One year on.

It's official. My blog is one year old this month. Please break out the banners and birthday balloons. At your houses, not mine. After my brothers birthday party yesterday, I'm not sure my old self can take another one.

Loyal readers of this blog will now realise that my posts usually have some sort of theme, although I do tend to go off track every once in a while. Some of you may not be 100% willing to go back and re-read old blogs, though you'd be missing out on some fantastic stuff. But hey, that's just my egotistical opinion. 

Recently, it occurred to me that newer readers may not know the person behind the blog and the subjects I usually talk/rant about. So, to commemorate the year anniversary of the publication of this blog, here it all is. All the information about Gemma's World and moi that you could ever wish to know. Or not know. If it's the latter stop reading. Now.

Please don't stop reading. 

                                   

1. Unfortunately, this is the face I was given at birth. This is actually me in those god awful sunglasses in that shocking orange top next to one of the loveliest people I've ever had the pleasure to meet, (and who tried to teach me some Chinese in exchange for French lessons once upon a time), Polly, while we were in America last month. History student. Journalist. Blogger. Welshie. Moi. If any of you didn't know it, I'm an honest to gosh journalist at The Waterfront Newspaper at Swansea University and you should all rush out and find copies of the paper or look us up online. We're really quite a spectacular bunch.

2. I love my job. I'm probably one of the few people who can say that. It's not paid but with my equally wonderful job at the Students' Union nightclub, it doesn't matter. Currently, I'm News Editor at The Waterfront Newspaper at the beautiful institution of Swansea University and it is as rewarding as it is fun. I get to work with some of the best people I've ever been fortunate to meet who are, as well as incredibly funny, talented and bright, and are some of my very best friends. How wonderful is that? I told you that we're a spectacular bunch. 

     

The best people I've ever met

From left to right: Jake, Alan, Craig, Catrin, Fred, Me, Jon, Sam, Melvs, Chris, Lauren, Emma, Ina and Sophie. 

3. I like to rant. Well, I wouldn't call it ranting, more discussion with some undertones of anger. Either way, it's therapeutic for me to do it on this blog. Not for you. But definitely for me.

Also, I love having this blog because I love writing. And when it's the holidays (as it is now), and I'm procrastinating and not writing my dissertation which I've probably be leading up to for all my academic life, it's even better. Makes you feel productive even when you aren't. That, my friends, is a wonderful feeling.

4. I blog about how things make me feel quite a lot. Not in the mushy kind of sense that makes people feel sick, but in the sense that I'm aware of how things affect me and, if I feel strongly enough about these things, I will blog about them. I try my best to convey the general feeling of people about the things I write about but, well, this is Gemma's World and not everybody else's. And if you like reading that kind of stuff, keep on reading. Forevermore. Thanks. :)

5. Gemma's World is, like the world around me, full of lots of different topics from student life, to gay marriage, to the secret life of a depressive, to Disney and Feminism and everything in between. Personally, I love that about it and it makes me happy to read the blog a year on and hear peoples feedback be it, "Hey, your blog is really great and you're a wonderful person for bringing such joy to my life", to "My God Gemma this is absolutely toss awful. What's wrong with you? Rethink your life and career ok?" Or, you could go with my mother and tell me that you like the pictures. The writing is shit but hey, the pictures are pretty. At least I know I have a good eye for these things. 

I can't believe it's been a year since I started out with this blog and now, one year, nearly 5,000 page views and a grand total of (now) 36 posts later, here we are. I cannot wait to see what the next year brings for me and for this blog, which is scarily including my graduation from Swansea University and my turning 21 and into a fully fledged adult in places other than the UK (I'm sure you will hear of my antics for all these occasions in future posts). For your loyal readership (through my constant nagging and Facebook posts and Tweets), and patience with the good posts and the bad, thank you. 

A less mushy post will follow as soon as my laptop is back up and running. (Again, all to be explained in a future post.)