this year's (music-centric) highlights include not only having the privilege of being able to see Everything Everything live x8, but also being able to meet and speak to the entire band freely. They also know who I am on social media (much to everyone's surprise, re: Jon's knowledge)

I finally got to meet Tom Smith, the singer of Editors, completely unexpectedly at an Andy Burrows album launch gig in london. This had been a lifelong goal of mine since 2008. The show was a huge highlight.

I attended the penultimate Arcane Roots show in Newcastle at the end of october, which was an incredible experience.

I attended "Off The Record Festival" in manchester in the middle of november. The Band On The Wall lineup was curated by EE, and Jon and Jeremy from the band attended the gig. I had an indescribably good time getting to see some up and coming artists and getting to talk to the 2 EE guys, Jon for a substantial period of time. He also made the DJ set extra memorable by constantly acknowledging me, and flipping me off twice (which was livestreamed for extra comedic affect).

We both ended up catching a cold from this event, which became apparent when I went to go see them live 2 weeks later, while still getting over mine. Jeremy pointed out that we'd both probably gotten it in manchester, which I had already joked about to a few people, prior to catching up with them.