New Year, New ... Everything.

New Year's resolutions suck, so I'm not making any.

I really do think I need to switch web hosts. Maybe the next couple of days can be about that.

It is cold here, and rainy. In fact, the weather here sucks. We can go ahead and admit that right now. I forgot what winter was like and the sunshine I enjoyed so much in Raja Ampat was pretty much the last sunshine I saw. Yesterday we had a little, but by the end of the day the clouds had rolled back in and it poured last night. I conveniently forgot that Mandeville weather was so similar to Macau, just SLIGHTLY more stable and definitely less polluted.

Big news here on the home front: I got an adult library card!!! (Yes, that TOTALLY deserves three exclamation points.) If you don't know anything else about me, know that I love to read. A lot. The first time I had really been able to sit down and read was on the boat, in between diving. I read four books in two weeks! That was huge for me. As much as I love to read, books can be few and far between when you live in the pirating and disposable everything capital of the world. Also expensive and they fall apart  after one read. Not my type of thing. I bought my iPad for the convenience of reading while travelling without the weight of carrying legit books around. However, I am still a die hard real live book fanatic. I spent a lot of time in the library in highschool and college. I have a library card for the first time in probably ten years!

My latest read, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society was the perfect book to rejoin the world of book lending. It was refreshing and so uplifting. Also, it was honest and I love a book that seems effortless. I laughed out loud, I teared up, and most of all, I cared about the characters. I missed that a lot.

Anywho. We took the dogs for a walk this morning during a break in the rain. It was nice to be outside and it has warmed up, so it was pleasant - not too hot, definitely not cold anymore. The wind was blowing particularly hard down our quiet stretch of road and I thought it was a bus. I still have some adjusting to do to the country life. It sure does beat living above a bar and hearing the music when I'm trying to sleep at night and stepping over piles of vomit on the sidewalk in the morning on my way to work.

I don't miss the drinking or the going out or even having a cell phone. I do miss having my routine, diving every Monday, having a purpose, being able to get around without relying on a car. I also miss my friends. A lot. Being semi-retired is great but quiet when all of your friends are still working. First world problems.