2011

New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights. ~Hamilton Wright Mabie

Here we are, 2011.

It honestly feels like I was doing this just the other day. Perhaps it is the arbitrary number signifying progression of our years, but it leaves me feeling somewhat whimsical and contemplative about the whole thing. I'm going to share some of my thoughts in the usual rambling fashion that we've all become accustomed to.

This year has been a quixotic mix of the good and bad, which I am sure is your typical year for pretty much anyone and I've come to think about it and realized one thing.

Life isn't so bad.

Sure, some things could be better. We could all have jobs, stable homes and be with a person we love and are loved by, and etc. ad nauseum.

But really, look at what you do have.

If you are reading this, you have at least one friend and since I'm very particular about who I call a friend I can say with almost 100% certainty you are personable enough (Far more than me probably because after all you TOLERATE me) you most certainly have a lot more than that. Friends who care and are there for you in every way they can be (We all have our own lives to live after all) even if right at that moment they can't be. Have you taken the moment to thank them for that yet?

I shall do so now.

Thank you. For being my friend. For countless moments and hours spent listening to my ramblings, for tolerating my story telling habits, for the unending patience with my mood swings, and for veiling your annoyance with my pranks.

You are the very pillars that hold me high.

I have learned that love can come in different forms from all of you. That I am appreciated and loved by many of you, and I love you in return. I have learned that no matter how hard the hopes for something more with that certain someone(s) are broken, there will always be someone to catch me when I fall, even if that is Mr. Ground.

And really, none of us are really at rock bottom, as hard as it all is to believe sometimes.

You will find a job, it will come, and we can find ways to get you through those tight spots do until you do.
You will find a home, and as you lent me your couch when I was in need, you shall have mine in yours.
You will find love, often where you least expect it, but perhaps somewhere you do. And when it comes it will hit you in the stomach like a freight train, and we will sit back and laugh at the look on your face when you finally realize it with amusement. It may not happen this year, or the next, but giving up on it is for pansies. And I will totally smack you upside the head every time you talk about giving up. As I would expect you to do to me.
You will find happiness. Chances are you already have it, but as we are often blinded to our own because we compare it to that around us and often only see it as a pale comparison to that which we do not have (Really, when did happiness become a pissing contest?)We will Re-insert the smack across the head comment here. (I'm really not a violent person, I'm just good at it).

It's 2011, take your arbitrary number designation of a new year and run with it. Make not resolutions but actions and decisions, stand up and fight. Fight dirty. Figure out what you want and say "I WANT IT" and go and get it using every trick you can manage.
2010, I don't care if it was awesome or it sucked, but don't hope for more of the same, or stand as is. Hope and wishes, while good in small doses, are for poor sods that don't control their own lives. You aren't that and nobody really is, unless they decide not to step forward and take control of what they want from their life.

2011, you are so going going down as the year I kicked ass. If you try to get in my way, you are so totally screwed.

To all of you out there, I love you all. Happy New Year. To the best fracking year yet to come.