master's Degree, TAing some more, and seeing Dragon Ball Super Broly in January, I don't have any concrete plans. I decided to apply for a PhD in Chemistry, something I wasn't sure I would do, so I'll either start that or go into the work force depending on how things pan out.
 
Joined
Oct 31, 2018
Location
Hyrule Castle
It went well, better than expected :) I got my first job this year and overall it's been better emotionally than 2017. I'm excited for 2019 because I'll be moving in with my SO soon, but because I'm a little bit of a pessimist I won't get my hopes up about it being the "best year ever" or anything lol
 

Ninja

Well well well
Joined
Jul 5, 2017
I hope 2019 turns around.

It certainly will. You’re a great person and I know you have a solid work ethic. Just don’t give up! You’ve got this.

I even had the excitement of starting up my own business after leaving.

How is that going? Congrats! That’s such an awesome thing to start your own gig. I eventually want to get there someday.

People here are mean.

Yeah I feel you. People in Vegas, especially people from Vegas can be dicks. I’m from Orlando FL and I’ve never run into so many people that seemed to have been weened on a pickle!

2018 was overall a great year for me. I quit my toxic job, and landed another with a $15k raise and much better quality of life.

I’m down nearly 50lbs thanks to OMAD and Intermittent Fasting and I feel better than ever. Still about 15 pounds from my goal weight of 185.

I’ll be starting off 2019 with a visit to the Philippines to meet my fiancé’s side of the family and to finally start visiting other countries.

I’m getting married in April, and hope to start a family as well.

As far as my job, I’m still very happy with it, and I will continue to do the best I can to keep moving up. We have a very comfortable gig where I’m at and we all enjoy working with each other.

Another goal of mine for 2019 is to increase my giving, which will include money, time, and love.

All in all, life is great. Each day that I’m alive I feel blessed that I am able to enjoy the little things in life that make the biggest impact.
 
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Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
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England
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Absolute unit
How is that going? Congrats! That’s such an awesome thing to start your own gig. I eventually want to get there someday.

Yeah it is going pretty well at the moment. I very much like not working for other people as I am not one who likes to be told what to do and how to do it. I still see clients that I used to see where I was working before and they have even noticed how much happier and healthier I look now. Plus I can make in a day now what I made in a week at the awful place I worked before.

I’m down nearly 50lbs thanks to OMAD and Intermittent Fasting and I feel better than ever. Still about 15 pounds from my goal weight of 185.

That is good going! How many times a week do you have only OMAD?
 

Spiritual Mask Salesman

CHIMer Dragonborn
Staff member
Comm. Coordinator
Site Staff
I think overall 2018 has been a good year for me, but it had it’s up and downs.

2016 and 2017 ended up draining me financially, starting with 2016 and Hurricane Matthew. A mandatory evacuation was issued, the portions of Georgia or South Carolina that I would have gone to had hotels already booked by residents of Florida. I lucked out by getting hotel rooms in Pensacola, Florida. Far enough west that I was safe.

When I got back, a very large tree branch had fell onto my house. I had to remove it, and repair the roof. My insurance covered all that luckily. The part that took a toll was my decision to get the tree that the branch fell off from cut down.

The tree was kind of leaning towards my house, plus, it’s roots were expanding towards my neighbor’s house. He’s a very mean middle aged man and I feel like he’d try suing me if those roots started causing foundation damage to his house, and since it looks like I won’t be moving anytime soon, it was something I had to do.

If that alone was the only curveball thrown at me, 2017 would have been a decent year. But Hurricane Irma popped up and I had to evacuate again. It didn’t come nearly as close as Matthew did and I kind of regret leaving because from what people who stayed told me, there was really no need to evacuate (but a mandatory evacuation was issued). Being cautious is always the best course of action, but in this case I really could have done without paying for hotel rooms, all the money it took to get to the destination, and the costs of the trip back.

Things could have been much worse. It wasn’t like I was struggling to pay bills during that time, it was just that I had to cut out bills that were not a necessity. My old PC crashed in mid 2016, so I ended up cutting out my payments for Internet service, and I didn’t get around to buying a new one until late 2017.

2018 ended up being a rebound year in many ways. I started saving up my money again and it started to accumulate. I was able to re-add all those comfort but not exactly necessary payments into my budget. Throughout 2017 and most of this year I didn’t have a Nintendo Switch, but I finally bought one at the beginning of June.

I would also consider my return to the Forums another rebound. I could have got active again sooner but I was kind of ashamed I didn’t even have a Switch and couldn’t talk about the newest games. I’d pop in at points in 2016 and 2017, but didn’t feel like I could just jump back in without it being really awkward for me.

Also keep in mind the state of the Forums when I went on my hiatus. The Forums were planned to be merged with the Zelda Informer Forums. From the talk at the time it was assumed a lot of members from that community would be melding in with ours. While I was gone I had this idea that there would be alot of new members, and I was unsure how many of the members I knew would still be around. When I popped in and looked at members online I only recognized some names. There were new usernames and I was like, that must be ZI members or just members who joined while I was gone.

This Forum meant alot to me in the past, which is weird to admit because I never expected I’d get attached to an online community or anything. I missed the friends I made here, but while I was gone I thought I’d probably get active again, find other means to stay in touch with those friends on the Forum, and then drift away again eventually.

I’ve stuck around since I got back, and I have no intention to leave willingly.

Coming back when I did was pretty hard because the unexpected happened. Only weeks after I started catching up with everyone I found myself reading Beaut’s Blog entry about Jamie. I’d never had to deal with the death of a friend before now. While I wasn’t as close to Jamie as others were, there were point in 2014 and 2015 when we’d talk daily, and it was always a complete joy, from sports, to Zelda, other video games, or just random stuff. And if I had something that was bothering me Jamie was always willing to listen and give advice.

What always gets to me, and I’ll never be able to forget this, was a reply to a post of mine that I wrote real quick one of the times I checked in on the Forums in 2016. It was a response about BotW (then still just called Zelda Wii U) and how many hours I wanted out of the game, I said something like, “I want to spend at least 100 hours exploring the openworld”. He liked that post, and replied to it. He was like, “I hope to see you active again on the Forums soon!” Talking to him again was something I was looking forward to, unfortunately I never got to. Back in 2015 he told me he suspected the Chicago Cubs would win a World Series, I am a fan of the Cubs and I was skeptical considering the Cub’s track record. I never got to celebrate their 2016 World Series win with Jamie. Aside from NBA basketball, he was pretty big into MLB Baseball too, and a Cubs win was something he told me he’d be just ecstatic to see as me.

There is an aspect to the Forum that will just never be the same after his passing. I honestly probably would have left the Forum to avoid memories of him, but then to see so many members share their experiences with Jamie, and to give testament to what an amazing person he was, and how much he meant to all of us within this online community. I came to realize that I’d do better to stay here because I think it’s what he would have wanted us to do, to stay connected rather than splitting up.

I do regret not speaking when we did that large group call in remembrance of him on Discord. It was just really hard to keep myself together, if I would have said anything I would have choked up. Everyone else who spoke at least kept it together. It also didn’t help that for some reason a former Forum member who was in the call singled me out and was like, “SMS isn’t saying anything!? What a coward!” It was so inappropriate. Many members didn’t say anything for the same reason as me. That aside, the group call was a good experience I’m glad I got to listen to.

Reconnecting with many of my friends here has been great, so coming back to the Forum turned out to be a good thing. Some members I know even better now, after these last 6 months, than I did years ago.

So coming back here has ended up being a big part of influencing this year for me.

Aside from that, I attempted dating a few times this year, one relationship didn’t turn out well. One nit long ago lasted for about 2 months, and I really liked the girl. But she wasn’t from here, is part of the coast guard and was stationed here, but then moved again. We decided it’d be best not to try keeping a relationship alive over long distance, and we are still friends at least and talk.

College has been going well for me, only a few more years left!!! I’m considering maybe taking a course for literature next year, Creative Writing maybe, may as well see if my aspirations to commit to the literary form could be a reality, or should remain merely a dream.

I am looking forward to 2019. Right not it’s only an hour away. I rushed to write this, lol.
 

LegendOfMeesh

You Are The Light
Joined
Feb 7, 2018
Location
Hyrule Kingdom
2018 had some really wonderful moments, but also some of the worst of my life. The wonderful moments were really setting up 2019 to be possibly the greatest year yet! But then a couple of the aforementioned low moments happened due to my own stupid mistakes, and totally changed the outlook for 2019. If I could go back in time and have a major do-over of most of 2018, I would absolutely do so to make that 2019 that I dreamed of possible. Some things in 2019 are certain, but for now I sit and wonder as to what else it will bring.
 

Hero of Pizza Time

Pizza Parker
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Aug 22, 2018
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MCU
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Human Spider
Better than 2016 for me. But not as good as 2017.

Can't really explain why 2017 was better for me, because it was mostly an attitude thing. But 2016 (more specifically the later half of 2016) sucked. The winter brought cold weather and mud without the benefit of snow, and I was in 8th grade at my old school with no medication for focusing. They gave us so much work over the summer and expected us to do an expensive, time consuming project for each class.

I guess compared to 2016, 2018 2as a nice improvement and I was in a much better mood. Plus my parents are starting to trust me more now and they are treating me like an adult ☺.
 

Sheikah_Witch

I just really like botw
Joined
Apr 8, 2019
Location
Sweden
(Am I allowed to answer this thread retroactively?)

2018 was, uh, very uneven. It was the year of streaming for me, I got my account in January and streamed regularly until I killed off my channel in late November. I made some pretty awesome friends, had some funny and unforgettable moments on stream and even reached some popularity (10 average viewers)

Streaming definitely gave me a joy, for sure.

Then the latter half of the year I had some of the worst depression in my entire life. I don't even wanna think about it, it was downright horrible and terrible things happened.

It was a year of love, as I got a crush, but it ended on a sad note, as usual.

I didn't play any games, which sucked. On the other hand, there was some great albums and music that kept me afloat in life. Ghost dropped Prequelle and I was ecstatic over Ionnalee's first album. I also discovered both Witch House and Kanye West!

There was also the Swedish election, which was a mess.

At it's lowest it was 0/10 but at it's highest it reached even a 9.

I hoped for a better 2019 at the start of this year.
 

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