The Old Year Passing

The year is almost over for us—less than eight hours to go. For some reason, people like to take stock at year’s end, and then plan (or promise) for the new one about to begin.

I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. I think it just sets people up to fail, and we all have plenty of failures in our lives without adding more of our own creation.

Instead, I make some general goals for the year, things that are, perhaps, only “would be nice” rather than “must do”. I also set goals and targets low enough that they can be reasonably achieved, freeing me to make newer goals.

The annual stock-take is another matter. I just can’t keep myself from looking at all that went right in the year and, of course, what didn’t. I mean that in the broadest sense, not just about me and my life (though, hey: This is my blog, so here at least it is all about me!).

I won’t re-hash the year’s news since there are plenty of other places that will do that far better than I could, so I certainly won’t re-hash America’s election; I pretty much said all I wanted to about that already.

This year there’s not much in my life that disappointed me, and certainly nothing that I think is big enough to call a “failure”—an incomplete success, as the military and politicians like to say, but not a failure. I think that alone makes this outgoing year a pretty good one.

But there’s been much to feel good about, too. My friend Jason came for a visit, the first American visitor in seven years. It was great. My partner and I had a trip to Sydney, which was a lot of fun, too. So, a lot of good times were had this year, and that’s always a good thing.

I also rate this blog as a positive thing in my year. It’s the first real hobby, if that’s really the right word, that I’ve had in many, many years. It’s provided me with a writing outlet whenever I want it. Through it, I’ve encountered some really interesting people, like Adam (This Boy Elroy), or Jeffrey (The Gay Expat) or Lost in France or Kalvin (Hello Waffles) and most recently GayProf (Center of Gravitas). I expect to meet even more in the New Year and I look forward to that.

A lot of people look down on blogs and blogging as being nothing more than a kind of verbal public masturbation. Sometimes they are. But sometimes, too, they’re much more than that, a way to use technology to make human connections that never would have been possible before. I know I’ve benefited from the journey, and I hope some visitors to this blog have, too.

Happy New Year to you all!