Happy New Year.

Let's hope for some promise for 2009. Let's hope for 2009. So many things went sideways in 2008. Who would have thought the bursting of the housing bubble would have turned out the way it did? It started small, more like several hand grenades being lobbed into various markets across the country, and ended with scud missiles destroying homes with rampant foreclosures. Banks started to fail, Freddie Mac failed, and the federal government, but really you and I, gave them 700 BILLION dollars to fix the problem. Is it fixed? Do we even know what they've done so far? I don't. Do you?

The the big three auto-makers here in the U.S. needed a bail-out. This time we were tough on them, chastising them for arriving in Washington in their private jets, which was probably reasonable based on the urgency and gravity of the situation. But our elected representatives, lacking any real knowledge of the auto industry, focused on that and demanded concessions by the unions who have held the industry, and Michigan, together for years. Take away the pensions of those who have epitomized the working class in this country. That makes sense.

It was an election year, and we had one dignified candidate and one candidate who seemed to lose himself as the campaign wore on, culminating in his choice of a running mate for the position of Vice President of the United States. Sarah Palin shot Tina Fey into orbit with her impersonations of Palin, turning Palin's remark about the proximity of Russia to Alaska (which adjective to use to describe Palin's choice of words: moronic, dense, brainless, simple-minded, naive) into "I can see Russia from my house!" Or when Katie Couric, Katie COURIC, hardly known for her biting journalism asked Palin which newspapers she reads daily, elicits the response "ummmm....all of them." Or maybe her response was more like "all of them?" As much as I don't like Sarah Palin and the ideologies she supports, some of the treatment of her was unfair. Like the CNN broadcast of her when she pardoned the turkey after the election was over, and the turkey executioner continued performing his duties shoving turkeys head-first down the turkey guillotine in the background while Palin continued her interview. I can hear the conversations that had to have occurred among the CNN camera crew. "I'll give you a hundred bucks if you position her in front of the turkey executioner." Those guys make a living setting up scenes and backgrounds - they HAD to know what they were doing. Still, it was pretty funny - as long as you weren't one of the turkeys! I sold my old television during her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. They carted it out of my house mid-speech. Somehow, that seemed fitting.

This all led to the one truly bright spot in 2008, the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Being unemployed, I figured the least I could was join the Obama phone banks, and made calls to various swing states on his behalf. I always appreciated the men who yelled "Get a job, Loser!" at me and slammed the phone down. Women never did that. They'd just say something like "I don't discuss my beliefs with strangers," and THEN hang up on me. But mostly, I just dialed, left messages, and occasionally had some really nice conversations with people, especially people who were caregivers for the elderly. I cried when Obama accepted the Democratic nomination. I cried when John McCain conceded the election. John McCain seemed to have started rediscovering himself at that moment. I cried when Barack Obama, his family, and the Bidens became the new leaders of this country.

On a personal level, it was also a year of ups and downs. My mom came back here to live after a brief foray in a residential living setting. She was miserable there, and I only had her living there because when she was first released from the hospital she was in a semi-conscious, complete invalid state. Four months later she was getting back to her feisty self. Sadly, on May 3rd, she lost the battle she had waged for the last several years against her body, which always seemed to want to fail her. Mom had the strongest constitution of anyone I've ever known.

We had a great summer. Chanti and I took to the road for a real road trip. We went to Yosemite, to my hometown, a mini family reunion, and Cambodian Heritage Camp, all in Colorado. We went to Arches National Park, and splurged with a night at Little America in Salt Lake City. My daughter saw more geography than most kids her age will see by the time they are in their twenties, now that air travel is so prevalent. She learned to read maps and most of all, we just hung out together and talked.

And now, we're celebrating the new year the same way we've celebrated it for three years in a row, with one of my daughter's friends sleeping over. I was feeling a bit cornered, since it seems that this is now a tradition and very much looked forward to from year to year. I alternated between my nice self and my cranky mommy self, who surfaced when I found them with a spray bottle spraying water on the carpet. It's now 1:34 and the lights are out, the voices have stopped, and The Sandman has found them at long last. He seems to have missed me though! I guess I'll just have to try to find sleep on my own tonight. And Happy New Year, everybody. I'm sure 2009 will be not that different than 2008 - not all good, and not all bad.