Review of the year

I did this in 2004 and 2005 so here I go again…

Review of 2006

Best bands seen:
I haven’t seen any bands this year, unless you include Razorlight and KT Tunstall and I didn’t really ‘see’ them.

Worst bands:
As above. 🙂

Exotic towns/cities visited:
I haven’t been anywhere special this year, mainly because whenever I’ve been going to another city it’s been to go and do something there (mostly Friends of the Earth stuff) rather than to see the city itself.

Girls I fancied but failed to get anywhere with:
Well, there was… (DELETED!!)

Girls I fancied and did get with:
None.

Great gigs this year:
I haven’t been to any, unless you include iCount – but I wasn’t really there for the bands (although they were good).

Mad Stuff done in 2006 that if you’d told me I was going to do last year I’d have laughed at you:

  • Become a joint coordinator at Manchester FoE.
  • Started an MA in the School of Classics and Ancient History.
  • Gone to a Friends of the Earth conference.

What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
Nothing in particular springs to mind, having a permanent place to live would be great but I think that’s unlikely to happen.

What dates/events from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory?

  • Racing down to Sheffield to give a presentation with six hours notice.
  • The Warped Halloween Pub Crawl, which was completely random.
  • Trying to explain why I was doing an MA to a wall of utter shock and confusion at the first departmental meal out.
  • Completely blanking out whoever the person was who was shaking our hands on the stage at graduation.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Graduating with a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science.

What was your biggest failure?
Not doing a little bit better in order to get a first.

Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
The AUT, UCEA and NUS in their handling of the lecturers’ strike (sorry, “industrial action”) that nearly stopped us graduating on time.

Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? definitely happier
ii. thinner or fatter? about the same, my weight doesn’t really change
iii. richer or poorer? probably a bit richer

What do you wish you’d done more of?
I wish I’d had the time to go to more comedy stuff in Manchester and that perhaps I’d spent a bit more time working on my final year project.

What do you wish you’d done less of?
Nothing that I can think of, but I probably should have done less of whatever I was doing that was distracting me from my project. 🙂

Did you fall in love in 2006?
I don’t think there’s anyone for me to fall in love with…

How many one night stands in this last year?
Zero.

What were your favourite TV programmes?
Doctor Who, QI and Have I Got News For You (although it’s a bit strange calling them my favourites, as I rarely watch anything else).

What were the best books you read?
I haven’t had much chance to read any non-course/review books this year, although the Illuminatus Trilogy is an interesting read so far.

What were your favourite films of this year?
Pirates of the Carribean 2 had me in stiches (and featured Keira Knightley…), as did The Producers and Cars. I’m not sure which is my favourite out of the three though.

What did you do on your birthday?
Nothing of importance, I tend to keep a low profile because I don’t like making a fuss. As has been the case for the last three years it happened to be on the same day as a Meg’s event so we were going for a Chinese meal anyway.

Who were the best new people you met?
All the cool people at MFoE.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006?
You can do anything if you put your mind to it, even if everyone else thinks you’re crazy to do so.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
“So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job’s a joke, you’re broke, your love life’s D.O.A.
It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear
When it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month, or even your year”
(first four lines of I’ll Be There For You by The Rembrandts)

General thoughts on 2006:
Everything has been a bit topsy turvy, but has probably turned out for the best in the end.