My ban has been lifted now, I have been granted another chance by the mods. I miss my time here - miss the friends I'd made, and I'm sorry I left so abruptly but I couldn't really do anything about it (apart from create another account, but I didn't want to do that.. I tried to make do with Slashdot, Bebo, Facebook - they have their own charms but they're just not quite the same!).

I bought a nice EOS 30D last year but have only used it a couple of times despite the fact that I used to be going out for walks every weekend last summer and walking to/from work every day! Perhaps a bit of a missed opportunity but I was busy enough with my thoughts anyway, not to mention that if I had a camera I would have been stopping every few minutes and wouldn't have lost the 2 stone that I lost (that's 28 pounds/9 kilograms for those that don't do stone )!

I'd be interested to see who still has me on their watch list and who wants more pictures. The great thing about dA is the constructive feedback from likeminded artists (not to mention the awesome little ego boost you get when someone favourites one of your deviations!), it really helped me to stay motivated and rewarded when it came to taking photos, and the tips and advice I got were invaluable for improving my composition and such.

So anyway, catch-up on me for those that are interested: I was banned after trying to continue speaking to my ex on dA when she didn't want to speak to me. My own fault really. About a year later I lost my faith in god and now I'm no longer a Christian (which is making life seem even more meaningless than usual, but at the same time I don't want to lie to myself and pretend that something is there when I have no real reason to believe so). My life really turned inside out after Katie left - since I pretty much spent all my time with her or writing to her in the couple of years before we split up, it was really hard to let go and stop associating everything around me with her. It's been another 2 years now though and after 2 other relationships I realised that I can stop blaming myself for things not working out. My last relationship was really amazing and has made me realise that I don't have to be afraid that I'm just poor boyfriend material - things just didn't work with Katie because she wasn't interested in the romance side of things, and you just can't have a bf/gf relationship without that chemistry (though we were good as best friends). Sadly chemistry and love aren't enough by themselves though, and so my last relationship didn't work out either, because my gf was a Christian and I'm not anymore - she thought she could handle it at first, but eventually she was too worried about going against god's will, etc. Said she still loved me but couldn't go out with me anymore. Frustrating, but what can you do.. I understand how she feels because I was in a similar situation when I first met Katie - she said she was a Christian but she wasn't going to church or reading her bible, but she started all of that after we talked about it (which I find kinda funny, considering that I now believe it's all a load of rubbish! still, she thanked me for it so if it makes her happy that's good).

Anyway - that's what's been happening with me, in my usual rambling style! How are you guys?