well that certainly went in a weird direction

The new year is upon us, snow is falling in Seattle again, and I'm listening to the hereafter on repeat.

I've done virtually nothing since I've been up here -- I've sat around, I've read books (2! And neither of them were "Pat the Bunny"!), I've slept in, and I've recharged.

And now, at 12:45 am on January 5th, 2009, I'm thinking.

There are so many people in each of our lives. All of them contribute in some way, even if the contribution is frustrating and makes you want to scream or cry or both. I'd be willing to bet, though, that most people we choose to associate with make us happy. Very happy. So happy, in fact, that occasionally, at 12:45 in the morning, all we can do is sit around and think about how lucky we are that we have such wonderful friends and family and such a tremendous support system as we get ready to move on to a brand new scary phase of our lives, where everything sucks and is too expensive and the economy is in the toilet and we have no marketable skills outside of Los Angeles County and SAG is about to strike and we're all going to be homeless and desperate for work and have to resign ourselves to taking soul-sucking jobs we never thought we'd touch with a 10-foot pole.

Or not, whatever. Maybe it's just me.

In any case, what I really mean to say is that I love you all, and thank you for taking this journey with me.