good riddance to bad rubbish

For a myriad of reasons, I’m really happy to see 2007 shuffle off into what we can affectionally term “the past.” I’ve never been a huge New Years’ Resolution kind of person, but for many small reasons and one huge one, 2007 for me has been pretty much entirely forgettable. Sure, some good things happened (new job to replace a shitty one, new [rented] house to replace the shitty apartment), but if it’s all the same to you, 2007, I’d like you to f**k off and die, thanks.

2007 was barely two weeks old when my dad lost his battle with cancer, and that kinda threw everything else that followed off-kilter. In the last iteration of this blog (which I’ve given up all hope of ever importing into this version) I wrote that, 3 months after he died, I still had yet to really come to grips with his passing, and how I knew I wasn’t coping well. Fast forward 9 more months, and I can’t really say much has changed. I still break down at the most inopportune moments, I still have no idea how to answer people who ask me how I’m doing, and I still continue to narcotize myself with alcohol and video games more than I probably should.

All that being said, the question remains of what 2008 is going to look like. As I said, I’m not much of a Resolution person, but if I wanted to make changes for the next year, here’s roughly what they’d look like (in no particular order):

• Take better care of my body. Even though I ride my bike to work every day 3 seasons out of the year, my health has been far from awesome and I still seem to have gained weight instead of losing it. Mostly, I have probably the worst eating habits this side of cannibalism, so that seems as good a place as any to start.
• Be kinder to the Earth. The Mrs. and I are pretty good about things like recycling, resource conservation, not driving unless necessary, etc., but there’s always more that can be done. I read No Impact Man’s blog and get a sense of envy that he’s doing more for the earth than I am. An odd thing to be envious about, but hey, bad motivation is better than no motivation, right?
• Be happier. Not really sure how to pull this one off, but it’d be hard to be less happier than I was in 2007, so I’m sure it can be done. On one hand, it seems kind of like telling a starving man to just “stop being hungry,” but on the other hand, I know that I don’t take nearly enough joy out of the good things around me, so that seems as good as any place to start.

Anyways, farewell to you, 2007. We hardly knew ye.

Here’s to 2008, and the hopefulness that any kind of new beginning can bring.