What a year for a new year

I feel refreshed. Having a week and a half off of work was a nice break, even though I spent half of it feeling less-than-par. But I don't think that's what I mean when I say that I feel refreshed. I think that this is going to be a good year for me. A lot of this new-found optimism is probably stemming from the fact that I finally finished my masters degree. It's just starting to sink in, honestly. It seems so apropos me finishing my degree right before the end of what had been a very trying year. A lot of things changed for me in the last year. I left Auburn - my home for 7 years. I moved back to Birmingham - my home for the previous 18. Then I moved to Huntsville - my home, I suspect, ad infinitum. I got my first big-boy job, which I've enjoyed though it's led to some dilemmas. Most of all I feel like I learned a lot in 2008. I learned a lot about myself and my field. These are lessons I intend to carry with me through the next year and beyond.

I feel refreshed like I am starting a new and significant chapter in my life in which I can become a new person. I feel like my options are limitless. I am hopelessly hopeful. I feel unburdened. I wonder what direction I will end up taking? I really feel like I'm going to change a lot in this next year.

I rang in the new year with some of my closest friends. I wish they all could have been there. I wish you all could have been there. You know how I know 2009 is going to be a good year? Because not even 2 hours into this annus miribalis I got a girl's phone number. Since she lives in Birmingham it's hard to imagine that it'll be a lasting relationship but hey it's a start, right? She's cute, too. I've actually known her for a really long time but only recently did I start seeing her around Birmingham. In the past I've always used a woman's attraction to me as some sort of validation. Bad, right? I still do though I think I'm getting better about it. Maybe that's one of those flaw things I will be able to finally get rid of this year. I certainly would like to have a girlfriend right now, though. It'd surely alleviate some of this boredom. People always say that you'll find someone when you stop looking. I think that's a load of horseshit. I'll keep off the topic off my love life though because this blog is supposed to be mood: hopeful.

I don't have a new year's resolution because I think new year's resolutions are crap. If I did, though, it would probably be something cliche like getting healthy. I don't have a new year's resolution but I do have a perpetual resolution that I feel has fallen by the wayside a bit since I left Auburn. My perpetual resolution is that I will constantly, actively be trying to make myself a better person. I intend to return to that in force. Hopefully it'll be a lot easier without the distractions of this past year. So here's to 2009; I hope it's a fantastic year for all of you.

From the folks at NASA: