It’s New Years Eve, so what better time to review the year and look forward to 2013?!

2012 has thankfully been a very good year for us; the Big Fella got a new job that he’s much happier in and is finding much more time for his family because of it; our boy lost a job, and his first application to join the Queensland Police was turned down, but he hasn’t lost his determination to keep striving for his goals and got a place at the University of Queensland to study a BA in Criminology instead.  Our girl brought that wonderful little munchkin who is our first grandchild into the world and continues to amaze and astonish us with both her capacity to break all manner of household implements and yet her undisputed ability to thrash me at Words With Friends….though I have to say that some of her word choices are decidedly iffy.  On the 2^nd April 2012, Kai arrived five weeks early with the cord around his neck…twice…but he’s a little Aussie Battler and is now taking his first tentative steps and filling our lives with sticky fingers and much happiness.  Oh!, and I graduated!

I’m often, despite many reports to the contrary from my husband, very easily pleased with the simple things in life and as long as my family are happy and healthy, so am I.

Aside from some of the more momentous personal events of 2012 though, there have been global ones that have made me stop and catch my breath and try and figure out what my place really is in this strange, wonderful, and yet brutally disparate and unequal planet.  I couldn’t help, for instance, to be drawn to the following article to make the point.

Indian Businessman buys solid gold shirt - 

“The gold shirt has been one of my dreams,” Mr Phuge told Indian newspaper the Pune Mirror when he picked up the elaborate garment last Thursday.”It will be an embellishment to my reputation as the ‘Gold man of Pimpri’” [a city in the state of Maharashtra, and not his profession apparently].  He could be a thoroughly decent chap of course, and so I probably shouldn’t judge him too harshly on one ludicrous fashion choice alone (but Sir, really, how exactly do you wish us to judge you?) and yet I’m finding it difficult not to find it more distasteful than usual.  The following detail particularly piqued my interest in this gloriously ostentatious, and yet apparently newsworthy report:

He’s not worried about security because he “always moves around with body guards”, if only we could all be afforded such a luxury……

Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/#!/mfeminism

It’s still been, in 2012, a pretty crappy and unjust world to live in if you happen to be a woman.

But apparently we bring it all on ourselves, just ask Piero Corsi, Catholic Priest and insightful social commentator; his Christmas message contained the following gems for you to ponder on:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2012/12/28/04/01/women-bring-violence-on-themselves-priest

“They [women/girls] provoke the worst instincts, which end in violence or sexual abuse. They should search their consciences and ask: did we bring this on ourselves?” it read. The leaflet, a copy of which was posted online sparking a wave of outrage across the country, said the 118 women killed in acts of domestic violence in Italy in 2012 had pushed men to their limits.”Is it possible that all of a sudden men have gone mad? We don’t believe it,” Corsi wrote.”The fact is that women are increasingly provocative, they become arrogant, they believe themselves to be self-sufficient and end up exacerbating the situation,” 

No mention of what small, fully dressed, innocent and non-provocative, boys do to incite sexual abuse and violence on themselves, but be warned, apparently men have ‘limits’ beyond which they are unaccountable for any of their actions, and especially the ones that don’t make any sense to normal human beings.  He also has some interesting and prehistoric ideas about the correlation between neglecting the housework and domestic violence, but I can assure you that I have never beaten the Big Fella with his golf clubs for leaving the dishes unwashed.

So, in summary, the world still leaves a lot to be desired and it can make all this chit chat and nonsense we post on WordPress seem a little trite, insensitive and petty at times.  That though would be doing all of us a disservice; we reach out across the many miles, countries, faiths and cultures between us and focus instead on what we have in common, what makes us laugh, gasp, applaud and cheer together, it’s a safe platform to debate, discuss and lighten some of the load of living in a complicated global community and that surely can’t be a bad thing can it?

For the record, (and thanks to the WP team!), here’s my first year of blogging in appealing and yet utterly pointless and useless facts, which is actually how I prefer my statistical analysis;

“The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog”. (I could be tempted to ask for a ‘helper monkey’ on my Xmas list next year)

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,100 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 5 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report. I think 3,100 views is a pretty stupendous result so far, even if the majority were probably from my friends and family!

So where ever you are, whatever time it is there or here, be thankful for what you’ve got already and not for what you haven’t (and if there is anything we actually genuinely need next year I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be a solid gold shirt), let’s keep the channels of communication open in 2013, say something that matters, makes a difference and makes everyone a somebody important xx

(thanks to Hello Kirsty for another excellent musical recommendation)