Farewell 2008

Ah, that day of the year rolls around once again, a time for reflection, dreams and excessive alcohol consumption. 2008 seems like it's only just started, not drawing to a close. It's been largely uneventful (although am sure a look back at some earlier posts would remind me otherwise), but my first trip to Italy was a definite highpoint, as was moving into the flat (just in case, you know, that fact had escaped you).

I do this every year, but I honestly think 2009 might be the year where things start to come together. I start a new job on 19 January (as far as I know), so hopefully I should be able to ride out the financial storm. One advantage of a global recession is that if you're one of the fortunate ones to hang on to gainful employment, your standard of living should improve - an increase in unemployment suddenly puts me a few rungs better off comparatively to the rest of the population. Quite a self-serving viewpoint to take, but fingers crossed it doesn't come back to bite me on the arse. In the meantime, bring on the closing down sales.

We're heading back to Italy in July - I went a tad overboard in terms of Christmas pressies for J. Stunningly romantic or lacking the imagination to buy anything more meaningful (and cheaper) - I'll leave it up to you to judge. Of course, I couldn't let her go on her own, so I'm getting a "free" holiday out of it to! We only have flights at the mo, so have the next 6 months to plan (and get in shape so that I am not laughed off the beach by junior mafioso).

I've found myself wanting to know more "stuff" recently, so am determined that 09 will be the year I finally get off my arse and do it. Polish, photography, history, psychology - all that jazz. I have a Polish course courtesy of J to get through and once complete I'm gonna look at taught courses - apparently the University of Westminster does one for a reasonable price. My new camera is not just going to sit unused - I am actually going to read the manual and photography book I got for Christmas and learn how to operate the damn thing.

My long alluded to application to run the New York marathon is finally going to get submitted, and I am going to make serious enquiries about the other "Stupid Boy Project" (copyright Danny Wallace) I've always wanted to do - the London-Mongolia rally. Admittedly it may not happen for a while yet, but I can but investigate.

So - lots of stuff to hold me to. Let's make 2009 the year of excitement, memorable experiences and enjoying ourselves. Let's fiddle whilst Rome, London, New York, Tokyo and Frankfurt burn and crumble to dust.

But for tonight.... Let's get blootered!