First Lines of 2007

Hello, and welcome to 2007. I am in London, safe and sound, and with only a small bit of drama. Kitanzi and I are sitting at the gate at SFO, waiting to board. aiela pointed me at this video, thus demonstrating one of the many reasons I love her: Back in 1996, having been drug by me kicking and screaming onto the Internet, vila_resthal started submitting some of his fiction to an online fanzine called "The Dragon's Lair", which was run by a Baltimore fan named Roger Bennett. If cadhla participates in Blog Like It's The End Of The World Day.....would anyone notice? kitanzi found this via StumbleUpon. The new issue of Aphelion Webzine went up on Wednesday, right on time. This has been a trip, thus far, of exceptionally useful voluntary purchases. I don't usually mark birthdays here, because I know that I'd forget one sooner or later, but I couldn't let the day go by without saying Happy Birthday to my darling sweetie, aiela. When asked to describe my musical tastes, the word I'd most often use is "eclectic". And you can read all about it here!

What can I say? It was a year.

New Years Wish

I posted this last year, and I think it still applies. There are many New Year's wishes. This one is mine.

Hello, and welcome to 2008.

In 2008, may you spend more time looking forward, not looking back.

In 2008, may you spend more time making grand plans and executing them, inviting your soul and being creative, and living life to the fullest.

In 2008, may you spend more time doing small, special things for your friends, your family, your loved ones.

In 2008, may you spend more time laughing, and making music, and increasing the joy in the people around you.

In 2008, may you spend more time helping each other, and holding each other, and saying "I love you" to each other.

Best wishes to you all. The best is yet to be.

On becoming a better me

bunny_hugger, who I know from else-Internet, had this to share on New Years:

On Christmas Eve, I watched Scrooge, the 1951 version with Alistair Sim. This is not only my favorite holiday film, it is one of my very favorite films. As I watched it, I realized that part of what makes Sim's portrayal so great is that he doesn't overdo his portrayal of "mean Scrooge." You can still see flashes of the kinder man that Scrooge once was, and this makes it more believable when he transforms into "good Scrooge" at the end of the film.

This ties in with something I have been thinking about a lot lately. It seems to me that people almost never really change -- at least, not in the sense of becoming an entirely different person. Instead, I think that people become better or worse versions of what they already are. People's essential personality traits generally stay the same; but what they put those traits in service of, and which traits come more to the front, will change over time.

With that in mind, I offer this New Year wish. I wish that all of you will become a better version of yourself in the New Year. And I hope, and resolve, that I will do the same.

Something to chew on.