2008 Review

I've had a half written '08 review on my desktop for weeks now and so it is time to a quick and dirty summary.

Best year ever? Probably. I'll just remember it as a year where everything ended well and before the end there were so many great parties, dinners, cottage trips, day trips, BBQs, etc. I've got a lot of great friends and they made this year awesome.

It was also my first full year in Canada. It seems like it has been longer. I'm getting along well and enjoying it here for sure. I see no reason why I will not take citizenship as soon as I can and proudly live here for the rest of my life.

Photography vs. Music.
I could write pages and pages about my passion, er, obsession known as photography. The thing is that this year I think I actually began making real art and getting a real feel for how to use my camera and lens as art making instruments. I see now sign of stopping. There is always something new to learn, a book to read, a angle to try, a subject to shoot, etc., etc.

Music? I also also write pages why the music consumption went down this year. Much of it does have with putting time and energy into the visual stuff.

DJing.
I had a few great gigs this year. It is hard to go back to just being a patron when you've tasted what it is like to have the control. I'm hoping to start up something new in 2009.

I think the new Matmos is my favorite album.
But then that Stereolab is quite listenable.

I did manage to go to a few shows. MBV was the best show. A dream come true. But Swervedriver was also amazing. As was Matmos, Stereolab and a few others.

Career wise, I got things on track after realizing that Media Planning wasn't really what I wanted. I actually like what I do a lot and want to keep doing it, with this company, for a long time.

Lovelife! It is hard imagine not having Heather around. She is fabulous. I really love her. Who knows what will happen in the future? I often feel that my genetics and upbringing just don't make me the best candidate for settling down into marriage and living happily ever after. I can't even wrap my head around the idea that anyone would want me around for that long, ha.

As for the news of the world, forget the economy. This is just another part of the cycle--the system is setup to do this. I say that from a safe, employed position but I do worry. No, the real news story is the election and hope for a better day.

So, here is hope for those better days beginning in 2009. I hope mine is as good as 2008.


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here is all the junk I began writing and never finished
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2008. Best Year Ever….?!

2008 marks my first full year in Canada. It also happened to be one of my best years on record. Why? Friends and good times. I will always remember this past year for countless house parties, BBQs, cottage weekends and that VIP tour of Canada’s Wonderland. The year was just a lot of fun.

Other things about 2008 that I’ve been reflecting on…


Best Album from 2008
This is tough. Matmos created a truly unique album of synthesisers. You can’t help but love a couple of guys that are such music geeks—they included synths that are practically considered museum rare. But I also really liked Stereolab’s Chemical Chords, a work that sees that band crossing their signature sound with something that is darn near twee. I picked up a lot of their older material too and most of it is up to par. Few other releases stand out for me other than finally finding a Belle and Sebastian single, “This is Just a Modern Rock Song”. It was not really worth the search.

Best Non 2008 Album
I’ll go with Stereolab’s “Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements”. That Jenny Ondioline track is fabulous.

Best Purchase
Hmmmm….where would I be without my Blunnies? Those were bought last year though along with most of the other big ticket items I use a lot. I haven’t really punished my Sorels yet and they hurt my feet anyway. That 70-210 lens has proven very useful, much more so than that Manfrotto tripod bag I was looking to use to carry while on my…BIKE. Yeah, it will be a while before I get to ride the bike again but I do love that Rocky Mountain Metro 5.


Best Concert
My Blood Valentine. It was more or less everything I could have hoped for. It was pretty much what Kevin Shields wanted his fans to experience which goes way beyond hearing his genre defining sound.

Other shows worth mentioning: Billy Bragg, Stereolab, Sea and Cake, Swervedriver at NXNE, Oasis at Virgin Festival,

Best Book I’ve read was probably Paul Auster’s Blue Notebook, at least as far as fiction goes.


Photography
I could write pages and pages on what has become a real passion. More than ever, I’ve convinced that everyone needs a hobby like this—something that they can get actively engaged in. Anyway, this was the year that I feel like I really got to know my beloved D70s and began to break away from just taking snapshots and really taking photographs. Sometimes I even made art. If you have studied art to any degree, you may know that at some point the artist becomes obsessed. I often feel like I’m on the verge of that--where almost nothing in the world matters anymore except the attempt to find something, capture it and post it online.

Jobs/Career
It was a bitter pill to swallow. After all of the soul searching and career research, the trek up the 405 once a week after work to take classes at UCLA and giving up my IT career (and salary) I had finally found myself in the position I had set my sights on years prior: media planner. And in early 2008 I had realized that I was totally wrong. The endless coordination, the lack of any real analysis, and being a tiny cog in a huge machine that was connected to other huge machines with no concrete evidence as to how my efforts made a positive change for something/someone…ugh! Luckily I followed some earlier suspicions and had picked up strong Excel skills which led me to a rather happy position at Quired. I expect to learn a ton here and make a big contribution in 2009. Better yet, I also expect that I’ll be recognized for this.

Education
In the end, I think I only took Photo 2 at George Brown this year. I wasn’t impressed. The instruction was top notch. But the facilities were poor and I lost a roll of film. I do not feel like I really got what I wanted which was the ability to process a roll from start to finish. Actually, I also took an Intro to Photoshop kind of class and those facilities were good as was the instruction. So, GB seems to be a mixed bag for photography learning. I never did take anything that was more career related.


Lovelife
How lucky am I? It is often hard to imagine what I would do without Heather. I often have no idea how she, or anyone, can put up with me in such a way. Being in a relationship allows you to see how difficult you can be.

First year in Canada!
It is hard to believe that this past year was my first one here. “Has it only been a year?!” “Has it already been a year?!” Yes and yes. I feel like it was very successful in the sense of getting to know Toronto more and even a little bit more of what Canada is all about. I have no confidence that I could pass the citizenship exam yet. And I feel like I have only the most casual understanding of my new home’s history, politics, economy, etc. But, I’m eager to stay and learn more!


Sugar Festival, Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, etc.
2008 was great because I got out of Toronto a few times and even managed to see another province.


Parties
Cheese Fest! Birthdays, Canniversary 1, Yankee Thanks, BBQs here or at Chris’s or at his brother’s cottage—good times for sure.

DJing
I always wanted to DJ and it turns out that it is a lot easier than I thought. Well, yes and no. Real DJing with vinyl and turntables and beatmatching is beyond me. But fading between two mp3s at a retro night was something I did a few times. And it is fun! There is nothing quite like having the control and getting people going. It is hard to just go to clubs as a patron after you’ve had a taste of providing the soundtrack. It is something a person could easily get lost in but in the end, I just don’t have the skills or time to be real. Finding gigs, promoting gigs, and practicing for hours…it is beyond me in any serious sense. But, if you need me to play your retro party and have an amp + speakers, I’ll be right over with my ibook!

Music and Music vs. Photography
Again, a complete analysis would take pages so suffice it to say that music consumption just became a lot less important to me this past year. I guess it is all about resources. You only have so much money and time to put into anything. I just don’t bother exposing myself to any of the new stuff. And what I’ve heard doesn’t really move me. Perhaps it is the realization that it is all just recycled and just another product for us to buy. Maybe it is the passive aspect of it vs. the active aspect of photography. Perhaps it is that when I’m single, I go out to clubs and shows more often for the social aspect and spent much of 2008 coupled—and coupled to those who were not into the same music or in the same way. In 2008, I continued to seek out sounds/bands/albums that might be thought of as twee, shoegazer, C86, bedroom indie electro, Britpop and whatever you’d consider Stereolab.

What else?
Canada’s Wonderland—riding Behemoth in the front car! Virgin Festival for free.