Arise Sir Pterry!

Congratulations to Terry Pratchett for being knighted in the new year of 2009!

The Independent on Pterry's Knighthood

Although... is this the honours list for 2008 or 2009?  I've never cared enough to wonder before. 

I actually came in here to cheer about the fact that 2008 - a year almost as crappy as 2007 - is almost over. And to raise my glass - or, at this time of day, mug of tea - to the hope that 2009 will be a considerable improvement.

The website is going well, but very much in fits and starts. Hoping to be able to post a new section early in the new year, but I'm not quite there with it... and the FTP interface at Heart Internet seems to have gone a bit wrong. Still waiting for them to get back to me about why. Hope it's sorted soon, really don't fancy having to fiddle around with old-fashioned FTP-ing.

Just heard the Bangles' cover of Simon & Garfunkel's Hazy Shade Of Winter. Oooh, I remember that when it came out - it really was the springtime of my life. Hadn't heard the original at that point, and thought it was great. Now it sounds a bit tinny: can't help thinking how excellent a real rock cover of that song would be, using roughly the same arrangement as the Bangles.

'When your hopes just pass away, simply pretend that you can build them again'.

Not a bad mantra for New Year's Eve... It could be my song, right now.

Time, time, time, see whats become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities
I was so hard to please
But look around, leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Hear the salvation army band
Down by the riverside, its bound to be a better ride
Than what youve got planned
Carry your cup in your hand
And look around, leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Hang on to your hopes, my friend
Thats an easy thing to say, but if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend
That you can build them again
Look around, the grass is high
The fields are ripe, its the springtime of my life

Ahhh, seasons change with the scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Wont you stop and remember me
At any convenient time
Funny how my memory slips while looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme
Drinking my vodka and lime

But look around, leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Look around, leaves are brown
Theres a patch of snow on the ground...

Ah yes, you're never too old for a bit of teenage angst. Especially if you're a goth. ;)

So, do I have a New Year's resolution? I certainly do. And it's almost possible to achieve!

1. Get the MUD section of the site completed
2. Get at least a skeleton of the whole site done and online by this time next year
3. Complete a first draft of my book by this time next year
4. As soon as possible, achieve a proper sense of proportion re: work

And there we have it. The second and third are definitely achieveable - I just need to pull my finger out and get the hell on with it! The first one is too... I do see the end in sight. Although the Thynges To Do section will always be a work in progress. As it should be, I think.

The last one is more of a challenge, but it's the major one... if I spent less time being depressed about work, I could get of the first three done! And if I could just remind myself of how happy doing the first three makes me, I'd achieve that sense of proportion, I think.

Anyway, enough of that. My work diary is password protected... this one isn't! 

Happy New Year to all of us ;)