This is the End...

...only of 2012. Sorry to be dramatic, friends, but this year sucked. Even my sister's wedding (which went even better than I expected) was marred by the fact that I could barely emit sounds from my flu-ridden throat. I have become very familiar with the concept of an upper-respiratory infection and I can tell you that whiskey does not fix it.

For the rest of the year, besides having been sick more than any other single year I can remember, ground I had thought to be solid (or at least had had no trouble standing on in the past) turned to quicksand. Luckily, my foot ended up touching a rail, and I could sort of work my way out, albeit slowly and unsteadily. (Doggone near lost a $400 hand cart!)

My focus for the coming year will be again on being a better me. That missive got lost by the end of January last year, and then the me that had been cruising along, avoiding grief, took a line drive to the nuts. I continued to get shelled until the bitter end of the year, when the New Year's Eve party we've enjoyed for the past few was cancelled due to yet another illness.

I should point out that all of the family and close friends who were sick have recovered, or are at least stable by now, so there is that silver lining. Two people I knew did not survive the year, and both cases were incredibly sad. They were also not much older than me, which is probably what triggered an existential crisis (midlife?) at some point this year. I'm not young and this is when I start noticing it, I guess.

Anyhow, it's just a few minutes into 2013 and nothing bad has happened yet. Oh wait, our internet seems to be crapping out. Perhaps nobody will ever see this. If you do, I'm glad we survived the end of times. Perhaps, if this does publish, you'll see that I'd enjoy getting together with you for a beer or two this year. You'll have to be a little understanding that my schedule is somewhat tricky, but my intent is to reconnect.

There may be a move in our future, I have rough plans for both a blog and a brewery, and as I just mentioned, I plan to be a friend you actually see once in a while. Not sure which of these endeavors will fall away first, but I'm hoping it's the blog and/or brewery. I probably miss you.

Here's to a 2013 of better luck and happier times.