I know, I know. This is a little bit late. But I am going to continue to lean on my 7-month old baby excuse if you don’t mind. 

You know the drill by now. As ever, I have compiled my 25 highlights from the year. Together with 25 related goals for the year ahead. 

I chose the number 25 because it is a centred octagonal number as well as an automorphic number. It is also the smallest decimal Friedman number, and can be considered vertically symmetrical.

I think that’s quite enough intro nonsense. Let’s get into the nonsense proper.

Yet again, we find ourselves at this juncture – the end of one year and the beginning of another. 2024 is performing its last soliloquy, and 2025 is waiting in the wings to take its place.

I know that there are many of these kinds of posts – summaries of the year just gone. But this one isn’t like any of those. Because I didn’t write any of those. But I did write this one. Now, that’s no guarantee of any higher quality. But it is technically true.

2023 is fast reaching its inevitable fiery end. Like all 223 years before it, it will soon be the past, making way for the bold new sci-fi world of 2024.

This time of year is a time of reflection, a time for looking both forwards and backwards.
Looking backwards is much like looking forwards. Except that the things we look at have already happened. This makes things more certain – relying less on imagination and more on your phone’s camera roll.

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It is that time of year again, when we naturally look back, take stock, list our achievements –  our triumphs, trials, sorrows and joys. And I am no different. Yes, despite all appearances to the contrary, I too am but a mortal man, bound to such trivialities as the inexorable passage of time, and the inevitable marking thereof.

It has become a habit of mine therefore, to list the highlights of my year past, if only so that my blog gets updated at least once per annum, and so to stave off that ever-present temptation for a white, middle-class man – starting a podcast.

You may have noticed that the artwork for my latest single, Thank You (available everywhere you find your music online) features a pretty prominent moon (credit to Adam Jenkins for the incredible design.)

You may have also heard that my upcoming worship EP-  that Thank You is part of – will be called The Snowball Chronicles, Vol. 1.

And I can see how these things might cause some confusion for you. The moon doesn’t seem to have anything to do with thankfulness. And how snowballs link with worship is not clear in the slightest. There are no snowballs in the Bible, at least at first glance.

Well, I would love to enlighten you. To quell your confusion. To bulldoze your bewilderment. To pick apart your perplexity.

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So, 2020 eh?

It is my tradition to compile a list of the highlights of my year. It goes without saying that this year has been…different. However, as a couple of introverts without children, who had just acquired a kitten and Disney+, it has to be said that 2020 was relatively kind to us.

But I am keenly aware that for many it was intensely difficult, and there were far fewer highlights than usual. It’s beyond my own modest talents to speak to the tragedies and hardships of this year, but I what I have I give to you: my own particular brand of nonsense.

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So, the end of the year is upon us. A full 365 days of 2019. Quite a lot isn’t it? Far too many, some would argue.

Nonetheless, I have managed to cobble together some highlights for you to enjoy. Because in this time of uncertainty, we cling to our traditions. No matter how pointless or illogical. Don’t think about it, just let it happen.

In keeping with tradition, and basic mathematics, therefore – here is a list of my 19 highlights for 2019. I have chosen the number 19 because the only non-trivial normal magic hexagon contains 19 hexagons, and it is the maximum number of fourth powers needed to sum up to any natural number.

Let’s get on with it, shall we?

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As you may be aware, I have somewhat of a penchant for the pointless. If something has no need to exist, either I will want to make it exist or I will applaud it for already existing.

And what could be more pointless than a review of Avengers: Endgame?

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So, that time is upon us again. A year has ended. And, as has become traditional, I will be listing my 18 favourite bits of the 365 days that made up 2018. I chose the number 18 because it is a semiperfect number and also the first inverted square-prime of the form p·q².

Let’s be honest, no-one cares about this bit. It’s like the bit at the start of a recipe blog where you have to read the blogger’s entire life story before finding out how to make their oatmeal and raisin cookies.

So let’s get stuck straight in.

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So, the Christmas season is upon us.*

Shops are open for longer, the Germans have invaded our high streets with their markets, and Noddy Holder has awoken from his 11-month slumber to the sound of his royalty cheque being posted through the front door.

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