It's Better in Wyoming.

Thinking about the past few years, I realize that New Year's Eve is one of the times when I'm most confronted with the fact that I'm a pessimist.  I suppose people who know me already know that about me.  But somehow, the passing of another year makes me even more melancholic.  Despite having been surrounded tonight by some really great people--and also having met some great new people--New Year's Eve mostly makes me think more about what hasn't been accomplished in the last year than about the exciting things that the new year may hold. Really, what I usually want for New Year's Eve is to be alone, a chance to be introspective and still--quiet enough to actually feel  the weight (both positive and negative) of the previous year, the way that the day-to-day gravity of life has shaped me into something different, the way that the simple force of being alive has pulled me in new directions.  I think I wish for a clearer reckoning --a settling of the bills, an

I'll post more later, but for now: This article makes me think about a lot of things, not least of which is how close we are, every day, to death.  This story could've just as easily been about a freak accident that ended up with somebody in a pine box. It's a great day to be alive.

1.  This week, thank god for soccer.  Most weeks, I'd bitch about a schedule that tells me I'm expected to play four games in five days.  But this is the last week of classes, and I think that the opportunity to run off excess frustration on the soccer field may be the only thing that kept me from punching a face or doing something similarly stupid. 2.  Patagonia, fuck yeah: " On Black Friday, Patagonia  ran a full page ad   in  The New York Times  telling consumers  not  to buy one of their popular jackets because it takes so much water and energy to make, explaining that the ultimate saving is to forego buying something you do not really need."  Read the full story here .