Farewell 2010 :(

So the end of Crimbo limbo week brings the end of 2010, and what a truly fantastic year it has given me!

At the start I got my nickname - Joe The Player Sayer - given to me by a good friend as he used it to try and convince someone I was the county darts champion for my age group :D Then came rumours and a stupidly short haircut lol :S One of the best weeks of the year came just before Easter on the geography trip Bangor, north Wales... such an enjoyable time was had by all with many funny moments :D

Then with exam season out the way it was summer! Waka Waka fever came over at the end of Year 12 ;) and then another brilliant week - the music tour in Barcelona, Spain. I find it really hard to choose my favourite of the two residentials, so I'm not going to! I'll just remember them as two fantastic weeks for their different reasons xD Then it was my birthday! One of the best birthdays I've had, although the weather wasn't what you'd hope for in August, especially for a day at the beach lol ;)

Year 13 saw the departure of several good friends and big changes at school... many birthday partys and film nights have been had this year, and lots came at once in October so that made for a good autumn :) Then December brought snow! It actually came in the build up to Christmas for once instead of an irrelevant time like March lol... The last week of term is always a busy one music wise, packed with final rehearsals for the Christmas concerts which is always good fun. Over the festive period I lost my voice for several days which wasn't the most convenient of things... but it has come back just in time for the New Year celebrations (Y)

And that brings us right up to date to Crimbo limbo (that lazy week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day - I didn't just make it up!) I'm sure some people will be welcoming the New Year and will be glad to see the back of 2010 for whatever reasons, but I'll be celebrating the terrific year that has gone by... many new friends have been made this year and all 2011 currently seems to offer is having to say goodbye to them as we go off to uni, plus lots of exams! :/ Oh well... I guess all that's left to say is...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Joe xxx

My 2010 Top 40

Well on the radio there is of course the chart show with the top 40 tracks every week, but lately they've been doing people's own top 40, so I thought I'd share mine...

Firstly though, my top tips for 2011 are:

Adele - Rolling In The Deep (great artist)
Bruno Mars - Grenade (another great artist)
Christian TV - When She Turns 18 (if you're feeling a bit of a rebel)
Martin Solveig & Dragonette - Hello (very, very, very catchy!)
Nero - Me And You (best played loud, not keen on the video)

But anyway... the top 40 list isn't it any order of  preference - I couldn't possibly make a final decision like that! - so here they are:

Christmas Eve

1 day 'til Christmas!!!...

...well, less than that to be precise ^^ It's really really cold, I've properly lost my voice (probably from all that singing last week in three concerts and two rehearsals), but it's Christmas!!!

It's Christmas Eve, which is when I usually save all my present wrapping for, which some may think a bit last minute, but it's what I do every year as I have a weird skill of being able to wrap gifts well whereas lots of people complain about it! So I'll do that later whilst watching my favourite festive film 'The Santa Clause' I think xD Right now though I'm listening to a playlist of a load of Christmas tracks and my favourite songs of 2010 :)

So I will leave you with a very important website for this day - the official NORAD Santa tracker ;) http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html

Enjoy your Christmas :D Joe xxx

Christmas Snow

2 days 'til Christmas!!!...

...I think after all the snow we've had recently, it would be a great shame not see any on Christmas Eve/Day when it's actually Christmas! I know lots of people moan because it ruins their plans, and it has disrupted plans of my own, but come on! It does feel much more Christmassy with the snow, and I'd much prefer it to this wet and windy weather we're going to have for the next few months anyway :/
But for your enjoyment below is a nice cover of Winter Wonderland by Jason Mraz :)

Speaking of snow and cold weather... last night the BBC weatherman concluded his forecast with the chilling analogy: "Tomorrow (today) will be so cold, it will feel like your face is being stripped of skin." Scary stuff there. God bless us all, and let's hope we survive the bitterness and actually reach Christmas :O

Merry Christmas!! Joe xxx

Christmas Films

3 days 'til Christmas!!!...

...but the build-up has been put on hold today as it is my brother's birthday. Most annoying it is keep getting visitors whilst trying to get my homework done, and having to tell them he's not in :P But oh well... Anyway, here are some of my favourite festive films (off the top of my head) which I recommend for the season :)

The Santa Clause (the first one, numbers two and three arent so good lol)

Christmas with the Kranks

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Love Actually

Elf

My favourite as a child was Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer the movie, which I would watch over and over and over again like kids do and never get bored xD

Merry Christmas! Joe xxx

Christmas Songs

4 days 'til Christmas!!!...

...so I thought I'd share some of my favourite Christmas songs with you - a mix of well-known, traditional classics and other fun, festive tunes.

Al Green - "Winter Wonderland"
Band Aid - "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
The Darkness - "Christmas Time"
Darlene Love - "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"
Elton John - "Step Into Christmas"
The Flying Pickets - "Only You"
Gabriella Cilmi - "Warm This Winter"
Mariah Carey - "All I Want For Christmas"
Melanie Thornton - "Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming)"
Paul McCartney - "Wonderful Christmas Time"
The Progues - "Fairytale Of New York"
Shakin' Steves - "Merry Christmas Everyone"
Showaddywaddy - "Hey Mr Christmas"
Slade - "Merry Christmas Everybody"
Train - "Shake Up Christmas"
The Waitresses - "Christmas Wrapping"
Wizzard - "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday"
The Wombles - "Wombling Merry Christmas"

There we go, check some of those out if you are unfamiliar ;)

Merry Christmas! :) Joe xxx