A lot of 2010 was about bands and music. I spent a lot of time watching the Graveyard Train, the Grim Brothers. Discovered Jackson Firebird and the Cherry Bar in ACDC Lane. Rediscovered the Snowdroppers, and the New Pornographers. Was lucky enough to see Oliver Mann again during his Endinburgh Castle Hotel residency. Missed out on Bon Jovi and watched my last U2 concert (famous last words?). It was also a year of photography - specifically Lomography and film over digital. Video played a big part with a weekly video correspondence set up between me and my sister which was a huge amount of fun and a brilliant sibling connection.
This is a brief touch of some of the things that peeped out for me in 2010:
JANUARY
As you wish.
FEBRUARY
Webstock 2010 (Day One and Day Two) was everything they said it would be and so much more. This amazing conference is held in Wellington, New Zealand each February. The list of speakers and events are astondingly good - and this year the ONYAs were introduced to recognise New Zealand web designers and developers who produced exceptional work. It was a fantastic evening and Webstock is the best conference ticket around.
MARCH
USA + SXSW - it amazes me that I did this in 2010 - it feels like a whole lifetime ago. My two big worries before going to the States was driving and eating (not at the same time) I worried that I wouldn't be able to drive due to licensing problems/opposite sides of the road/road rules/the fact I hadn't driven a car in two years. It all ended up being fine. As for the food, I ate like a Queen the entire time I was there - everything was good and the portions weren't massive - except for that one time at Moonshine in Austin, Texas when the apple pie dessert portion could have fed a family of four.
APRIL
I think I broke my toe once, but this was the first time a broken bone had been officially confirmed. I managed to fracture a rib - the doc said it was from coughing, but considering it was a rib close to my shoulder-blade, I'm gonna suggest it was the weight of the book-laden bag I always pitch on that shoulder.
MAY
The beautiful Mars asked me and Chaz to bake cupcakes for her birthday - 30 lemon and 30 chocolate cupcakes. It was a long, hard but wonderful day - the planning and production-line worked perfectly. Chaz's creative idea of injecting the cupcakes with filling (lemon curd and chocolate mousse respectively) turned them into stunning show-stoppers. We got tons of compliments.
JUNE
Chaz and I did a 6 week digital photography course - I learnt a few things, but mostly just ate at fairly expensive restaurants with Chaz after the class. We had a blast! even if our tutor left a lot to be desired.
Work started turning sour - between an increasingly obvious poor management choice and a hopelessly underskilled third party manipulator - my life became such that I started considering a new job.
JULY
One of the things I love about Melbourne is that nearly everything I want to do ends up within walking distance of where I live. So when I researched screenprinting workshops I was so happy to find the most recommended was a mere 15 minutes away from home. It was held on two consecutive Sundays and it was extremely good. I printed thejamjar.com tshirts and they looked amazing.
AUGUST
Posting a photograph every day in August seemed like such a good idea at the time. Next time I think I will do this through Flickr and leave my poor old blog for words. Though it was nice that I finally got a lot of my photos from the USA trip developed.
SEPTEMBER
Helped friends make a video application to the Amazing Race - it was fun, and funny but unfortunately the pair weren't successful in their bid to be contestants.
Got to talk to Shaun Tan at his book signing - and best of all, got to watch him draw.
Work continued to be terrible right up until finallly, there was a 'restructure' and aforementioned poor management choice was removed. It wasn't an easy month, but at least there seemed to be, at last, a light at the end of the tunnel.
OCTOBER
Simon and Melissa came to stay for two weeks. It was so nice having them come to visit - they did loads of things in Melbourne mostly centered around eating delicious food.
The Chopped Rod and Custom show was held for the third year in Newstead, Victoria. This year it moved from the oval to the racecourse, and just as well too as the number of people and hotrods seemed to double. It was a fantastic weekend with awesome bands and cars and as is becoming the usual, the weather was perfect.
NOVEMBER
eDinner was coined in November to describe having dinner with friends who are thousands of kilmetres away. In Melbourne, Fox and I cooked our BBQ while in Kuala Lumpur Bart and Kelly did the same thing - then we sat down to our meals and ate together. We'll do it again as it's such fun, and I've also had requests from my own family in New Zealand for eDinner dates with me. Awesome!
Bart won the Latte Art Off coffee art challenge and is still waiting his official trophy.
DECEMBER
Flying home to Waitara, Taranaki for Mum's 70th birthday. It was an expensive, stressful escapade - I mean who puts me in charge of flowers and speeches! My sister, that's who. But it turned out okay in the end, mostly.
OH and work? it was good for a while - though extremely stressful - my live webcasting project was a wonderful success and I think me getting sick over Christmas is a direct result of how much of an effort it took for for one person to pull that puppy off. It really needed a team of three and I'll be rooting for that to be budgeted in next time. And that light at the end of the work tunnel I mentioned back in September? may well in fact turn out to be another train - but I will not broke any nonsense this time.
Back to New Zealand for Christmas and a Jack Russell joined to my hip - swear-to-God Bailey didn't leave me for a moment the entire 10 days I was home! Christmas Day was lovely, with Amy and the girls staying for brunch, and David, Simon and his girl friend Melissa sticking around playing board games all day. We had slow roasted lamb, beans and almonds and smashed potatoes for Christmas Dinner, with pavlova and trifle for dessert. I have to work on my presentations skills - but it all tasted okay.