The Year 2003 of Darkthreads in Review...

Had another fun weekend, got another piercing. Aw, come on, like tattoos and potato chips, you can't have just one. Got it in my nose/septum and it hardly hurt at all, although it is quite sore now. Bactine is my friend. Already some comments from ppl here at work, "is that for real?!" But hey, my employer dropped the dress code. Also had a pleasant holiday with mom and bro. Got some cool stuff from Santa, the coolest item prolly being the acoustic guitar. No, I don't play guitar, yet, so I guess I'll learn. My bro has been teaching me how to play chords. Being a violinist/fiddler and not that good with theory, chords are unknown territory to me. I also moved my drum kit back to my house (my bro was taking care of it for me). And, pretty much spent the holidays just jamming with the bro. He is a musical genious, plays everything and I wish we knew more folks to form a band. Anyway, this is the time of year that most everyone reflects on the past year, and so am I. I even went back through my blog to help jog my memory about some things and here's the recap. It was prolly one of the best/worst years for me. I lost 47 lbs. Changed my hair and my appearance is completely different to the point where some people who haven't seen me in a while don't recognize me. I travelled more for work than ever, including a trip to Europe. I got divorced and found myself in the dating pool again. Made a lot of new friends. Changed my head about a lot of different things. I pretty much RE-INVENTED myself, inside and out.

Recapping a year of blogs:

December: You're reading it now. I made some declarations about my new attitude towards relationships...pix from the Mosaic dance show...some cool club dancing photos by Russ (TwistedView.net).

November: Got lots of cool pix from a photo shoot with Russ in Homewood cemetary, including the impressive red corset pix...took a second trip to Boston...pix from the hafla at the Quiet Storm coffeehouse...got something rather daring, pierced...still adjusting to changes in my life.

October: Realized that I like myself again but still working through the rough spots (had one difficult week where I was quoting Sylvia Plath!)...went as The Devil for Halloween--and looked really hot in the red corset...made my first trip to Boston (work) and had a wonderful time, and drove up to Portland to visit friends.

September: Completed my first corset after significant weightloss...played first bar gig with Khafif at Bloomfield Bridge Tavern...first trip to Calif. (work) where I met a nice dancer...scenes from the Pittsburgh Irish Fest.

August: Dealing with the aftermath of Pennsic and splitting with my husband of 7 years...played with the Wild Geese at the Harp & Fiddle...some scenes from Pennsic and my personal review of the event.

July: Still working hard at weightloss...attended Lollapalooza with my bro...had a birthday...discovered Between the Waters and they became my new favorite local band. What is not captured in the blog at this time is the pain and anxiety I felt over thoughts of separation and ending my marriage.

June: Got bellybutton pierced...posted photos and wrote about my trip to Switzerland and Germany (work)...what is not captured in the blog is the fact that I returned from this trip irrevocably changed, not by anything that happened there in particular. I think that I just had a lot of time to myself to think there.

May: Scenes from Aethelmearc War Practice (SCA event)...some pix with the new red violin.

April: Scenes from Blackstone Raids (SCA event)...addressing my ergomic issues at work--you can still see that I have some weight yet to lose...I was shopping for a new violin at this time...I talk about some stuff that was pissing me off, such as the war in Iraq and antique dealers who are assholes...posted a very old old pic of Chris and I before we got married, funny, it's not there now...my review of the FLUX9 event.

March: I joke about the media coverage of the war...I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" and really liked it...I am disgruntled over cancellation of Farscape...I read some Henry Rollins early prose...review and pix of some Khafif activities including Spirit of the Tribes.

February: Finished designing my now famous Raj choli pattern and started selling copies of it on eBay--it's still selling pretty well in my eBay store...attended a conference for work in Las Vegas--lots of pix and review from that...starting to notice a difference in my body after starting to lose some weight. Also feeling more confident. At this point, I could not have predicted the drastic sweeping changes that happened later--the divorce, having a new body and pretty much reinventing myself. I even refinanced my home at this time--NOT something you want to do if you are contemplating divorce.

January: I joined Weight Watchers, having no idea of the changes it would have on my life...dealing with sickness and cold weather...review and pix from winter hafla...review and pix from NYE.