2005
Happy New Year everyone! Everyone is full of "year in review" and "new year's resolutions." And while I see the value of both...I just don't know. I'm already one of those people who struggles against living in the past. Because the best part of the past is that you are able to forget all the bad things and only remember the god things. So then you are all nostalgic over something that, realistically, sucked at the time. Ain't memory grand? And as for New Year's resolutions, I don't like starting things that I know that I will not finish. It's a failure complex I guess.

So then, what does a new year even mean? Let alone 2005. It seems so...I don't know. I know that 2000 was the big year, but that didn't strike me as how fast time was changing. This 2005 does. I have to start being an adult soon, don't I? Probably this year. Maybe that should be my New Year's Resolution...

Smothered...
I was out of town for the last few days, and my cats are really annoying right now. I can't so much as walk into the bathroom without them following me. I feel smothered. It's only been about 12 hours of this. This is was makes me worried about relationships. I'm feeling smothered by my cats. I have had a talk with one of them about how cats are independent, but to no avail. My kitchen is finally painted; I'll take a picture of it, but it will take me forever to finish the roll and develop it. (I didn't take any pictures over the holidays. Not sure why. I'm generally a picture type girl.)

Tsunami
I also am not inspired right now. I should talk about the ultimate devestation of the tsunami, how the number missing/dead are just mind numbing. (What is the quote: a single death is a tragedy, a million a statistic.) Thanksfully, all of my friends in the affected areas - all seven of them - have been accounted for. It's amazing how something so tragic can happen, and not personally affect me. Not that I'm not affected by the devestation, because I am in my "denial" mode where I stop listening/reading the news. I am just overloaded right now on tragedy. Does anyone else get like this?

Iraq
Surprise, surprise. The last 6 months were the deadliest in Iraq. It's like, the longer we stay, the worse the war is getting.

• December 75
• November 141
• October 67
• September 87
• August 75
• July 58

These are also becoming numbing. Even though we aren't allowed to see the caskets with the flags draped returned. (A restriction, by the way, which doesn't get the attention that it deserves. The alleged "liberal" media just accepts it.

Moreover, the frightening part is, the deaths in Iraq are actually HIGHER than they were in Vietnam at this stage of the war. Yes, 58,000 died in Vietnam, a war where there was no exit stragety (sound familiar) over many years (give us time...). At the height of the war, there were more monthly deaths in Vietnam. But at this stage of the war, the deaths per month in the war in Iraq drarfs the number of deaths per month in the Vietnam War. Scary.

More death
Bob Matsui (Cal.) died over the weekend. He spent time in an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II. He later served 26 years in Congress. I think of all of the Muslim / Arabs that we are detaining now and wonder if any of them could one day serve in Congress. It seems so hard to conceive. Especially because, we we keep being told, this is a different type of war. There isn't a clear "victory" in the war on terrorism. I don't know. I just don't know. It's hard.

Some Sports Stuff
The Buffalo/Pittsburgh game is good. A lot on the line. Cleveland is actually trying to WIN the game. What is up with that. They did the same last season, winning the final game and then losing draft picks. Actually, the Cavs did that in 2002 as well. They could have just lost the last game and had the worst record and gotten all the lottery balls. They won the last game and tied for the worst record. Of course, we got LeBron anyway, so all is well that ends well. But still.

I know. A real uplifting post, huh?