Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!!!

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to 2012!

I’m very optimistic about this brand new year.  I say, bring on the twelve!  2012 is looking like one of those years where anything could be possible.  While I’m usually not the type of person to make New Years resolutions, I do have the opinion that this year will be one that is filled with new opportunities, new friendships, and new hope.

And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am not a believer in the Mayan predictions that 2012 is going to be our last.  I scoffed at the Y2K bug of 2000, and laughed off both of Harold Camping’s phony-baloney doomsday prophecies.  I have my doubts that we’re ever going to be in a position where John Cusack and Amanda Peet save us all from global destruction.

Well, at least not in 2012 anyway.

So for this, the first blog entry of 2012, I thought that this would be a great day to make some changes to this blog.  You may have already seen a couple of these changes previewed by the change in font, and my becoming a lot more personal in my blog entries as of late.  But that was just the tip of the iceberg, my friends.

The truth is, I was always very resistant to change growing up.  For years, I wore my hair the same way, always had to have the same colour shoes, never changed my bedroom decor.  I was essentially stuck in a rut because I refused to embrace the power that change could bring.

It took me a great many years for me to break out of the cocoon I had crafted for myself to emerge into that butterfly.  Well, okay, maybe not butterfly.  I don’t know what you’d call it.  A moth, maybe?

Anyways, part of growing into adulthood is making changes to your day to day life because in most cases, change is good.  Change helps one learn things about themselves that they may not have known before.  Change helps average people become extraordinary.  Change is what makes this world a better place to live in.

Sometimes change doesn’t exactly work out, and sometimes change can make things spiral out of control.  But taking that risk to change even a small thing in your life can sometimes be worth it.

So, I’m going to be taking a risk with this blog.  I’ll be changing several of the theme days, as well as changing the way that the 2012 blog collection is presented.  It’s my hope that with these changes, I’ll be able to put out more of myself out there for all of you to get to know me better.  But also, my hope is to get more discussion from all of you out there.  As much as I enjoy writing this blog, I want you all to know that this space is as much yours as it is mine.  Judging from comments I have gotten from you on past entries, as well as looking back on the statistics of page views over the last seven months, I think I’ve made the necessary changes that I hope will improve this space for everyone who reads this space on a daily basis.

Who knows?  I could end up changing this again in three months time.  At least give it a shot, anyway.

Okay, so the first change that I’ll be making is ditching the preface on blog titles.  You know, the Sunday Jukebox, Monday Matinee, TGIF...yeah, those are gone.  You’ve been reading this blog for seven months now.  You know what the days are.  I know what the days are.  Redundancy at its finest.  Besides, now I can come up with more creative blog titles by doing it this way, so it’s a win-win all around.

Although for the first week of 2012, I’ll likely keep them up anyway, because the theme days of the week as you know will be changing.

Not all of them though.

For starters, I’ll let you know that the three most popular days that people seem to respond to with the most positivity are the weekend entries.  TGIF, Saturday Morning, and Sunday Jukebox are the three theme days that seem to get the most responses, so as far as I’m concerned, those three will be sticking around another year.  I may add some educational programs to the Saturday Morning feature, and adding daytime dramas and prime time soaps to TGIF to expand the topics further, but that will be the only minor change I’ll make.

I’m also going to be keeping the Monday Matinee feature up and running.  With thousands of movies (plus a movie rental place just a block away from where I live), I have no shortage of topics for the coming year.  In fact, stay tuned for the month of January, as every Monday Matinee this month will feature an animated feature film.  It’s no secret that I have a bit of a soft spot for animated movies, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to feature more of them.

So, I guess you’ve figured out that the three days that will be getting an overhaul will be the ones mid-week.

The first day that will be changing is Tuesday.  Tuesdays have always been known as ‘Whatever Tuesdays’, where the topic is completely random.  On Tuesdays in the past, I’ve talked about everything from the Magic 8-Ball to chocolate milk!  In some ways, the new Tuesday entry will be similar to that, as the topic will also be random.  But in this case, the new name for the day will be the TUESDAY TIMELINE.

And just because I’m a little devious so that you’ll read it, I’m not even going to reveal the subject of the blog!  Not in the title, or even the picture next to it.  All you will see is the date that the Timeline will be featuring.  It could be 2011.  It could be 1981.  It could be 1812!  Consider it your...mystery blog entry.  Trust me, I think you’ll find it neat.  At least, I hope so.

The next day to change is our Wednesdays, and this one really was tough.  Wednesdays were known as ‘Across The Pond And Beyond’ Wednesdays, and they were some of my favourite ones to write.  But there’s only so many topics that one can write about before one runs out of topics.  I may end up featuring some foreign entries on some of the other theme days, but for this year, I think that I’ll be putting the old Wednesday on ice.

Instead, while figuring out a new theme to take its place, it dawned on me that I don’t have any blog days for toys, games, books, and magazines.  And where can you find all of these things? 

Gift shops!

Hence our new Wednesday...THE WEDNESDAY GIFT SHOP GRAB BAG!

I’ll be talking about memories that come from playing board games, childhood toys, comic books, magazines, and books that I remember checking out of the school library years ago.  And believe me, there’s a lot of life lessons that can come from childhood favourites!

The final day that will be changing is Thursdays.  As I alluded to on my final Thursday Night At The Arcade post, the one posted on December 29, 2011 was my last one for a while.  Thursdays was traditionally my lowest-rated day of the week, so I thought I’d do something radically different.

Thursdays will now be known as the THURSDAY CONFESSIONAL.  This will be a day in which pop culture will take a back seat (though I may post references to it as a supplement).  This will be the day where I’ll allow you guys to get to know me a little bit better.  I could post a rant.  I could post a compliment.  I could post about current events.  I could even post about what colour my socks are.  Whatever happens to be on my mind that particular Thursday, it’s getting posted unfiltered, uncensored, and other un words.  I’ll likely have more of an explanation when I post my first Thursday confessional this coming January 5^th.

So, let’s recap the new schedule for the week as we approach 2012...

SUNDAY:  Sunday Jukebox

MONDAY: Monday Matinee

TUESDAY: Tuesday Timeline

WEDNESDAY:  Wednesday Gift Shop Grab Bag

THURSDAY:  Thursday Confessional

FRIDAY:  TGIF (now with more drama!)

SATURDAY: Saturday Morning (now with more educational value!)

Got all that?

I know it seems like a lot of changes, but I’m hoping that these changes will be positive ones.  If not, we’ll try tweaking it around in three-six months time.  At least give it a shot.

That’s about all I have to report for this blog entry.  I hope you have a happy new year and that 2012 brings you everything that you want and more.  But, seeing as how today is Sunday, I can’t very well leave this blog without posting one song.

Take it away, Mr. Bowie!

ARTIST: David Bowie
SONG:  Changes
ALBUM: Hunky Dory
DATE RELEASED:  January 7, 1972
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #66

It may not have been his biggest hit, but certainly one of David Bowie's most well-known.  I'd also recommend Butterfly Boucher's cover of this song as well, which was very well done.

A perfect song to set the tone of the blog entry for today, and the rest of the year.

The twelve is here!  Bring on the changes!