On New Year’s Eve we called our associate,who is currently trapped out at Ice Station Bauler but will hopefully break free in the spring thaw. Each year he prognosticates the year and gives us a theme. There was the Year of Street Justice, for example, which went well right up until there were actual street justice-like confrontations and, as suburban white kids, we were totally unprepared. Be careful how you act on the annual intention was the lesson there.

Anyway, he says we’re in for a heavy year, something akin to 1975. What with Watergate sentencing, Margaret Thatcher’s election, Weather Underground bombings, the Fall of Saigon, the founding of Microsoft, the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, and, most importantly, the launch of Wheel of Fortune, 1975 was a pretty intense year. Now, after some discussion, our only quibble with this is is that Heavy doesn’t really imply any action, like Street Justice does. In fact, it kind of implies letting stuff happen and then, with full Keanu Reeves-like affectation, saying, “Whoa, dude.”I’m not sure how or if to reconcile this. Do you question the groundhog when it sees its shadow? No. Do you question your fortune teller when he casts the cards? Probably not.

According to a NY Times article on making resolutions (an article that says you will probably fail in your efforts to change, suggesting the author needs a resolution to be more hopeful) the most successful people at making major life changes do so by making big noticeable changes instead of micromovements, acting as if they are already who they want to become, reframing the situation they are in, and not making the changes alone. In the spirit of the last one, here are my goals for 2009: The Year of Heavy:

Guidelines for 2009

• Do the hard thing first.
• Be Abby.
• Be consistent.

Top 10 Goals

1. Spend 30 min/day on me.
2. Kickass employment/predictable revenue streams.
3. Start a side business.
4. Write something long-form.
5. Get summer vacation tickets before April
6. Meet financial goals for 2009.
7. Make house comfortable.
8. Take 1 picture & post daily.
9. Compete in triathlon.
10. Manage me better.

After last fall’s crossing off of the “work on a presidential campaign” lifetime goal, an opportunity which I had room for because I had an equally low-key list of goals, I didn’t want to plan for Heavy. I’d like it to just show up and make me stop, run my hands through my hair, and say, “Whoa, dude.”