Review of 2005
In my never-ending plagiarism of Paul’s website I’m going to do a review of this year. Partly because I’m a bit bored right now, partly because it looks like a pretty good review that covers lots of good things. Anyway, here goes…
Review of 2005
Best local bands seen:
None! I was supposed to head out and see Bob Dylan in November, but I missed my chance due to lack of funding.
Worst local bands:
I can’t say there were really any bad bands I saw this year. They were all* great.
Exotic towns/cities visited:
Lots! These have all been the highlights of my year and include Luang Prabang in Laos, Dali and Beijing in China and Bangkok and Koh Phanghan in Thailand.
Girls I fancied but failed to get anywhere with:
Hundreds and thousands of them all over the world!
Girls I fancied and did get with:
Just the one ;)
Great gigs this year:
Haven’t we been here already?
Mad Stuff done in 2005 that if you’d told me I was going to do last year I’d have laughed at you:
- Teaching a bunch of young Chinese kids English
- Driving/being driven around on a crazy little motorbike in an outback Asian country… although to lots of people I guess that doesn’t sound too “out there”
- Well, sampling the herbal delights of said outback Asian country
What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
This is a hard one… but I guess more time to do the things I want; right now these things are travelling and taking photos. Unfortunately I don’t think 2006/7 will be my year for doing much of these things.
What dates/events from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory?
No dates; the big things that happened this year were the London bombings but I was shielded from those while teaching in Beijing. I didn’t find out about them until a day or two later and somehow the feeling by then was quite different.
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Teaching English to those Chinese kids, oh, and joining photoSoc.
What was your biggest failure?
Teching English to those Chinese kids and not joining photoSoc earlier (and not joining filmSoc at all!).
Compared to this time last year, are you:
- Happier or sadder? A bit of both, I think.
- Thinner or fatter? Probably about the same… but definitely fatter than two/three years ago before I started university.
- Richer or poorer? In monetary terms… I’m massively poorer with debts here, there and everywhere. Yet somehow… I feel richer.
What do you wish you’d done more of?
This won’t come as a big surprise to anybody but: travelling and taking photos.
I’d quite like to have watched some more films, too. I should have joined filmSoc, I think.
Maybe some more project work, lectures and general degree things would have been handy.What do you wish you’d done less of?
Arguing, sleeping and wasting time.
Did you fall in love in 2005?
Definitely.
How many one night stands in this last year?
:(
What were your favourite TV programmes?
Can’t say I watch much TV, but I did enjoy watching Firefly, which seems as good as anything.
What were the best books you read?
Discworld novels and The Vanishing Elephant by Haruki Murakami. I’ve not read a bean since I got back.
What were your favourite films of this year?
To reword this a little… my favourite films watched this year were: All About Lily Chou-Chou, In The Mood For Love and probably a few more I’ve forgotten by now.
I don’t think 2005 was a great year for cinema, Barry Trotter was a let-down, Narnia was crap and while King Kong was good, I don’t think it will forever hold a space in cinema history.
What did you do on your birthday?
I was treated to an evening out at Punjab with Xiao, Vlad, Ceyda, Karen and Samia. We probably watched a film after that, too :)
It was a good evening.
Who were the best new people you met?
Sayaka-chan, the crazy ganja-loving Japanese girl making her way (slowly-slowly) around Asia and the world, Ming, Conrad and Viki, a couple of guys visiting Laos, James, a London guy on the last leg of his year-and-a-half world tour, Rog and the rest of photoSoc.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005?
Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:“Take care of all your memories.
“For you cannot relive them” -Bob DylanGeneral thoughts on 2005:
Yeah, it was okay.
Tags: Life