Many notable things happened in 2011. I do like to have a few moments of mature reflection when the old year turns into the new one, followed closely by a good helping of immature reflection. I thought you might enjoy the latter more.
I got addicted to Angry Birds. This is a shame for Little Vulture and Bear, since I do not have an iPhone and they both do. This means that whenever I see either of them I am less interested in communicating with them, and infinitely more interested in feeding my addiction. This is not good for our familial relations, nor the battery life of their devices. As with most addictions, this one took hold surreptitiously and with frightening speed. One moment, I was vaguely aware of the existence of the game but completely disconnected from the reality of it, due to the simple fact that my employer favours Blackberry over iPhone (and I now see why – imagine the hours lost to Angry Birds in the typical workplace…). The next moment, BANG. Hopeless addiction. Cold turkey is the only way forward. Conquering my addiction is particularly important since my pleasure is diminished when I play it with the sound off, even though the noise of unscathed pigs chortling is almost more than I can bear. It must be a pain / pleasure thing.
I realised that Engineer and I can no longer laugh at what Boxer says when we are within her earshot because she gets mightily offended. This is because she is no longer a baby. So when she, on watching a football game, made reference to the guy in the black shirt being “The Janitor”, and Engineer, Judge and myself almost fell off the sofa laughing at the sheer appropriateness of this comment, she shut herself in her room in a huff and refused to speak to any of us for a whole day. When on earth, exactly, did she stop being a baby, and why wasn’t I consulted?
I came to terms with the fact that I do not understand what the Large Hadron Collider does, nor what the discovery of a sub-atomic particle will do for me. I realise of course that both of these items are of significant scientific importance. I still read newspaper articles about them. I am merely resigned to the fact that I will never be able to explain either of them to my children. I look forward to the day when they can explain them to me.
I now acknowledge that there is a place in the world for the Kindle. Just not in my world. I reserve the right for this stance to change in the future though (for reference, see my attitude to the iPod and CDs back in the day. You could be forgiven for imagining that I had had a job in HMV’s marketing department. “Downloading? It’ll never catch on.”). I’m just not an Early Adopter in the change cycle, quite frankly, as the paragraph below will confirm.
This final item will no doubt make me sound like I just arrived from 1985 in a time-travelling Dolorean with a bad perm and shoulder pads, but How Good Is Skype?!? This has been a video-conferencing Christmas – how amazing to be able to see my brother-in-law in Canada, and 2 of my Glasgow in-laws, all on the screen at the same time, all chatting away like we’re in the same room rather than hundreds / thousands of miles apart! And best of all, it’s FREE! I never could resist a bargain.
Happy 2012 to all my lovely friends.
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