So it is a new year.

2009.

Last year I wrote a fun little poem:
Dear 2008,
Please bring me a date
’cause I just can’t wait
to meet my mate!

This year its more like:
Dear 2009,
I don’t mean to whine
but this heart of mine
is not doing fine
it wants to resign
and do more than just pine…

Yeah so here’s to a new year, ripe with possibilities and bursting with hope. I really do mean that in my heart of hearts…despite my ongoing battle with despair!

This is a big year, one to mark in your journals and save in your treasure box. This year brings a historical realization of a dream first proclaimed on August 23, 1963…oh what a moment to behold on January 20, 2009: Hope. This is also a year of technological changes when the whole nation converts to digital TV. I got my converter box coupons in the mail recently. It is a strange thing getting a government-issued coupon for a device for my television set. I’m still not sure what I think about that. Also this year a much less significant item is that this will probably be the last year people say “two-thousand …” My guess is that next year will begin the ever popular saying of, “twenty-ten…”

But enough about huge worldly happenings and more about the goings on in my world. If you were expecting a confessional blog about all the things I plan to do this year, well, I’m sorry to say you might be disappointed. For you see, New Years or January 1st affords me the opportunity for more of a 6-month check up than it does inspire a flurry of new habit-setting. Over the years, I have used my birthday as my time for reflecting on the past year and setting goals for my own personal new year. My birthday occurs at the end of May so for me, if all goes well, I am usually a good 5-6 months into my bright, shiney, new goals by the time the crystal ball or the dill pickle drops on New Year’s Day.

This last birthday inspired a particularly intentional bout of goal-setting due to the fact that it is my 29th year of life. I decided that rather than donning the traditional all-black mourning garb, I would roll up my sleeves and bid farewell to my twenties in a blaze of glory! As I reflect back on the first half of my 29th year I am quite satisfied by what I find: a diploma acknowledging my “mastery” of science in Marriage and Family Therapy; a ground-breaking on this fine little piece of cyber-property; a full-time job as an MFT Intern at a wonderful employer; the commencement of training for my first-ever triathlon; running a mile–then two–then three all together without stopping!; weighing 22 pounds less than when I turned 29 .

Yep, all in all, I’m feeling pretty good about where I am. See, the really cool thing about setting goals and resolutions in May, is that by January these schemes are well under way and I can feel awesome about what I have already accomplished by the time New Year’s Day rolls around. And, the hype and energy that comes with New Year’s gives me the extra little kick-in-the-pants I need to keep up the good work so that I can arrive at 30 and knock my own socks off!

Things still left on my list:
Complete my first-ever triathlon…and live to tell about it
Continue working on learning Spanish…if only that whole Matrix plug-in-the-back-of-your-neck-thing was real, ¡Yo quiero hablar en Español!
Go on a fabulous date…and then have a second, third…tenth…
Find the time to blog more frequently…or find someone who would like to sponsor/fund me so I could write and research/realize my dream full-time
Look even more stunning in my little black dress…and be taken out dancing in it!
Open and deal with my mail the day it comes…aka: shred junk mail/file important papers immediately!…well, every girl deserves to dream a little right?!?

What is on your to-do list for this year? How is it going?