Balls, Prometheus and 574

Happy New Year.
There.
3 links to enjoy and learn from (and also work out the title?)
I've not sat down and reflected yet on the year. not thoroughly anyhow, to the extent i usually do. Sometimes I describe it, sometimes place it in prose or structured form.
This year, this change-time, I'm typing. A sign of things for the next year perhaps?
Well - here I am, 29, in my mother's house in the town of Barnstaple, in North Devon, UK. It's 4.45am while I type the beginning of this and I've got a bottle of Baileys in front of me. All is well.
This time last year I was sitting in my beat-up Nissan micra, sans coat, cold, wet, shivering, having tried to climb a fence to avoid being (as I thought at the time) arrested by the police for having gone to an illegal club/house party in a block of offices. In the car as none of my mates were answering and it was too wet to walk anywhere. Too drunk to drive so slept for a bit then went home,
January saw me still at Frome and continue there through to May when I suffered stress. I left.
I went to London and did supply with agencies. I fell in love and had a relationship.
November, I went travelling. The rest, dear reader, is here.
My aunt Sandra died this year. My cousin had a baby boy called Billy.
My family is in balance with the scales never remaining steady at any given point, someone always tipping it slightly and I watch as the forces of entropy, apathy and other '-y' words take effect.
2008. Starting alone. By choice. By circumstance of choice.
I have it good. there is food in my stomach, roof over my head and I can slander the government without fear that my family might disappear overnight. There are no bombs exploding overhead and my religion is of my own choosing.
I can walk down a street without fear (most nights) and do not need to carry a weapon.

I am,simply put, blessed.

Count your blessings, reader, before you start making petty resolutions and planning to lose a gram of fat there and a habit there. Not going to put statistics up, but, frankly, in the UK, if you're able to read this (therefore educated enough to read, have access to Internet (implying some level of basic wealth/finance/support) and aren't looking over your shoulder in fear, you're doing a lot better than most on this planet right now.
Plans for 2008? I was at my friend Laura's tonight, discussing such. I've got to make my mind up regarding the heartstrings and before that, I need to know where I may be staying (or not) for a while. So, first things first, Thursday, schooldays start.
[If you're reading this and teach Media, please leave a comment - need to pick your brains!]

Leave a comment. Take with you my thoughts for a safe, prosperous, healthy and inspiring new year. may it bring you what you want, when you need it.

Paul.