Here's to a better year. 2004 wasn't too horrible for me (except for that election) but it didn't really have many bright, shining moments. I do feel like things are heading into an upswing, though. Maybe.

One thing is for certain, my goals for this year are pretty clear. Among them are workign hard and keeping my budget in line. I've decided that I want to celebrate my 30th birthday in a party at my own house, so I've got just over a year to get it all together financially. I really want things like a digital camera and a new laptop, but I have to keep my eyes on the prize when it comes to budgeting. Of course, working a second (and maybe a third) job will certainly help that along.

I'm also going to push forward, career-wise. I see three possible paths for me: art and design, teaching, and progressive non-profit work. I'll be taking a class this semester that will apply towards eventual teaching certification. I also am trying to give myself a kick in the butt as far as my artistic production goes. My studio has turned into a storage room for rummage sale material. I keep having the wrong sort of inertia: this object at rest has tended to stay at rest. Well, it is time for some equal and opposite force, inspirationally. Enough of my artistic slackerdom! As far as non-profit work goes, I will continue to volunteer with Planned Parenthood. I've also been thinking that it is time to brush up on my long disused Spanish skills, since at the last non-profit job for which I interviewed, I was the number three candidate, because one and two were fluent. I'm also considering becoming a Big Sister. I haven't decided yet, because I wouldn't want to start and then flake out. I need to make sure that I will be able to commit enough time each month to do it well. (But I'm definitely leaning in that direction.)

I'm also going to try to be a bigger geek, technicaly speaking. I've gotten a lot of very helpful suggestions from people regarding the spam situation. I'm still slogging away at the Blacklist issue, but I'm also approaching it from different angles. Sooner or later...

Mind you, none of these are New Year's Resolutions. They are all things that I have been working on already, and that I will continue to work on, regardless of the year. The last NYR I ever made was not to make any more NYR, and I'm holding to that, thankyouverymuch.

One thing that I have realized as the year 2004 ended: my high school class really did suck. This would have been the year for our 10 year reunion, but I heard not a whisper of such a thing. Not on Classmates.com, not on the high school's alumni page. Yet the class of 1995 has been planning their's for a while now. But then, when I was in high school I "disowned" my class in favor of the class of '95, who graciously dopted me. I also graduated college in 1999, a year later than most '94 grads (that is, the ones that did the four year college thing). So, maybe I'll just have to crash the Class of 95 reunion, too. How's that sound?

I did spend this past year making contact with old friends. I rejoined an old social group, from which I had drifted after a breakup. I drifted out in 2001, but it was amazing how comfortable it was to drift back in. Thank god for good friends. Other old friends I have run into here and there on a rather random basis. I guess that is the thing about high quality people--they tend to stay that way. I'm going to strive to make sure the ties I have to these good people stay strong, and while I'm at it I know I will meet some new ones, too.

I had a good summer, though it was a summer of poverty and I'm still paying for it. I didn't work, but I got plenty of rest, watched a lot of baseball, rode my bike, picked masses of berries, and was generally at peace. I think being at peace was worth the debt.

There were health problems. My asthma plagued me from last Christmas until mid-August. Twice I was so afflicted that I considered going to the emergency room, but for the lack of insurance. Fortunately, a run of prednisone sorted that out, and my lungs are more or less under control again for the moment. Plus, I finally have health coverage. My mom had a surgery, and my dad found himself in the hospital a number of times--in the spring with an infection in his leg and then this fall with a heart attack. Fortunately, everyone has pulled through. Big sigh of relief all around.

I don't know what the next year holds, but I am going to be optimistic--in my pessimistic way, of course. The glass may be starting out half empty, but there will be plenty of free refills.

Goodnight.