The End-Decembertide & New Year Roast Toast

Happy New Year! It’s been a while.

And so we begin again for another 12 months into what the optimists call 2018 and what the pessimists are worried might be the final chapter. Whichever way it swings, having some time off has allowed me to look back on running this and other sites for a year and reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Not just for you reading, but for me writing, for my lifestyle and general outlook.

Many things happened in 2017 to us all that changed the face of everything for us. Some great, some not so great (depending on your view) which shrouded opinion on whether it beat 2016 or not. But in such a divided crowd, is it worth deciding if 2018 will be the as good, or shall we all take the action as if the next year will be our last. Let’s take on our shoulds and our woulds and coulds and turn them into not just will but do.

Do you want to start a new adventure? get planning and do it. Got something you want to shout about? you draft it out and post it.

Of course I’m not saying blindly dive into something, remember still to look before you leap (after all you don’t want to cause a covfefe 😉 ) . But after seeing and indeed experiencing many new year’s resolutions failing within the first few hours or days of 2018 as people plan but don’t act, I think this year should be the year of will do for those procrastinators and nervous waiters like me.

So with that said from me, expect good service to resume this month, some with a new twist, some back to normal.

What big plans do you have for 2018? If you want some inspiration, I highly recommend this video of rather sage advice from popular YouTuber jacksepticeye.

31,536,000 seconds and counting down. What’s it going to be? A strive to beat 2017? A continuation of sucess into 2018? Or just the chance to answer the knock of opportunity and make 2018 great from the beginning.

Here’s to a new beginning, Happy New Year everyone!

Mike


The 2017 Roast Toast

So this is it. The beginning of a new year. To some that would probably be a sigh of relief, because let’s be honest 2016 wasn’t exactly the clichĂ© answer to the hopes of “better than 2015” or “the best year ever!” globally.

We’ve lost a good few famous people this year (owing to the baby boomer generation starting to reach and exceed the general life expectancy) arguably half of the UK were disappointed with the Referendum result on our EU membership and the populous of the US who didn’t vote for Donald Trump with the result of the election for the next president over there. We’ve also been exposed to more news on the Middle Eastern conflicts, particularly with #Aleppo making a trend on Twitter as well as some of the scarier demonstrations of the so called Islamic State on the world.

But it wasn’t all bad! There were many good that occurred too. For those that supported Trump and Brexit, congratulations on the history defining moments. For Children in Need, Revelmode, Project For Awesome and many more, congratulations on raising phenomenal amounts of money for various charities to help those around the world that need that extra bit of support right now. Congratulations to Felix Kjellberg (aka Pewdiepie) for continuing to define history for the internet’s largest video platform by reaching and surpassing 50 Million Subscribers to your content (51,766,646 at the time of writing) and maintaining the most subscribed individual on ‘popular’ social media at the moment (feel free to correct me otherwise).

I feel proud of my own achievements this year, from coordinating my first place to live outside of work, relationships & university accommodation from start to finish (with continued thanks to my wonderful parents and their amazing partners for the kind help in getting set up) to getting back onto the internet and setting up a place to share content with you all again (as well as setting the crazy task of trying to run 4 regular blogs on different topics!), to participating in providing live sound support and mixing advice for our largest filmed multimedia project to rebuild part of our Mandatory training for staff using our in house designed “Living the Values” series of videos with help from professional actors and scriptwriters, to setting up, compiling and running the largest live multimedia project we’ve done to date for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals we | awards 2016 and working with our partners at Pure AV to help put on a great show for our Workforce and Education Directorate, to finishing and now polishing up my completely overhauled and now blended training programme for AV compliance within the Health Academy (that may only expand further in scope and levels), to sitting here right now and writing out this essay of a post and hoping it doesn’t sound totally lame for and end of year post (that ironically is published the day after).

But that’s just me.

I sincerely hope that whatever your plans are tonight be it partying with friends, family, the TV or total strangers, or indeed just going to bed and waking up in the new year, I really hope you have a wonderful evening and I wish you all… (not the best, cause many of us said that last year and that didn’t go so well!) … a prosperous and productive new year with opportunity, hope and happiness and that you can look back on 2016 with the same or greater pride that despite all that has happened over the last 12 months you made your mark on the world and wrote some history of your own.

Here’s to 2017, I’ll see you on the other side

Mike


(Many) Holidays Are Coming

As we reach the end of the year, many national and international holidays alike for people are coming. With the launch of the many retail adverts (in the UK we had the Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, ASDA and Aldi ones hitting YouTube and TV screens nationwide) and the famous Coca Cola adverts (normally the year’s rendition of  ‘Holidays are Coming’ being the biggest one), it’s no secret that Christmas is on it’s way (though I think it’s still too early for decorations!!) as well as Hannukah for the Jewish also approaching. Following this there’s Hogmany for the Scottish and New Year to come. Previous to all of this too, there’s Thanksgiving this Thursday for the USA and Black Friday following for both us and the Americans. Finally, between all this there’s the Christian (but not public holiday) Observance December 8th for Canada for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the Prophet’s Birthday for Muslims on the 12th.

So that’s plenty for the world to look forward to and it’s no wonder that this time of year is focused on family and friends.

I hope everyone that’s reading has some great plans to get together this year. I know it’s clichĂ© to say, but let’s also spare some thoughts for those whom it might not be an easy option. Two years ago, I experienced what it was like to experience Christmas on my own due to a series of complex communications and bad timings. Albeit my experience was under completely different circumstances (I had food, presents and some contact with both parents and limited contact with my former partner – I won’t lie that it did get lonely through the day and I can’t even begin to imagine what those in far worse circumstances will be going through. So if you have time, do something special for those who may be facing struggle this season.

Be it inviting someone you know over for the celebrations to spend time with you, volunteering at kitchens for the homeless and less fortunate, saying prayers to your respective God(s) or giving to charities such as the Salvation Army who will be out supporting those in Need this December, any help will both be good for you and will really make someone’s Christmas this season (whether they meet you or it’s more of a Secret Santa). Just the same way Christians believe we were given the gift of God’s son over 2,000 years ago, we as people should extend the hand of family and friendship out to as many people as we can – especially to those whom 2016 hasn’t been their greatest year, just in the same way you surely hope you’ll be treated this season (no matter how selfless we all try to be!), whatever you celebrate.

Hope you all have a wonderful week, Happy Thanksgiving to you in the USA and be careful out there on Black Friday! (I’ll be sticking to the Internet personally).

 

Mike