Best of 2006

Ok, following on from Jon's call to arms... Here's a few thoughts from last year.

It's been a seriously full-on year, with the major happenings including: Getting married, moving house, almost buying said house (instead that will have to form the first of 2007's), promotion at work, new car... All of this extra responsibility has come along with a fairly full bag of emotional ups and downs as well. In some ways, emotionally and spiritually, I feel as though I have taken
a step back this year, and where I have grown in some areas of my life, others have diminished. but at least I kind of know where I stand. The year ahead can be seen as a continuation of study, career, but also the start of new things - new house, the next stage of our marriage, and hopefully a growing emotional and spiritual maturity. Here's hoping anyway!

On a lighter note, lets take a look at the highs of the year, in terms of the world of entertainment.

Best Films: Children of Men - Big budget British Sci-fi, a refreshing but harrowing look at a future facing the end of humanity. Could have been utterly rubbish and trite, but a great cast, sensitive story, and fantastic photography make this my top choice. Others include Tsotsi, Everything is Illuminated, and Casino Royale.

Best Books: I've read very little this year, what with all those OU books I have to get through. But a couple of good ones I've skipped through are Gods Generals by Roberts Liardon and The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge.

Best Albums: Cerys Matthews - Never Said Goodbye, A Collision - David Crowder Band, Life in Slow Motion - David Gray, Surprise - Paul Simon, On My Way To You - Rigmor Gustafsson, and the mighty Takk -Sigur Ros . Again, it's been a very slow year musically, but the end of the year has brought around a couple of great live DVDs, namely Ben Folds and WASO (West Australia Symphony Orchestra), and Farewell to the World, the 1996 Final concert by Crowded House, as the play out to Don't Dream It's Over, there is not a dry eye in the 130,000 strong crowd on the steps of the Sydney Opera House...

Best Websites: No Surprises here, really just Flickr, Google's personalised Desktop, and the continuous drooling over Apple.com.

That's it for now, I might even try to write in this thing more than once this year!