Well, we've reached another new year. I'm actually quite glad, because last year was pretty much a wash, anyway. People I loved died, I had fights with friends which resulted in my losing those friends, I failed to lose any weight or become physically fit, and managed to nearly crack my skull open on the pavement. Not good. Hopefully this year will be better!

The picture at the top was taken last February 9th, and is included here because I've chosen it as my best photograph for 2003. I have a selection of 19 other pictures I took last year that I'm particularly pleased with here. I'm hoping this year to take my photography to another level, though I'm not sure what that level is just yet. I would like to get better, though. I would like to take pictures of something other than the view outside my speeding car on the way to or from work, or pictures of flowers, or sunsets, or what have you. But, I'm not sure what else I'd like to photograph. I dislike photographing random people - despite how interesting many of them are - because I feel it's an invasion of their privacy, so I rarely do it. Oh sure, I could go up and ask their permission, but that's just too much trouble for me. Besides, there are other, much better portrait and people photographers out there than me. Maybe I'll just stick with flowers and sunsets.

Remember on my New Year's Resolutions I'd put down that I'd like to write two complete short stories this year? Well, ironically (or serendipitously, however you wish to look at it), the local college has an evening course on short story writing, and in the course description it says we'll walk away from that class with two complete short stories! Score! I signed up for that class, as well as the class on memoir writing, which will be later on this spring.

I'm really very excited for the start of this class! I think it will be just what I need to jump start my creative writing, and the memoir writing course might just be the ticket with regards to another of my Resolutions: writing more in-depth journal entries. I would like to start using this journal for storing not only the current day's events, but for jotting down old memories that are fading way too quickly, as well as working through some old issues. I've already done a little bit of that, and it's been very helpful to me, so I'd like to do some more.

As for today, I did very little but lay around and rest. My leg and my arm are still sore, though they are very much improved, and I expect them to be all but completely healed by Monday. I got up late to watch the Rose Parade believing that, as in past years, channel 5 would just be replaying it all day, and I could easily catch the first hour or so that I missed. I was quite unhappy to discover after the parade ended, that our channel 5 is now the WB, so they would not be replaying the parade, and that no one else was replaying it either, so I basically missed about half of it. Grr! Seriously, I would've gotten up at 8 a.m. had I known that! They really need to tell people these things. Anyway . . .

for what it's worth
Hez

---

Escape

Reading: Not much. Mostly last month's issues of Good Housekeeping, Newsweek, and Better Home and Garden we got from my grandparents.

Classic Book: Jewel and I will be reading Animal Farm by George Orwell this month. Also, we have a new member to our Classic Reading Group: one of Jewel's co-workers will be reading, too!

Listening to: Clay Aiken - I'm not ashamed to admit I love him! His voice is wonderful, and his songs are nice - no swearing, no sex, no nasty stuff. It's the kind of stuff you can put on in mixed company, and not have to worry about anyone being offended.

Writing: Nothing, yet.

Gratitude: Another new year!

---