Welcome to the new year

I feel like New Year's Eve always inspires a false sense of negativity toward the ending calendar year in me.  I always manage to focus on major grievances I had with one thing or another, and look forward to a year in which none of that will happen.  And later on, after the champagne bottles have been recycled and my head clears, I realize that the past year was rarely as bad as this odd little mandatory holiday made me feel momentarily.

Come to think of it, in professional terms, at least, 2009 was a pretty good year for me.  It couldn't top 2006, when I had a bunch of grants come in, but that's a hard act to top.  So I can't bring myself to spit on the corpse of 2009 as 2010 begins.  I just hope that my professional life continues apace this year.

In terms of my family and dating life, 2009 definitely could have used some improvement.  But, since this is a career-related blog, I'm not going to burden you (or re-depress myself) by dwelling on such matters.  And even in those areas, things have been worse.  Wow, honestly, the more I think about it, the more 2009 seems to have been a good year for me, at least on the personal level.

Now I find myself hoping merely that 2010 doesn't turn out to suck.  (And if it turns out to be okay, then I'll enjoy the pessimist's pleasant surprise.)  To get psyched up for the new year, here are the perennially apropos thoughts of Loudon Wainwright III:

This Year
Another year has gone, here comes a new one
What's gonna happen this year
We're gonna make it, not gonna take it
Make no mistake-its this year

Last year was a fiasco, a real disaster, so full of sorrow
This year will be a great year, I just can't wait, dear, until tomorrow

Forget the old pain, sing a new refrain
Uncork the champagne this year
No, it's not too late, we've got a clean slate
The future's our fate this year

 It's after midnight and I'm just a bit tight
Hey, but I'll be all right this year
The year is brand-new, the old one's all through
It's time to kiss you this year