Well, we've come to the end of another year, and the start of a new one. This year has been rather eventful for me, with a number of new things starting up.
The biggest of these was probably uni. It's been strange being back again after about ten years, but I've also really enjoyed it. I'm doing this music therapy course with a lot of rather wonderful people, and it's a community that I'm grateful to now be a part of. It's certainly been a lot of work - and I know that's only going to be more so the case for this coming year - but it's felt worthwhile.
I think the other big thing this year has been relationships. I don't talk that much about my relationships publicly, for various reasons; but as I've mentioned previously on here, I'm polyamorous. One relationship that I'm in we recently celebrated our second anniversary, which to me feels quite significant. (I know for a lot of other folks that feels quite small - but for me that hasn't had that many relationships, it's a fair bit.) I've also had two new relationships start up this year, meaning that I now have three partners! It's been a bit of work juggling that, particularly when people to tend to be rather busy. But it's been very rewarding, and I love each of them rather a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing how those relationships develop over the coming year.
Another thing has been board games. I've always been pretty big on board games, but this year I got the chance to show a prototype of one of my games, Corners, off at a convention in Sydney. Which went really well! I was really happy with the reception that I got, and I implemented much of the feedback from people into the design of the game. I think it's really close now to being done, and I'm pretty happy with it. There's also plenty of other games I've been doing bits of work on, and I've been having somewhat regular board game nights at my place as well, which has been great.
Another thing that's more recent has been acting in another musical. I haven't been on stage for a few years now, and I've really missed it - so I'm very grateful to be back in it again, with a crowd that's close to home, and a show that's queer as they come! I get to be in a femme role on stage which I really love. I'm having a lot of fun, singing and dancing and acting again after quite some time. I don't know if I'll be able to do another show next year while uni is happening, so I'm enjoying this one while it's here.
One more thing that happened was the Sydney Fringe show that I did, Faces of Love. I think I was worried going into it that it wouldn't do as well as Rainbow Religion; the idea didn't feel as clear, and it all felt somewhat cobbled together in a way. But I still had a decent number of people showing up, and a lot of folks that really loved the shows and that were impacted by the songs. I think it's just a reminder for me that that really is the thing that I do well; even if it's one I feel like I haven't put as much energy into, there's still a lot in there, a lot of depth and emotion that people are able to connect to and feel. Hopefully I'll get more opportunities to do that, but it's hard to know.
I was also able to finally finish up my work at the museum. While I miss the people there, I don't miss the work. And it's nice being able to have a rest for a little while. I've needed it.
Looking forward to next year - I'm not really sure what to expect. There's a few things that are locked in, like uni, the musical, that sort of thing. But there's plenty that I don't know yet, and I'll just have to figure out as I go. But that's how it tends to happen!
So, to all of you - happy new year. I wish you all the best for the year to come 💜
