2008 is over—Praise the Lord! or whomever.

Geez, what a year. At least there were no assassinations—here in America. I can remember a few from 1968, you won't see a year like that again, thank God.

But we had enough to wonder, quail and groan at.

The final year of a two year presidential scramble. Sarah Palin. Joe the Plumber. Huckleberry Huckabee (I like that guy, even tho he is opposite of everything I believe— one of the few Presidential wannabees who had a real sense of humor), Mitt the Haircut Romney, John Edwards of the $400 haircut, and mistress. Speaking of mistresses, lets not leave out former Gov. Eliot (Mr Clean) Spitzer.

And remember Hillary "I dodged bullets in Sarajevo" Clinton, and not to be left out, John "evermore removed from reality" McCain.

The Obamarama. I hope this guy comes through.

And then there is the economic tsunami, where your curmudgeon saw all his 401 gains go south this year so that he is left with what he started off with three years ago.

And we see the moronic congress give the bankers and stock manipulators oodles of dough without restrictions but then get all huffy over the needs of the auto companies (and especially the unions).
They get all concerned over people who actually produce something but the bean counters can do whatever they want.
What is wrong with this picture?

And in the last days of the year the Israelis are bombarding the shit out of Gaza, or, as they say, the Hamas leadership. Why do I feel like we've been here before and it didn't work then either?

I've always thought of myself as a friend of Israel, but I really have to wonder about what they are thinking with this latest action. Rocket attacks on nearby Israeli towns notwithstanding. Creating new Palistinian martyrs will not advance the cause of Peace.

One of the terrible legacies of the 20th century (up there in the top ten of "worst centuries in human history" category) is the disregard for non-combatent life. Okay, it wasn't that much better in the 18th and 19th centuries, but usually once you'd been raped and had your food stolen you were still alive. These days you don't even get that small and problematic blessing.
You just get death.

Am i depressing enough now?

Okay, switch gears. There is still a lot to enjoy about life. It's the beginning of a new year. Are you carrying a load of resentment and/or hurt, a sense of failure, a realization that life has gone in a different direction than the one you wanted?

It's not the end of the world.
A door closes, another one opens. If you stop feeling sorry for yourself long enough to look around to see it. You can move on.

This is the time of New Year's Resolutions. I should have done that in all caps to give that expression, New year's Resolutions, the false importance it aspires to.

What this time is, is a time to remember you have or had goals, and it's a time to reassess those goals, desires, hopes, to see if some adjustments aren't in order.

It's time to look over the top of your champagne glass to a) see your future if you continue with what you have been and done in your past, and b) if you have the fortitude to move past that and adjust to new realities, seek new opportunities, make something new of yourself.

Of course this isn't something you do tonight. but you could start a process that grows over the course of the new year to create a new reality, a new future for yourself.

Hey, maybe you don't need that. Maybe you are where you should be (are you REALLY sure?).
But most of us are still a work in progress, and that's not bad. In my deepest heart, I don't really want to find myself finished. I don't really want to reach a point where nothing else needs to change or be done.
This is earth, and as a Sufi sage once indicated, an apple with a worm in it is about the best we can do as a representation of heaven. We gots to enjoy that apple, we gots to respect that worm.
we gots to eat around that worm and still get our nourishment.

Anyway, to get back to where I started with switching gears— shit happens and it will happen to you and me, if it isn't happening now already. But life and its blessings are also already happening to you and me. It's up to us to see and go with the best of these options. And it will be hard sometimes. But in the end i hope you, and I, will find the joy in life in the midst of the sorrows and disappointments.

May you all (both of my readers) have a happy and fulfilling new year!

Ooops, I forgot to complain. Blame it on the holidays.

Seriously,
Happy new year to the world! And to each of you.
cheers.