Blog On The Motorway

Ok, so I can’t resist it. The end of year review is like catnip to bloggers, even though nobody really gives a rat’s arse about my views about the year. Mind you if I start thinking like that then I’d never manage to get another blog post out again. (Stop crossing your fingers there at the back).

I thought I’d avoid the traditional listing all the good albums and films and telly things and whatnot, because quite frankly I’ve spent most of the year listening to albums that weren’t released this year, most of it German drug bands introduced to me by peoples on the internets and last.fm. As for films, I’ve barely made it to the cinema at all. Telly is, well, telly. I’ve seen an insane amount of telly this year, and there’s been too much of it that I’ve enjoyed to give comment on. Ditto the news. Last night we watched 2011 wipe on BBC Four, and today I listened to the Bugle Podcast review of the year, and both of those were far funnier and more insightful than I could ever be on a year that Charlie Brooker aptly described as like ‘a series finale for all of humanity.’

Now it may be a measure of the fact that I’m beginning to become an actual rounded human being but where in previous years this inability to round up the year in list form would all seem a bit of a failure on my part (no gigs, no cinema, new music not really floating my boat) this year is a bit different. This year things have actually happened.

When you break it down to the main headlines it all sounds a bit daunting; New baby. Promoted twice. Passed my driving test. Not bad going for one year. Add on top of that I’ve done a creative writing course at York Uni, written a hell of a lot of my novel, and started a whole new blog, and I can be pretty chuffed about my personal achievements this year, and the achievements of my rather splendid family. But to call it a bit of a hectic year is as much of an understatement as to say that people on the internet seem to quite like looking at pictures of cats.

Looking ahead to 2012 what I really need is a bit more of a settled year. I’ve already outlined my writing hopes elsewhere, but I’ve got a new job to look forward to and get my head around, a flailing music website in dire need of attention and all the other life stuff that seems to be around. Oh, and the old perennial favourite of losing weight and getting into shape. I went to the gym today for the first time in over a month (a perforated ear drum kept me away for quite a while) and now feel like I’ve been trampled by wild bison. In short, I need to keep trying. Trying to write, trying to make my life a bit better. Oh, and I promise to spend more time here as well, and less of that time doing silly challenges to fill up space. Honest to blog.

Before I do go though, I really should put up some of the music that was rather good this year. If I were going to choose an album of the year then it would undoubtedly be Will Haven’s Voir Dire. But then there is only one video from that album, and it is the weakest track on the album. If there was a runner up, then it would be Origin’s Entity. But that doesn’t have any videos. So let’s go instead with the album I listened to most in 2011, even though it isn’t an album released in 2011. So not the sound of 2011 per se, but the sound of my 2011.

Happy New Year to you all.