Happy New Year

Well, Happy New Year. I followed my annual tradition and got to bed before midnight. Didn't get to sleep though, as I got caught up in a book. I don't do New Years Eve. Don't see the point. Stay up late, drink, scream at arbitrary point in time. Yeah! I'm all for making February 17 at 3:47 PM a similar holiday.

2008 was not a bad year for me. We ended the year in our best financial condition in a while, which is kind of strange to say, given the times. But the reality is, if you haven't been an idiot with your mortgage, and you feel some security in your job, the times are not that bad. Prices went up a bit, but the bursting of the oil bubble has helped there. Since I'm in a recession proof industry, I feel pretty good about my job. Meanwhile I'm nearly a decade into paying my mortgage, which means that my pay has risen, but my housing costs haven't. We don't do credit cards, and whenever possible we pay cash for our cars. (We buy used.) I got caught flatfooted when my previous car died, which meant I had to take out a loan on the current car. That got paid off this year. If the current car lasts another year, I won't get caught flatfooted again. All in all, I could not care less what the credit markets are doing.

I've also developed a plan to get me out of my safe industry. I'm, quite frankly, tired of scrubbing. My plan involves going back to school and entering a fairly competitive job market, and may involve a future relocation, but also would move me into a field where the pay tops out at about double the realistic top-out in my current job.

In politics, my guy didn't win, but then my guy didn't materialize at all. The guy I disliked the least thought he could sit on the front porch and run for president. The guy I held my nose and voted for anyway lost. Oh well. Hopefully this is 1976.

I didn't loose any weight, in fact I gained some. I might actually have to make New Year's resolution about this one. Or not.

I don't do resolutions, per se. But some goals for the new year are:

1. Read more American history.
2. Read more "period" literature.
3. Fill some of the gaps in my reading of the Western Canon.
4. Redevelop some of my lost language skills. (Latin, French)
5. Develop some new language skills (Old English)
6. Write more.
7. Play a musical instrument regularly.
8. Walk more
9. Do more birding and other nature study.
10. Get into the library science program.
11. See and hear more music.
12. Develop a better understanding of architectural history in general and the architectural history of Oklahoma in particular.
13. Continue reading in art history, especially medieval art,
14. Visit more museums and other cultural/historic sites.
15. Widen my reading into new areas.
16. Create world peace.
17. Cure cancer.

All this while continuing my current interests and responsibilities. There is not enough time, to do it all, but I can try.