Out with the old, in with the new

Yeah, I'm not so much on New Year resolutions. The standard still applies. I need to quit smoking yet again. I need to get my finances in order. I need to start going to the gym. Blah, Blah, Blah.

2008 was kind of a crappy year for me. I got hit by a car, I'm closer to bankruptcy than I've ever been and apparently I got hosed by the one woman I dated. Sheesh. Although I guess there were bright spots, I got pulled off the phones at work, which meant I didn't have to deal with a constant onslaught of customers. And I did discover a few friends here in Colorado Springs. Oh yeah, and I did get a cat, the little bastard is freaking out as I type this.

I can't tell if I'm starting to feel my age or it's just where I live. I can't seem to keep up on music, and I seem to have gained some weight. Back in the Steamboat days, I was at least in shape (good shape for a smoker) and I seemed to be current on music. Now I just feel overwhelmed, especially when it comes to music. But I'm starting to wonder if they are both tied into the fact that I'm just aging. I'm not even sure if I picked up an album that was released in 20o8 in the last year (I'm sure I did, I just can't think of one).

The one thing is, I did notice this was the year it seems I mellowed out a lot as far as music is concerned (except for my recent fascination with the Southern Lord label). I started the year digging the Postal Service and it descended from there. Crud, I'm getting old and mellow in my older age.

Screw this, my 2008 top ten in no particular order (well maybe the first one)

1. My Siblings. You guys rock. You dropped everything to come out to take care of me when I needed it. I may not have thanked you properly, but never think I didn't appreciate it. And that trip to the sand dunes my brother and I took was pretty awesome.

2. The Postal Service. They may be emo (I'm not sure what that means now) but that album was what I had to hear at the time. Yeah, my boy back in Indy called it gay but I don't care. I needed that shot and that album was the one I needed.

3. Health Insurance. Hit by a car. I don't really know if I need to go into detail.

4. Obama. I don't care what anyone says, we elected a black man as president. Yeah, he's black and he's white, but he spoke to a hell of a lot of us. I just want to see if he can carry it through.

5. Digg.com. You helped me waste hours that I could have wasted watching TV.

6. Emusic.com an awesome subscription based music site that supplies straight MP3 format downloads. No DRM. And a really deep library. What I didn't find on vinyl this year, I found there.

7. Stephen Colbert. He has finally come into his own. For years I was a fan of the Daily Show (still am to a degree). But this was the year that he finally overshadowed the Daily Show. His character is freaking awesome, and I'm really curious to see what he will do with it from now on.

8. Vinyl. My new hobby apparently. There's now a bunch of labels that will give you a download coupon when you buy vinyl off of them. Sub Pop, Matador, Merge and Saddle Creek to name a few. If you still have a turntable, it's not hopeless anymore. Although if anyone wants to but that Still/Young Band LP off me, hit me up. I'm just not into it.

9. Linux. Until about a month ago I was using the Linux distro of Ubutnu at home. I'd still use my Mac for music but that was about it. It's ready for the home user unless you're a gamer. The two most recent build of Ubuntu are pretty much flawless, I never even had to use the command line unless I really wanted to. If you don't want Windows and don't want to pay for a Mac, install Ubuntu. It's good stuff.

10. Metal. Especially what Southern Lord is putting out these days. I thought my metal days were pretty much behind me (with the exception of Mastodon and High on Fire) until I started hearing stuff off this label. Drone, Doom and Heavy all on one label. Lair of the Minotaur and Wolves in the Throne Room are two of my current faves off this label.

There you have it, my incoherent top 10. I'm feeling lazy so I didn't link everything. If I feel motivated I may go back and do so. Cheers to a New Year.