2008

It seems that each of the last five years I’ve made a tacit promise to myself that ‘this will be my year’, whatever that might mean. Sadly, I’ve constantly failed to deliver on this promise to myself. Until this year. I think.

I think I probably managed to make this year so enjoyable simply by not trying as hard as I have in the past. Or perhaps it was having some solid ground beneath my feet to start from. Just over a year ago I started my first full time job in some four years, and the boost in confidence (and cash) undoubtedly underpinned my failure to completely cock up the year for once.

It didn’t get off to an entirely auspicious start, with a filling, and aside from finally completing the first draft of my novel which had been some ten years in the writing (on and off). March was when my 2008 got off to its belated start. Having renewed my passport, I ended up (at somewhat short notice) at a house party in Dublin, the first time I’d been to the Irish republic. It was an enjoyable three times (save for the tedium of the LUAS), and I plan to go back in 2009, perhaps taking in Belfast as well.

A week later I was off to California for Ru and Matt’s wedding. I’m not going to go into the US trip in detail as I’ve already done so on this blog, but I might mention a couple of the moments that stick in my mind the most.

Walking underneath the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge amidst the fug of jetlag and finally realising I was in San Francisco.

Getting to the top of the Upper Yosemite Falls trail after what felt like a month of hiking.

Walking through Central Park on a Wednesday morning feeling as carefree as I’m ever likely to feel.

I spent three weeks in America in total, and by the time I returned near the end of April, my football team had almost thrown away the league, but had nearly reached the UEFA cup final, which was to be held in Manchester in May. Coincidentally, I’d arranged to meet up with some internet acquaintances in the same city three days later. I wasn’t to know how embarrassed I would be, and how I would spend two days in the city trying to hide my accent, at least until I got drunk. I left with my tail still somewhat between my legs, but six weeks later, I was back in Lancashire.

I’d actually forgotten I’d entered the ballot for tickets to see Paul McCartney play what was supposedly the last concert to be held at Anfield before the famous old ground was demolished and Liverpool moved to their fantastic, fish-and-finger-pie-in-the-sky new stadium in nearby Stanley Park, which as of December 2008 doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon. Anyway, the fact I’d applied for two tickets for my fellow Beatles/McCartney obsessive father and I had been misfiled by my brain amidst the excitement of America and the UEFA cup final. In fact, as I didn’t recognise anything on the envelope the tickets came in, I didn’t even bother opening it for a few days…

I had planned to take my father down to Liverpool, as part of our ongoing bonding through the music of James Paul McCartney, but he didn’t feel physically up for it, and at such short notice I was unable to find anyone to take save my mother, which wasn’t an ideal situation. While she could help with the driving, she’s far too proficient of making dramas out of molehills; the slightest thing these days will leave her wailing and panicking, and it’s not something I like to inflict on myself for extended periods of time. Fortunately, we made the gig and the journey back with the minimum of fuss, and it’s something I’ll always cherish.

In July I decided to finally bite the bullet and buy myself a new digital SLR camera. I’d been using an old Nikon D1 my dad had bought me some four years previously, and being fast assailed by Moore’s Law, it was almost obsolete. I couldn’t really continue to harbour pretence of aspiring to professional photography while using a camera that was so decrepit (or maybe I could; that’s a different argument for another day), and so I put my name down for a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 18-70mm lens on a year’s interest free credit. I’ve been putting money aside monthly since the summer, so I should have it paid off before the credit period kicks in.

August saw me attend my first music festival in four years, the Connect festival in Inveraray. I had a bit of a soft spot for the town, having visited there with my friend Kris (whose mother lives and works there) some ten years previously, and learning the Manics, Elbow and Sigur Ros were playing convinced me to buy a ticket. While I’d been to two previous festivals, this would be my first looking after my own tent and I was a little apprehensive about it. Still, I got a decent deal on some camping equipment, and I survived the weekend’s binge drinking and wallet misplacing with no lasting ill effects to anything other than my bank balance (I got the wallet back with all monies intact). I also went to my first comedy show in August, seeing Lucy Porter at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival on the spur of the moment, something I really need to do more often.

In September I decided to take my new camera and new-found camping abilities to Mull during the September weekend for no other reason than I’d never been there before. This was something of a motif for my year, getting out into the world and taking opportunities I would otherwise let my self doubt destroy. As it was my niece’s birthday that weekend, it all ended up being a little more whistle stop than I had otherwise intended, but I still managed to make it to Fingal’s cave, which was the primary goal of the trip.

In November, I entered NaNoWriMo for the third time, and for the third year in a row, I hit the 50,000 word target. This year was by far the most difficult due to a number of other tasks I was undertaking at the same time (work, college…). I was also rehearsing a song by Usher of all people, who a friend of a friend was covering at a talent show. He wanted a real backing band instead singing to a track, and I was enrolled to play bass. Thus I managed to play in front of 250 odd paying customers in the Mitchell theatre, beating in terms of size and prestige anything I achieved with the last band I was in, a supposedly much more serious proposition. I also spent a dirty weekend in London with my dear friend Kevin and his lady friend, saw a play at the Rada theatre and attended my first English Premier League game.

However, I haven’t yet mentioned the most notable thing I did this year, which was start a college course in Architectural Technology. When I started working for my current employers, I had envisaged it being the latest in a litany of temporary jobs, but for whatever reason they decided to offer to pay my way through college, and that wasn’t an offer I was stupid enough to turn down. I’ve just finished the first quarter of a two year course that will allow me to work in the industry, and it should open a few more doors for me. I’ve enrolled in another course, starting in the new year, in music production.

In an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable year, I haven’t had much luck with music this year. Whether it’s to do with me getting a little older, or the music industry struggling to adapt to the digital ‘revolution’, I just haven’t heard a great deal that’s inspired me. I’ve bought a handful of albums this year, and I wouldn’t rate any of them particularly highly, although I could make a decent compilation from them. This apathy towards music seems to have been growing with each year, and I’m hoping it’s just a reaction to the prevalent fashions, and at some point in the next few years I’ll hear some stuff I really like. I’m not holding my breath though. Instead of listing my favourite albums of the year (because I honestly can’t think of one I really like), I’ll simply list my ten favourite songs in no particular order.

1. The Turning – Oasis
2. Friend Of Ours – Elbow
3. Love Is Noise – The Verve
4. The Shock of the Lightning – Oasis
5. Grounds for Divorce – Elbow
6. Clowns – Goldfrapp
7. The Day That Never Ends – Metallica (if just for the utterly unfashionable 80s dual guitar solo)
8. Echoes Around The Sun – Paul Weller
9. Fascination – Alphabeat
10. Gobbledigook – Sigur Ros

That was actually a struggle just to name ten songs released this year I liked. That really shouldn’t be the case he said, stating the obvious. I’m not sure what I can do to remedy this, because it might just be something within me dying. Aside from the session bass playing, I did manage to fit in three rehearsals with two friends with the aim of calling ourselves a band. I played drums, which was highly enjoyable and something I’d wanted to do for a while.

I remain more hopeful about the film industry, perhaps erroneously. I’ve seen at least two great films this year in ‘Persepolis’ and ‘Wall-E’, although some other releases were more of let down. I saw Indiana Jones and the Stupidly Long Title twice and I’m still non-plussed about it. Nuking the fridge indeed. In descending order of satisfaction, my cinema going year included the following;

1. Wall-E
2. Persepolis
3. The Dark Knight
4. Iron Man
5. Hancock
6. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
7. The Bank Job
8. Tropic Thunder

I thought I’d seen more films than that. I did see Indiana Jones twice though. There were films I intended to watch and then never got around to, but there was a lot of shite I’m glad I missed. Why I remain enthusiastic about film when my passion for music is waining is a bit of a mystery to me, but perhaps the combined efforts of all those people it takes to make a film keep the motion picture industry aiming for and hitting higher targets than four scallywags with Toni and Guy haircuts can manage.

I’ve continued my slow shipwreck of a footballing career this year with a fair number of five a side games. For most of the year we were unable to garner ten bodies for a Thursday lunchtime game, so we were only playing on Tuesday nights. Then, in the last few months, we’ve had a few new people start in the office, so the Thursday game has returned. Playing twice a week, plus the occasional game with Kevin and his friends resulted in the pain in my shins returning. I’ve been to the doctors and had an inconclusive X-Ray, so we seem to have agreed that I have stress fractures in both tibias. The only cure for this is rest, so I haven’t played at all for the last month. I’m hoping the three weeks off over Christmas will help me get back to full health. My waistline won’t stand for much more inactivity. My new year’s resolution (yes, ok) is to take more exercise. I’m planning to buy a cheap bike in order to cycle to work, I’m going to try and go swimming more often, and I may take up work’s offer of reduced gym memberships. I did buy a golf driver this year with the aim of taking up the game, but so far I haven’t been able to persuade John or my brother-in-law to take me to the driving range for some coaching. I don’t want to just run up and start hacking at a ball like a complete halfwit.

Ant that was more or less my year, a year in which I got to visit some places I’d always wanted to (Dublin, San Francisco, New York, Fingal’s Cave), saw three of my musical idols in close-ish quarters (Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher and James Dean Bradfield). I took up the drums semi-seriously and played bass in public for the first time. I learned how to use Autocad and how to draw building cross-sections. I rode the New York subway at 2 in the morning (I don’t know what I was worried about) and responded in French to an actress during a play (she asked if I wanted a bon bon, I said non). I finished writing two novels, and while they might both be unreadable twaddle in their current form, they can at least be moulded into something better, theoretically. Essentially, I had a year that was more enjoyable than not, and it’s maybe a little sad that such a minor triumph can be so celebrated. There are things I’ve forgotten at the current moment, but they will come back to me.

I’m looking forward to next year, and I hope it’s as good as, if not better than this. I hope to travel to Europe in the summer, and I’ve got my music course starting next month, and there’s something else on the horizon; my sister’s due to give birth in March, so I’ll be an uncle for the second time. All is hopeful.