Allow me to echo the sentiments of the rest of the internet/Western world and wish everyone a Happy New Year!
I, for one, enjoy the holiday, though not for the overpriced parties. It’s always a time of renewal, redemption, and hope. Anyway, as is the tradition, I had my period of reflection and self-assessment, otherwise known as the New Year’s resolution. There are two big ones, and everything else is trivial by comparison.
(1) GRADUATE!
(2) Get our trip organized and started.
Now both of these have smaller and more finite sub-resolutions, though I guess nothing is more finite that getting a diploma and getting on a one-way flight armed with just a backpack.
And should I meet my goals, New Year’s 2009 will be a lot different for us than New Year’s 2008. Our current best guesses put us somewhere in Africa. Who knows what we may find ourselves up to. On a beach? On a safari? Tracking gorillas? And what will we find to resolve then? And if we’re lucky, we’ll find ourselves celebrating “New Year’s” multiple times during the year. I’m sure there will be plenty of times we could use a little hope and rejuvenation.