2010 was a year that seemed filled with negatives. Personally and in general, the mood never seemed to rise above discontent. We decided to end PLAY:stl, which, despite featuring nearly 400 amazing bands over its four years, never seemed to ignite with St. Louis. This only added to the gloom that I was feeling. So these little jewels buoyed me all the way to New Year’s Eve when I shared a QuikTrip donut and coffee with my wife, partner and best friend. We look forward to a much better 2011.

1. Several truly amazing performances at PLAY:stl this year, including Red Collar and Brighton MA sharing a stage at Brandt’s and the following poorly attended but electric lineup at the RAC on Saturday 09.18.10:

2. Pretty Things Peep Show at Cicero’s 11.29.10—a fine performance

3. Multiple Matthew Good performances at South by Southwest, Dallas and Memphis, and the previous December in Toronto.

4. Running the Rock ’n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon 08.01.10

5. Getting a second B.A., this one in History from Webster University

6. Suddenly finding myself addicted to any reality TV shows featuring ghosts and their intrepid stalkers: Ghost Hunters, Ghost Lab, Ghost Adventures, Paranormal State, etc.

7. Dunkin Donuts opening in St. Louis after nearly a decade away. As Joe Biden said, this is a big fucking deal.

8. A truly bizarre and utterly fascinating election. Sure, what I consider my team got its butt kicked, but I had Rachel Maddow and the rest of MSNBC to (mostly) soothe my pain.

9. My ideal strip mall? Trader Joe’s right across from Sweet Tomatoes, with a Dunkin Donuts on one side and a Starbuck’s on the other. A Massage Envy in one corner and a book store run by the book-loving staffs of Subterranean Books and Puddnhead Books. Wait, there is a tug at my elbow; the cats and ferrets have insisted on a PetSmart in that lot. Sorry, Target, my other anchor is that super fantastic monster WalMart with a full supermarket tacked on.

10. Some of my most perfect moments have been running the six-mile loop at Forest Park here in St. Louis. A really nice park (even with what seemed like endless construction this year). St. Louis, you have your problems, but you got that park so perfect.

11. Yeah, I know I said 10, but I really felt I had to mention wine, beer, Facebook, Twitter, the U.S. Postal Service, good music, libraries, photography, friends, my love, and weekend morning soccer viewing.

| Jim Dunn