HAPPY NEW YEAR, everybody !! Welcome to 2004. More survivors were found, amazingly, in Bam. It's not the worst start to a year, I guess, at least for a few people. As for me? The last night of the year was spent on Rick's couch mostly playing "Vice City" on his Xbox and watching The Secret of NIMH on DVD. That's such a lovely animated movie - surprisingly old, too. It was made in 1982, which is a pretty foreign number for me to type on the keyboard. I was five when it came out, and while I can't recall if I saw it in theatre, I did see it a few years later when we rented it for one of my childhood Hallowe'en parties. Rick and I opened a little bottle of bubbly and toasted the New Year and then returned to playing video games. It wasn't the most exciting night we could have spent, but it was really nice and totally laid back.

Stew is asleep in his room, which I did not realise when I came in a little while ago. I turned on my stereo and turned up the volume on one of my Christmas presents. I flipped on the hall light to give some light to the house and discovered him. Oops. He is all wrapped up in the dark, Tobe very pleased beside him. It seems he's had a tiring New Year's Eve. Unlike myself. The most exciting thing Rick and I did yesterday was go shopping after I was done at the museum. I bought a beautiful sweater on sale at Jacob and helped Rick shop for many fine pants and shirts at the Bay. Because he was using gift cards from his parents, he also bought me a fedora that was on sale for only thirty bucks. I'm wearing it right now and with the exception of when I went to bed last night, I've been wearing since we picked it up. I'm also wearing my old gold stud earings for the first time in a few years because I've developed an infection in my left hole. Not wanting to have it close as it heals and have to get it repierced, I squinched my face as I eased the sharp post through and now I'm waiting for the swelling to go down. This is why I won't go through another piercing. Though I did consider having another pair of holes put in my ears, it's just not worth it. Anyway, at least it's not bleeding.

I don't have much to say so I'll just wish everyone all the best for the new year and hope for an ending to the insanity that has siezed the world. It's a lot to hope for, but it is a far more worthwhile desire than a list of resolutions that almost no one ever sticks to anyway. Be good to each other.