Posts
Back when I was 16 I started a course at college that included several different qualifications, one of which was sociology. I don’t remember a lot about the course but the lecturer, a man called Rick Courtney (probably the teacher/lecturer who I respect most during my education) said something has stuck with me in the 11 years since, “When you’re younger you commonly fall out with people because of arguments. You’re a 5 year old and someone won’t let you use their red crayon, that’s your friendship over and done with there and then. When you’re older it’s a lack of interaction or communication which causes friendships to fall apart.”
You may be wondering why I have started this review of my 2011 with a quote from someone the majority won’t have heard of, well the reason is the pure turnover of friends I have had during 2011. By the time mid-July came around I had around 550 friends on Facebook, I would stress that not all of my friends are online, but I’m using Facebook friends as a contextual basis, then one night I had a conversation with one of my best friends, Jodi, changed everything.
I can’t really explain it but the conversation changed everything for me this year. It was during that conversation I realised that I only wanted friends who I actually didn’t see on a regular basis, such as Jodi or my American friend, Megan, on Facebook. My 550 quickly became around 130. Some people who I removed did not react well at all, even after I had stressed that it was just because I saw them on a regular basis and I only wanted people on Facebook who I saw less regularly, although I have since re-established a friendship with some of them since then.
I would stress that I don’t really class people from work as friends, not the majority anyway. To use another quote, “The people you work with are people you were just thrown together with. You know, you don't know them, it wasn't your choice, and yet you spend more time with them then you do your friends or your family. But probably all you've got in common is the fact that you walk around on the same bit of carpet for 8 hours a day.” I’ll leave it at that.
That’s not to say I haven’t been awkward this year and some friendships ending were not Facebook related in the slightest and were through my own fault.
Going back to my friend Jodi, a friend of mine for around 10 years and someone who I can’t praise highly enough. Whilst I was having issues with Faye, Maz and various others, she stuck by me all the way. Throughout all the issues I’ve had down the years, I can’t thank her enough for being awesome throughout our friendship, even if I times I have been “testing” …. putting it nicely.
You may be wondering why I have started this review of my 2011 with a quote from someone the majority won’t have heard of, well the reason is the pure turnover of friends I have had during 2011. By the time mid-July came around I had around 550 friends on Facebook, I would stress that not all of my friends are online, but I’m using Facebook friends as a contextual basis, then one night I had a conversation with one of my best friends, Jodi, changed everything.
I can’t really explain it but the conversation changed everything for me this year. It was during that conversation I realised that I only wanted friends who I actually didn’t see on a regular basis, such as Jodi or my American friend, Megan, on Facebook. My 550 quickly became around 130. Some people who I removed did not react well at all, even after I had stressed that it was just because I saw them on a regular basis and I only wanted people on Facebook who I saw less regularly, although I have since re-established a friendship with some of them since then.
I would stress that I don’t really class people from work as friends, not the majority anyway. To use another quote, “The people you work with are people you were just thrown together with. You know, you don't know them, it wasn't your choice, and yet you spend more time with them then you do your friends or your family. But probably all you've got in common is the fact that you walk around on the same bit of carpet for 8 hours a day.” I’ll leave it at that.
That’s not to say I haven’t been awkward this year and some friendships ending were not Facebook related in the slightest and were through my own fault.
Going back to my friend Jodi, a friend of mine for around 10 years and someone who I can’t praise highly enough. Whilst I was having issues with Faye, Maz and various others, she stuck by me all the way. Throughout all the issues I’ve had down the years, I can’t thank her enough for being awesome throughout our friendship, even if I times I have been “testing” …. putting it nicely.
Jodi was the person who this year was responsible for me not continuing with a plan I had been working towards since I was a young child. I can’t explain it but this year having her in my life on a regular basis made me reconsider a lot of things and one of the first things that went out of the door was that.
Megan’s another awesome friend. Unfortunately the distance has proved a bit of a stumbling block this year as she has been busy at her end…..whereas I have spent most evenings on Facebook…..how pathetic does that sound? Still, I love Megan because she is one of the few people who I know (along with Jodi) who I can have a conversation with for more than 5/10 minutes without getting completely bored.
I would like to end talking about my friends my talking about a girl who I became friends with but then we had a major falling out later on in the year. I'm not going to mention this girl by name but there was a moment in September where me and this girl became what I considered good friends, but thanks to the influence of others, that friendship ended. I was devastated at the time and thanks to people like Jodi and Megan, I was quickly able to get back on my feet, even now to the point where I don't feel sad at all about this person not being in my life anymore.
So away from friends, what else has been happening?
Well in May Lincoln City were finally relegated. It had been coming for several years and since then I have been rather passive on the fortunes of the club. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to get promotion back and I am still going to games, but it is now at the point where I am not actually that fussed if I do have to miss a game for whatever reason.
Getting relegated does have it’s bonuses in a way. There are a LOT of new places to visit, towns and cities I have never visited before. In that sense going down wasn’t a bad thing, but I can see myself getting very tired, very quickly of some places such as Braintree, Nailsworth, Tamworth and Alfreton, although the latter set of scumbags are unlikely to be in the same division as us next season.
So away from friends, what else has been happening?
Well in May Lincoln City were finally relegated. It had been coming for several years and since then I have been rather passive on the fortunes of the club. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to get promotion back and I am still going to games, but it is now at the point where I am not actually that fussed if I do have to miss a game for whatever reason.
Getting relegated does have it’s bonuses in a way. There are a LOT of new places to visit, towns and cities I have never visited before. In that sense going down wasn’t a bad thing, but I can see myself getting very tired, very quickly of some places such as Braintree, Nailsworth, Tamworth and Alfreton, although the latter set of scumbags are unlikely to be in the same division as us next season.
Speaking of new places, I did get to visit a new place earlier in the earlier. I haven’t let England a lot during my life, infact other than Wales and France on one occasion, I had never left England. During July I was given an opportunity to go to Scotland. Scotland’s a lovely country, granted some of the towns were what could best be described as a “shithole”, but in general the country was lovely.
It was quiet, even the motorways were quiet. We left England at about 11am after several hours in heavy traffic, getting to Scotland there was fuck all on the roads. There was also a small-town feel to everywhere. The town of Annan for example lists a “public telephone” as one of it’s main features. I would love to go back to Scotland in the future for a few days, what I’d do for a few days is another matter, but I’d love to go back.
The trip to Scotland has got me thinking about the future and how I am bored with England. I think I’ve seen near enough everything there is to see in England, everything worth seeing anywhere. I think I’m coming up to being ready to move on. I’d like to go travelling for a while or even live in a new country all together. I don't know where I'd like to live for an extended about of time, but in the near future I am hoping to visit America, Canada and Norway, so hopefully going there will help me decided at one point or another.
It has been a bizarre year in the sense that I started off knowing exactly what I wanted and now I have no clue, or at least not one to make a responsible decision on.
I have been learning German at college in the second half of the year, the course lasts for 3 years so hopefully by the end I’ll be good enough to hold a conversation there. As stated above I would like to go to America and Canada for a long visit, although both are fairly big, so the chances of me seeing everything worth seeing in either is very slim. The one thing I would not like is to go somewhere ridiculous hot. I can’t cope in the heat. Me + The Sun = Chaos
I also retired from football this year. I torn an ankle ligament (as you can tell from the picture, my ankle swelled up quite badly) in the summer and soon after returning I realised I just didn't want it anymore, so I decided to retire from the sport. Five months and I still haven't kicked a single football since.
So, other than a high turnover in friends, Scotland and potentially leaving the country, has anything interesting happened? Not that I can think of so I am going to end this look at 2011 so far here.
No comments:
Post a Comment