Happy...er...New...uh...Year

I don't normally speak those words - "Happy New Year." Jeez, I think my hands went numb as I typed them.

But I'm trying. It's still one of those things that needs to be on my "I don't get it" list, but so be it. It's arbitrary to me. But I have hopes for 2012. The biggest thing - for me - is to continue to move forward. Consider where things were just a few years ago. I just went back and looked at each post to finish out the year - dating back to 2006, when I didn't even say anything about the New Year, just the death of Saddam Hussein. None of them were anything special, and perhaps a little too self-loathing.

We all know today/tonight is overrated. But as with anything, it's what you make of it. Plus it's who you spend it with. I've had New Year's Eve that have - to be blunt - sucked. I've had other years that I enjoyed - like going with Mick and Gretchen to Sharon and Tom's house in 2009/2010. Despite being sick, it was a very nice night. And low and behold, 2010 became a pretty OK year in that I met someone really important.

Not saying that was the reason. Just...saying. Besides, Mick still takes rightful credit for being the person who got me to meet that person.

I'm babbling.

Anyway, tonight Facebook and Twitter will be loaded with many "HNY's" across the web. I'm beating everyone to the punch.

I'm hopeful for 2012. Hopeful for continued improvement. Hopeful for good health and peace for all. Hopeful to get closer to what and where I want to be. Excited for a road trip in about 10 days (if everything comes together). Of course, that could happen any day - why does it need to start tonight?

See? I still don't get it. And why did we take Auld Lang Syne, a song which had NOTHING to do with New Year's Eve and let Guy Lombardo eff the damn thing up?

Oh let's not end it like that. Let's end it with the love that I feel for all of you for reading this blog (and ever so much as giving a whit about me), and for caring when I don't write. This was a year personal growth and rebirth. I wrote less but chose my words and topics more carefully (plus I was so busy that I often didn't have time). This was a year of triumph and sadness. A year of whacky weather. Of San Diego and Los Angeles and so much more.

In a lot of ways, it was like any other year. And yet, I want more in 2012. I hope you do too.

Happy New Year to you all. May you find what it is you want.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. John Lennon. Given the chance, this is what I would sing tonight at midnight.