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You guessed it: it’s time for the long-established (this being the third year ) review of the year! So, what on earth happening during 2008?

January
New Year’s SexFest ’08 at Joshua’s was the biggest yet – no doubt helped by the beautiful sponsorship banners which Lucy and I created for the event. The rest of the holiday was spent with the greatest people in the world attempting but failing to play The War On Terror board game and watching the powerful film The Kite Runner. Back in Cambridge I danced to Dale’s Supermarket Sweep with Sophie and started Themes and Sources classes which, for all their stresses, did introduce me to lasting friends Andrew (“Andreas!”), Matt (“If we’re honest…”) and Caroline (“your token Tory”). But January was also a sad month: my Grandad died, although his funeral was a fitting tribute to a long life.

February
In the Cambridge bubble we had our amazingly scrumptious History Society Dinner which was also probably one of the first proper chats I had with Abi. Lucy and I had our second anniversary, Saoirse visited and was forced to sign a form at the University Library promising that she wouldn’t learn anything and I freaked a few people out (slightly) by beating myself up when the Internet was down. Oh, and I got married to Sophie! This month I also saw the crazed Stephen Green, the slightly mad Nigel Farage and the very sane Sir Richard Dearlove speak. Meanwhile, in the real world, the word ‘nationalisation’ returned to the scene: cue heady excitement and frequent pleas for the railways to be next.

March
March began with a pheromone test, dinner with mum and everyone blogging photos of their desks. Term was winding down by this point and we spent evenings playing with Jenga bricks, sonic screwdrivers and *laughs* Dungeons and Dragons – the latter clearly a singular aberration. And then I was back in London again, where a totally different kind of life instead demanded Jenga Truth or Dare, Junior Pictionary and bubble mixture. Lucy and I also invented (for ourselves at any rate) the Tube game – hurrah for South Acton! – and had The 39 Steps (not) ruined by a giant brass bar. I also went unsuccessfully ice-skating with Oliver and Abi (gulp) but danced highly successfully with Scott at Josie’s 18th. But perhaps March will best be remembered by one great discovery above all others… I speak, of course, of the mighty Peggle.

April
Ah, April, the month in which I tried my very best to get Ken Livingstone re-elected by handing out leaflets, phoning up people in Kew, pushing leaflets through doors and even persuading Saoirse to help! Meanwhile, 2008 proved to be the year of the dinner party with Abbi hosting April’s great get-together. My mum and I rekindled our geek visit tradition with the London Transport Museum and the Royal Courts of Justice whilst Lucy and I ate fudge in Stratford upon Avon. Then: Easter term began with the terrifying prospect of a mock exam quiz (thanks, Sophie!) but also the amazing surprise of Oliver and Abi’s beautiful Dalek cookies. This was also the month in which we finally all went punting together and – slightly momentously – I actually cast my first proper vote in an election. Would democracy turn out to be any good?

May
No, no it would not! May opened with the installation of Mayor Boris; true recovery from this event still eludes me even after the subsequent evenings of wine, ice cream and Doctor Who in its aftermath as well as comfort-buying a new phone. In fact, come to think of it, this was also the month that of the Sainsbury’s ID outrage, the stolen pizza (lest we forget!) and another wrong-headed final of The Apprentice. Did anything good happen? Well, naturally, as Abi and I reached our creative peak in choosing to spend our History Society budget on little badges. Yay

June
By contrast June was a very happy time: the final weeks of my first year of uni went by in a warm haze of picnics and barbecues – and the Caius May Ball was one of the most amazing nights of my life. A couple of days later it was my 19th birthday and amidst all the generous gifts was Oliver and Abi’s beautiful dartboard of hate figures, something which really touched me given all the effort that went into making it, as well as Lucy’s highly addictive Underground board game which subsequently saw much play. I also visited Worcester, went on an joint expedition to sample the delights of the Shoreham Village Fête in Joe’s village and – one afternoon on a Hampstead Heath picnic – found in Sanna and Saoirse willing companions to launch the brilliant Book Club.

July
I started an important journey in July: to finally watch the original Star Wars trilogy. Properly. And so I did, but there were plenty of other distractions too – Abbi’s Dirty Pirate Hooker Party, the Waseley Prom, Barrie Birch’s leaving do featuring memorable live teacher performances, swimming in the Hampstead Heath ponds and visiting Andrew in Cambridge for some delicious hot dogs and – naturally – plenty of wine. And those films and plays: The Dark Knight, Midnight & Magnolias at the Tricycle and ‘Best Film Ever’ The Forbidden Kingdom. I finally got my cheesy photo with Ken at the supporters’ party – bring on 2012! – and even managed to do my usual stint of work (actual paid work ) for the UCL summer school. Hurrah!

August
Aw – the family summer holiday is far from dead and this year was spent relaxing in Croatia with a week each in Korcula and Dubrovnik. This was also the month of A2 results for Lucy, Josie, Nic, Andy (and the rest!) as well as GCSEs for Natasha – all well deserved. Mamma Mia was in cinemas, Let There Be Love played at the Tricycle and Robert took his turn to host our dinner party antics. I also spent some time with Matthew – always a pleasure – and indeed ended up sitting on the curb outside a packed pub with him and Joshua one night musing about life.

September
Others may return to school but September is still the summer for me! And rather than do coursework I carried on having fun: particularly so on the night that Natasha and I cooked huge quantities of spaghetti for everyone. That evening was a pleasurable blur although Abbi’s cheese mix CD was not only much-played but prompted the creation of my own musical compilation. Over in Warwick Lucy was traumatised by a laughing tourist at the ghost experience whilst back in London The Boy With Striped Pyjamas left us all unable to speak long after the credits rolled. I also saw Die Welle and read Bad Science, the latter of which instantly became one of my favourite books.

October
Agh, the second year already! In October I moved into Mortimer Road and discovered Merlin, the SAECULUM and wordles – not to mention managing to resurrect my beloved Ready Brek from my childhood. Peggle struck back with Peggle Nights, a chance encounter with Patrick from April’s Ken campaign led me to see Henry V and Sanna came to both visit and marvel at demi-god Magnus Ryan. Plus: I had my first ultra-late-night-essay-writing-binge.

November
Perhaps in realisation at how crazily quickly time was passing there were further visitors: my parents came up for quintessential afternoon tea with Sophia and Joshua arrived to challenge Abi to Peggle duels, eat bumper portions of waffles and take me to see The King Blues for a brilliant gig performance. Of course, there was also the night in which we all stayed up to watch Obama sweep to victory – and sweet landslide victory indeed! Russell T Davies is not quite of such worldwide importance – although he comes pretty damned close – and on an evening at the National in London he graciously signed a copy of his book for me… and Natasha, and Katie. In addition – Reindeer Post was launched, Sir Christopher Meyer spoke to Peterhouse and Pride and Privilege proved perfect entertainment for me and Sophie. Oh, and on a visit to Sussex I discovered the irreplaceable children’s classic My Mates and I!

December
Winter is freezing in Cambridge and doubly so if your coat lacks any buttons – but never fear, because in the final week of term there was celebration, raucous late-night beer-fuelled singing, a visit to Newnham and Doctor Zhivago with Owen’s Russian night. Back at home, Promise – who I’d happily seen a lot more of over the last term – braved the Self household to come round for dinner. Secret Tikoloshe proved loads of fun at the Secret Vegetarian Festive Dinner before Christmas came and was as lovely as Christmas always is. And in the final few days of 2008 we saw lots of family in Suffolk – hi Julie! – and Abi presented me with yet another amazing present. How can I ever repay these people?!

Well, we’ll see if I manage it in 2009 Onwards to SexFest ’09!

You never know, if I keep doing this it might become sort of tradition – yes, it’s the yearly review thingy! Again! So here’s what happened in 2007…

January
Once again, the year began at Joshua’s New Year Party (or SexFest 07, as I affectionately named it, for tongue in cheek reasons of course) with an exciting street pillow fight at midnight. A few days later, Cambridge offered me a place hurrah! January was also the month of my new(ish) phone, Uber Ninja badges, module exams and shouting ‘condoms!’ into the dark Kensal Rise night.

February
Possibly the most enduring memory for this month will be seeing my first (and quite possibly last) ventriloquist act on stage. Though that’s not all that I saw: Frost/Nixon, Hot Fuzz and Notes on a Scandal also featured. Joshua’s 18th birthday party featured the memorable case of Robert’s missing trousers, whilst at school Saoirse was baking Communist cakes, my calculator was dealing out death and we were all casting teachers as James Bond characters. Plus: mother came to Cofton!

March
Surrounded by socialists, I bravely defended fuzzy centrist politics at an SWP meeting. They were pussycats, however, compared to Joshua’s attack for closing Quote of the Day (sorry!) which I duly did anyway. Emily had a birthday picnic, and there were various stresses at school, both personal and work-related. I still came out smiling, but perhaps I spent too much time morphing Mr Kanj into Ross from Friends.

April
History was made, as Andy Kings visited the Self dwelling to witness Holly and Hanan direct Egdar and Ms Hook in Xenophobia, a masterpiece of film set in my bedroom! (Surreal high point of my life?) Meanwhile, ‘Da Spittings ov DALEK RED’ briefly came into existence, and this blog turned three.

May
What a month: the last of the dreaded Physics Practical exams, going to Blackpool with Lucy on a holiday beautifully organised by Nic… and the Demon Headmaster I also went to see The News Quiz being recorded, as the frantic winds of exams were just about to start…

June
Friday 8th June. My last day at school. Celebrating the event with a flurry of photos and one very strange video, it wasn’t long before A2 exams started. In case that wasn’t enough, I turned 18 – with an exam on my birthday, and a beautiful shiny laptop of joy – and then it was all over. The English groups had Literary High Tea, and the country got a new Prime Minister after 10 years of Tony Blair. Everything was changing.

July
No school, and no exams! July was an odd month, but it’s not like I did nothing: I became Carolyn’s PA, worked for the UCL Summer School again and visited Chesham for the silliest of reasons. This was also the month of the final Harry Potter, The Simpsons Movie and The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged).

August
Aw, our family holiday in Wales! I’m still not sure how I managed to get sunburnt, but I did. Once back, I distracted myself by revamping this very website (hello, orange!) before exam results came out on the 16th and I thankfully got what I needed for Cambridge. So, with that out of the way, I went to Brighton with Lucy where we fell in love with a ride, and later in the month was induced into the darkly competitive world of Trivial Pursuit. And exciting packages from university started to arrive! And we had picnics on the Heath! Life was good

September
To be honest, life was still very very good. I went with mum to Russia, visiting Moscow and St Petersburg in a week. Soon before, I’d seen Regina Spektor live in concert via Lucy’s birthday present, which was an amazing night. There was a Cambridge party for Freshers, and some even better goodbye parties: most of all in Camden, drinking mango beer with wonderful people. And then, at the very end of September, I left.

October
My first month at uni Filled with meeting new people, trying to get unpacked and – for the first time in months – work! I loved it, though, and was very busy but in a nicely directed way. I only left for one night, to attend Troy’s wedding, which was also lovely to be at!

November
And so term continued in a fast-paced blur: I went to see Lord Levy and Martin Bell speaking at the Cambridge Union, and also went along to debates on the Middle East and comprehensive education, the latter from which the image of Peter Hitchens has been permanently seared into my brain. Us Historians went out for birthday meals, threw juggling balls at each other and generally avoided the notorious 5th week blues until suddenly it was the end of term already!

December
Hurrah for short terms I returned home at the beginning of December, and threw myself into seeing people: Joshua was back from the jungle with exciting tales, and there was another night out in Camden; I stayed overnight at Rishal’s in Leicester, and also to the Wesley Waseley Sixth Form Christmas party… it was busy! There was also deep sadness at Kelly’s funeral, but with people that I’d also missed seeing, and I’d even missed seeing the school which I managed to sneak back into once or twice. Once again, I had a wonderful Christmas… and Joshua’s New Year’s party is only days away!

Wow, what a year bring it on, 2008!

In the interests of reflection, here’s a my life in a year sorta thing, the big question being ‘which huge events have I accidentally forgotten?’…

January
2006 began at Joshua’s New Year Party. GCSEs seemed rather far away as I had my first AS exams in English and Physics (as well as ICT, quickly forgotten). The good people at Waseley sent me a mysterious package packed with stuff, which led to the wonderful ‘Gold Hat’ movie Katie and I put together.

February
New York, New York! February was rather packed actually. Aside from the Big Apple, I also went punting in Cambridge during a Shadowing Scheme and managed to finally ask Lucy out, narrowly missing Valentine’s Day. She said yes, by the way

March
Our beloved pet Tom Cat died in March but in happier news I got my grades from the January exams, including a B in the ‘misery and despair’ exam. The RV crew also visited London, making them all the more real to me! In fact, I ended up meeting Josie again the next week in Oxford with Lucinda. March was also the month of the infamous ‘A and two zeros’.

April
My sisters became Maths Coursework stars. Quote of the Day launched. My blog had a birthday. Series 2 of Doctor Who began, properly. The Physics practical exam started to loom large in my mind, and I achieved a lifetime ambition by going to see Have I Got News For You being recorded. Huzzah!

May
I had my first taste of fame in May as the wonderful Mr. Nash set questions about this very blog as a piece of Year 9 homework. My Physics practical also went well in the end as did my other exams which began in May. And then we went off to Paris for a few days during Half Term! London, Paris, New York… lovely

June
RaVe! OK OK, so I finished the last of my AS exams, had a birthday, and got to meet Tony Benn. But RaVe was the defining moment of June, after a nice send-off to Ruberyvillage, as I brought Joshua and Fabio along to sleep in a tent in Nic’s garden. Oh, and the police shut the party down at 10pm!

July
You should all be delighted to know that I did a little bit of work in July, you know, with money and everything. Although to be fair it was at the Queens Park \ UCL summer school, which is why I carry around a ‘UCL Library Services’ card around in my wallet to this day. And I turned up in Cofton Hackett unannounced, because Lucy doesn’t like surprises.

August
Ah the long summer holiday month. The girls went off to Tanzania, while Dad and I stayed at home with a bit of Birmingham \ Suffolk in between. It was lovely I also got a new phone *sniff* which didn’t last long. Ooh and I got my AS results! Which prompted the crazed decision to carry on with Physics through A2…

September
The 39 Steps was probably the highlight of my ‘culture’ this year, at the Tricycle. Politicians also began to please me, with the unveiling of plans for the London Overground and Gordon Brown mulling NHS political independence. In sillier news, another lifetime ambition was fulfilled with ‘Ricky’s Cry For Help’ giving me my long-sought appearance in B3ta.

October
The long running and often traumatic university application process was over (sort of) as I sent my applications to read History off to UCAS. It was also lovely to see Catherine again at her 18th birthday \ housewarming party. IE7 was released, finally, and I rode Stealth at Thorpe Park. Excitement. Oh, and I had smiles added to my homework diary.

November
Traditions were started (the return of Quiz Night!) and traditions were ended (Dominic’s abandonment of the coach for the train). I wore a suit, and tie (and tie!) to my grandparents’ surprise 50th wedding anniversary party in Dorset. Shockingly, I got MySpace and the conditional offers started to trickle in…

December
…but the big beast was yet to come, with my Cambridge interviews in December. I still don’t know if they’ll offer me a place or not, but it they seemed to go well, and I’m glad I had the experience in any case. Talking of experiences, I’d never have predicted a tornado striking Kensal Rise, as it did, coming perilously close to my school. Picking Christmas presents was a bit of a gamble this year, but I think it paid off and Joshua’s New Year Party will round the year off as it began!

Looking forward to an interesting 2007, to say the least Will A Levels finally crush Dominic’s optimistic spirit? Will he pack his bags for university or dropout and roam the streets looking for food? Will this website finally get a redesign? Let’s find out…