It's with me again. Not another new year, I hardly noticed this one. My grandmother used to tell me when I was young,

"you think the days go so slow, wait until your older, they just fly past in a blur"

She was so right, bless her soul.

I kept to one New year's resolution, that was to get fitter and shape up, which I sort of managed to do. Now shaping up in the mind, that's an entirely new prospect, if anything, that will be 2002's goal.

I am almost 42 and I still can't believe the way I think, same old tried and true (if out-outdated) belief systems. Still negative and always a pessimist. I'm known to be a drama queen and totally getting worked up over nothing, these are the traits I am still to eradicate. Getting older doesn't always help you work through problematic characteristics, time can even ingrain them.

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There was a good break between the last entry and this one. Firstly there was some" recreation leave" from the pumpkin and some time spent in Mildura, a large country town in north eastern Victoria. The next entry I will dedicate to this. Some pictures and a gallery will also go with it.

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If there was anything 2001 had impressed on me, was how lucky I am to be living in Australia. I lead a charmed life by comparison to what I read in the World News. I complain and whine just so much about nothing at all. I do have some unneeded shit always flying my way, though it can always be sorted out. I know I can jump the hurdle, though I always skin my knees on cynicism.

In the words of one of my New York Jewish coworkers,

"I JUST WANT EVERYBODY TO BE HAPPY"

Happy New Year.

Michael