The world is merging from the Christmas hibernation. Families go home. People stop eating so much chocolate. There are no more gifts to open.

But just when things should return to normal, there is one last hurrah: New Year’s Eve. More drinking and partying and over-indulging. More days off work. More traditions and “meaning” and blah blah blah.

This year, I’m not into it. This was a great Christmas, maybe one of the best. It was also one of the best birthdays. I just don’t feel the urge to continue on for a Home Run with New Years. I am feeling homey. I want to read. I do not want to see people at all.

This year was an exodus. People died. And boy did people move away. I would say 8 or 9 people I know moved, mostly because they are young and I live in an over-priced area where they can’t afford a home for their family. And for some reason, everyone equates success with owning a house, so away they go, to other areas where they can afford the housing costs, or to new jobs where they can save up the money for a house–and other things.

I moved too. I moved from Sebastopol to Petaluma in February. I’m done moving. I love it here. So if that means that I have to wait to afford the half-million it takes to buy a house here, so be it. Good things are worth the wait.

Since I was very young, I wrote down New Year’s Resolutions and kept them sincerely. But you know, three things really matter to me in this life. Somehow, I both obsess over those things and do nothing about them. Maybe it is time to really focus in a daily way, instead of some yearly grand statement of desires. At least, not a public one.

The good news is things are looking good for 2007. I have pinpointed some things that were dragging me down have rooted them out of my life. On top of that, several big problems worked themselves out on their own without me doing anything.

And, if nothing else, I have clarity now. That is important in life, don’t you think?