2018 has been a funny old year.

Every year for the last few years, I’ve done a pictorial, wading through the multitude of pictures I’ve taken over the 12 months to best illustrate my year. This year, I don’t have a huge amount of photos to choose from. And yet I feel like this year has been cram packed with awesome. As such, this is going to be a combination of text stories and pictures because hoo boy. Stuff happened.

 MCM Birmingham

Met Troy Baker and Nolan North again. Nolan took a photo of my tattoo and Troy wrote something super sweet and thoughtful in my bullet journal. Unfortunately, his handwriting is insane and I couldn’t translate it all so, a few hours later, I returned to his table for a translation only for him to stare at it blankly for several seconds, also unable to decipher it. We got there in the end though, haha. Good dudes, would recommend meeting.

Insomnia

My first time at an Insomnia con and I was there wholly and completely for the Game Grumps. I ate the most disgusting toastie I have ever encountered but it didn’t matter because I got to meet Arin and Dan, two guys who have made bad days better a lot over the last couple of years. I was nervous and gave myself a migraine while waiting but they were so lovely (and incredibly jet lagged, bless them) and I got to chat with them much longer than I expected. Good dudes, would recommend meeting.

Long Beach

Went to the Long Beach IndyCar race and got to hang out with one of my bestest friends in the world. I ate amazing waffles, had several flights of cider, walked along a sandy beach, fed birds, touched a jellyfish, ate my first ice cream sandwich and went on a ferris wheel for the first time in years. A good time was most definitely had.

Monaco Grand Prix

Got to cross another European race off my list this year. Monaco was gorgeous and so much fun, mostly because of the people I got to share it with. We watched YouTube in the perfectly located Airbnb, fought ants, dropped croissants on the ground, inadvertently caught the attention of physios with merely a whisper, sang Sandstorm and the Girl from Ipanema too many times, rescued a sad plant from the harbour and I got to meet Ron freaking Howard and tell him how he changed my life. Somewhere in the midst of all that, I watched some race cars too.

Durham Gala

On my way to Durham for a charity gala, I finally got to see Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross Station. The gala was a good time, excluding how horribly ill I was all night. Raised a lot of money, chatted to some lovely people, got some gossip from Rob and accidentally nearly won a flight to Dubai. Wish I could have seen more of Durham, seemed like a lovely place.

Brooklands

Got to cross another race track off my list. This time Brooklands, a track I see a whole lot of at work in its former glory back in the early 1900s. A hike up Test Hill, a stroll up the banking, a ton of cars and some mildly creepy mannequins…A surprising amount to see!

London MCM

Met Nolan North yet again as well as Victor Sullivan himself, Richard McGonagle. Hearing them actually fall into a conversation as Nate and Sully was surreal and amazing. Nolan was so chatty that I started to feel bad for the people waiting behind me so slipped away only to end up going back an hour later to talk to him about Detroit and try and nudge him into streaming with Bryan. He said he’d investigate. He also gave me some Uncle Noly advice that was surprisingly excellent and not remotely inappropriate. Also met King Regis aka Jon Campling who I’d been watching on Twitch and we had a very lengthy chat about all things Detroit and gaming in general. The most chill con I’ve been to and I bought far too much art. A good time was had.

The Connor Army

In June, I bought a video game. Detroit: Become Human. It’s funny because I knew before it even arrived that this was going to be A Big Deal and I didn’t know why. I watched Jacksepticeye’s playthrough for a couple of episodes before realising this should probably be something I experience for myself first. Boy. I was correct and also MASSIVELY underprepared for what was to come.

Over the following six months, I discovered Bryan Dechart and Amelia Rose Blaire’s Twitch channel and got recruited into an army. A community full of wonderful, creative, hilarious, interesting and generous individuals.

I took the plunge into streaming myself and have had an absolute blast doing so. I also got raided by said Army which allowed me to get Affiliate. Only 4 followers to go until I hit 100! It’s all been a bit unreal but there’s no doubt in my mind that these people have made me better, made each day a little better and I can’t wait to see what’s in store next year.

Other Highlights:

Getting my Finnish banner signed by Valtteri and Kimi.

Made good in-roads on my worldbuilding.

Got to hang out with some of my favourite people in the world.

It’s been quite the year and while the world has been going insane and we’re all rapidly descending into a dystopia that we didn’t sign up for, I’m grateful for all the friends I have and the new ones I’ve made and for the adventures I got to go on and the work I get to do day in and day out.

I hope that 2019 brings just as much fun and even more people to share it with!