So I joined GRCade in August 2008. I was 18, and had just finished first year uni. I had shoulder length hair and was pushing 20 stone. I worked 8 hours a week in Morrisons. Since then, in some semblance of order:
- Got a slightly better job dealing with complaints in a call centre. Coming up on ten years in October.
- Moved out for the first time, to a house my mum inherited when my granda died. It was an unmitigated disaster. Tried again a year later, also a disaster.
- Met other forumites for the first time, at the meet and meat in 2009. I can honestly say that I've made genuinely great friends off the back of those meet ups, who I couldn't do without. Lost my hair in a freak balding accident a few weeks after I turned 21 in 2010.
- Completed undergrad degree in 2011(2:1 - the drinking man's degree). Started masters degree almost immediately.
- Completed masters degree in 2012(awarded with merit). Started PhD - self funded because I found I could never concentrate hard enough to really study for the top grades.
- Learned to drive in 2013/14, and got a car which I have spent the last four years absolutely running into the ground. It's an indispensable advantage.
- Spent almost three months in the States in 2014, performing, " PhD research." Most of this research was into how cheap one can acquire booze and fags in Texas. Somehow, I did not immediately fail the PhD when I got back.
- Lost over six stone, though I've since put about two back on.
- Got a dog in 2015. It wouldn't be an understatement to say that this was both the best and worst decision the family ever made.
- Immediately moved out away from said dog to Glasgow's West End, and have never returned to my mum's house.
- Also started teaching as a Graduate Teaching Assistant(same arrangement as Mini E most likely) in 2015, and have carried that on at a couple of institutions since. It's a job I genuinely love and hope to take forward as a career.
- Met my current partner in July 2016, moved in with her the following May. I've somehow become the owner of a cat as part of this arrangement.
- Finally, FINALLY, submitted PhD in 2017, and graduated last month for the third and last time. At least two GRCade members(and the dog) have a personal thank you in the credits.
Those are the most important things but it's been a pretty eventful. Travelled to the US a few times, spent almost a month in Asia, around Europe, spent myself into ludicrous debt, had all kinds of soap-esque family shenanigans and everything in between. No kids yet, and not married, but these things aren't a million miles in the future. Certainly by the time we get to 20.