This is de first of my 31 december blogs for this years. Yes I am participating in the december bloggers again . To know more about the december bloggers, click here!

So 2011 is almost over, the year of the economy and Jobs. That was 2011 for most people… For me it was most about gayness, and coding.

It all started in january, around that time I paid a lot of visits to a website called Appletips.nl. But one day I didn’t have internet and needed something of that website. So I came up with the idea for an iPhone app, an unofficial Appletips iPhone app. I started coding, I took some code of my already made Simlicious Mobile app and the never released Doctor Who Mobile app, combined it with some more other code and I had a nice and working app (for what I knew back then). The only thing was that I didn’t like the graphics of the app, I wanted some of the real logo’s and stuff. So I got in touch with the creator of the website. We talked about something you wouldn’t normally talk about when you first talk to someone, especially not on Twitter: being Gay. I won’t go into any details but you need this bit for the rest of the blog. Afterwards he gave me the logos and around February I submitted the app. Also in january I got a little internship for a week, after that week I was offered a job as front-end developer. I took the job.

Then the designer of Appletips started to talk to me about an website of his and that he would like an app for that too. This app would be a similar app to the Appletips app but with more features because it was for a basketball website. I took the job. In de meantime the Appletips app was rejected by apple. We didn’t know why so the creator of Appletips asked some friend to help us.

It was march and the time of carnaval in the Netherlands. While helping with tienercarnaval (just like every year) I also worked on the basketball app. Just before carnaval I met a nice boy, we talked and talked, even while I was helping with tienercanaval. I started to fall in love. The day after carnaval, wednesday, it started to struck me, I wanted to be who I was so I wanted to come out of that closet and be me! That they, in the afternoon, my sister came over for a cup of coffee, my parents weren’t home so she only took a cup of coffee and went, but she drank it alone, I went upstairs, crying. I wanted to tell her but I just couldn’t. That evening I finally did it, first I told all my friends, than my parents and my sister and as the big final, I told everyone on twitter, this was like coming out 2.0. So the word was out, I was Gay. The world felt kinda strange after I said it, it felt all new, like I did everything for the first time. Nearing the end of march I finally submitted the basketball app. Still no answer about what to do with the appletips app.

It was april, the basketball app was released and I finally got an answer, we needed to change Appletips to AT. So we did and submitted it again. Also at the beginning of april, my boss who hired me in january told me to work at home. I completed the project I was working on, send him the files and never heard of him anymore. Nearing the end of april, AT (appletips) got rejected again, I forgot to change one thing submitted, it again and it was in review.

In may it was finally released, everyone liked it, except for me, I hated it. How could I hate my own app? Well, the app was made in january and in march (with the basketball app) I learnt a lot more. So I simply hated it and started working on version 2.0. Also in may I was invited to a dinner with the creator of appletips and some other people I didn’t know back then, well I did know some of them, the creators of iPhoneclub would be there too, so I was like wow I’m gonna meet them. It wasn’t special or anything, just a nice evening out. After that week it was time….. Time for the big exams, you studied years for them…… That was what the teachers said to make you afraid. Well I wasn’t, I was always done in less than two hours (you had two hours for each exam). When I came home from my last exam someone called on our land line, my mom picked up and said it was someone who needed me for some app. I was like, wow, how did they find me :O. So I took the call and they asked me to come to their office the next day. They wanted an app for a company, no app store app but an in-house app. I should hear of them later. In the meanwhile, the creator of Appletips showed version 2.0 to some more people. Even to some website, they would mail me later, he said. And yes they mailed me, for my biggest project yet. Not going to say anything about the website nor the app.

Before they really took me for the project they wanted me to show the code and meet someone. During that meeting I found out that I really should ask more for my apps. What I asked was absolutely too little. Eventually they took me for the project. Now we are already talking june the 15 of june I should get my result for my exams, but before that I did something even bigger. On the 8th of June I started my own company in app and web development. The company was called….. Renssies, just like the name I always used. As present for my exams I got an iPad 2, while didn’t know yet if I passed my exams. But there the call was, my mentor, she had some really good news, I passed my exams. My Dutch was my only grade that was below 8, everything was 8, except for English, I got an 9,9. No not a 10. An 9,9. For the project I talked about earlier I got a brand new computer, a 27 inch iMac, the problem was, my desk. So before I got the computer I got a new desk. New problem, my desk would fit in my room but I wouldn’t be great to place it there, we did eventually but I also decided to move to the attic later.

In july I decided to show my gay side and go to the roze maandag with a friend, nothing special to tell about that.

August wasn’t special at all except for the gamescom (yes gamescom again this year) and my other gay side again, the famous gay canal pride in amsterdam. Which showed me that being gay isn’t bad at all. It is accepted in my country.

September was the month of my eighteen birthday but also the month of my new school: HAVO. Earlier that year I decided to do HAVO and learn some more to get even better at programming. My 18th birthday wasn’t special or anything, sorry. At the end of september I went to some fairs about education. I soon found out that what I would like to do as my next school was going to be a big wast of time, the school was bad (don’t get me started about the school and their great presentation) and I couldn’t learn anything new.

Than october started, a big month for me this year. On the 1st of october I went to iCreate Live (a kind of fair about apple). Before I tell you the rest, I need to go back to May. In May when the AT app was released someone complimented AT: Martin. He was a developer too and I got in touch with him, I soon found out that he was gay. We talked and started to like each other. But he was 27 and I 17, so we thought it was better not to get a relationship but we still wanted to meet and talked to each other. Because I was busy all the time we didn’t meet. Until… You may have guessed it, I invited him to iCreate live. When we met at the train station I really liked him but I thought he didn’t like me. Afterwards my friends said to martin, Rens would like a kiss, but he he didn’t so I thought he really didn’t like me. On the 8th of October I went to a meeting, this was also for something else besides meeting but I can’t talk about that. Afterwards I had dinner with some friends, martin wasn’t there. The friend next to me, stole my phone of the table, looked at my whatsapp and saw a conversation with martin and decided to say something like “hello sweetie”. I than stole my phone back and sent a message really fast saying it wasn’t me who said it. He said he liked it if I said it. So he did still like me . We went to meet on monday, on saturday again. And guess what, we in a relationship . So my first boyfriend, in the same year of my coming out, lucky me.

November again. My last month to talk about. At school I had a week of tests again. When I found out some of my grades were even lower than the ones of the last tests I decided to quit, drop out, say bye. So dropped out of my school and decided to spent my time on my company and find a good new school (or maybe not). I don’t regret it yet, the last couple of days I have been busy with my big project and I can say, it looks great and is has just been submitted last night

So this was 2011, the year I became gay for the rest of the world, the year I got a boyfriend, the year that I dropped out of school, the year I started my own company and mostly the year that I can finally say, I’m happy again! But that something for another blog.