Be Excellent To Each Other

Hello everyone,

Throughout 2016, Rome might be burning but here in Kern Hall we've been having the most fantastic violin concerts. Here are some of my favourite bits:

If anything, it's been the year of the implusive bookings. Realising that being a grown-up with grown-up friends means spontaneity involves at least four weeks' notice and (usually) baby sitting arrangements, I've got over my fear of going to things alone and just started booking stuff that looks fun. As a result of this, things I've seen have included:

- going to an ice hockey game and getting so hooked on it I ended up seeing the rest of their home games that season, and getting a season ticket for the new one.
- finally getting to a Prom (Mahler's 'Das Lied von der Erde' and other light classics) after sixteen years of living close to London to actually make it.
- going to an opera (Verdi's 'Macbeth')
- Rugby League game (England v Australia) at the Olympic Stadium
- a play in London about the American Civil War, the Homeric parallels of which I only picked up on in the final act (and I did work out a plot twist early on due to the piping on a soldier's uniform)
- Steve Vai at a venue in Paris. He was awesome (and to my shame I'd never heard of him when I booked)
- FRANK TURNER

I'm planning on continuing this approach in 2017. I've already got tickets for Josh Ritter, FRANK TURNER, and Messers Penn & Teller lined up.

I've also been working on getting out more and meeting new people. Joining 'OutdoorLads' back in April has been really good for me and I've done plenty of day hikes with them, as well as a day kayaking and a big hostel weekend in December. Definitely doing more with that organisation in 2017.

Trip wise, I went to Manchester and really fell in love with it, had a cold birthday weekend in Edinburgh, a hilariously-poorly timed trip to Paris over the Brexit weekend (and nobody had told me about the football), and had a most excellent extended holiday in Berlin, the German Baltic coast, Sweden, and, just so I could do TV's famous 'The Bridge', Copenhagen. Going by train all the way made the journey just as much fun as the holiday itself. My kind of fun to watch the world go by whilst knocking back beers in the bisto carriage.

I managed to get to two re-enactments this year, although due to far too many clashes not with my own unit. They were sufficient for me to retain my interest for another year at least.

Now the listy bits:

Favourite books: Owen Hatherley's 'Landscapes of Communism'; Graeme Burnet's 'His Bloody Project'; David Szalay's 'All that Man is'; Paul Beatty's 'The Sellout'. I'm also half-way through Tim Shipman's 'All-out War' about the Brexit campaigns which is a real page turner, but I haven't finished it so can't include it in this list.

Favourite TV: Nothing comes to mind, thinking about it. Probably some esoteric BBC4 documentary about the role of paint in the court of the Sun King or something

Favourite radio moment: Helen Archer's stabby-stabby moment with the scary Rob Titchener (that whole storyline was superbly played).

Favourite podcasts: 'Rex Factor' (remember Aed!); 'My Dad wrote a porno' (I can't look at pomegranates with a straight face these days)

Oh, and Cottage VII was far better than the similary-numbered Police Academy film, and this forum and its inhabitants are still the best things on the Internet. Thank you for everything.

Have a great New Year and a fantastic 2017. I'm off up north to a remote cottage with old friends whilst some goons take 2016 quietly round the back of the shed.

Kern

Awesome stuff! Glad you had a load of fun!

Great Read.

Glad you enjoyed yourself

Yes the cottage was fun

Good things:

Meeting my soulmate and having her move in by the end of the year
Ticked five bands/artists off my music bucket list (Brian Wilson, Placebo, Weezer, Motion City Soundtrack, Bring Me the Horizon)
Rediscovered my love for sim racing
Getting involved in the community and making new friends in aforementioned sim racing scene
The same but for the UK craft beer scene
The cottage (obv)
Seeing friends, including MrChris for the first time in seven(!) years
Losing 15lbs in weight by August
Joining a softball team and playing pretty well
Going to see a lot of cricket with my dad, including the ODI at Trent Bridge where Plunkett smashed a last-ball six to tie the match
Agreeing to be new East Midlands baseball team player/co-manager (Long Eaton/Leicester development team)

Bad things:

The boiler breaking
Changing cars and something went wrong with it every month for the first six months
Living on my own for most of it
Getting further in debt due to the above plus the ridiculous amount I've spent on sim racing and craft beer this year
Work being soul-crushingly dull but cannot leave because the money is much better than what I'd earn elsewhere for doing the same job and I need to keep servicing that debt
Not seeing certain friends enough/at all
My best friend of 15 years ghosting on me and not knowing why
Brexit
Trump and the rise of fascism across the western world
Health issues
Gaining most of the weight I'd lost by the end of the year
All my favourite famous people fucking dying while cunts like Trump, Murdoch and Richard Hammond are still alive
Stepping down as Long Eaton baseball team player/co-manager

It's been a mixed bag, tbh.

Oh hey, I've also got Penn and Teller tickets. When are you going?

Wednesday 21st June. I've been wanting to see them live for a very long time.

I'm going on the sixth.

Why is Frank Turner in capitals?

Tend to have larger stadia, and more gig venues.

Bravo.

I've not been a fan of 2016 at all. I've had some good experiences - a trip to DC for example - and am very comfortably well off at the mo but having to find a new job was a pain and the travelling is dire. Worst of all, the referendum and US election are likely to have far more long reaching consequences than anything else.