2010 Year in Review First Half

今日で2010年も終わり。今年は例年とは比べ物にならないくらい盛りだくさんの年となったと思います。

So, here’s my own summary of the year 2010. It’s a lot to take in, so I’ll split it into two parts.

【1月】

After all, the biggest event is « purchasing a new car ». It’s been a few months since I lost my car in a car accident last September, but I finally got around to buying it and took delivery at the end of January. I was captivated by manual cars when I drove in Europe, and this time I chose a car that emphasizes fun and driving.

The car model was « AlfaRomeo Mito », because it was the only MT car available at this point and I actually saw this car somehow on my trip to England in summer 2009 and thought it was cool.

In fact, I test drove it during the three consecutive holidays in January, and I thought about test driving some other models, but anyway, the driving comfort of the manual car was so good that I decided to choose this one almost immediately. The selection of the car model went much better than I expected.

【2月】

This month, first of all, I participated in the annual presentation of II Soul, a group that mainly plays some kind of incomprehensible game music. I mainly play the violin here, but sometimes I bring my horn back to play depending on the song. Anyway, it’s a free-form group, so I change my instrument and play the horn from the same seat where I play the violin.

I’m not a good performer, so I’m very comfortable with the loose atmosphere, as they call it a « presentation » rather than a concert.

Then, another thing that made this year exciting was the inauguration of the « grain orchestra ». By chance, I joined the German wine party. I’m sure I’ll be mentioning this often in this summary. Anyway, this February was the start.

【3月】

The biggest event of this month is the first practice of the « grain orchestra ». Half joking? The orchestra is located in the fictional town of « Grain Valley Ward » on Twitter. To tell the truth, I was very anxious about how many people would gather, although I was supposed to help the secretariat and do the accounting.

However, when I opened the door, I was relieved to see that there were more than 60 people at the first practice, and even more after the first practice, and that everyone was very motivated and enjoying this first attempt on twitter. I remember that.

Another thing I was worried about was that I had accepted the top position on the second violin, even though it was temporary. Since I started playing when I was still working, my skill level was not that great, and naturally I had never played at the top before.

The other is the annual European road trip during the GW period, which starts at the end of April. This year’s theme is « Tour of the Most Beautiful Villages in France », and we made a plan for it.

Aside from where we were going, what we really wanted to do this time was to « broadcast the in-car camera of driving in France ». I’ve been doing a lot of research and investing in equipment for this purpose.

【4月】

I was about to leave for Europe, but then a serious problem occurred. Just before the departure, Iceland volcano eruption blocked most of the airports in Europe. I didn’t know what was going to happen until the very last minute.

So, I got a new ticket for Barcelona via Istanbul, Turkey, which seemed to be relatively safe. It was one week before the departure. Originally, we were planning to drive around the southern part of France, so I thought Barcelona would be OK.

In fact, the airport in Paris finally started to operate three days before the departure, but I think it was a good thing that I could go to Istanbul, which was my dream for many years, thanks to this incident.

It was also significant that the rental of mobile Wi-Fi called MiFI was started in this month. I found out about it by receiving a direct mail from Global Data.

【5月】

In early May, we went on our annual European road trip. We arrived there safely and finally realized our longing to visit the most beautiful villages in France. We were able to visit many villages in this small tourist area. I visited many places in one trip, but as a result, I was not able to finish my travelogue, so I had to wait until the end of the year to finish it.

We also had a concert to celebrate Little Jack’s 10th anniversary, which was a great success, thanks to the fact that tickets for the second time were sold out immediately.

I also purchased an iPad late in the year.

【6月】

The events in June were the II soul camp and the second practice of the grain orchestra. I was very tired because these events overlapped on the same day.

This was the second time to practice the grain orchestra, but the number of participants increased and the atmosphere was very good. I was looking forward to the performance in August more and more.

And I also took a trip to China for 3 days and 2 nights using my substitute holiday. I just went to Beijing by using Star Alliance frequent flyer miles. It was my first trip to China, and I was able to visit the National Palace Museum.

関連日記（バックナンバー）

(Continued in second half)