14th March, 2003

I was totally going to revive this one on time this year, but then March kinda vanished into broken-leg hell, which maybe serves me right for considering reviving this in the first place - anyway, a couple of weeks late and maybe no-one who posted on this thread in the past is still around, but I'm still going to revive it.

Looking at old emails and apparently on 14 March 2003 I had sent my dissertation to my mother, and there was a riot at my old school where my brother went, apparently because the school wouldn't let them dye their hair red for Comic Relief, the day of laughter.
2004- my fiance won a ROMA INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL award, wow, I'd forgotten about that.
2005- no idea, had found ILX tho and was probably arguing about Nathan Barley.
2006- trying to start a club night
2007- trying to find guest DJs for 1st anniversary of club night
2008- planning first trip to US
2009- planning move to US
2010- in US, fillin out a tax form.
2011- ?? Guess I will still be in US, maybe it will feel like home, I dunno. Really can't predict what I'll be doing next month let alone next year.

Really can't predict what I'll be doing next month let alone next year.

^^^

Any appetite for updates/comparisons whilst we're currently indulging ilx vs nu-ilx nostalgia?

where will you be? will you be happier than you are now? or will things not be as good? will you have taken a risk that you always wanted to take? or still be in the same place?

March 2003: I was really stuck in a rut, working in a job I didn't enjoy and living paycheck to paycheck. After some years of not going abroad, I was beginning to put one 'big holiday' a year (e.g. Hong Kong, New York) on the credit card and pay it off over the year. I was 38 and really feeling kind of old and lost. I had just started lurking irregularly on ILE and was intimidated by how young everyone seemed and how their lives seemed more interesting. Similarly at work I was intimidated by the confidence of young people in their 20s. Weekends were particularly dire. I was going out to gay clubs at weekends and drinking heavily, and otherwise staying in and being miserable.

March 2019: Still in kind of a rut workwise, but far more solvent. Had a really bad episode of group harassment at last year, which made me focus on developing more resilience - and I'm probably in far fitter shape physically and mentally than in 2003. Weekends are far more enjoyable and productive. Off to Japan on holiday in May. Still single. Beginning to do the retirement maths, calculating when I can give up work - though it still seems a long way away. Still lurking far more than I post.

14 March 2003 was my 18th birthday. I was older than most of my friends so I couldn't really celebrate by going to a bar. I went home early from school and asked my mom to come with me to do the next obvious adult thing and go to a casino. We won $15 on slot machines. I was disappointed that the casino wasn't as glamorous as the ones in movies.

This year I went to work, filled up on cupcakes from colleagues, then went out for dinner and filled up on beyti.