It was a year ago today that my entire life changed. With a single mouseclick.This is the full story.

In January 2009, I ended up walking home alone after a couple of nights out in Lancaster. No change there. Except these nights a thought struck me. A rather radical thought. I imagined how different my life would be if the very next day I just told everyone that I was gay.But I decided not to go through with it. It was too scary a thought.

Then I got some bad news. A girl I had met just one month earlier through a friend, had died. Though I had only met her on two occasions, she was clearly a fantastic girl - who had no hesitation in joining in with a dance on the chairs to Meatloaf. It made me realise life is too short, and so I decided that I should get on with it and start living my life how I really wanted, even if I was scared to.

So, as whenever I have something important to get off my chest, I wrote it down, in an email to Joanna. The Swedish Eurovision fan who I have never met, but I tell all my secrets to. She has put up with a lot. So, one Thursday night, 22nd January, I wrote an email. Which I never sent. But in the morning I woke up, and just did it. I pressed send. My life was changed forever. And I was sooooo ficking scared! I sent it at 11:26am. And got a reply at 5:49pm. Which calmed me down and excited me at the same time. And then a second, longer, email at 6.28pm. Now there was no going back, and I was starting to get my head around it.

That night I finished work early, and had a few drinks. Then went down to town with Laura. And told her. She gave me the best one liner ever, but I won't share that, sorry. Then later in the takeaway we discussed Fit Politics Boy. Things were going good.

The next day, I made a plan of action, including a list of who I needed to tell, and in what order I would tell them. On the Sunday I rang my brother. My mum told me he was gay on a Sunday evening (while I was most aggrieved at Blankety Blank with Lily Savage being interrupted), so I returned the favour. When I said I had something to tell him, he thought I was gonna say I got a girl pregnant. HE said he'd already expected it (thanks to Eurovision - that's a common theme that emerged there), but his friends had told him if I hadn't come out by now I never would. Which could have been true had life gone differently.

And then I rang my (eldest) sister. She was like "it's the adverts on Lost, so be quick!" I offered to ring back, but she told me to spit it out, so I told her. Thanks to the wonders of Sky Plus she didn't hang up on me when the ads finished 30 seconds later, and we had a 20 minute or so conversation. She was kinda in shock and very disbelieving, but was ok with it, as far as she understood it.

Then it was Monday, the day of Charlotte's visit, the event which had precipitated all of this. We were in the pub by 4pm, and apart from leaving briefly to have our hair cut, we were in there all night. Abbey joined us at half 7, and Lee, who lived on our floor in first year and was my mate Mark's housemate for 2 years after that joined us too. I was playing pool with Lee and when it was his shot I sat down with Charlotte and Abbey and told them. It was emotional.

Then I went and told Mike, my boss and friend, who said "I thought you were". The coolest thing about him was that even after I told him, he didn't stop with the inappropriate touching he always does. We went out to a club that night, and my zip broke on my new jeans, and he tried to fix it for me. So yeah we drank lots, and I told Lee, and then met some girls from my first course, and told them too, even though they weren't on my list! Had an absolutely brilliant night - we didn't leave the club til 4am (when it shut) and then we went to the takeaway. Mike told me I had to tell the takeaway guys (we were in there so often that we were good friends!) and so I did. As they always used to see me in there with a different female (friend) aftera night out, and had somehow convinced themselves that I was a big hetero stud, they took some convincing.

Tuesday was the time to tell my Linguistics bezzies, Emily and Joanne. We met at Hustle after I finished work, and bought cheap cocktails. They hounded me to reveal my big secret immediately, so I took a big swig of my cocktail, and they became the first people I've told face-to-face while sober. They just both shrugged and were like "so what, it changes nothing". I said of course it does, now we can talk about fit boys even more! There was a (blatantly) gay and quite fit barman working there, but Joanne said he looked like a poser. We had several cocktails and a couple of shots each, but then Joanne and Emily had to go home. I wanted to stay so got Danni to meet me in town, so I could continue ogling the barman. We had a good night with random Austrians and cute freshers. One asked me if Danni was my girlfriend and I said "no, I'm gay." It felt so cool to say that to a guy I'd only met that night!

When I woke up on Wednesday I tried to find the fit barman on facebook. I found out his name after a phonecall, and a day later I drunkenly facebook friend requested him. Then later he accepted! Sadly, he had a boyfriend, and it just started me on my first gay Facebook stalking expedition. It never led anywhere, though he became single after I moved to Berlin, sadly. (Not that I'm still stalking him now or anything...)

On Wednesday I met my mate Vicky in the pub at half 8. I told her and also bumped into one of my lesbian friends, Nicki, and told her too. Obviously they were both cool with it, and happy for me. Me and Vicky went to Hustle, and had plenty more to drink.

Thursday, I came home from work and my housemates decided it'd be funny to block the door so I couldn't get in. I told them if they didn't let me in, I wouldn't tell them my big news. So they did. And I did.

That was pretty much everyone on my face-to-face list told. Except for Mark. Who I was probably dreading telling more than anyone. When he next came to visit, I finished work early and started feeding us sambucca shots to numb the pressure for both of us. In Hustle (again), waiting at the bar, I dragged him to one (very noisy) corner and told him. And he was fine too. We even went and watched the football the next day. (Gay but still manly, grrr!)

Next up was the return to the Wirral. The place famous for its open-mindedness and multinational-ness.... not. It was my niece's birthday, so the whole family would be around, and my brother was back, so I was sleeping on the floor at my sister's house.

First up, however, was the only failure of my coming out story. I wanted to tell Nick, my best friend since the age of 3 or something. I arranged to go to the pub in the afternoon with him, and we bought a pint and sat down. Then his friend arrived. And sat there with us chatting about things like football and girls for the entire time we were there. Then he said he had to go somewhere, and I inwardly celebrated. Nick said "oh I'll drive you there". So I said I'd come along for the ride. After we dropped him off, I told Nick I didn't want to go home yet, and suggested we just park somewhere and chill for a bit. He said I could come back to his, so I did. I got to his room and prepared to tell him, when he said he was just going for a shower. So I waited for him. Then he returned wearing just a towel. I decided now wasn't perhaps the best time to tell him, sitting on his bed with him half-naked in front of me. Then I had to leave for my niece's birthday party. So Nick was the only person I tried to tell face-to-face and failed.

But I had to put that behind me, and tell my parents. I sat there while the whole family was round for Lauren's birthday meal, feeling more and more worried and ill. By the time all the extended family had left, it was rather late. So I got into the car to go back to my sister's house, and decided to tell them the next morning. But then my sister pointed out there wouldn't be enough time tomorrow to tell them before my train back to Lancaster. So I went back into the house. My mum was like "have you come back for your laptop?" and so I said "yeah" then my brother came down the stairs and mouthed "are you going to tell them now" and I nodded. So he said "Daniel has something to tell you", and we walked into the lounge. I told my parents to sit down and my mum said "crumbs" lol.And they weren't too bothered.

I then sent individual facebook messages to the rest of my "best" friends, breaking the news after a brief opening paragraph about something else random. And that was it, I officially changed my facebook "interested in" to Men. Now (well once my much backburnered dissertation was complete), it was time for the fun bit - my coming out party. Cleverly entitled "Dan likes cock(tails)!", we began in Mint cocktail bar (purely to enable the witty event title), where I had a French Student (it's a cocktail name, sadly! Though it did taste like when you lick an enevelope!). My friend Lizzie brought some gays along (good girl!) though they weren't the best to be honest. Still, me and many of my closest friends had a few drinks there, then went to Hustle for a dance, where someone got the DJ to play "I'm Coming Out" and dedicate it to me, of course. And I started my new gay life by taking a boy home, it would be rude not to!

And since that first day, one year ago today, I can honestly say I haven't regretted my decision for a second. I've had loads of fun, in multiple countries and experienced nothing but acceptance and support from those nearest and dearest to me. So if you're reading this, thanks for being a part of the most exciting year of my life so far. Stay with me and I promise more adventures, and will try and blog a little more often.