2010 was the first year in which I sat down and decided on what I wanted to do with the year.
I’m not just talking about new years resolutions, I’m talking about a year plan.
It makes sense that this would be the year for me to do this, 2010 being my first institutionalised-education free year of my life, having completed university in the summer of 2009.
Though never published online, I wrote down a few specific goals for the year in a notebook at the start of 2010. Simple, they were to:
Visit Paris (and possibly Nantes), fly for the first time, take a course in First Aid, put a year of different experiences and a social job I enjoy above all other higher-paid options, explore European dance music, see stand-up comedy once a fortnight from April before deciding whether I wanted to participate myself, and join the Organ Donors register.
Each of these goals required varying levels of commitment.
Joining the organ donors register, for example, aside from the phone conversation with my mother to let her know (which is certainly advised if you ever plan on joining yourself) took only a few minutes of my time.
The course in First Aid took half a day, and the decision to put a year of different experiences and a social job I enjoy above all other higher-paid options didn’t take long to implement, and was certainly the key that made everything else possible.
A huge goal fulfilled for me was flying for the first time.
Having not travelled overseas for many years flying had simply passed me by, so in March I headed out on a week-long sprint across Europe, visiting Paris, Nantes, the Czech Republic and Stockholm.
Of the main types of annoying passengers you can encounter during any flight, I fell straight into the over-excited category.
As I sat in Charles de Gaulle airport, awaiting my late-night, (and lest we forget, FIRST EVER) flight from Paris to Prague I could barely sit still.
Even on take off as we quickly encountered a fair level of turbulence I continued to enjoy myself, seemingly unaware that I was actually there and not in a movie.
My music taste shifted somewhat in 2010.
It cheered up.
Part of this was due to a concious effort to explore European dance music. It’s fair to say that I didn’t explore very far. If you are a connoisseur in dance music you may not think much of my findings, but after having heard songs my this band for years and years (Eple, Poor Leno) I decided to dive into them to see what Scandinavia’s finest had to offer.
The track below is The Girl and the Robot by Royksopp (ft. Robyn).
One goal I didn’t achieve was giving stand up comedy a go.
I decided after many months of should I/shouldn’t I that it didn’t fit in with everything else I was planning on doing at that moment in time. I’ve had a few friends go into stand-up over the year and absolutely love it and I am sure if I had done the same I would have felt the same way, it just wasn’t right for the time.
I’m sure I’ll look at it again one day.
I didn’t set any goals for this website at the start of 2010 and possibly as a result of which it changed course several times through the year, with the post focus going from sarcastic dribbles to long researched articles on a varying number of topics.
The increase in visitors, followers and people wanting to comment on the website since this move has soared. Often when I see an old friend the first thing they’ll say to me is they’ve been reading the blog.
Amazing.
I touched on this at the start of the month, and having now calculated the figures for the entire year I can confirm that this website has been viewed, read, and otherwise admired in 66 countries across the world in the past twelve months…
United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada, Pakistan, France, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, India, Japan, Philippines, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Indonesia, Brazil, Belgium, Russia, Malaysia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Spain, South Africa, Mexico, Greece, Poland, Singapore, Turkey, Argentina, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Romania, Portugal, Serbia, Bulgaria, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Taiwan, China, Morocco, Ghana, Switzerland, Israel, Chile, Hungary, Jordan, Kuwait, Macedonia, Jersey, Bahamas, Thailand, El Salvador, Nigeria, Malta, Lithuania, Uganda, Belarus, Egypt, Iraq, Isle of Man and Luxembourg.
It’s hard for me to even comprehend that number, considering that this time last year it had barely been viewed outside the south of England, so for that I am incredibly thankful.
2010 was a lot of fun. 2011 has a lot to live up to, but I’ll make damn sure it does.
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