2011 Overview

   First of all, I'm very sorry I haven't blogged in ages. I do remember I was meant to do a Christmas special for you all, about a traumatic childhood incident which involved a Christmas decoration which unintentionally resembled an attempted suicide, but then I had to cook for my family and I spent a majority of the time putting the "merry" into Merry Christmas, so it did not eventuate.

   I also wanted to do a thing at the end of every year to sum up the events of the previous year, but then I got distracted by a new year's eve party. Here's a picture of me looking pretty in a dress beforehand to make up for the delayed content.

Actually it's me and Hannah, because here at Probably not Sane we like to give the reader value for money. Except for the money bit. I'm a bit broke at the moment.

 
   Anyway, delayed or not, here's my overview for the events of 2011.

• We occupied and protested everything.

 
   This started with the revolutions throughout the middle east and is currently ongoing with the Occupy movement, which is protesting against corporate greed. Although it started as Occupy Wall Street, it has since spread globally, as far south as Occupy the Octogon in Dunedin. It has led to a cringeworthy amount of jokes using the phrases "occupy"- ("Hey babe, can you occupy the kitchen and make me a sandwich?") "1%" and "99%", but it has also changed people's attitudes and opinions around these issues. I don't think that this was just a 2011 fad that will lose popularity this year. The movement is strong, has a lot of support, and there are a lot of people willing to continue protesting. As an aside, here's a lovely picture of some cool people I met at Occupy Auckland. We temporarily acquired a rat from them.

• The bad guy is killed and a prince marries a commoner, temporarily turning the world into a Disney movie.

   Almost ten years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Osama Bin Laden was finally found and killed this year. Well, unless you listen to the conspiracy theorists, but that's something else together. In other news, the royal wedding was, if the hype was to be believed, the event of the year. Certainly the tabloids had a field day. I admit, I wasn't going to watch it live, but Jordan was staying at mine that night and asked if we could. We spent a majority of the evening checking out Pippa Middleton's very lovely backside, as did the rest of the world, apparently.

• Natural disasters

   There was the devasting Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami and, a little closer to home, Christchurch, already damaged  from the September 2010 quakes, was hit again in February, this time sadly taking lives. Aftershocks are ongoing, including a particularly bad one just before Christmas.

• In more positive news...

   We won the Rugby World Cup again, at last, which was something of a relief as Pharmac would probably not be able to fund enough antidepressants for the entire country had we lost the final to France. In contrast to this, the fact that we hosted the event put New Zealand into party mood, and people were even celebrating and happy in Dunedin, of all places.

This photo could  be biased journalism, however, as although he is happy, he clearly isn't even from Dunedin, but is in fact from Argentina.

• Bellez learnt that it is hard to sustain a quality blog and have an active social life.

   Which may explain some of my more mediocre and/or downright appalling (see: Christmas in October) posts this year. On the other hand I wrote some posts that I am extremely proud of, so there is also that.

• The Foo Fighters played an absolutely amazing show in Auckland this year.

   Actually, they played two shows, and if the second one, which I attended, in the rain nonetheless, was anything to go by, the first was pretty badass too. The crowd was huge- around 50 000 people, which Dom thought looked pretty cool from where we were sitting on a muddy slope. (Having paid for myself, Dom and William, I could sadly only afford the cheaper tickets. But it was so worth it that I didn't care.) The show was probably one of the best concerts I'm likely to ever go to, and the next day in town I bumped into the drummer, Taylor Hawkins, while crossing a street, which is the most fangirl moment I've ever had. Here's a photo Dom tried to take of the crowd and the stage, but by then it was so dark you can't see very much. 

• I finally got back in contact with my brother.

   After about two and a half years, I finally heard from my older brother William, and I spent a lot of time this year staying with him in Dunedin until he moved to Auckland in late September- though I made sure I spent plenty of time with him again when I went up in December. If I could pick a predominant memory of 2011, it would probably have to be bussing between Queenstown and Dunedin because it feels like I pretty much did that all year. I am so grateful to be back in contact with him and I think its cool that we can talk and get along well even after so long. My brother is the shiz.

   Anyway, that's how 2011 panned out for me, and again I apologise for the delay, but here's to happy blogging in 2012.

Probably not Sane would like to wish you a happy and prosperous New Year, despite the fact that the economy's fucked and so are we.