Happy New Year and all that!

Hi all, Happy New Year!!! and so forth. Guess I'm a few days behind, so does it still count? I have no idea. At any rate.....as most of you know, 2006 was a particularly difficult year for me, so I'm looking forward to a hopefully better 2007.

It all depends, of course, on which blessings God gives and which challenges he chooses to send. And the challenges, of course, are blessings in and of themselves. I am slowly beginning to learn what it means to thank God for the trials I endure, instead of feeling frustrated and sad over them. I know that my Lord loves me and that everything he does in my life is toward a greater good for me. Even if it's a long, long time before I actually recognize that good.

And these ruminations, of course, remind me that "Happy New Year" is totally a human construct. Years, months, days, minutes, seconds, all are devices that we humans have created in order to make our lives more manageable. That said, there's no reason for me to expect any "year" to be better or worse than any other "year." The only "time" I have is now. That's all any of us ever have.

So what am I doing with my now? I am fighting another sinus infection, that's what! But I'm well-armed with sleep, Vitamin C, essential oils, and Mucinex D. Most importantly, I can tell that God is working to get me healthy again, as I really feel better today than I did when I woke up drowning in gunk in the middle of last night. But that's more detail than any of you wanted to hear, right? ;o)

Anyway....since my head is full of said gunk and I'm wired on medicine, I'm not managing to think very clearly right now. Everything I come up to write about here is pretty random. Please forgive. ;o)

Now, I can say that I haven't painted since September of last "year," which is somewhat frustrating, because I miss my paints and canvases. Plus, ideas for new paintings keep piling up, and at the rate I'm turning them into actuality, I won't be finished before I'm 150 years old. Gah.

Pippin is getting increasingly cuter all the time. She now curls up in my lap every morning at breakfast and purrs and stretches and doesn't even try to get into my food. And anytime she sees Ed or me coming, she flops on the floor and begs to be petted. I don't care what anyone says: I love cats. They have the best personalities in the animal world.

I recently bought several new albums that I'm very much enjoying: KT Tunstall's "Eye to the Telescope" and Sting's "Songs from the Labyrinth." The Sting album is a collaboration between him and Edin Karamazov, and it's a recordning of songs by John Dowland (1563-1626). Gorgeous lyrics, beautiful music. I love it.

Speaking of songs and the like, meaning poetry: In the "year" 2006, I wrote 23 poems, more than I've ever written in one year. This brings me to a total of 109 poems since I started seriously working on my poetry ten years ago. And a grand total of 137 poems penned by Yours Truly. Considering the amount of poetry writing that I have done to date, I am seriously considering looking into getting published. I've always been focused on novel-publishing, so I know nothing about the poetry business....but I think I am finally ready to learn. I am open to helpful hints, suggestions, and caveats!

I've been spending too much time on Myspace. I'm finding that it's even more addictive than Blogger here, which irritates me no end. I don't want to get hooked on yet another (potentially shallow) Internet community! I have enough to do as it is, and already not enough "time" (there's that construct again!) in which to do it! Sometimes, I really do toy with the idea of boycotting all things Internet and going back to handwritten (or at least typed and printed) letters every few months. Does anyone else remember remember with fond nostalgia that restful, simpler time in life before email?!?

That said, I'm laughing at myself for my hypocrisy, because I'm planning to start playing poker online. Yes, I'm getting into the poker craze. There are several friends around here who play frequently, and I've now played twice. It's fun. And no, we never use money, so no worries. I don't approve of gambling. But card-playing is harmless fun. Actually, there's a poker night in progress as I write, but I couldn't go 'cause I'm sick. Gah again.

Well, I think that's enough for now. I'm afraid to write more, for fear of overloading the brains of the one or two people who still read my blog. Ah well, this post will go into my private journal as well, so at least *I* know I'm not writing in vain! ;o)

Confetti to all,
Courtney