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One of my earliest memories of 2012 was going out with a friend. We went to the cinema and then to McDonald’s afterwards. She told me about her problems, and I recounting the tale of Two-Face that the Comedy Button once told. Something she mentioned as I drove her home was The Hunger Games. A series of books that wasn’t Harry Potter?! Like hell I was going to read that. I’m sorry, I only spend my time with Harry Potter, Nintendo games and Doctor Who. And what 2012 has really been about for me is opening my mind to things that I’d never have given a fair chance.

It wasn’t that day that I decided to change. But it stuck in my mind. I spent the first month of the year obsessing about Friends. A show I’ve seen countless times before, over and over again. Yet, I decided to spend 3 weeks watching every episode again. I kept watching the same old shows over and over again, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Glee and then the On My Way episode happened. I think if anything changed me this year, it was that.

It wasn’t the closeted footballer attempting to kill himself, or Quinn’s terrible crash, but the words that she text to Rachel, “On My Way”. That brought back childhood memories of Matilda. I love that film so much, and I love the ending and the ending song, Send Me On My Way. See the connection now? Anyway, Matilda got me reading again. I hadn’t read a book that wasn’t Harry Potter since I left school. Sad, but true.

Still a close minded man, I went back and read the Harry Potter books for the millionth time. And I loved them. So much so. They’re the best set of books ever. I remember sitting in Nandos thinking to myself how good the Goblet of Fire book is. And it’s so true, it’s such a pity they messed up the film version. Once I finished reading Deathly Hallows, I felt sad and empty. I wanted more books to read, and then the memory of Hunger Games girl came flashing back, and I knew what I had to do next.

You guessed it, I went and read the Hunger Games. And can I just say again, what a great read those books are. Granted, Mockingjay will destroy you emotionally, but it’s worth it. Oh, the movie was brilliant as well. But I’d done something new, I’d given something else a chance. Something that wasn’t Harry Potter, or Doctor Who, or Glee, or Nintendo. I was actually quite proud of myself.

As a reward for reading a book that wasn’t Harry Potter, I treat myself to a Kindle and I’m proud to say I’m still reading books on it to this day. I’ve actually just finished the first of the Dexter novels. We’ll get to that later. The Kindle truly got me reading again. I started with my favourite non-Potter book, To Kill a Mockingbird. I fell in love with The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Steve Jobs biography, and John Green’s books. And for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to tackle the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I started with The Hobbit. It was a pleasant little book, I finished reading it in a couple of days with no real trouble. Lord of the Rings was a bit more tasking. The huge pages of description just dragged, but I read them. I know it’s not the best thing to be proud of, I didn’t save anyones life or anything, but I’m proud of myself for that. Of course, then I watched all over the movies over 3 days. I sort of fell in love with the series. I even sat down to watch the 1st one again on Christmas day. But you’ll know that, because you all read my tweets, right?!

May turned into June without too much excitement, until E3 turned up. E3 is always my favourite time of the year. Spoilers, I love videogames. Nintendo introduced a whole host of new Wii U stuff and games, and then a few weeks later showed off the 3DS XL. The first half of the year wasn’t so hot for the big N, but the second half certainly was. I’ve played some great games on my Wii U, and on my 3DS XL. The new Mario games, Professor Layton, Nintendo Land and Pokemon White 2 all spring to mind.

At the end of June, I turned 20 years old. I’m at that age now were I tend to by my own presents, and I decided to buy LEGO Batman 2. I wasn’t too jazzed about Batman at the time, I liked the movies, but that was about as far as my love stretched. And that game did things to me. I loved it so much, it’s the best LEGO game out there, and it got me to buy Arkham Asylum for my Macbook, play Arkham City on PS3, rewatch Batman Begins/ the Dark Knight and watch the older movies too. In short, I fell in love with Batman in July.

Tailgating off my new found love for the Batman and Lord of the Rings, I decided to give something else I’d given the cold shoulder for years a shot. Star Wars. I’d always hated it, the way people said it was better than Harry Potter, it just made me hate it. Had I ever watched it? No way. But I decided to, and I totally loved it. No way, right? I’ve watched them again since, and I’m still so mad at myself for not giving it a chance sooner! Again, more proof about how open-minded I’ve been this year!

Sadly, that theme had to be put on hold for a month, as Glee was returning! And before a season of Glee starts, I like to go back and watch previous seasons. It’s traditional, and I’m a very traditional person. True to my tradition, I watched all the past episodes. (Oh, and can I say that this year has been great because of the National’s episode of Glee, that’s all). Season 4 arrived, and it was fine. We’ve had some all time low episodes, and some of the best. That’s just the way Glee is.

Speaking of TV shows, after Glee was back and I could finally move on, I started to watch something that has become one of my favourite ’2012 discoveries’, and that is Dexter. I could just insert the post from last week about how much I love Dexter here, but I won’t. I’m sure you get the idea of how much I love Dexter by now. If not, DEXTER DEXTER DEXTER DEXTER. There, that should do the trick.

Dexter was actually recommended to me by a guy at work. He also recommended the Walking Dead to me, and so that’s where I turned my attention to next. Season 1, however, was not so hot. But that’s not why I loved the Walking Dead. For me it’s all about the Teltale game. Again, see post from yesterday. I actually stuck with the AMC show through to Season 2, and I’m glad I did. The second season is awesome. I’ve actually got the 3rd season ready to watch, but that was put on the back burner and thanks to Doctor Who.

Oh Doctor Who. What a rubbish year it’s been for you. Season 6 was awful, and season 7 hasn’t been much better. Better, but not by much. To remind me how awesome Doctor Who used to be, I decided to watch Series 1 – 4 + the specials again. It’s was a good decision, because I’d forgot how wonderful that show used to be. I’ve only got The End of Time to watch now, and I can’t think of a better way to end this year with Ten regenerating.

It’s been a funny old year. I’ve certainly given things a chance that I never would have previously. This year didn’t have the awesome moments like last year. I didn’t see the Glee cast, Taylor Swift or Katy Perry live. There was no week that came close to the awesome Harry Potter week like last year did. Still, it’s been fun.

For those of you that often read my blog, you know that I love nothing more than rounding off a blog post with a song. Rusted Root, take us home. Here’s to 2012.