Where were you be counting down to the New Year? Thousands of people said hello to the new year at the bay and harbour of fire in Sydney, but the best view did come from Gilbert Street ;-)
The traditional telephone call to wish family and friends a 'Happy New Year' is increasingly being replaced by a text message and blog entries.
Happy New Year to Gabbie (Rory) and Sasha of Roxy fame
So --- Stastlivy Novy Rok to my sisters and families in Prague and Poprad and Vrbov
Auntie Zofka Gerard Lea Marie Cecile in France -- ""Bonne Année"" auntie Otta's family in Germany -- ""Gutes Neues Jahr""
Holidaymakers ""Hauoli Makahiki Hou"" Kevin of Irish fame -- ""Aith-bhliain fé mhaise dhuit""; Luciano and Caterina of Italian fame -- ""Buon Capo d'Auno"" Steve in Japan -- ""Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu"" ING partners in Netherlands -- ""Gelukkig Nieuwjaar"" Norway -- Christofer and co from Poland -- ""Szczesliwego Nowego Roku"" Portugal -- ""Feliz Ano Novo"" Begonia in Spain -- ""Feliz Año Nuevo"" Ton Ling family -- ""Gung Hay Fat Choy ""
Lanai Vasek often wonders just how many people wake up on New Years day with a hangover and a handful of regrets. More often than not we celebrate the New Year slurring resolutions we’ll never keep, and promising ourselves “this year will be different”. Irish playwright and poet Oscar Wilde once said ”Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account”. My New Year's resolution is not to pay attention to bad resolutions ...
2008 achieved a depth of realism that Hollywood could not imagine ... New Year Bring Out Best Of Resolutions
The powerless understand powerul better that vice versa which is why they are pressured to be silent. Some brave souls among us sometime try to break the code and share stories which tell us what the emperor is really like with no clothes on.
How was 2008 for you? It is bound to go down in history as a big year, not least thanks to economy but each year is really framed in terms of characters we come across be it successful fliers like Pappadopolous, or to be sure Shaw. Because it is people who make things happen. There are many heros as well as villains in my life. I will probably never know the names of many of my villains. Which character in the government thought up the idea of giving bags of money to the banks rather than to people?
Every man and woman carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place known or unknown actual or visionary. For myself the most beautiful place on earth is where heros like Mal place their feett be it TASSIE or Bronte ;-)
According to Ron: Well, 2008 turned out to be even tougher than we feared. But, hey, we made it through. So now comes 2009, with all the gloomy predictions. It's understandable if your "Happy New Year" wish ends with more of a ? than a ! this time around.
Is there a light at the end of this tunnel? Don't know, because we can't see the end yet, or so the economists tell us. And now the entire nation has slipped into the downhill tube that Michigan entered about seven years ago. So even if you could sell your house and get out of Michigan, there's really no economic hot spot where you can go. Face it folks. Our only option is to make this place what we know it can be, what it should be.
Somehow, all this adversity has to become opportunity. And that is entirely possible. Why? Because more and more people in Michigan have stopped looking in the rearview mirror and started figuring out the road ahead. It has taken awhile -- and a lot of pain -- but we understand now that what was will not be again, and our focus is finally shifting to what's next. ...
History and literature are filled with stories of people who stood on the brink of disaster and found themselves doing things they never thought they would have to do, could do, or would ever want to do. They stopped waiting for help, stopped hoping for things to go back to the way they were and changed the reality on the ground. They put aside old enmities and pulled together -- not by choice but because they had no other choice.We all know people who have survived some kind of personal disaster -- an arrest, illness, divorce, job loss, what have you -- and who can look back on it and say, "At the time, I thought my life was over, but if it hadn't happened, I never would have changed. Yes, it was terrible, it hurt, but today I am better for it."
• 2008 turned out to be even tougher than we feared; [ The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers ... as told by Erich Fromm in Man for Himself; Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers ; Nobody ever said that work was fun, but it beats death plan in the waiting room of God. From backwater of the High Tatra mountains to parliamentary intrigue in the city of wild men to Masterminds of the offshore tax schemes]
An excellent leader has three qualities: a love for the people, moral and ethical integrity, and courage to take a stand and position even when there is resistance to change. Martin Luther King, Jr. had all three qualities. Without one of these qualities, a leader is handicapped. Without two of these qualities, he is doomed to failure. With none of these qualities, tyrants can exist, but not leaders.
-Harry Holleywood