Oh - this seems new?
I currently feel like Christmas Day, when you unwrap your parcels and chortle with joy at the contents. A new year has been given to me, all in a flashy new wrapper. To celebrate, we all got pissed, PatriX played Skyrim and I watched!. So now, after a gigantic long sleep, I awake hazed and unpack this new year's parcel. The first thing, I notice about 2012 is that it doesn't seem any different than 2011. However, I am fairly certain, 2011 didn't have a warning sticker on it: "May end prematurely 21. Dec 2012". If I remember vaguely, 2011 had something written about an imminent rapture for part of the world pollution in the manual.
Given with all the wars and the economic downfall, the demise of the new year clearly started last year. I mean, with all these values going down the drain, what do you expect of the new year to come? Stable Economy? Sudden World Peace? Inter religious Dialogue? Ecologic Low Carbon, non-nuclear Energies? As Crisis after crisis riddle the world, the friendly states, once united in economic prosperity and credit turn against each other to protect what little prosperity and stability they perceive to have within their own countries.
2011 was also an interesting year to see how countries and people have reacted to all those failings. As the mighty economic powers struggle, their followers in their shadows promptly react and demand and gain more influence, evil tongues now say, the next world economic languages will be Chinese, russian and spanish :D As poor and deprived citizens stand up for their basic rights we see protest taken to the streets again. Be it either the basic call for human rights in the countries of the Maghreb, the calls for a fair democracy in Eastern Europe, the call for fairer socio economic balancing in Western Europe and the US and the call against poll and cuts in the UK, 2011 impressively showed that people can be rallied and take the street for a just cause. Or in case of looting and rioting for an egocentrical call of self definition via consumerism... Call me a media whore and a dumb bystander, but those outbursts of protest on the street last year, they really fascinated me. For the first time in quite a while, I have seen folk being passionate and dedicated (even willing to risk their life) about a cause and not just nodding off to the news on the telly. If 2012 does not end by the grace of Emmerich, Nostradamus and the Mayan Calendar, then I expect to see more protest and more movement. Just like last year.
What does this mean for me? For one, I have to keep a close watch on the economy. Being self employed might become tough again. Comforting enough, PatriX has already asked if we'd witness the end of the world together in December. And should that fail, we can still carry on with our lives together, I guess :D There are tons of well paid jobs to be done at the beginning of the year, so I will be gone and busy most of the time then. We'll just have to see what happens after that. Bring it on! I have now unpacked this new year, let's use it!
Given with all the wars and the economic downfall, the demise of the new year clearly started last year. I mean, with all these values going down the drain, what do you expect of the new year to come? Stable Economy? Sudden World Peace? Inter religious Dialogue? Ecologic Low Carbon, non-nuclear Energies? As Crisis after crisis riddle the world, the friendly states, once united in economic prosperity and credit turn against each other to protect what little prosperity and stability they perceive to have within their own countries.
2011 was also an interesting year to see how countries and people have reacted to all those failings. As the mighty economic powers struggle, their followers in their shadows promptly react and demand and gain more influence, evil tongues now say, the next world economic languages will be Chinese, russian and spanish :D As poor and deprived citizens stand up for their basic rights we see protest taken to the streets again. Be it either the basic call for human rights in the countries of the Maghreb, the calls for a fair democracy in Eastern Europe, the call for fairer socio economic balancing in Western Europe and the US and the call against poll and cuts in the UK, 2011 impressively showed that people can be rallied and take the street for a just cause. Or in case of looting and rioting for an egocentrical call of self definition via consumerism... Call me a media whore and a dumb bystander, but those outbursts of protest on the street last year, they really fascinated me. For the first time in quite a while, I have seen folk being passionate and dedicated (even willing to risk their life) about a cause and not just nodding off to the news on the telly. If 2012 does not end by the grace of Emmerich, Nostradamus and the Mayan Calendar, then I expect to see more protest and more movement. Just like last year.
What does this mean for me? For one, I have to keep a close watch on the economy. Being self employed might become tough again. Comforting enough, PatriX has already asked if we'd witness the end of the world together in December. And should that fail, we can still carry on with our lives together, I guess :D There are tons of well paid jobs to be done at the beginning of the year, so I will be gone and busy most of the time then. We'll just have to see what happens after that. Bring it on! I have now unpacked this new year, let's use it!