Good evening my dear readers, and Happy Happy New Year to you and yours. It's been a whacked out, fucked up, how are we living in such a crazy world kind of 2012, and with us all perched precariously on the edge of the fiscal cliff, I'm not so ready for another disaster, double dip, or tragedy. I do believe we're all crying "uncle" after a year of such unmerciful and unrelenting badness, so I give you my hope for the year to come- let's declare 2013 the year of the reset, or let's just say, a boring year where nothing much happens, no new huge tech innovations, no crazy new artisanal food craze, no hot new high/low collaboration, no fighting, no fussing, no partisan bull crap. Let's make 2013 all about moderation- let's sleep a little, drink a little, eat a little, work out a little, work a little, and love A LOT. I am so tired of extremes - right side, left side, black, white, extreme weather, extreme religion, extreme anger, extreme working out, extreme youth chasing, and the list just goes on and on. I was reading on Gawker a round up of predictions for the new year from 'round the interwebs, and soothsayers/world watchers are declaring 2013 everything from the "year of the pickle" to the "year of the puffin". (http://gawker.com/5972190/50-things-2013-will-be-the-year-of)
I for one would very much like it to be the year of transition, of quiet change, of gratitude for what we do have, and for taking a minute to slow the fuck down and stop chasing the latest and greatest and simply just be. Smell the roses and such. If not much is going to happen, it will give us all a chance to catch up with friends and family and reconnect with ourselves. We have all become victims of a grossly reactionary approach to living and that's because we have to react to survive. I for one wish for all of us to be able to stop doing so much reacting and start enjoying. We have all been on our toes and on our feet and watching our backs for what seems like ages now- we live in tense times and need a break. A year of middle. A year of slightly mediocre. A year where we don't buy a new tablet, iSomething, or have to pray for our soldiers, our children, or anyone we love. Let's all be cool with slowing down and being mindful of what's to come. It's all gone wonky in my mind, and I for one could use a year of normalcy so that I can remember what's good in the world, cause the manic panic thing ain't workin'. So before you start making your own predictions and resolutions, I would like to raise a glass to a cautious and well calibrated anticipation- one that does not feel rushed or panicked or dappled with too many questions and not enough answers. I'm hoping this will be a year when there really is much ado about nothing, because a bit of nothing is what we all really need.
And on a bit of different note, I want to make sure that those of you who I have come to cherish (you know who you are) know that I am going to make a greater effort to be a better friend this year. I do believe all of this social networking has taken a toll on my real human friendships- somehow I consoled myself with knowing what kind of lasagna you had for dinner of whether or not your dog was enjoying the weather, but man- I gotta get better about seeing you all. I give you my word on that. Once again, happy new year to you all- may we all be able to sleep a little better this year as things hopefully stay calm and we can ultimately carry on. And that's what's up this no big whoop (hopefully) kind of 2013 in the 718. As the song says, "we have got to get it together now". (I'm thinking we may need a good year or so to do that). XO