It's safe to say that I never thought I'd be celebrating my 30th birthday living in a different country - but that's exactly what happened this month.
January '16 has been a time of major adjustment - I would say I'm pretty much used to being Stateside now, mine and Nicole's flat feels like home now. I would say the only part of living in the US that I'm still getting to grips with is the getting around, most of my travel has been Nicole driving me places, I've barely dared to venture out on my own. The cold weather hasn't really helped either, especially the winter storm Jonas that hit in the middle of this month - me and Nicole had a very memorable trip to Rhode Island to escape the worst of it (we ended up spending an extra night there because of car trouble).
So I'm sure some of you are wondering, "how does it feel to be 30?" I can say that it feels pretty much the same as my 20s so far. Some say that turning 30 is when the rot sets in, but others say that life begins at 30 - I would say that it's different for everyone.
It was a little strange not getting to celebrate my birthday with taking on my brother in a bowling match, but I was still able to wish him well via Skype - I also ended up getting a couple of half-unexpeected birthday presents from Nicole and her family, for the first time in years I have a bike of my own once again, and also I got a top-of-the-range Canon camera, so expect to see a lot of photography.
Me and Nicole also celebrated the occasion with a trip to Rhode Island and to Foxwoods Casino, where we had that game of slightly-sloshed birthday bowling - it was a blast, and I can't thank Nicole and her family enough for everything.
Keeping with the birthday theme, on the art front I hosted an art jam on DeviantArt - I was born in the 80s, so it was only fitting to host a jam themed around everything from that crazy decade, "Back To The 80s". I have very vague memories of living in the 80s as I was only a baby at the time, but I do remember some of the music, and 1980s music is something I enjoy listening to as well.
Unrelated to the jam, I've also been experimenting a little with my artwork - I recently purchased some Copic markers, and while they're expensive, they're really high quality, the ink doesn't bleed through the paper, and it also enables me to make pictures at much higher resolution. I'm hoping making my drawings this way will also reduce the amount of time I spend working on a drawing, while still keeping it high quality.
That was my January, and quite a way to start the new year it was - and by the time of the next blog, I'll be a married man, all being well.
I'll leave you with some artwork as always, one of my own entries to the 80s art jam, my homage to the classic animation "The Snowman".
In fact, I'll leave some music this time, too - one of my favourite songs from the 80s, and also the song that was the UK no. 1 when I was born : "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys.
