Failte readers, and happy holidays! I hope you've been spoiled, and that you've been doing some spoiling of your own in return.
I was already feeling the Hogmanay vibes earlier on in December to coincide with the solstice, and the urge for a seasonally appropriate purge is become stronger with each day. Part of these rituals is saying goodbye to the old year, and good grief it's been a wild ride. For anyone who's been wondering about the reason for the lack of updates on here - hold onto your hats.
The year started off tumultuously, but even through the difficult times I was grateful for the good it brought. I furthered my interest in the occult, leveled up my make up game, and rediscovered a lot of old passions I'd been neglecting. I watched the eclipse with an (I think, anyway) ingenious combination of a pin hole and a sheet of paper, and fed my excitement for the approaching new series of Twin Peaks with a 25th anniversary party.
Academia always comes into play, but after a stressful month of revision and exams I grabbed my bags and high tailed it to the Amsterdam markets for my first holiday abroad in years. It's a fascinating city, and definitely one that benefits from some insider knowledge - another visit is definitely happening.
For my self selected projects, I did some art therapy experience and completed a crash course in BSL (life lesson: do not confuse the verb and noun forms of the word 'dog') - I didn't quite realize it at the time, but it kickstarted the direction my research and professional work has gone on to take. It wasn't all hard graft however, and on discovering I'd passed my exams (with a good grade!) I celebrated with a week long art and clubbing extravaganza, and found out that the djcad students had been working just as hard.
The summer was a very Scottish one, but I was that busy fighting the system and moving into a flat I'm over the moon with (still no real photos of it on here, somehow) the awful weather didn't distract me too much. I fell in love with Barcelona and its relationship with art in my second holiday abroad of 2015, and started a commission piece of my own that I'm still working towards finishing.
I kept dancing through the year, even teaching my first class in burlesque in the autumn (having only started about a month before - how did that happen?), and I discovered a real talent for solo blues. The new semester saw a fresh haircut and a new research degree, as well as my officially becoming an adult - I watched the pagan Samhuinn display, greeted the blood moon, and realized that if you take care of your skin it will look better.
Whilst on An Honest Drug we missed most of this crazy productivity, after a spell away from blogging we got the camera working again and welcomed some firsts on the blog. We were featured in a magazine, and ran our first interview with the absolutely lovely Tyler Thrasher. I am sad that I didn't post as much over the past months, but it just makes me more determined to do so next year.
It's been a far more colorful and varied year than I realized, and I'm glad I put so much effort into taking care of myself so that I could do it. 2015 definitely feels like a year where I got more comfortable settling into my skin, and seriously dedicated my time to shaping a life I love.
Till 2016,
Fiona C.
Fiona C.
