2008..in review

So how was your year?

Mine was the usual mixed bag. As I accelerate away from 2008 and into 2009, I thought it was worth looking back and toting up the high and lowlights.

On the Upside:

New Music. The likes of British Sea Power have made this year more entertaining than it would have been. When I was a teenager (some time back in the early 1700s, according to my personnel file at work, which I discovered today has my year of birth as 1699) music was the most important thing in the world. Less so these days. However, there are some excellent bands out there and if anyone feels like recommending some, please feel free.

Good TV. I've watched less of it and spent more time catching up on shows via services like Hulu and Joost. Nevertheless, a cracking season of Doctor Who and the revival of Survivors, accompanied by Fringe and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the ongoing presence of Top Gear and an assortment of decent documentaries from the dear old BBC have meant I still have a use for a TV set.

The Wrinklies. Denizens of an internet forum, or two, and decent thinking people who occasionally read and comment here. Marvellous chaps, all of them.

Facebook. I despise MySpace, but have apparently fallen into the trap of having a Facebook account and posting stuff there. As a social networking site it has been remarkably inefficient for the most part, but it has allowed me to kind of sort of reconnect with a few old friends.

Published! I finally got off my arse and wrote some stuff for a variety of outlets. I got paid - not very much, I admit, but it counts - and I also got to write some Doctor Who stuff for The Celestial Toybox, which is probably what I'm most proud of (unless you count an ongoing fanfic idea that I don't seem to be able to stop tinkering with and probably deserves a blog of it's own). Let's be honest, it's a small start, but after years of doubt and buggering about I achieved that small start, and I'm delighted. The new year's resolution for 2009 is to write more, and better.

Work. I recently came to the conclusion that the company I work for has no clue what I do or why it's important. Last year, I came to the same conclusion but from the opposite end and it left me feeling awful. It's hard to have a lot of responsibility and be under pressure with no way to pass any of the burden off; it's harder still to never be recognised for it. This year, this week in fact, I realised how much freedom I have. If they don't know what I'm doing or how I'm doing it that gives me vast leeway to do it my way. So while the focus of my team is on client and customer, I'm burrowing off into the infrastructure and learning how and why it all works.

Plus, the Band. The Relo Rockers, for whom I write the odd lyric here and there, has got me praise for the thing I love. And what praise! "Why is he here? He's brilliant" said one, while another told me "What's someone as creative as you doing working in that department?"

So, at this point, they can say what they want to me. I have a plan.


On the Downside:

If you've read the blog you know. If you don't know, read the blog.

There are more ups than downs.

And I wanted a pithy comment to put here, something to round it all out, say something simple and clear, but it hasn't been that sort of year. I've got a difficult and painful time ahead of me, nothing that 2009 holds is going to be easy. In fact, I think most of it is going to be quite unpleasant. I can be cowed by this and hide under the covers, or I can admit my faults and failings, patch them as best I can and get on with it.

The only way to meet the year is head on.

Come on, then, 2009. If you think you're hard enough.