I know its a little early but...
Well, the end is just about upon us. The end of the year, that is. I usually like to take this time to get over hangovers and the massive feasting that occurs. Oddly, though, I’ve not yet earned a decent hangover and the feasts have been more like small snacks late a night. But I still feel the convivial mood of the season, even if I don’t have a small man with a large hammer inside my head trying to bash his way out.
I think the reason the feeling is different this year has more to do with the weather than anything else. Usually at this time of the year, the days are long, hot and somewhat humid, with the occasional storm in the afternoon to cool things down. This year, the weather is screwy. One day it will be in the high 20’s to low 30’s and the next it will be down to around 20 degrees (this is all Celsius, of course). It has been wet, thundery, foggy, dry, humid, fine, cloudy and hot, sometimes all in one day. Consequently, the usual harbingers of summer (for instance; pretty girls in very little bikinis or late night drunken chorus') haven't made too many apperances.
Toni and I are spending the first Christmas in our new apartment, although we won’t be in it for Christmas day. Instead, we’re travelling three and a half hours to the nation’s capital to spend a few days with both our families. All my siblings live in Canberra and Toni’s parents live just on the outskirts, in a town called Bungendore. But there is a reason she and I don’t live there with everyone. We don’t like the place. We have both spent time living there and much prefer living close to the coast and in a big city. Still, it will be good to spend a bit of time with family.
I’d like to say this year has been a time for big changes around the world, but apart from the climate (and this is still being debated), things pretty much have been as they always have. Tribes are still going head to head, children are still starving to death, innocents are dying because of natural and man-made disasters, and avarice and celebrity are still being celebrated. I guess some things never change.
This year saw a couple of personal objectives achieved for me. The first was my fourth anniversary. Those of you who are regulars to my blog know how much I love my wife. In fact, a few of you know I’m downright soppy about her. Four years may not seem a lot to some of you, but for her and I, it is a milestone (or kilometerstone, for those metrically inclined). This is marriage number 2 for both of us and our first marriages didn’t last much beyond a couple of years. Of course, we expect to be together for the rest of our lives. But it is nice to celebrate these moments, however small they might seem to outsiders. We are stoked.
The other objective has to do with the band and, more importantly, our songs. Three of our songs are currently sitting 1, 2 and 3 on the unsigned band hip hop charts on the TripleJ Unearthed website. This is out of 6,600 bands and a whopping 15,500 songs. I have had a personal objective for many years of having three songs in the Top Ten charts. I never specified which charts, so I am going to take this and run with it. So far, it has got us some gigs and requests to use our music a cable network television show (Fuel TV, no less). Suffice to say we’re very happy about this and will milk it for all its worth. 2007 is going to see us crack radio airplay and have our first bona fide hit. Just you wait…
I’d like to wish all my friends and acquaintances here at JU a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I will be offline for at least 5 days, but look forward to catching up on all the good reading and vibes you people give me.
Thanks very much for your comments, your support, your laughs and your wisdom. Every day, in every way, you all help me become a better man. To me, this is the best gift of all. Have a cool yule 