This post was inspired by Topic 32 from Topical Tuesday´s My Year Competition Challenge. I will not be entering of course, because I can design a site for myself anytime.

In just over a year I will have been blogging a decade, not consistently, but blogging all the same. The last ten years have been difficult and I cannot say with any degree of honesty than I have derived a great deal of enjoyment out of them. Its a shame when one looks back and feels that way. I have had my moments, but they were brief and altogether too infrequent.

I have always maintained a written journal. It has, like my blog, been neglected and cast aside more times than I can count. But every so often I will draw it out and write my most personal thoughts. Once or twice, when people have happened to come across it, there have been problems and a great deal of hurt caused as a result. In order to complete this post I read over many of these journals. It was difficult.

The funny thing is I remember the 31st December 1999 like it was yesterday. Maybe this is because it was such an important event – the conclusion of a century. I stood in the window of my home and watched the fireworks fill the sky at the stroke of midnight, and I cried. I cannot say why, I was not depressed that night, I was expectant and hopeful that this century would be full of new discoveries and wonder. I was planning to return to university.

I had a horse. He cost a small fortune to buy and a large fortune to maintain. I know now that I should have sold him and cut my losses then, but emotion has always guided my actions. In the case of my beautiful Irish Sports horse this was definitely the case.

The highlights of the coming years were meeting some of most amazing people, some of whom I am proud to refer to as friends to this day. Sarah, poor girl, has had to tolerate me for a long time! Its hard to believe we have been friends for a decade! Others I still hear from occasionally via email or facebook – Iain, Keir, and Andy. They were the guys who made the opening to the century special. Sarah, Keir, Iain and I spent one rather boozy weekend in classy Blackpool!

The year 2001 saw me once again guided by my emotions when I purchased an undernourished Romany Cob. She was in a very poor state, and basically looked like a skeleton covered in patchy black and white hair. She was weak, listless and covered in lice. I almost walked away from her because I believed her beyond saving, and then the most amazing thing happened. She raised her head proudly, turned, and trotted round the field. The movement was the most spectacular I have seen in a yearling. She was beautiful. Problem is by the time I returned with the horsebox her condition had worsened and for a long time it was touch and go. But we won, Jezebel and I, we beat the odds together. I am proud to say she is now a healthy, happy ten year old with a new Mum. I am proud of that achievement. The vet told me that another day without help and she almost certainly would have died.

The beginning of the decade saw a new passion enter my life – website design. It all began when I started my first weblog. By absolute chance I fell upon the blog Tinmanic.com and was immediately fascinated. I started my own blog the very same day, although with considerably less success. Such as I am I was not happy to simply have a standard template, I had to learn how to make them. The early years, much like today (and this current theme) was a course of trial and error. I bought books on design, css, php, colour usage, and eventually graphic design and Photoshop. I was, and still am, obsessed with knowing more. My first blog was powered by Blogger. I soon became frustrated with its unreliability and lack of performance and moved to Movabletype. Then PMachine, Expression Engine and most recently Wordpress. I have used Wordpress most consistently, but rather ironically only recently on my personal blog.

One of the most consistent aspects of my life during the last ten years has been the presence of animals. Be they horses, hamsters, cats, dogs, rats or guinea pigs – they have always been there. During the course of the ten years here are the animals I have loved and sadly, lost.

Hamsters : Geraldine, Griselda, Georgie, Little Guy, Wombat, Jordan, Gemima
Rats : Hansel, Gretel, Merry, Pippin, Buffy
Guinea Pigs : Colin, Gerald, Esmae
Horses : Irish Pryde, Jezebel
Cats : Kypa Filleta
Goldfish/Catfish : Grotty Gilbert, Gregory
South American Tree frogs :: Pip & Squeak
Dogs :: Joe, Sam

Out of all them Joe is with us. Sam lives with someone else. Jezebel has a new Mum. The rest are long gone.

Part II tomorrow. Now I have to return to work!

Side note :: The current theme has numerous errors. Sorry, its very unprofessional of me I know.

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