Guess what?!  This isn’t a TTD!  See?  I haven’t forgotten how to write things outside a numbered list.  Yet.

Unfortunately, though, this is a year-in-review entry.  I know, I know, these are annoying and irrelevent.  But I just looked at my 2008 round-up and I can tell you one thing – this one will be shorter.

2009 was easily one of the most arse-kickingest years of my life, if not THE most arse-kickingest (me rite gud).  And most of this is due to magical strokes of luck, rather than any wisdom or cleverness or deserving on my part.  Which is kind of annoying, in a way – it’s annoying to have tried so hard for so long, only to discover that, sometimes, quitting is the best decision you could ever make.

The one thing I didn’t explicitly say at the end of 2008 was that I had quit.  I quit performing.  I didn’t care if I never got on stage again.  I wasn’t emotional about it anymore, either.  I was just done.  Then I got an email from someone I respect a lot asking me if I wanted to be in a cabaret show.  That was one thing I’d never tried and I still loved singing.  So I said yes.  Little did I know what other huge events I’d end up saying yes to as a result.

Then came the job upheaval.  I had a choice to make there too.  To stay on and do more of the same (in a thinly-disguised ‘different’ package), or to quit and see what happens next.  I quit.  And, lo, it was amazing.

Yes, luck, luck, luck.  There’s been a lot of luck flying around for me in 2009…

I was lucky this year that, by sheer coincidence, I travelled.  A lot.

I was lucky this year to discover that some amazing people believed in me enough to put me on stage without me having to beg or to organise it myself – other people actually said ‘yes’ to my brand of silliness.  And, in the process, to realise how much I still love being ‘up there’.  And to find guidance through a most excellent vocal coach.  Yeah, all this stuff kinda rocked.

I was lucky this year because a global financial crisis meant I was granted a second chance at, well, life.

I was lucky this year that, for one mad month at least, I got a glimpse of what life could be like if my luckiness became more permanent.

I was lucky this year that my long-held theory that I could be a freelancer has come to fruition.  So far, so good.

I was lucky that, once again, my resolution to have “more music in my life” continued to be realised.

I was lucky that, all the learning about fun I did in 2008 paid dividends in 2009.

I was lucky that I’ve not only kept all my delightful friends, but I’ve made some amazing new ones who I hope continue to influence me in wacky and wonderful ways.

And I was lucky this year because I, and the people closest to me, have remained healthy and safe.

(actually, my health track-record for 2009 was impeccable – two minor colds… and that’s it.  BAM!)

Luck, luck, luck.  It was everywhere this year.  I have no idea why.  And I have no idea what lies ahead for 2010 – whether it could possibly be as fortuitous as this year.  Or more so.  Or not.

But for this year I am immensely grateful.

…By request*: Things you can blame on the GFC

1. “FUNemployment”.  The term, like the state of being to which it refers, is both enjoyable and kind of irritating.  Other phrases to play ping-pong between our ears are “credit crunch” and “in this climate”.  Unlike “FUNemployed”, these are purely on the annoying cliche end of the scale.

2. New hobbies.  Ever tried balloon weaving?  Cardboard mulching?  Decoupage?  Rhetorical questions?  These past-times - and more – were invented THIS YEAR as a result of bored, depressed victims of the credit crunch.  Don’t believe me?  Well, in this climate, who can afford a fact-checker to verify such claims?  So maybe we should add bandwagoning and advanced gullibility to our list of GFC-related leisure activities.

3. The sporadic and tardy nature of this blog**.

*Remember, every 10th TTD will be by request!  Leave your request below…
**Also affected by phases of the moon, what’s on TV at the time, and the nutritional content of ginger beer type consumed that day.

…In pictures

1. Melbourne has everything.

2. The Ninja Turtles are alive and well in Paddington, NSW…

3. The GFC took the cake at this year’s Sydney Royal Easter Show.

When a young person decides they want the creative life, they are often told to make sure they have something to “fall back on”.

For example, at 15 I decided I wanted to be an actor (that said, at 6 I decided I wanted to be a puppeteer, at 8 I decided I wanted to be a forensic scientist, and at 17 I decided I wanted to be a lawyer so, really, don’t listen to me when I ’decide’ anything), but I was made aware that ’success’ (I still haven’t decided what that means) wouldn’t happen overnight and I’d need some kind of staple to get me through until the fabled ‘then’.

From ages 18-22, I discovered I couldn’t handle customer service (mind you, I worked for two entities of ColesMyer – hardly a gleaming example to follow) or anything involving making people do things they don’t really want to do (I’m looking at you, telephone market research).  Nope, all I really wanted was a desk somewhere, far away from the icy stares.

So I wound up in admin, then in print/digital media, and somehow in full-time journalism – at last, a ‘career’ to “fall back on”.  All along, I was performing and creating and training, and that was “what I did it all for”.  The day job was just that, and the moonlighting made it worthwhile.

Then I got confused.  The thing I was “doing it all for” wasn’t all fun and sunshine.  It demanded hard work and cast-iron guts and I questioned whether I loved it enough.  Meanwhile, the “day job” seemed easy and comfy in comparison.  I started to wonder if, maybe, I wanted to fall back on it and not get up again…

Ironic, then, that the day-job I was supposedly relying on for stability and income is the thing that came up and bit me squarely on the arse, while the lofty, airy-fairy, poncy creative world is taking me places – literally, places.  I’ve been to Wagga Wagga, man.

So, to any young’uns uncool enough to be reading the rants of an unemployed 20-something recovering journalist, let me tell you that something to fall back on isn’t necessarily… something to fall back on.  Especially “in this economic climate”. 

So if you know exactly what you want – and I mean, exactly – don’t piss about.  Just do it.  Sure, you need an income and that probably won’t happen via your art immediately, but of course you’ll find a way (like, there’s no choice, y’all).

But don’t let logistics and so-called ‘good sense’ take over.  If you’re sure about the life you want then, by the hammer of Thor, go get it.  Because you just never know - your timing could be just right and your creative thing might be just what’s required, while the apparently sensible path might actually be a dead-end.

Everything takes work.  Every field is hard in one way or other.  And at the end of it all, there are no guarantees.  So you may as well do what you want.

For my part, I was never 100% sure what I wanted.  In a way, I’m starting to realise, I kind of want… everything (well, not everything – if I go through life without getting that winter flu thing that makes you lose control of certain bodily functions, that will be a life well-lived in my book).  So I’m grateful for my continually meandering path.

But right now I’m delighted that, when the day-job fell through, I had my acting* to fall back on.

*A bit of redundancy cash didn’t hurt either, let’s not go nuts…

That word, “when”, made my jaw drop. When. A word that points to a timeframe – or, in this case, a use-by date. Our use-by date…