Everyone Else Jumped off the Bridge

So apparently I will too! In honor of 2008 finally slinking away into the darkness, I will draw up my list of New Year's resolutions.

Normally I don't make New Year's resolutions, seeing as I have a sick way of making myself feel horribly guilty when said goals are not met, but I feel as though I should after this year. This year has been, quite literally, the worst year of my life. 3 deaths (in the span of a month), 1 surgery (the day before the first of the deaths), 1 bad life experience (cleverly disguised as a relationship), 2 mid-mid-life crises (one involving everything I thought I wanted to do with the rest of my life going *poof* and the other involving everything I called my faith going *poof*), 1 college switch, and a never ending string of health problems due to the compounded stress of the repercussions of all the aforementioned bad things. So, in other words, thank God 2008 is over. I have never been so happy to get out of something as I am to get out of 2008.

Wow, depressing. So here are my resolutions, happy things, to balance out the sheer bleck that was 2008:

#1) Finish Stream Pirates. This kind of goes without saying. There's no reason I shouldn't finish it long before 2010, but just in case, there it is.

#2) Hook that ever-allusive agent. I still have that full out as well as one other partial for Blind. Every time my phone rings, I freak out. And get oddly disappointed to see that it's my best friends calling and not the magic agent number. Sorry, guys.

#3) Stop being so hard on myself. So if, for some reason, I don't meet every single one of my goals, I am not allowed to feel bad for it.

#4) Read more books. Read more GOOD books. I tend to opt for lesser-known books in search of hidden gems (which are sometimes, but not nearly often enough, found) instead of trusting the bestseller list. This year, I will read only good books. Err, try to, at least.

#5) Be healthier. And not in an I-resolve-to-work-out-7-hours-every-day-and-eat-only-veggies way. In an I-resolve-to-not-go-to-the-doctor's-every-other-week kind of way. Not that I have too much control over that, but I will do what I can. Which may include working out 7 hours a day and eating only veggies.

#6)To have a better year. Honestly, 2009 just has to be uneventful for it to be better than 2008. Just no extremes, and I'll be happy. A nice, medium, neutral year. Though, if it wanted to go ahead and give me an agent, that'd be an okay extreme. And a book deal. Another okay extreme. And a puppy. A very fluffy, cuddly extreme.

*raises a glass of non-alcoholic sparkling cider* Here's to 2009. Go ahead, '09. Kick 2008 to the curb and change the locks, cuz he don't live here no more. There's a new boy in town, a new kid on the block. And he promises to be filled with more excitement, more happiness, more promises, more smiles, more hugs, more tears of joy than 2008 ever tried to have.

Cheers, mates. Happy New Year.