New year, same government.

Nitpicky work thing: I *hate* the sound of tape-guns like some people hate the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. Right now, the unit next to ours is in the process of moving and all day it’s been scrip scrip scrip as they put together boxes and seal them up and I’m going mental from it. Even my headphones turned all the way up don’t completely drown it out!

So hooray for being back at work after sixteen days in a row of holiday. That’s almost some kind of record for me and I’ve arrived just in time for a blistering attack on public service pensions by the “Man” himself making me wonder if it really is time to go out and find some other kind of work. Seriously, it’s hard to remain positive when one of the only saving factors about work (being able to retire one day on a reasonable sum of money) is in danger of being taken away. You know, deficits and debts and all that. Somehow we’ve got to pay and pay again, which makes it hard to get anything done in between all the frustration shrieking around these grey cubicles.

You know, simply proroguing parliament forever would save a lot of money too, in addition to removing the headache of democracy.

But I digress. It’s a new year and I’ve got lots of resolutions besides seeing the end of the Conservatives ahead of me – not that they are anything original – lose weight, exercise more, stop biting my nails, etc. etc. Who doesn’t feel unattractive at this time of year? Fortunately I’m still blissed out on the home front so not nearly as depressed as I normally get pre-and-post-xmas holiday. We really did have a lovely time despite the stressful run-up to it all, saw many friends, hosted a small new year’s affair with lots of food and drink and went for lots of walks during our time in Victoria which was sunny and bright the whole time. Oh, and I read a lot of books too which was a goal of mine, particularly since I have a large to-read pile at the moment which was only added to on Christmas morning!

I’m feeling pretty optimistic about my year coming up, despite the oncoming Olympics and the crappiness of both provincial and federal governments – trying to ignore the bad stuff and focus instead on some fun new plans including: our fabulous garden & studio/spa project for the backyard, a monthly dinner collective involving rotating dinner parties with a few friends, at least one kayaking trip this summer, and finishing the first and second drafts of my novel. (Okay, the novel plan isn’t nearly as much fun as the other things but it’s got to be done.) Perhaps another trip to Flores Island is also in the cards for July? And I’ve got friends coming to visit soon, I’m going to visit other friends, my birthday is coming up in a few weeks and really it’s all going to be okay isn’t it? I sure hope so. It is a new year after all.