December 2018

So, another year has come to an end, and it goes without saying that as with every other year, a lot has happened - I'll try and keep it brief.

Negatives:
- Changes in my job
- Disillusion with social media
- Our pet ferrets Apollo and Luna both diagnosed with cancer
- Passing of our pet turtle Chief (RIP)
- Recent events around the world
- Personal matters (will not disclose those here)

Positives:
+ Still producing artwork - first Fyfe & Sparkplug comic completed
+ Opened a Twitter account
+ Began creating my own website
+ First full year working in a permanent job
+ Started getting help with my personal issues
+ 2 years married to my lovely wife
+ Lots of beach time and photography
+ Various getaways (mostly Rhode Island but a few detours here and there)
+ Flew back to the UK for the first time since my move to the US, via setting foot in Ireland for the first time

The past month was mostly busy, due to the festive season, with getting the house ready as well as it being one if the busiest times of year work-wise. However me and my wife did find time for celebration - two very close friends of ours, who had been engaged for quite some time, finally tied the knot this month, and we were present for the occasion - many congrats to the happy couple.
I ended up having both Christmas Eve and Day off, and it was mostly a nice relaxed couple of days - we spent it with the in laws, and needless to say presents, food, a board game, driving to see Christmas lights and deer, as well as some classic holiday films were involved. I also got the chance to wish my family back home in the UK well via Skype, which was wonderful.

To end this final blog of 2018, I'll leave you with this year's festive group shot for my close DeviantArt followers. All the best for 2019.

P.S. Here's a recent tune I came up with: https://youtu.be/-wXTZHLlL54

December 2016

Well...to talk about this past year, where do I even begin?

Before that, there's this past month to talk about - and as well as freezing cold weather, it also brought me some good news. It took 11 months, but I finally got my residence card, and my social security number, which means I can now legally work in the US, and also travel abroad again, and needless to say I am happy this has finally all been sorted. Now I just need to find a job.

Of course, this month the festive season came around, and as hectic as it was, with buying presents and getting the house all decorated for the occasion, it was really enjoyable. It was also very bittersweet - on the less positive side, it brought back all the memories and feelings of this time last year.  However on the positive side, me and my wife Nicole spent Christmas with her family, and along with a very memorable gift-giving we also put together a gingerbread village (I wonder why those are only popular in the US?), which was a lot of fun. This was also our first Christmas together as a married couple, and it was all the more special because of that, I certainly hope neither of us forget it.

I still can't believe that I left behind my family and my old life in the UK a year ago, and I still remember all the mixed emotions I felt that week, with having to say goodbye to my family, yet also feeling excited about starting a new life across the pond. I do miss my family a lot, and I really hope that me and Nicole will be able to take a trip over to the UK to see them again at some point in 2017, but I also don't regret making the move. As I've said before, it was an event in my life that needed to happen.

Needless to say, 2016 has been quite an eventful year. I know a lot of awful stuff has happened in the world this year, with political upheaval, the passing of many famous faces (closer to home, I lost a dear friend in November) and all the injustices in the world that just seem to escalate year after year - but I guess we should all be thankful for the all good things that have happened too. The world is full of beauty and good people too - you just have to dig through all the dirt to find it.

On that note, I hope everyone had a good Christmas, and I wish you all the best for 2017 - and as always, I'll leave you with some artwork - a festive group shot of me and my wife's main characters in fine voice.

December 2015

Where do I begin?

To say that December has been a month of mixed emotions doesn't begin to cover it. There comes a time in everyone's lives where something has to change, and on 28 December 2015, such a moment happened to me - I said goodbye to my family and my life in my home country of the UK that I've known for the past 29 years, and took a one way flight across the pond to start a new life in the USA with my soon-to-be wife Nicole. This was something that had been in the works for this whole year, and while the waiting and the whole process of applying for the visa got a little bit frustrating at times, it all came together in the end.
I always knew that saying goodbye to my family, especially my twin brother, would be one of the hardest things that I would ever have to do, and as emotional as it was, it needed to be done. At the end of the day, they all want me to be happy, no matter where I am in the world. And making this move doesn't mean that I intend on losing touch with any of my family or friends back in the UK, if anything it makes my connection with them stronger. As a good friend said to me, "you can take the lad out of County Durham but you can't take County Durham out of the lad."
My flights over to the US were absolutely fine, and to my surprise I had no trouble at US customs either - the only problem that happened was that British Airways left one of my bags in London, but that all got sorted thankfully. And when I was reunited with my lovely Nicole, I was finally able to say "I did it!"
We got moved into our own place, a very spacious apartment - it took a couple of days to adjust to it, there were a few moments where we both thought "pinch me, is this real?", but it already feels like home now. There's still much for me to get used to, but I'm sure in time that I will, and I know that Nicole will help me to do so.
With all that's been happening, Christmas has almost been an afterthought - however I'm glad that I was able to spend Christmas with my family before the move, as well as apending the New Year with Nicole and her family and friends - the best of both worlds, really.
As 2015 draws to a close, I can only wonder what 2016 is going to bring, not just for myself but for everyone. To this I say, it will bring what it will bring, let's just see what happens.

I'll leave you with my final artwork selection of this year, a festive group shot for my DeviantArt friends. Which leaves me to say just this: wherever you are in the world, whoever you're with, I wish you all the best for 2016 and beyond. :)

January 2015

New Year, old routines, old gripes, but new memories to cherish too - that's what sums up this month for me - I'll get the bad stuff out of the way first.

Obviously, I'm back in the UK now, my winter US trip came to an end on the 11th, and it was a very bittersweet moment indeed, perhaps more bitter than sweet. With all the jetlag it felt really weird coming back home and barely recognising the place, and it took me about a week to completely recover.
Being back home meant getting back into old routines, namely that of my work placement, and that was fine, it was pretty much like I'd never been away, really. What I didn't enjoy coming back to was the jobsearch and pressure side of it, from that certain place I won't name. It's just making me realise how much I need to sever my ties with them, because they just seem to get worse as every year passes. I wasn't put on this earth to be a pawn in their stupid game.
This month was also my birthday of course (29 already?), and while I enjoyed the day very much (more on that in a bit), I just found myself feeling let down by a few people on DeviantArt - you see, every year I make birthday giftarts for friends on DA, I put a lot of time and thought into them, and I don't ask for any giftart in return, just a somple greeting when my birthday comes round - however I end up feeling frustrated year in year out because there are always some of these "friends" who fail to give me a greeting in return. Now some of them may have a genuine reason that they forgot, but unless told otherwise, I have to assume that they just want free art from me and that they couldn't give a crap about my own birthday. It sounds harsh and selfish, but that's how I feel about it. So if I draw you birthday giftart and you don't give me a greeting in return, you won't be getting any more giftart from me, simple as that.
And finally with the bad stuff, I feel like this last week of January I've had a slight touch of the January blues, and possibly post-holiday blues by extension. The cold weather and the snow that we've had (no snow-free winter this time, unlike last winter) haven't helped either, but it'll pass.

Now onto the good stuff, and back to my US trip - again, I just can't put into words how much of a brilliant time I had. I got to ring in the New Year with my lovely Nicole and her family, as well as celebrate my birthday with a stay at a very nice hotel and bowling at a very fancy bowling alley - and on both occasion a lot of drinks were involved too. However, there was one little thing that happened right before New Year that I deliberately forgot to mention - you see, I wanted to get back home and tell my family in person before going viral with it.
On 30 December, I took Nicole to our favourite spot in Branford Point - a hill overlooking the beach and coastline. It was freezing cold, but there was a beautiful sunset in the background, and it just felt like the right moment to finally do something that I'd been plucking up the courage to do for quite a long time (I can hear you saying "Get on with it Mark!" at the back there...)...

I got down on one knee and asked Nicole to be my fiancée...and I think you can guess what her answer was. :)

So there it is - we're engaged. And right now, it's still very much sinking in for me, because this is without a doubt a huge step to make. This also means that 2015, if all works out, will be my last year living in the UK - me and Nicole are going to apply for a fiancée visa, and are hoping to have me move over to the US in October, with a view to signing our marriage licence in early 2016 (it's just signing a bit of paper, we plan to have a proper ceremony at a later date). This has all been in the works for months, and I've been chomping at the bit to let you all know - well, now you know.
It's not going to be easy - saying goodbye to my family, when that day comes, will be one of the hardest things that I will ever have to do in my life, and I'll miss all the familiar places that I know - but unless I do this, I'll spend the rest of my life regretting what could've been. I feel like I'm stuck in a rut in my current situation, and something, for the longest time, has needed to change, and maybe starting a new life in the States with the girl I love is that change that needs to be made.

So, there you have it - what a month indeed. After all that, I think I should probably leave you with some futuristic Flyer artwork. All the best for the rest of this New Year.

December 2014

Where do I start...what a month this has been, and without a doubt it's been a month of two halves.

You know that feeling when the festive season slowly starts to creep in, even though you try so hard to try and resist the cheesiness of it all? I had that, but also a lot of nerves, which was pretty much how it was for the first half of this month, working at my charity shop placement and keeping busy with that, my artwork and buying Christmas presents for family and friends (as usual, I cut it fine).

Those nerves were all for the anticipation of the second half of the month, as I knew I would be spending my first Christmas and New Year away from home (27 years though, quite a record) - on the 11th, I jetted off on my second trip across the Atlantic to the US this year, and my sixth US trip overall. It was very bittersweet leaving my family behind, but at the end of the day I know that they want me to be living my life and enjoying it - and when I travel, that's what I'm doing.

And now the trip itself - with only an annoying delay to my long haul flight and a customs office giving me the third degree, my travel to the US was pretty much fine, so once again all the nerves about the flying was for nothing. Since I arrived Stateside, so much has happened - I got to be with my lovely Nicole again, as well as her family and friends, we revisited places that we'd been to before, including Branford Point, Stony Creek, Mystic Village, and of course the Big Apple aka New York City, as well as also spending a couple of days over in Long Island revisiting a couple of close friends from DeviantArt, however I was seeing it all slightly differently, with it being my first trip to the US in Winter - my previous visits were all in either Spring or Summer, and while there were some unseasonally warm temaperatures and no blizzards, there were also some freezing days too - and as I type this, there's still every chance of one of those infamous wintry nor'easters to hit. I also discovered some new places previously unseen, including the beautiful Chatfield Hollow State Park with its forests and lake, and the impressive collection of planes on display at the New England Air Museum.
It was a little bit strange celebrating Christmas over 3,000 miles away from home, but I still enjoyed it, and I got to experience the occasion American style, and not that this is much of a big secret, but the Americans don't half make a bigger deal of Christmas than what we Brits do, that's for sure - every other house had elaborate lighting displays, Christmas music was all over the radio, and Nicole's family certainly weren't shy with the presents, not that I asked for anything - the only present I wanted was to be able to spend the festive season with Nicole, and I think that's the one present both of us truly asked for. (I apologise for the slushiness.)
I also got reacquainted with some old American food favourites, as well as giving some new ones a try - and there was also another first this trip, as myself and Nicole attended two of her friends' wedding, and we weren't just spectating, we were both in the wedding party, Nicole was the maid of honour, I was one of the groomsmen, and we were both dressed the part for it too. The ceremony went beautifully, the reception was blast, many congratulations to the happy couple, and I was glad that both me and Nicole got to be a part of it too.

As I type this, 2014 is into its last 24 hours, and I will be getting to see in the New Year over in the States, with Nicole, her family and friends. My final thoughts on this year? Like most years it's been up and down - there have been times where I've wanted to crawl into a hole, but also times where I feel like I've had the time of my life. No-one knows what 2015 will bring, or what'll be happening a year from now, but I will be celebrating on New Year's regardless. If there is definitely one thing I want to celebrate from this past year, it's all the memories that have been made.

To sign off, I'll leave you with this festive group shot I made for my DeviantArt friends. Wherever you are, and whoever you're with, all the best for 2015.

January 2014

...and just like that, 2013 was gone. Aye, it really felt like it just went in a flash. Now it's that time of year where the high of the festive season is slowly replaced by the onset of normality and routine, and the realisation that the only thing that's changed is the two numbers at the end of the year.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy my New Year's Eve/Day though - me and my brother Chris had a small party at our place, complete with food, Scrabble, Rock Band, music, table football, and plenty of drinks. I did get a little tipsy but it didn't last. Chris, on the other hand...
We weren't alone, either - Chris' girlfriend and one of his friends popped round, but the best part was that I got to ring in the New Year not just with them, but with my lovely Nicole too. The past couple of years, I had to settle for a half-drunk Skype chat with her, but this time that wasn't necessary, and I'm glad we were able to be together properly for the occasion.

You can watch the New Year's Eve video here.

Nicole's visit - continued

My first week of 2014 was, to say the least, bittersweet - sweet because myself and Nicole spent more quality time together, but bitter because it wouldn't be long before she had to fly back to the States. We definitely made the most of the time we had left though - just like on Nicole's previous trip in 2012, we joined Chris and friends for a blast on the laser quasar at South Shields (Chris schooled us all that time), it was a lot of fun as always. We also paid one last visit to my family before we headed off for our last hurrah of the trip - a "romantic getaway" to the DoubleTree hotel at Newcastle Airport.
This was my second stay at the hotel, the first of course was in June, just before my most recent US trip (more about that later), and the hotel was just as good as it was then, our room was nice and comfy, with a shower, telly and fridge, and we both got the hotel's trademark free cookie each.
We headed to the Metrocentre in Gateshead to go and see a film, and it was on me, too - Frozen, the latest Disney film. Aye, it was cheesy to the max, with slushy romance and big musical numbers, and maybe the story could've had a little more clout to it especially as far as the character development goes - but the animation was very well done, and for the whole time we were watching the film, I just forgot about real life for a while. Any film that can do that, for me, is a good one. And it won't surprise you to hear that my favourite character from Frozen was Olaf, the snowman, though maybe I'm biased because I have my own snowman character. Much more important though is that it was the first time I'd ever had a date at the flicks, that I got to watch it with Nicky, and she enjoyed it too. That made it all the more special.
After Frozen, we checked out some of the shops in the Metro and saw all of the impressive Christmas decorations they had on display, before we hot-footed it back to the hotel to have a romantic meal for two at the Italian restaurant there - and funny enough, in a case of déja vu, we ended up having the same meal that I had there back in June, cheese pizza and garlic bread pizza, plus chips and orange juice. Because it was split between us, I managed to eat more or less all of my share this time, although it was still very filling of course. It was all just sweet too, me and Nicole having a meal together with the ambience of the restaurant. I didn't want the night to end, and neither did Nicole.
We finished up with some late night telly and some quality time, and it was quite late by the time we got to sleep - however, this was the only minus point of our stay at the hotel, much like the first time, I didn't get a lot of sleep, and neither did Nicole, because of a mix of this whirring noise that kept going on and off through the night, sleeping in a bed different than at home, and the anticipation of the next day.
We refreshed ourselves the next morning with a shower each and a nice breakfast at the restaurant, with cereal, coffee and croissants. It didn't seem like it was long until we had to check out and head over to the airport, knowing that the moment we were both dreading was fast approaching.
You don't need me to tell you that saying goodbye to someone you love always, always sucks - it was somewhat worse this time, because I ended up having to say goodbye to Nicole twice, because the first time she tried to go through to security, she got told that she needed a boarding pass printed off, so she had to go back to check-in and get one, which meant that we got to go through the goodbyes once more. Of course, I had to stick around and watch her plane fly off.
I was upset of course, but I don't think it really hit me until I got back home to my empty flat and realised that she wasn't there anymore. I was happy too, though - because the fortnight Nicole was here just made the festive season that more special than how it usually is, and I'm glad that we got to spend it together...and I know it won't be long before we see each other again.

You can watch all the videos from Nicole's visit here.

Now for the rest of this month - weather-wise, I was surprised that there was little to no snowfall in December, and this month's been the same. We normally have some snowfall round about now, so it seems very unusual. I've seen in the news and heard from Nicole about all the snowfall in the US though, it's almost as if the snow that was meant for the UK was dumped there instead, on top of the snowfall they normally get. I'm sure there'll be some snowfall here in February or March though - I haven't forgotten the "great Spring whiteout" of last year.
Same old story on the never-ending search for a job - I'm still looking and applying for them, and still jumping through the hoops that a certain place makes me do. I just want the day to come where I'm not under their thumb anymore.
Oh, that's right - Mark #27 has left the building. Me and Chris turned 28 on the 7th, and like we have done since our 20th birthday in 2006, we had our birthday bowling session at the Metrocentre, joined by Chris' girlfriend - without bragging too much, I destroyed them both. To everyone who wished us well, be it with a gift or a greeting, many thanks to you all. :)
There's also one small little thing I have to mention, which I hinted at before - I know it's not gonna be long till I see Nicole again, because I'm flying back over to Connecticut again in April, for 2 weeks, and it's thanks to Nicole and her parents, they chipped in half of the airfare as part of Nicole's birthday present (her birthday is on 23 April). Definitely looking forward to that, and to seeing her again.

I'll leave you with some slightly old but new music and some artwork - and on that note, I'll bid you all ciao for now and a Happy Chinese New Year...try not to horse around too much. ;)