Just less than 8 hours before 2012 comes around~ And I am celebrating with my lovelies ~immy724, ~MaelaAdurna and ~AkidaxSen who are coming over to see the new year in with me, as per usual <3

2011 has been generally a good year for me: I've had great fun with ~LunaticsWithLemonade, my cosplay group, as we've done both new HOTD and The Last Unicorn cosplays for the London Expos (which were, on the whole, enjoyable as well), and had many suger filled, high-octane sleepovers and photoshoots filled with lulz. Words cannot describe my love for those four~ <3

My year was basically *made* by the cosplay friends we have: it was great getting to know ~somethinglacking more, as well as a couple others within our local cosplaying community - as well, of course, as hanging out with my babies Harri and Matt~ <3  The ever completely awesome (and slender) *CrimsonWingsL has just been... well, awesome this entire year - it was great getting to know you properly! And... well, I'm not so sure it was great getting to know our Slender friend, but it was fun~ <3 Also, mentions must go to Ziggi, Karsten, *Tepshie, ~ao-kuma and *black-kitty-cat1 for just being amazing cosplaying friends~ <3 (Oh Karsten, where would our lives be without you and your general tallness?)

Anyway, besides cosplay, 2011 was great for other reasons too (OMG NO WAI??!!) I started out on my new course - the International Baccalaureate - for Sixth Form, this September, and I'm really enjoying it. The subjects really are a step up, particularly Spanish, but I adore my class and all the extras that come with the course itself~ Including cake. That's always good. Even though I feel a little divided from some of the people who I used to be close friends with (the others who do A levels), I am very glad to have met the new IB-ers, and gotten to know some of those I already knew so much better.

So, what's 2012 holding in store?

Well, for a start, HAKUOUKI. This should be pretty self explanitory by now... if not, see previous diary. This is going to be an amazing cosplay... when I get it finished. <3 But I'm so excited for this one~ It's so beautiful, I get SWORDS, I get to try my hand a cosplaying a male character, and I know full wll that some of my friends, and also English cosplay idols, are cosplaying the same characters the same day as us in May, so I will be very glad to just be in their presence hahaha ^//////////^

This will *hopefully* lead on to some spin off Hakuouki cosplays, particularly Sweet School Life, if I get my way~ And then, in the summer, ~Tablature and I are planning on doing a Fairly Oddparents cosplay... just for the sake of entertaining ourselves. Should be fun~ Not quite sure about October yet, but it looks like it could be either Vocaloid of some variety, another Hakuouki of some variety or possibly Heart no Kuni no Alice... basically, we haven't decided.

2012 will also see me looking at univeristies... kind of nerve wracking, seeing as I still haven't even decided 100% what I want to study yet (either Chemistry, Biochemistry, Medicinal Chemistry or something along the lines of... and whether I will do it with study abroad/language/industry placement) - but I definitely want to take a look at Exeter, Bristol, Imperial College, King's College, Oxbridge (more likely Oxford), Edinburgh/St Andrews... okay, so that's quite a few!! The majority asked for between 32 and 36 IB points, which is thoroughly reasonable... and obviously, as I'm looking at a science based course, requirements are always significantly lower than for softer, essay based subjects. The highest most likely is Imperial at 39, and then Oxford out front as 40 (Cambridge at 42/3), but I doubt I'd suit a univeristy like Oxbridge.

What else for 2012? Well, I want to draw more, and maybe get some stuff up at the Mall Galleries when my dad runs the AFAS exhibition in May/June... and I also want to put some drawings up on here!! I have a couple ideas brewing for a comic, so maybe I'll start on that? I also want to do more sport - I'll start up my swimming again, and maybe start some new sports as well - perhaps tennis?

Let's hope 2012 is a good one~