make up for my less-than-stellar 2008 by having a fantastic 2009

I survived 2008. Really, that’s the best I can say about it. December managed to find a couple of new ways to kick me while I was down, but I survived, and I spent the time making plans. Solid, concrete plans, not just for this year, but for the next five. 2009 is going to be the year I start moving forward, making real progress.

I started the year by moving into a new apartment, with shiny new floors, a decent-sized balcony with an amazing view, and (most importantly) no upstairs neighbours. I’m still settling in, but once I finish unpacking (again), I think I’m going to love it. Even with the move, I was able to scrounge enough time out of my schedule to actually enjoy my birthday. (I’ll take coffee with a dear friend over a family funeral any day. But particularly that day.)

Two days ago, I got some very good news – which isn’t mine to blab about online, but it does mean that the current economic situation isn’t going to hit me quite as hard (or as soon) as it looked like it might.

And it looks like I’ll be able to get back into writing again next week. I’ve been getting a bit nervous about it – I wrapped up one draft in November, knowing that I wasn’t going to get anything productive done in December, but I expected I’d be able to start something new early in January. Then I wound up moving again, and it shot my schedule to hell. (I’ve only just started editing that piece I finished in November.) But things are going to calm down enough next week that I might actually get something done. Finally.

I think it’s going to be a good year.

This hasn’t been my year.

I won’t go into details. I’ve tried writing it down a few times, and I can’t figure out a way to do it that doesn’t make my life sound like an overwrought Victorian melodrama. Not that I don’t adore that sort of thing – I’d just rather read it than live it.

I’ll put it this way: 2008 started with a funeral. On my birthday. And somehow, things managed to get worse as the year dragged on.

At the same time… I don’t know why or how, exactly, but I feel really good about 2009. Maybe it’s just the idea of a clean slate, of starting fresh. Whatever it is – superstition, a previously undiscovered optimistic streak – I can’t wait.