January 1, 2006 - I did it. I typed 2005 to start with, and then had to go back and change it to 2006. That is the hardest part of the year for me. I don't have trouble with resolutions or dealing with the fact it is a new year, I just have trouble dealing with the habit of saying it is 2005. I'm fine with 2006 being here. In fact, I consider the last 5 years to be 'free' years, since everything was supposed to come to an end in an apocolyptic computer crash as the ball dropped in Times Square for New Years 2000 (which I was at), with terrorists and Martians all converging on the world at once, ringing in a new era of destruction and death. But we're all still here, the world is still spinning, and everyone seems to be pretty much content with the state of the world right now...content enough not to take action to change anything, but not content enough not to grumble to their friends and sound off on tv and radio about how horrible everything is. But in the end, everything is ok, especially for me. Or maybe it is even better than ok for me. I am in the best physical condition of my life, I have an awesome girlfriend, I have a great job, I'm continuing my quest to see the world, and I'm becoming more and more skilled at performing music each day. So what did I do to ring in the new year? I got off the boat in Cabo San Lucas and went whale watching. I saw about 10 humpback whales and then when I got back to the ship I had a horrible sunburn. What a way to start the year off.