Happy new year! We’ve mostly all survived another trip around the sun. Let’s take stock, shall we?

Pros from 2023:

  • Me and mine are alive, healthy, happy, safe, indoors and gainfully employed. I can’t express how grateful I am for all this.
  • Seen and heard a lot of good art / film / music.
  • Learned loads.
  • Lost a load of weight and ran a 10km

Cons:

  • War. Ugh. What is it good for? I’m sick of this two minutes to midnight bullshit and it’s utterly horrible the number of innocent people who’ve been killed, injured, forced from their homes due to the sadistic whims of a handful of tyrants and madmen. More sickening is the way the international community continues to enable this shit. The UN Security Council is a joke. As the Revolting Cocks said… 1980s shit. Turn it down.
  • Weather… it’s really happening, isn’t it?
  • Although less important from a global perspective I’m pretty sure I put all that weight I lost back on in December

In summary, my little bubble rocks but the world appears to be going to hell in a hand basket.

My favourite things from 2023:

  • Game: Spider-Man 2 which I inhaled and 100%’d in about a week. The basic mechanics are soooo good.
  • Music: Yard Act are putting out consistently excellent singles ahead of their 2nd album.
  • Gig: Living Colour, who weren’t even the main act the night I saw them but are just joy personified. Probably my favourite band.
  • Movie: Godzilla Minus One snatched it at the very last minute. (Oppenheimer was good too.)
  • TV: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is, somehow, the very best Star Trek. (Although I’m intrigued for Ncuti Gatwa on Doctor Who after the 60th/Christmas specials)
  • Device: my Steam Deck, which had me replaying a bunch of 5-8 year old games. Particularly enjoyed Tomb Raider and Mad Max (again) and Dave The Diver (for the first time)
  • Guitar: This year was mostly about the gigging Fender Jaguar I’ve constructed which is amazeballs, but the actual best guitar I’ve been playing lately is a 1977-80 (ish) Westbury Standard I got off eBay a couple of weeks back. Possibly the best 200 quid I’ve ever spent.
  • Amp: Spark Go is insanely good for both the price and the size

Don’t think of them as “resolutions” so much as “guidelines”:

  • I’m not buying any guitars this year. In fact, the plan is to reduce the collection by about 20%-30%.
  • Also, I am going to gig with some of the guitars I actually have. I am
  • Also, I’m going to play those guitars on the interweb, and display more of my build work, which will hopefully enable/justify the previous two bullets points a bit. I’ve been ignoring social media, but actually I quite like the ‘gram and Mastodon (and dare I say Threads?) and it’s time to get back out there and be positive.
  • Get back on the health / running thing

So… I hope 2024 brings you everything you desire… unless you’re a tyrant, in which case I hope you get everything you deserve. I hope we increase the peace, and the empathy. Love ya.