Two Thousand and “ILL”even - A year in review

Everyone seems to do it and I’m not going to buck the trend; its expected and who am I to do the unexpected. Tons of things happened in 2011 to both myself, my little family and the world in general. Its hard to pick the defining moments in a year full of sh*t and diamonds so I’ll give it a go:

• In February, 2011 delivered to us our second child Eli Jackson Haran whilst at the same time trying to kill his mother, the resulting surgery took 3 hours, 3 pints of blood, 2 units of plasma and 2 units of clotting agent before she was stabilised and able to hold her second son. Not an exciting experience, more a terrifying one. Those theatre stools are really uncomfortable but Eli and I were not leaving her side until she was safe.
• June saw the end of my first year of college with a big fat lovely pass - Woohoo! That just leaves another two years before I can rest easy and immediately forget everything I’ve learned (or maybe use it in a career change(.
• July was the pinnacle of the year for my Band, Ironrat, with a support slot at the Motorcycle Action Groups’ Yorkshire Pudding. Playing your songs to 500 grumpy bikers is always a blast, talk about nervous energy. By the end of the set (an hour and a half!) we even had folk dancing and clapping. Two days later I promptly quit the band due to trying to juggle far too many balls. I needed to just be a father for a while.
• September saw the arrival of a god awful (no offence religious friends!) cold that ruined a cold, wet and blustery family holiday in Newquay. Worst bloody weather week ever and also when Eli started teething in earnest and as a result had not slept through a single night since.
• October, November, December and 2011 decided to finish off how it started by trying to kill my father. Multiple Strokes, vascular surgery and suspected brain tumour was the icing on the cake. Thankfully he’s recovered now although he may now be diabetic so we’re all keeping our fingers crossed for 2012
• Oh and the last few months of the year saw the slow but now inevitable deterioration of our home - Roof needs replacing, walls collapsing, bathroom rotting. 

Its been a hard year with isolated pockets of joy but overall just damn relentless hard work. I’ve downed tools on my multifarious hobbies, no music (my guitars are getting dusty), stopped gaming (my painting table got dusty), put my books aside and stopped reading (my books are getting dusty) and haven’t picked up my PS controller and killed a load of bad guys for ages (my thumbs are getting dusty).

So my hopes for 2012.

• Eli lets us catch up on sleep
• We actually catch up on sleep
• We don’t over sleep and miss the train to work
• Start playing again and get some of my solo stuff up online
• Start and paint my Roman army for Warhammer Ancients
• Finish Syphon Filter on the PSP
• Go on holiday and have fun
• Not be ill
• And maybe get some sleep 

Anyway, that’s it for now. Have a nice winter and lets all look forward to the sun.

Ste