2006->2007

Happy new year, everyone!
New Years Eve has been one of the most celebrated holidays for longer than I’ve been around, which isn’t that long really.  But upon reflection, it’s the only holiday celebrated solely for a calendar event.  There are other calendar events, such as Feb 29^th, but none that actually get people out partying and blasting bottle rockets and staying up really late.

Any excuse to party I guess.  Otherwise, it’s just like any other day of the year and upon the beginning of another year I note that the feeling you get on your birthday repeats itself at this time of year as well.  We’re all one year further into the future, but I don’t feel any older than I did yesterday.

That’s not entirely true either, because the next day we decided to take the kids sledding on Mt. Hood.  That’s what we do here in Portland if we want a white Christmas or otherwise frolic in the snow: we travel 50 miles east.   We spent just a couple of hours up there, but it was long enough to find that horrible breaking point between my desire for youthful vigor and my body’s gradual decline.  After two or three trips down the  hill on our plastic toboggan, my tailbone found out that it no longer appreciates “catching air” and I was reduced to a whining invalid for the rest of the afternoon, much to my wife’s annoyed ears.  However, I was still under the delusion that I was a kid long enough to have a couple of snowball fights with my son and wife and build a snowman with my daughter before heading home.

I also haven’t been spending as much time recording my viewpoints for this blog as of late, and for any of you that are still checking this site for the faint hope that I’ll actually post something, I thank you for your loyalty.  I do plan on continuing to blog, but right now I’m trying to think about what form that’s going to take.  Should I continue to Instapundit-like just regurgitate news with a bit of comment, or should I stick to local and personal stuff?  Should I become more topical and write fewer, but longer, pieces in columnist-like fashion?

I guess that remains to be seen.  Perhaps nothing will change, but you might as well know that the mental battle rages on.  And I’ll always be contributing to this site in one form or another. 

Apart from that, what will 2007 hold for all of us?  How should I know?  Here are some certainties:  Bush will get bashed by the left and the media for no other reason that they don’t like him (ok, there are some really good reasons to criticize the current President, but will those actually get brought up?).  Iraq will be a mess for some time, unless the US and other involved nations change things in a dramatic way, which won’t happen because large governments and bodies of people are highly resistant to change.  Some politicians in Washington (R or D) will have to deal with personal scandals and be recognized for their corruption, but will probably suffer no real penalty for it.  North Korea will still have the bomb.  China will still oppress it’s people and scream threatening remarks concerning Taiwan, but millions will still shop at Wal-Mart, financing the oppression of the Chinese.  Somewhere, sometime, some country’s government will decide to oppress and kill a portion of it’s own population, and the UN will do nothing about it. 

Google and Instapundit will still be my main sources of news and commentary, and the larger media and news corporations will continue to lose viewership/readership with each story they blow. 

Some famous person(s) will die, reminding those of us that are old enough to remember them and grow up with them that time moves on and life eventually returns to the dust of the earth. 

Disneyworld will still be there (it’s just cool knowing it exists).  The mountains will still be there (although eventually they too will return to the sea), and the ocean will still beat the shore compulsively, so my two favorite travel spots will be waiting for me.  My wife will still be there to cuddle up with and watch a movie and nag me about projects I’m supposed to be doing (which is a good thing), and otherwise keeping our household from falling apart altogether.  My kids will continue to grow and act more like big kids (and sometimes like 2 year olds), and amaze me in ways I can’t imagine right now.

But all these things can end or be turned on their head.  Are they all certainties?  No.  There is only one certain thing about 2007, which is that God is the creator and Lord of the entire universe, and he’ll be walking beside me, looking over my shoulder, chastising me when I slip and blessing me in spite of it all.  He is never changing, and eternally present.  So we’ve got that going for us.

Which is nice.