Forcasting 2009?

A year ago, at the start of January 2008, I wondered about the coming year on this very blog.

I wrote: Can you shape your year-long destiny by choosing your January one activities wisely?

I had spent that day -- January 1, 2008 -- taking a very hassle-free flight from Minneapolis to San Diego and was hoping that the easy day of travel was indicative of a year of easy traveling to come.

Turns out, it was. I took several amazing trips in 2008, including a jaunt through Louisiana, southern Quebec, the Big Island of Hawaii, and more.

Maybe I really could predict my coming year based on my first-day doings.

As 2008 came to a close, therefore, I started to get a little anxious about what 2009 might hold.

I didn't have any travel plans for this most recent January 1. I didn't have any plans at all and I was really hoping something grand would come along because I wanted another great start to another great year.

Unfortunately, I got the stomach flu. Or food poisoning. Or both. And as a result ushered in the new year alternating between the bathroom floor and the bed.

Ugh.

Pessimism doesn't really suit me, though, and so, in an effort to cast some kind of positive 2009 forecast, I'm trying to salvage anything other than sickness from my past week. This morning, I finally hit upon an idea.

Throughout my bed rest furlough, I did a lot of reading, so perhaps that is my 2009 destiny.

Perhaps this will be a year of reading. I do have a few shelves full of unread books, and if I keep up the pace I've already started, I just might make it through an impressive stack.

Since the start of 2009, I've already finished two books. Twilight and New Moon, both by Stephanie Meyer, and both a part of the uber popular Romeo and Juliet Vampire love story.

Photo:
Self portrait in a rear view mirror captured on the Big Island.