reflections on 2009

we're getting ever closer to the end of 2009 and 2010 is coming up fast, so I thought I better write my "how was my year" post. I've already had to think about what my best albums and gigs were of the year and that was hard enough, but to think about what emotions I've had and crazy medical stuff I've been through this year is another ball of wax completely.

it's probably not the best idea to write this post now considering I'm in a weird mood:

1. I'm shattered from two v. late nights of gigging (excellent gigging I might add - Friday night at a sold out Iota for Fanfarlo and then Saturday night at a not-as-full Rock 'n' Roll Hotel for Phenomenal Handclap Band, who was missing Sean Marquand, who waves to me from the stage every time he sees me - so boo),

2. it's raining here today, which means my whole body is aching (my body is like a barometer, every time the pressure changes, my joints feel it),

3. got into a terrible row with my insomniac mother this morning for reasons unclear to me (so I have nothing to be sorry for), and

4. last night was my last gig of 2009 and for over a month (until the Cribs on 19 January), and I'm a bit sad about that.

...but I'd like to do this before I forget.

--

so what happened in 2009? top 10 events, in chronologic order:

1. I started this blog here. I hope it's been an interesting read for someone out there.

2. my love of music turned into "professional" blog writing. and I joined up with Popwreckoning as one of their writers. I've been working so hard for them, I have over 100 posts in less than 9 months. not bad eh?

3. I fell in love with Friendly Fires. This is not to say I haven't fallen in love with other bands or singers this year but if we're talking major "head over heels" falling in love, this band is it. That's the only way I can explain that I've seen them 5 times, 4 of those times in a town that is not my own. or theirs for that matter. at this point, I joke that they should give me an honorary bunk on their tour bus.

4. I met my first "rock stars" - Noah and the Whale - through blogging and because they knew me, I hung out with them after their D.C. show. still sad that Doug Fink has left the band and has become...a doctor (?!?!?)

5. I went to my first music festival - Dot to Dot - in Nottingham, England. Why? Because Friendly Fires was headlining and I was given an offer to interview Edd Gibson and Ed Macfarlane there. It was my first major interview, and since then, I've had the opportunity to sit down and chat with a lot of people, and I like to think that the FFires interview has helped spread the word around about me as a knowledgeable interviewer and a good-at-what-she-does type of journo.

It also helped that my friend Matt's Skint and Demoralised were playing, as well as Patrick Wolf and Ladyhawke. I also saw the Pains of Being Pure at Heart as well - Kip Berman laughing about this later, saying I must get around as much as they do :)

6. thanks to my condition, I hurt my arm on the way back from England and lost the use my left arm for over 2 months. I wrote to Stuart Maconie in Manchester when I was in so much pain that I was crying as I typed up all 7 of the Dot to Dot articles with my right hand. he wrote me back (I couldn't believe it) and he wished me well on everything I was doing with music.

I had to undergo a ton of physical therapy, and lots of treatment were required to get me back into shape. somehow I was a-ok when time came for Friendly Fires to play two shows in New York in August. so I went and had a great time.

7. I was asked to become USA editor for There Goes the Fear and agreed. Have been working really hard for that on top of everything I do for PW. It's been tough sometimes, especially with my health.

8. I reached a birthday milestone last month that, if I'm being honest, that I had predicted when I was 12 I didn't think I was going to make. every day for me is a struggle. I'm pretty private when it comes to this stuff so the people I work with on the blogs or because of the blogs (the bands) aren't aware of what I'm going through.

sometimes I wish I could tell them...because I dearly wish them to know, if only to be aware what kinds of things I have to give up, the chances I have to take with my health in order to go to them and see them play. music is really the one thing in my life that I can always count on, because I've learned that you can't - and shouldn't - always count on others. apologies if I sound cynical but that's just been my experience.

9. Fate stepped in and prevented me from making a fool out of myself in the name of love (this is conjecture but somehow I think it's likely).

10. ...

I'm leaving this blank for now b/c there's another 2+ weeks to go in December 2009 and maybe something nice will happen to me before 2010.