2010 is behind us now. There has been much discussion recently on whether or not it was a good year. Were set objectives reached? Was it better than 2009? Does being better than 2009 automatically make it a good year? Maybe.

I generally don’t like to look back. To dwell on past events is to become mired in them. And yet, it’s important to know where you have been in order to know see where you are going. Thomas Edison once said, after he had tried to create the light bulb a hundred times, unsuccessfully, that “they weren’t failures, merely discoveries that didn’t work.” Best to focus on the positives, the goals, and then set new ones. There was a recent medical study done that said that people who walk faster live longer than people who walk slower. People who get out of their chair with a leap live longer than those who slowly stand up. People with a firm handshake live longer than someone with a weak one. So, there it is. Faster, stronger, further. Gotta keep going. Gotta raise the bar.

Highlights of 2010 for me? A month in South East Asia, followed by a solid three weeks in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. New friends, and reaffirming that my existing friendships are genuine. NaNoWriMo finally beaten, and now another one on its way.

Last year, I did a top five on my music playlist. I kept track again this year, and this time I have these to share:

1. Wasted Years – Iron Maiden
2. Pinball Map – In Flames
3. An Honest Mistake – The Bravery
4. Fight for your Right – The Beastie Boys
5. Half-Assed – Ani DiFranco

Heh. Well, Wasted Years is number one again, and I won’t argue with that. It is quite funny that the Beastie Boys made it in there. That’s a real throwback to my youth, when my brother and I used to hang out at our neighbour’s house, watching movies in their basement all summer. Many many memories there. I think that the fact that Ani DiFranco’s track landed in the top 5 is testament to me mellowing out as I approach the big four-oh. Yeah. I don’t buy it either.

The first track for 2011 is a live version of Opeth’s The Grand Conjuration, from a show in Stockholm. Opeth is the band I normally consider my “favourite” band right now, and since I made it to Stockholm in 2010, it’s apt. Maybe 2011 will be a grand conjuration in its own right.

This is a rant. I know that pride is a deadly sin and all of that, but you know, so is sloth. Lately, and especially these last few days, the thing that has struck me most about this city is that people don’t seem to care about it. I can’t count how many times I’ve been just disgusted of late with garbage around town on Sunday morning, or cigarette butts being flicked (at me, even — I was hit by one last week), or whatever. The hardest working guy in Fredericton is the dude with the bucket and the long set of garbage tongs.

It has been shown time and again that if a neighbourhood is allowed to become run down, the people in it will become run down. Maybe there is a link between a fresh coat of paint, then on to flowers, then to eating better, then to feeling better, and ultimately, maybe to a happier state of mind.

I’ve actually tried to write this post a few times and it keeps ending up negative. I don’t want to be negative about my city. I just wish the people who lived in it cared about it a bit more. Maybe that’s why I don’t especially like it here — the mindset is just so, smothering.

Anyway, enough of that. Two new discoveries in the realm of books and music. I’ve really started to get into Henning Mankell, a Swedish crime author who has written several novels, a series, featuring a recurring character named Kurt Wallander. This isn’t new, these books are not recent, but it’s new to me, and I like the fact that I’ve stumbled onto an author with an oevre so large, knowing that there is much reading to be done.

Also, and for the track of the day, is a band I discovered using Jamendo, a free service for discovering free (legal) music. Many bands, many genres. Anyway, obviously I was drawn toward the metal section, and found a cool band called the Diablo Swing Orchestra. They are a Swedish band that fuses jazz and metal, with lots of string instruments. Their vocalist captivates me. This is a live track called Heroines. Blew my mind.

Days go by and still I think of you
Days when I couldn’t live my life without you
Days go by and still I think of you
Days when I couldn’t live my life without you
Without you
Without you

You are still a whisper on my lips
A feeling at my fingertips
That’s pulling at my skin

You leave me when I’m at my worst
Feeling as if I’ve been cursed
Bitter cold within

Or so Gattaca says. I watched it with a friend yesterday, again, and still find the whole movie fascinating. If you remove the science fiction from the movie, it boils down to being able to do whatever you want, if you have the will and the desire to do so. Push yourself, put yourself in uncomfortable situations where you don’t necessarily have a guaranteed safe outcome, and I think that you will be surprised at the outcome. We are all capable of exceeding our own preconceived notions of what is possible for us. Go for it.

Some conversations yesterday day led me to think of a great Swedish band called Pain of Salvation. They are prog metal, but less metal and more prog than most. Anyway, they were relevant yesterday because the etymology of the band’s name centres around the suffering we go through in order to achieve Nirvana. We have to do things that we know hurt in order to put ourselves in a better place at the end. Anyway, I’m picking a track from them called Disco Queen, because I think that my friend will like the song a lot. The chorus is pretty fun. Are you a Disco Queen? I bet you are. As an aside, the high pitch chorus in the song is still the same two guys who front the band. A rather hilarious acoustic version of them doing it live still cracks me up.