2011: The Year of the Pledges

I was recently gifted with a heavenly intervention.  Now, before your imagination gets carried away, let me assure you that there were no winged Spirit Guides gathered in my lounge gently asking me to take a seat whilst they read their heartfelt concerns for me off their memo pads.  Or iPads.  I'm sure Spirit Guides keep up with the times.

What actually transpired was me in the depths of (overly-dramatic) despair on Christmas Day.  I was stuck, alone, with bronchitis, and having a teeny pity party with the gourmet blender my parents sent me from New Zealand.

The intervention came by way of cyber space.  As in, I had a lot of time to kill surfing the interwebs and stumbled upon the amazing ......

kickstarter.com

This website, in their own words, is the largest funding platform for creative projects.

OHMYGODILOVECREATIVEPROJECTS!!!

There is no saying that calmly.  I've tried!  I don't do nonchalant well.  But don't you geek out uncontrollably when someone has a new project they want to shoot the shit about?  The brainstorming, the mocking, the laughter and the tears - these things make friendships stronger, ( or/and drunker).  And what an honor and a gift it is to be able to share a passion for music, great stories, amazing images, with friends, family or strangers ....  you create it, I will rejoice in it.

So, you can see why discovering kickstarter.com has me ready to kick 2010 in the balls.  You sucked '10!  I'm ready for some creative inspiration and an amazing year ahead ...... I was going to make some lame pun about kick-starting 2011, but I think we should rise above that.

Bring it, 2011!

Oh 2010, we haven't been the best of friends over the last 12 months, and now we only have a day left to make it up to each other.

I'll go first.

We started the year off in Sydney.  New Years Day saw us on a secluded Maroubra Beach, looking out at a horizon that tempted us with all the possibilities ahead.  We were very tired following a night with the best friends and the best music, but we were at peace (or not as hungover as we expected).  You were lovely.

Sydney featured prominently in the beginning.  There were those teasing chats about moving there for the holy grail of career opportunities.  There were those mind-blowing concerts at the Sydney Opera House.  And then there was that love-hate-love mood swing with Sydney's weather and humidity.  I was very patient.

Andrew Bird and The Swell Season were not the only concerts that we experienced this year.  As amazing as they were, there is still that special place in my heart for Newton Faulkner.  How insane is his cover of Bohemian Rhapsody?  I know!  Let's be all nostalgic and go listen to it again.







Thank you for the music, 2010.


You also brought some interesting new authors into my life this year.  Sonia Choquette's "Diary of a Psychic" surprisingly opened my heart to everyone around me, and shone a light into the redundancy abyss.  We did well at that whole "losing our job" thing!  Go us!  Thanks to Sonia, we hugged our way through massive change and we embraced (rather than maimed), everyone that popped up in our path to wish us well.  Then, Brian L. Weiss, M.D.'s "Many Lives, Many Masters" blew our mind even further.  What Sonia started, Brian continued.

Thank you for the insights.

But the real treasure that you brought into my life, 2010 ... was the people.  There have been new friendships forged from adversity and existing friendships strengthened.  From the cheeky and inappropriate humour of the brotherhood, all the way to the heartfelt smoochiness of the sisterhood.  Legends!  There has been an unending supply of  human zimmer frames, without whom my steps forward would not have been possible.

Thank you for the love, you sentimental bastard.

It's been rough going, 2010.  But, as I reflect back on everything that we've been through and look forward to everything to come, I am grateful for the trials and tribulations and ... I'm in need of a nap.

2011, I'm looking at you now, buddy.  Don't make me bitch-slap you into 2012.