Well, I think I’m safe in assuming that we’re all happy to see the ass end of 2012. This has been, frankly, a miserable year.

On the one hand, we had all the unfortunate news that kept hitting us from all corners of the globe–war, terrorism, school shootings, Hurricane Sandy, and the seemingly never-ending train wreck of the 2012 presidential election.

On the other hand, there was the silliness of the alleged Mayan apocalypse. Glad that’s over; I just wish that Jose Arguelles and Terence McKenna had still been alive to see what turned out to be a very ordinary day.

And on the third hand, for me, there were a couple of massive travel fiascos, as well as a whole lot of stressful and depressing personal stuff that I’m not going to go into, because, well, it’s personal. And some of it is continuing into 2013 anyway.

So, yeah. It’s been a tough year.

Not that it was all bad. For one thing, I did manage to land my first full-time job in five years, which has helped our financial situation immensely. It’s been hard to adjust, but things finally seem to be coming together.

And late this year, I finally started to get serious about my writing. It’s a little soon to tell how that’s going to work out, but I’m quite optimistic.

But despite the seeds of great personal growth that seem to be sprouting, I’m afraid that on the whole, 2012 sucked. 2013 can only be better.

So. I don’t really believe in New Year’s resolutions, but I’m going to make a couple anyway.

1. This will be the year that I get myself–meaning, my physical self, this sack of meat and bones that sustains my mind–into shape. I’m tired of not having the strength or the energy to do the things I want to do.

2. This will be the year that I get published. Even if it’s a short-short on some barely-known non-paying website, I will get a story past an editor and in front of some eyeballs.

Okay, enough moping. Time to get our 2013 on. Happy New Year, everyone!