How Many Times Do You Think Ads Will Rhyme 08 with "Great" This Year?

Last year on New Year's Eve, I spent the entire night thinking, "Wow, 2008!" and then having to remind myself that no, it wasn't going to be 2008, it was going to be 2007. For whatever reason, my mind had a complete and utter mental block against the whole idea of 2007 and was insisting on jumping to 2008. At the time, I thought two things:
1. Wow, my brain really wants it to be 2008. I wonder if that means some really big good thing is going to happen in 2008.
2. I hope this doesn't mean 2007 is going to suck.
Well, 2007 didn't end up sucking at all. It certainly ended up being more enjoyable on the whole than 2006. 2007 was a very good year, in fact. While excitement was still more or less lacking in my love life, my love/sex life continues to be much less of a factor in terms of how I measure my happiness, and by every other measure 2007 was technically a really exciting, productive year. A big move, the start of a new career, meeting tons of new people, plenty of enjoyable travel. The funny thing is, while all of those are big things, I keep classifying 2007 as a transitional year, a year when not much happened. Which is just so weird, because two of the most major events that have happened in my life so far--earning my MA and relocating halfway across the country--happened in 2007.
But somehow, my brain never quite shook the feeling that all of the events of 2007 were just a set up for some bigger payoff that's going to come...when, exactly? I can't even fully explain the feeling I've had for most of the year. I love where I live and what I'm doing now and I'm feeling exceptionally satisfied with my life these days, but in the back of my mind (when I really slow down and pay attention) there's this almost-constant feeling that something even bigger and more important is about to happen. You know in West Side Story when Tony is wandering around singing to himself, "The air is humming, and something great is coming! Who knows? It's only just out of reach, down the block, on a beach, maybe tonight..."? I've been feeling that sort of premonition ever since this time last year, and even more strongly ever since I moved to University Land. And that feeling combined with last year's urge to skip right through 2007 and straight into 2008 leads me to believe that maybe 2008 is the year something big happens.
What will it be? I have no idea. I'm about as non-psychic and skeptical as a person can possibly be. It's definitely possible that this feeling of mine means nothing at all, or that it could be a premonition of something horrible that's going to happen...but no. I think something great is coming, and maybe 2008 will be the year it--whatever it is--happens. I just hope I recognize it for what it is when it does happen. Until then, I guess I'll keep enjoying the flashes of anticipation.

I must say, the new year is off to a fabulous start. Since college, I have spent New Year's Eve in one of three ways: with my parents (either at home or at a low-key local bar, never actually doing anything exciting),with Phil (good times the years I was his girlfriend, kind of weird times the year or two I rang in the new year with him but not as his girlfriend), or, on one particularly boring New Year's Eve, at work. This year, I was determined that I was not going to spend New Year's Eve in my hometown. I just cramp my parents' style when I spend it with them (not that they admit that to me, of course), the idea of hanging out with my brother and his friends was not exactly appealing (I love him, but the college keg party lost it's appeal several years ago), and being with Phil wasn't an option this year (actually, for all I know it could have been since I didn't even ask, but I personally decided it wasn't an option).

So I spent New Year's Eve hanging out with Maddi in the town where I earned my MA. It was so much fun. I went out with her, her boyfriend, and all of his friends. I used to do that a lot when I was living there, so it was nice to be back with the old crowd. We went to our favorite bar and did all the stuff you're supposed to do on New Year's Eve: danced, took a bunch of pictures with noisemakers and goofy Happy New Year hats, drank [but not too much in my case since I have this dumb superstitious idea that it's bad luck to start the first day of a new year with a hangover]. I rang in 2008 with a glass of champagne and my "boyfriend for the night," one of Maddi's boyfriend's friends, a Justin Timberlake look-alike (Really! Thank you, 2008!) with a body so toned that it made me feel self conscious about my body. And I don't get self conscious about my body, ever. I don't normally go for the toned, very-attractive-and-knows-it, sweet-talking-country-boy type. At all. And yet I had a great time last night, all because Maddi convinced me to pay attention to a person that I normally would have ruled out before actually speaking to him. Which just goes to show that maybe my '08 model needs to be something else entirely. Here's to being more open-minded about men in 2008. Oh, and also to more JT look-alikes. There should definitely be more of those in 2008 as well.

P.S.-I do find it slightly funny, in an annoying way, that I had to move away from MA Town before I actually met a guy there that I had even the remotest interest in. Oh well. C'est la vie.