Ending the year with something positive and uplifting!
As I write this final post for 2020 on Christmas day (it’s 7.30am), I’ve been reflecting on the year that was. And hasn’t it been one heck of a strange year? I had started this blog to share of our dining experiences, and on the side, I’ve posted some other random experiences as content fillers. Going back through my old posts now, the very last time I reviewed a restaurant was from 27 December 2019 (almost 366 days ago) and for the past 52 weeks I’ve just been filling my blog posts with what was previously designed as content fillers.
And although hardly anyone reads my posts anymore (even my wife gave up back in June of this year), I still feel like the site enables me to journal and record where I’m at with life, capturing moments in time through the pointless things which I consume throughout the year. And to finish up the year on a positive uplifting note, I present to you Stan Walker!!!!!
It all started because I have an unusual obsession with the New Zealand national anthem. Yes, you’ve read correctly. In my personal humble opinion, “God Defend New Zeeland’ is the best anthem ever, as I love bilingual anthems, and for once, the lyrics actually provide its singers a true sense of hope for the future. So as I request for the NZ anthem via Spotify and Google Home, inevitably it would come to an end and 80% of the time the next song to follow would be Stan Walker’s Aotearoa (followed by Wonky Donkey- but let’s leave that discussion for a 2021 post). Which then started my latest obsession which has been with that song, a song which is to New Zealanders, like ‘I am Australian’ by the Seekers is to Aussies.
this obsession with Aotearoa had then led me to request for Stan walker, as that was the only means I could get Google home to play the song from Spotify (somehow it doesn’t understand my Aussie Asian attempts to speak Mouari). Which then led to hours of enjoyment as Spotify played through Stan Walker’s extensive playlist.
If you’re unfamiliar with Stan the man, he was the 7th (and last) winner of Australian Idle (from 2009). An Aussie who has his roots in NZ, he has a soulful voice which reminds me of both Guy Sebastian and Usher all rolled into one Mouari package. He performs poppy songs, soulful covers, and of course mouari language covers of his own best hits. The best in my opinion is the Mouari version of ‘Bigger’, and of course Aotearoa (which there is an English version). Each time I hear Aotearoa, somehow, I picture myself buying an investment property in Auckland and eventually retiring to the land of the long white cloud, and somehow, I’m reminded of Jonah Lomu and get all emotional about that (R.I.P big fella).
But in the current world where there is so much negativity, and popular culture just dishes up so much immoral sh*t these days, for a change don’t you just want to allow in something where the message is only positive and up-lifting? And that is what Stan Walker’s music is all about!
So if you would like to end the year on a positive note, and start 2021 with a sense of optimism, just ask your Google home to play ‘Stan Walker’, he’s the man! Ok, thanks for reading our blog, Four Senses- Touch Smell Taste Sound in 2020, have a fantastic and safe new year, and we’ll see you on the other side in 2021. Here is to a much more positive and less disruptive year!
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