Many times over the course of this year I have thought that this song would make the perfect soundtrack to a highlights film of 2008, especially a film of the soap opera year that was 2008 for Wapol. You know the ones I'm talking about, those montages of silent clips with a track laid over the top, optimising the use of fades and slow motion. You see them at the end of sports tournaments on TV; at the end of the Olympics, after the final match of the Australian Open and so on. If I had a film crew following me through 2008, the soundtrack to my montage would be This Year.
2008 has been a year of highlights. A lot of these have been Band Club related; my first practice with the band in July, the Scotland trip and the great results at North Berwick, Perth, of course the place in the finals at the Worlds, and the Australian Championship win in Sydney in November. - However, all of these came with their fair share of lowlights. There are, of course, many other highlights that bring with them great memories. The most recent would have been a BBQ we had at the beach in celebration of me getting a year older. Sun, friends, a meat overload and an old cricket set = good times.
Without dwelling on the lowlights, it really feels if there have been more than usual over the past 12 months and perhaps it was just my mindset, but 2008 was tricky year in terms of dealing with small setbacks that seemed to enjoy piling up and getting on top of me. Putting a positive spin on all this, I guess that having to deal with the setbacks has made me a stronger person and will hopefully make small issues in the future seem trivial.
I've met some pretty special people over the course of 2008, many of whom I feel like I have known for a lot longer than a few months. I am so fortunate to have friends who are good people - whether they are new friends or ones that I have known for a while.
With the notification tonight of a setback to kick off the new year, and a nice helping of frustration and emotion just before Christmas, I guess I need to be grateful for 2008. As much as I can be disappointed right now that someone's selfish decisions are going to make things difficult for a short period, I am happy in the thought that if this pickle of a situation had been thrown at me at the start of the year I wouldn't have been able to deal with it as well. So I guess I am then grateful for 2008 being one of the tougher years I have had emotionally. - For the lowlights that have taught me a thing or two, for the setbacks that get in the way but make you use a bit of ingenuity to work through, for the realisation that sometimes life doesn't just fall into place and that sometimes you have to admit that you are wrong.
So I've made it through this year. Almost. I'm looking forward to another batch of highlights coming up with Christmas knocking on my door and visitors from over East arriving very soon. What's also exciting is that 2009 is shaping up to be an interesting one. Who knows where I'll be in 6 months time.
But what's really going to be interesting is what the soundtrack to my 2009 montage is going to be.
2 comments:
Let's hope we can make 2009 worthy of some Dirty Dancing and "I've had the time of my life". Although as a good proportion of next year will be spent in Glasgow it's a choice of two:
1) Singing in the Rain; or
2) Umbrella.
Ach well, I'm sure it'll be one with plenty of fun times no matter what the weather!
Let's hope it's Blind Melon's 'No Rain!'
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