I think I'll need all the help I can get.

What a year 2012 was. Sherlock returned to our TV screens and promptly departed again. The Doctor was tragically separated from the Ponds, and united with Soufflé Girl. I went to New York City and met Troy, saw Wicked, went up the Empire State Building and got up close and personal with Lady Liberty (sort of). I passed the IB better than I expected to, got into University, moved to a different country, got drunk more times than I care to remember, and still don't have a boyfriend. The Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee and looked on at all the countries she used to own at the Olympics. Wills and Kate are even expecting a child. Gay men married your girlfriends; gay women married your boyfriends. I got a job; Mitt Romney didn't. Homo-Journal was founded, and then we moved into Hogwarts. I even managed to get a four year old kid to shout "D.I.O" at my friend at the fireworks yesterday. So yeah, it's been a good year.

I think that calls for a party.

As with every New Year, people around the world sit down and decide to take their lives and give it a good shake up; they decide to quit smoking, or stop drinking, or lose weight. Some try their hardest to stop eating junk food, others spend their time cutting down the time they spend on social media or online games.

I keep telling everybody that I don't make New Year's Resolutions, but in reality I've spent the last nineteen years of my life making the same or similar ones over and over again: "I will get a boyfriend" replaced "I will come out" some moons ago.

I fear I will end this way too :(

So, in no particular order, here are my constant, unchanging, New Year's Resolutions, so that when I return to Embankment for the New Year's Fireworks in 2014, my friends can point and laugh at me for not having succeeded at any of them (again):

1. I will find a boyfriend.
2. I will lose weight.
3. I will not make any New Year's Resolutions.
4. I will not run up an £80 tab in the pub after two consecutive nights of student deals.
5. I will make considerable progress with Grade 8 Piano and Grade x Bassoon.
6. I will continue to not engage in any form of sport.
7. I will not run up another overdraft.
8. I will convince my mum that her buying me a car and paying for the insurance is the best idea ever.

Yours ambitiously,

Rory.

PS// This is being posted by Mel due to some very funny goings on and Todostrieb disappearing. Something to do with Bond/Q fanfiction probably. Or maybe I just think that's the answer to everything now?

New Year, Same Old Us

Hello again! To any new readers, welcome; to our returning ones, welcome back! We hope you all had a lovely Christmas (and if you don't celebrate Christmas, then we hope you enjoyed the bank holidays). After a break of almost 3 entire months while we settled in to University life, Homo-Journal is back, and with one or two big differences. 

The first, and most important is welcoming our new Homo-Journalist, Becky. Becky becomes our new Sunday Homo-Journalist - you'll get to meet her properly this time next week. We're all looking forward to working with her over the coming months, and we sincerely hope we don't drive her insane! 

The other difference is of course that we're redecorating. As the week progresses, you'll notice appearance changes, such as a new background, a new banner and different fonts. Hopefully you'll like our new look, but we'd be interested to hear what you have to say - leave a comment below or drop us an email at the usual place, homojournal@gmail.com. That's also the email you should use if you ever feel like writing us a guest article; there are some submission guidelines over on the page entitled "guest submissions". Incidentally, if there's a topic you'd like us to cover, or to revisit, simply contact us on our Facebook or twitter pages, or send us an email to the same address. 

The posting order hasn't changed, James will still be with you every Monday, Mel on Tuesday, Todostreib on Wednesday, Eli on Thursday, I'm back on Friday and Miu returns on Saturday, with Becky making her debut on Sunday, where we'll be discussing the age old tradition of New Year's resolutions!

All that remains is for me to wish you on behalf of everybody here at Homo-Journal every health and happiness and all the best for the New Year; let's hope it's a good'un!

Rory