Welcome, 2009!

I officially welcome 2009 to the world. Not first, not splashy, just ... welcome. 2008 turned out to be a pretty horrific year for me personally. With my father's brain tumors returning leading to his ultimate death, my mom's nearly fatal collapse, and work becoming more and more stressful with little hope economically of being able to change jobs, my apartment being an overwhelming mess, and my own personal health failureschallenges (the onset of high blood pressure and diabetes), I have been truly ready for a new year to come along, accompanied hopefully by new attitudes (my own and others, too), new determination to change what I can, and a hint of an idea of being more selfish and less so at the same time.

I'm neverI've never been good at keeping resolutions in the past, so why set myself up for failure? I can and do fail miserably easily enough on a daily basis. A couple of years ago I came up with the idea of setting goals, but that turned out to be merely a semantic game I did not win.

But, I have to change. Apparently, I've suffered insanity the past few years: I've done the same things I always do, yet nothing seems to be different. And it's frustrating now to the point that I lash out in anger at the silliest of things (and bigger things, too, like apartment management changing the gate entry system to a new code-based rather than apartment-based keypad entry, and failing to put my apartment into the list — along with a friend's — and did I mention that they failed to notify me that they had changed the system? par for their course).

So, anyway, if you think about it, say a prayer for me as I plan subtle changes (because big ones will never be successful at this point) that will add some variety and more importantly improvements to my life.

Thanks, and may 2009 be your Best! Year! Ever!