resolutions, rockets and rejections

Okay, so 2008 is almost over.  2009 begins in eight and a half hours (and you can work out how long it took to write this post from that), and it looks like we’re all ready for the fun.  Behind me on the couch are a bunch of awesome looking fireworks.  We have punch brewing in the kitchen and food is waiting to be cooked.  Guests will arrive in a few hours and then the revelry will begin!

I have to admit to a certain trepidation about 2009.  Tomorrow I will have spent a whole calendar year out of work, and despite having worked on some projects for OastOne as well as some open source work, I have spent a long time out of the workforce.  I really would like to get back to working full time, and soon too.  I haven’t been idle though.  I have learned a significant amount of German this year, more so than I had expected perhaps, but naturally enough not as much as I would like. I’ve still got a few months left of my current course, and I need to start preparing to get back to that soon.  There are actually some parts of speech that I think have slipped below my radar, and I need to go back and revise them soon. In fact, I really need to get a bunch of stuff revised before next Tuesday, which is when my next class happens.  I’ve recently subscribed to a language magazine called “Deutsch Perfekt”, which is a current affairs magazine for learners of German.  We (some of my classmates and I) are going to start up a conversation group too, which will definitely help.  That’ll hopefully start early next year, as soon as we can organise a time when everyone is free.

I remember back in 1990, around this time or slightly before, thinking about how distant a thing the year two thousand was.  Then at the turn of the millennium thinking about how distant 2010 was from then.  Time takes no prisoners however, and 2010 is only a year away.  Sometimes I want to be immortal simply to stem the all too rapid passage of time.

Anyway, as for resolutions, I really have only one.  I would like to accelerate the rate at which I learn German.  This means actual study on top of the classes I take every week.  I haven’t been too good at that in the past, preferring to study by speaking. Obviously the other thing is I need to find a job.

I see from the MS Beta Newsgroups that invitations for the Windows 7 beta have been out for a week now.  I don’t have one.  I don’t know why, and I hate that of course.  I think it has something to do with their selection criteria rather than any failing as a beta tester.  I’ve read that the build the beta testers are getting has already been leaked to torrents already, which is bloody typical really.  I’ve also read that its going into public beta in January, which means that it is far more stable than any previous betas have been in the past.  Vista was unstable for a large portion of the test, and XP was severely driver limited for a long time.  So, if I can resist the urge to download the leaked build then I’ll grab the public beta as soon as its released.

So, its starting to get dark here, and while writing this I have watched another awesome episode of Planet Earth.  I bought a bunch of fireworks this morning and the entire estate will be out later to set them off.  One of the things I bought was a cube of rockets, which (once started) sets off 225 rockets in 70 seconds.  Can’t wait for that!!!