Initial Conditions

Narcissism ahoy!

I dislike those “round robin” letters you get at Christmas. They are written by people who assume you care about what they’ve acheived and what they haven’t (the worst thing I ever read in one of these was “Susannah has finally got herself a boyfriend!”) even though you haven’t really conversed with them the rest of the year.

So with that in mind, I’m going to assume you care about what I’ve acheived and what I haven’t even though I haven’t really conversed with you (possibly) the rest of this year, in this, my review of 2008.

Without further ado, I start in typical style with 2 lists:

List I: ten good things that happened this year ( in no particular order)

I Susannah finally got herself a boyfriend I (possibly) got enough material to write a thesis

II Little Jonny passed his grade 8 piano and got 8 A*s in his A- Levels I moved into a new flat which has worked well, so far

III Tottenham won the League Cup

IV I discovered that Marmite is actually quite good (put it on your toast with beans!)

V St Catherine’s is getting a brilliant new minister

VI Going to visit my friend in Amsterdam

VII Successfully gave up facebook for lent (and then some, it was four months in total!)

VIII Dodged taxes for another year

IX  Beat keepfishing at PES (though we didn’t really play often enough )

X  Watched Scotland win the Calcutta Cup

10 not-so-good things that happened (some more light-hearted than others)

I My Grandad passing away

II A friend getting divorced

III Failing my driving test a further three times, one of which affected me really badly

IV The sky fell in on my world, semi-literally, when the ceiling collapsed above my desk in uni, causing me to lose a LOT of work.

V I got extremely upset by something that happened in May, but I’m not really at liberty to say what that was

VI I escaped death (?) when a lot of tiles fell off the bathroom wall while I was having a shower in my old flat.

VII I watched NI and Scotland play one of the worst games of football I’ve ever seen

VIII Four Christmases

IX  Seeing friends lose jobs because of the economic woes

X Finishing well down the fantasy football table

And now categories:

High point of 2008:
In a year when morale was low, and the world ran out of money, it’s hard to think of an outstanding high point. I’ll go for two friends of mine getting engaged, and I’m very much looking forward to the wedding!
Low point of 2008:
Failing driving test #4. It was a complete disaster and it distressed me to the level that I couldn’t eat for a few days after it  for fear of throwing it back up again.

Person of 2008:
My Mum for being so strong after everything that happened.
Best film you saw this year:
The Dark Knight. Enjoyed every minute. Worst film: Four Christmases.

Best book you read:
In traditional style I didn’t get through many books. I did, however, enjoy Of Mice and Men, although that was a re-read. I thoroughly recommend reading all the books they made you read at school, they ARE better than your english teachers would have you think!
Best sporting moment:
Lewis Hamilton going past Timo Glock on the last corner of the last lap of the last race of the season. I don’t even really like him, but that was something else!
What you are looking forward to most in 2009
Is it cheeky to suggest “submitting my thesis”?
Thing you will miss least about 2008
Probably Northern Ireland’s poor attempts at football, although I will miss the first six months when certain commentators were forced to accept that England were not going to win the next tournament they were in.
And that’s yer lot. Have a brilliant Christmas and a fantastic 2009! I would be interested in how your year went, so if you’ve done a similar thing please let me know. Cheerio!