And so another year begins...

I've always liked New Year's Eve... but I like New Year's Day better. It's like turning the page, starting over fresh, gives you that new, unexplored feeling. What will 2009 be like? How will things change in the next year?

When I was in my early teens, I started a writing tradition. Every year on December 31 I would write a letter to my older (and presumably wiser) self. I'd write about the little things that happened in the last year that I wouldn't want to forget, about the things, people and places I loved and my dreams and hopes for them in the coming year. And I'd always wonder what my older self would think of me. Would she be happy with how I'd turned out? Wish she could go back to that New Year's eve many years ago and try it over again? Set things right? Would she think I was so foolish and naive and laugh at the small things that seems so large at the time?

I know those letters still exist. They're in my childhood room. I haven't looked at them in ages. I can't really even remember what they say, but I'll go back to them some day.

In the mean time, I want to return to writing. I want to have a place to mention the little things I won't want to forget, to chronicle my hopes and dreams and the path I took to get there. 2008 was one of the hardest years of my life. In other ways, an to an outsider, it might have been one of the best. I hope that 2009 can bring my outside and inside lives a bit closer together. And so, here I am. I'll start this blog off quiet, no promises of posting intervals. I'd like to keep it as anonymous as possible. Let's just leave the details at: I'm a postdoc living away from home, I'm happily married to another scientist, and we're trying to institute some major changes in our lives. First and foremost, to find new jobs, ideally closer to home, and a close second to add a new member to our family. This is life as I know it. I hope it's about to change. For the better.