Happy New Year

Where once we wrote "4" at the end of a short string of numbers, we will now write "5". Rather artificially, the cycle begins again. These days, I'm generally rather jaded and skeptical about the whole concept of making resolutions at the beginning of the year. Sure, it's good to want to improve oneself, but so many so-called resolutions a mere memories by the time February rears its chilly head above the temporal horizon.

That said, there is no time like the present for forging ahead and mending flaws. The hedonism of the holidays is behind us, and the time for going back to work is quickly approaching. The new calendar (I got one called "Serpentine", which features nice drawings of venomous snakes) is on the wall, showing that, as always, our days are numbered. Today is day number one. I'm going to try out a few minor changes in my habits, but stop short of making any sort of official announcement on the subject.

I spent part of the last day of the year at the mall with Jeanine. The night before, in the midst of the usual chaos that accompanies such things, at the Neurosis show at the Great American Music Hall, she showed how quick her reflexes were by ducking to avoid a stage diver. Unfortunately, this motion caused her glasses to leave her face and meet their untimely end somewhere amongst the feet of the people piling up in front of the stage. When I found them, they were bent and missing a lens. The nearest LensCrafters location happens to be in a mall, and despite my aversion to malls, I went with her to keep her company while she waited for her new glasses to be ready. We wandered through perfumy-smelling department stores (Jeanine had to return a gift that was too small), gawked at all of the silly people, ate mall food (okay, the jalapeno pretzel was pretty good, but the vegan place in the food place couldn't sell me a soda with kale and fresh ginger in it because it wasn't "ready" yet). In short, the experience confirmed and reinforced my stance on such places. As always, it was fun to spend time wandering with Jeanine. We wander well together.

Last night, I celebrated at midnight with Willow and Eva (Jeanine was already in bed) with store brand sparkling cider. Willow's first words of the new year were, "this tastes weird". It was nice to spend New Year's Eve at home. Predictably, people nearby were celebrating with fireworks, but it wasn't as obnoxious as it sometimes is.

Reflecting on the year, I'm happy to say that it was a good one. Willow turned 11 and Eva turned 13, we added three chickens to our little flock, and I got to do a little traveling (Baltimore, Yosemite for the first time, Lava Beds National Monument for the second time, and L.A. with Eva to see Black Sabbath), saw a lot of shows, read a lot of books (but unlike some years in the past,didn't manage to keep track of how many pages I read), saw a bunch of movies, and walked 484 miles. I now have 496 more miles to walk to complete the "Walk To Mordor" challenge on DailyMile. Maybe I'll go for a walk today.