In what is becoming an annual tradition, here's my list of 'things I did for the first time this year', which shows no sign of getting any shorter, even though I'm getting older.
1. I taught someone how to tie a necktie. It wasn't complicated, and my student was a very capable learner who simply hadn't needed to learn how to tie a tie before. Took us about three minutes.
2. I taught someone how to tie their shoelaces (because Velcro has been around for a while now, but hasn't taken over completely). It took us five minutes: four minutes for me to analyse and work out how I've done it on autopilot for the last 40 years, and then one minute to demonstrate it step by step.
3. I dressed up as Darth Vader. Quite a few times, in fact, starting off with comic conventions initially, then a few charity events, but later in the year I also then attended a birthday party as an invited guest. I mean, they weren't inviting me, they were inviting Darth Vader as part of my local Star Wars group and it would have been rude not to accept. We attended a birthday party for a young man with cystic fibrosis, and for his friends, some of whom had other disabilities.
And to complete the year, I attended a Christmas Carol service as Darth Vader, playing the role of King Herod, sharing the stage with a ballet dancer who played the role of the Angel Gabriel. Not something I'd anticipated at the start of the year!
4. I spoke at my church on a Sunday morning. I was invited to speak for 10 minutes on one of the Fruits of the Spirit, and chose patience (because people think I'm patient when I'm actually just very good at not speaking out). I've spoken at Sunday evening youth group meetings, but that was 20+ years ago, and this audience was a little more mature. I enjoyed it (I wrote and practised for weeks) and might get to do it again next year.
Here's the link to the video recording: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PVMEMq8546c&t=1767s#bottom-sheet
5. I became a Trustee at my church. This means I have responsibilities (legal responsibilities) for the finances and legal behaviour of the church. I'm not the only Trustee - we have four in total, plus the senior minister- and the others have all been in the role for several years. I'm hoping to get up to speed pretty quickly.
6. I found, and completed, a South Korean "K-Drama" series which I selected. As I mentioned last year, my wife introduced me to K-dramas in early 2021, and we watched "Crash Landing On You" which is one of the best drama series I've ever watched - her suggestion. We also watched "My Love From The Star" which was good (after CLOY, the others tend to pale by comparison).
This year, I found "Extraordinary Attorney Woo", which is set in a South Korean law firm. Attorney Woo has autistic spectrum disorder, and is a spectacular law student who's just graduated and started work practising law. It's dubbed, but you soon forget that as the production and sound is exceptionally good. I recommend it, it's heart-warming and life-affirming.
Crash Landing On You
https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81159258?s=a&trkid=13747225&t=cp&vlang=en&clip=81406209
My Love from the Star
https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80025266?s=a&trkid=13747225&t=cp&vlang=en&clip=81152139
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81518991?s=a&trkid=13747225&t=cp&vlang=en&clip=81611334
7. I taught myself to solder. Yes, I'm a late developer, but I taught myself out of necessity. I needed to fix my Darth Vader voice box, and didn't want to wait until I could get somebody else to do it. I have since soldered a couple of other small electronics items, and only burned myself slightly once, on my thumb.
8. I taught Ben to play a piece of music on the piano. In early September, he came home from school with music homework: perform a piece of music to a backing track. Ben won't mind me telling you that he has zero interest in music and hence no experience or musical knowledge. However, by clever planning and careful choices, he learned to play firstly Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and then the main theme from Star Wars on the piano, single-finger melody, in a weekend (and then practised it for the next two weeks ready for his music lesson).
A piano will always play the same note when you hit the same key (unlike a violin, which requires skill just to extract a sound from it), irrespective of which finger you use or how close you get to the middle of the key. This makes it ideal for a beginner who is going to play through a brute-force memorisation exercise. It was a triumph of perseverance and determination for both of us, but for Ben especially. Music is already one of his least favourite subjects at school (what other subject expects you to take the end-of-year test before teaching you the course material?).
I'm pleased and surprised at how I'm still learning, teaching and doing new things. I wish you a happy 2023 and many more new opportunities!
