It is currently 12 something or other AM Eastern Standard Time on January the First, in the year Two Thousand and Eight Common Era AD, Gregorian calendar.

WELL HAPPY NEW YEAR PEOPLE!

A whole long year ahead of us now... we've got the Beijing Summer Olympics coming up, not to mention elections. For me it means at the start of the year I'll be taking tests, participating in activities, looking up schools and programs, and by the end of 2008 I'll be applying for colleges which is a truly scary thought.

A whole new year of troubles, worries, joys, hopes, dreams, disappointments, life, and indeed death. New chances, and closed doors. Brand new year.

You know this day is really no different from any other day that begins some arbitrarily defined 365-day period. We could start the New Year on February sixth or April twenty-third, and just extend from there 365 days.

So I guess what makes it special is people. Because the new year is being born in the midst of winter. Because we all need to feel that sense of putting the past behind and plunging into the future, every now and then, or we'd be overwhelmed.

And now I'm turning off the lights and turning off the computer, because there's fireworks sounding in the distance, and the clock's already running on 2008, so let's not waste time.

We already have far too little.