The extended version
Seriously 2016 will go down in the history books as the year the world went from semi messed up to straight bat shit crazy and the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it! Yes bring on those doom and gloom prophecies, that shit is fun to imagine and as long as I get my zombie apocalypse or alien invasion, I’ll be happy!
But on a more serious note personally 2016 for me was like any other year, a series of ups and downs, travel, DJn and just doing me. However even the good and bad extremes of this year were def more pronounced than previous years.
2016 started off with me DJn at Ellui in an on and off fashion, I wasn’t overly busy at the start of the year DJ wise so had a bit of time to concentrate on other things like building my halo collection and display. I managed to land the sweetest teaching job so at least I knew the year would be good overall in that respect!
DJn wise I did hook up with the Living Room which has fast become like a second home and the people there like family esp Adam and Jackie, much love for that place and I still continue to rock out there every other week.
Just after blasting a set again at WDJ Festival I came across a big big down for the year, my laptop finally decided to shit itself and what should have been an easy fix ended up being just one long pain in the ass. The upside is that it is fixed for now but the downside is the warranty ended at the end of 2016 and it is time to start planning for a new Mac… along with that Mac price tag… fuck! My music was mostly safe but my hard drive was a little messed up so some music isn’t where it should be, mostly older stuff that I rarely use so while it’s not a big problem, every now and then I’ll be looking for a track and can’t find it.
After those problems subsided I did get to go and enjoy the water festival in a small town way down south! This was a lot of fun and was my first time hooking up with Good Times ROK. I did a few more events with them as the year went on and look forward to working more in depth with them in 2017, the highlight this year thou was def Halloween, shit was off the chain!
Now back to summer and the BeFM expat dj comp, now I’ve kinda said it but I’ll say it fully now, I was screwed over, big time, there is no way I didn’t win that, it wasn’t even a close decision, my set and performance were leagues ahead of everyone else and they all know it, this comes back to DJs and their shallow bullshit agendas, smiling in your face while twisting that knife in your back. The bullshit is real in the DJ world and it’s one of the things that really gets me down about my passion for DJn. Much love to the other DJs who entered, got love for all of them, but we all know how that should have gone down. I hate being that guy, but one judge screwed me over… again…
On the back of that annoyance, another opportunity basically fell straight in my lap not long afterwards, the one thing about opportunities thou is being ready and able to make the most of them, lucky for this one I was ready! Yes I am talking about hooking up with Gangnam Gamers, one of the best things to happen and the perfect opportunity for me to delve into the gaming world and try and find my place in it. It has always been my one big regret that I didn’t chase gaming more when I was younger, doing game programming or something of the likes while at university or at least learning how to code. While I understand the surface stuff and a lot of the details, I don’t have the tools to actually get down and dirty with it. Depending where things go this year, it might be something I will look into more, however my current skill set does places me more in a journalistic type roll when it comes to the gaming world and that might be where I end up flourishing? Who knows!
2016 wasn’t a year I got to travel much so ended up taking a single trip to Tokyo to relax and get out of Korea for awhile, as always it is enjoyable going there and I bought plenty, saw many things, ate a shit load and hooked up with some great people including my man Kou, dude is just a dam awesome person him and his wife, can’t wait to see them again this year!
Christmas came and went as usual, for the back end of 2016 not only was I busy with teaching and Gangnam Gamers, DJn picked up again with me DJn at Made and Hustle, now while Hustle is now closing (under fucked up circumstances) Made is still the hottest club on the block and is a lot of fun! But pulling those hours and basically working 3 jobs is murder on the spare time. After a late shift Xmas Eve I barely made it to Xmas lunch with friends! But glad I did!
Saw off 2016 in Gangnam with Good Times ROK after arriving back from Japan and then finished off the night at Made, nothing special, just another night doing what I love, so while I’m glad 2016 is gone, it might very well have given me the start going forward I needed to break out of teaching and get into a career pathway I’ve always wanted. Who knows what 2017 holds but I know this, it’s going to be busy, got some full on gigs already in the works and will keep on building from last year. It’s always about making the most of what is in front of you and it is something I have always tried to do.
akadjblaze 