Out with the old
There are a lot of people I know who will be glad to see the back of 2009. And, from a global perspective, I can see why a lot of people will be glad to see the back of this entire decade. Possibly we spent so long expecting jetpacks and moon colonies that it was that much more of a shock that it was full of disasters, but it still seemed to have an unfair share of nastiness. Every memorial article, every photo essay ringing in the new year is a laundry list of awfulness, with occasional sprinkles of cool; for every internet institution, there's a city that got demolished; for every Obama, there were half a dozen bastards.
On a personal level, though, it didn't suck for me. These were my teenage years - and yes, I spent the majority of them in a concrete desert, and I'll be happy to lose the majority of my memories from high school (which I almost failed out of) - and yes, three of my grandparents died, which was horrible.
But here's the state of me. It's the 31st of December, 2009; I'm 21 years old, drinking spice punch in the living room of my best mate's aunt's place in the South of New Zealand; I'm two months from completing my BA, in my first choice of university, in a gorgeous city that I pretty much chose at random; I'm going to spend 2010 doing Honours courses that I love. I don't have a job, sure, but I know what I love to do, and I know what I'm good at. My family are doing okay. There are much worse ways to ring in the new year.
Right now, there is still half a jug of punch to get through and I'm already feeling sleepy. Next year (I like being able to say that), I owe you reviews of Sherlock Holmes and The Lovely Bones. In the meantime, really sincerely: happy new year.
On a personal level, though, it didn't suck for me. These were my teenage years - and yes, I spent the majority of them in a concrete desert, and I'll be happy to lose the majority of my memories from high school (which I almost failed out of) - and yes, three of my grandparents died, which was horrible.
But here's the state of me. It's the 31st of December, 2009; I'm 21 years old, drinking spice punch in the living room of my best mate's aunt's place in the South of New Zealand; I'm two months from completing my BA, in my first choice of university, in a gorgeous city that I pretty much chose at random; I'm going to spend 2010 doing Honours courses that I love. I don't have a job, sure, but I know what I love to do, and I know what I'm good at. My family are doing okay. There are much worse ways to ring in the new year.
Right now, there is still half a jug of punch to get through and I'm already feeling sleepy. Next year (I like being able to say that), I owe you reviews of Sherlock Holmes and The Lovely Bones. In the meantime, really sincerely: happy new year.