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01/01/2008
2008: Here and Already Rocking!
Well, 2007 came and went. It seemed both like forever and the blink of an eye at the same time - strange how that seems to happen!
I'm still writing up my 2008 Plan for Awesomeness, which is basically a souped-up version of New Year's Resolutions. More like resolutions with a plan for accomplishing them. Otherwise, by January 3rd, I will have forgotten all about my resolutions and that would be that until January 1st, 2009. Anyway, 2008 started off well. In the first 2 hours, I'd already managed to track down a song I'd been looking for for literally the whole of 2007! I'd heard it on the radio, but the radio station I listen to plays lots of interesting stuff but virtually never announces what the songs are. In this case it should have been easy because the song had lyrics which, as long as I could remember a single line, could later be Googled. However, this song for some reason does not come up when the most obvious lyric ("Healing will come like a soft-beating drum") from its refrain is entered into Google. This time around I managed to remember another line long enough to enter that into Google, and it worked. I was so happy - forget the new year, I was partying and jumping for joy over that song! And for those who are curious, it happens to be "Still by Your Side" sung by the Celtic Tenors.
The other thing that happened in the wee hours of January 1st was that I found myself a new favourite music group - Amici Forever, which is an opera crossover band. You may be noticing a theme between this and the Celtic Tenors, which is actually kind of bizarre because I'm not generally a fan of opera at all. I really do enjoy beautifully sung songs, but in general I just can't stand the profuse vibrato in a classically-trained opera singer's voice. That kind of singing feels to my ears what a palm sander feels to my hand. That said I know lots of other people enjoy it, but in general, just not my cup of tea. Anyway, back to Amici, I don't think I've heard anything by them until one of their songs came up yesterday on that same radio station that never identifies anything. As per usual with songs I want to look up, I copied down a line of the song and went back to bed (I was having a bit of lounge in the morning, while I still had the chance. Back to work tomorrow. Bummer.) I Googled it at about 1:30 am, and discovered their music is really good as a whole, when I listened to snippets of their albums. Now I've got to find their albums!!
Whether I can afford the albums if I find them, though, might be another story. Part of my 2008 Plan for Awesomeness is racking up some serious savings for the down payment on the house I'd like to buy next winter. To get anywhere near the savings I'll likely be needing, I need to save like a fiend. I did some calculations, and this leaves me with a very small amount to cover my expenses for the entire month. I might have to go to Gail Vaz-Oxlade's Money Jar/Live-on-Cash technique! (See the TV show "Til Debt Do Us Part".)
The Plan for Awesomeness includes a bunch of other stuff too, including eating healthier, exercising more, finishing books from my to-read pile, and all that fun stuff. It should be an exciting year!
It's amazing how incredibly optimistic I get when I'm not sleep-deprived. Too bad I have to go back to work tomorrow...
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