Also, the Cloverfield link is missing a trailing 'l' and the Abi 'honor of your assistance' link is missing a starting quote so firefox thinks the end quote is part of the URL.

Both fixed. Thanks for pointing them out.

...on the blog itself, I mean, not so much for the people running and commenting on it. Some great posts though.

Happy 2009 to all the lumens of Making Light.

Such genius and friendliness in this place.

May 2009 be a good year, and in the ways it isn't, may we all pull together.

Signed,
A (mostly) lurker from a part of the world where it's already 2009.

I'm hoping the new year brings us better days.

p.s. Thanks for the informative, thought-provoking, giggle-inducing and otherwise entertaining posts and comments, all. You make Making Light a most addictive part of my Internet wanderings.

Happy new year, photons!

Happy new year, y'all. Only 21 minutes to go here.

We skipped the bubbly because I am still sick after last night's all-night bleh session, and my mother (visiting) needs the Ceremonial Bowl beside her bed tonight. Not feeling celebratory.

But despite the immediate troubles, I'd like to wish everyone here, posters, commentariat and lurkers, a very happy New Year. Thank you all for the time you spent here in 2008. I look forward to seeing what we all write in 2009.

I love you all. I really do mean that.

Wearin' one right now. I blame A Dress A Day.

Here in Central Texas, I fully expect ubiquitous fireworks violations of the official burn ban (which was instituted due to the worst regional drought in decades).

My favorite New Year's Eve custom is to hold my breath as the clock strikes midnight, as a method of preventing the end of the world from happening at that time. If that doesn't work, then it was nice knowing you all....

Barack Obama as my President;

and the engagement of me and my partner of eight years so far, Keith K.. I asked him to marry me on Christmas Eve, and he said yes.

(The former had more to do with the latter than you might think. It's a lot easier to look with hope at the future now.)

May 2009 bring good things and happiness to all.

caroline: woo! congratulations!

My own 2008 was frustrating, but a vast improvement over my prior situation....

Yay for good times, good words, and good friends.

Yay for the future!

At this hour, my parents traditionally wished us a happy new year and we all went to bed. I usually manage something in between.

Happy New Year to all Fluorospherians, great and small.

In the future, we have cake for breakfast.

(At least, so far.)

I miss the New Year's Eves I spent in Germany, where the awesome fireworks made it impossible to sleep through midnight, even when I tried.

Best wishes to Caroline and Keith.

Happy New Year to all.

Yay! The future has cake!

Happy New Year everyone, belated or timely!

In about 30 minutes I, too, shall be from the future. I'm sure I shall have cake to report as well.

I'm waiting to see if we have covert fireworks in about 20 minutes. Shiva will be terrified.

There isn't any cake in the condo, but I usually have my first meal about 3pm anyway, so I'm not sure that's breakfast.

"The man with one clock always knows what time it is. The man with two is never sure... and anybody with three clocks is just doomed." ;-)

--
*two and a half hours to go

Sitting here with three clocks in immediate view (in three timezones), and one more just out of sight in a fourth, I'm not in the least bit confused about what time it is... just what timezone I'm in ;)

But hey! and hooray! for Caroline and Keith! And hip, hip, hooray for President Obama! And a happy New Year to all the Fluorosphere, and the world it illuminates.

CAN HAZ FUTURE CAKE?

Happy New Year to all!

2008 was a wonderful year for me, despite the world falling apart. I met some of my ML friends for the first time, made new friends, became a mother, and helped send my favorite local politician to the white house (I didn't manage to bribe my way into his vacant senate seat, but there were a lot of folks in front of me).

I hope 2009 holds deep joys for everybody, particularly for those who had sorrows in 2008. Blessings, in particular, on all the hurt hearts and brains hereabouts.

It's the first day of 2009 and it's a beautiful day. I hope it is where you are, too.

"Curses! Foiled again!"

The fireworks violations were not only ubiquitous but almost egregious. Somebody up the hill kept it up until at least 1 am--in the middle of dry brush. I decided I was sufficiently squiffed on some good small-grower French stuff that I couldn't follow any fire procedures, particularly involving go bags, and turned over and forgot about it. Fortunately no unfortunatenesses occurred. I did notice that Lord British, perhaps feeling somewhat financially strapped by his space adventure, did not set anything off this year.

We're still trying to sell our house so we can get one that better fits us--location, size, plan, community--and the financial meltdown is/was entirely not required.

My resolution for this year is to stop resenting all the changes to our life, mostly in the direction of looking at all times like we'd just been photographed for House and Garden, that we've made in order to conform to homebuyers' expectations. (Although I reserve the right to resent anything that adds stress to a 16-year-old cat in sometimes dubious health.)

Business-wise the entire year was insane, and I broke my yearly income record sometime in October. I think I've reached the limit for one-man technical translation, though. I have some ideas to increase my productivity, but I already got through 1.26 million words in 2008. Anything I can do that doesn't entail finishing my doctoral work in artificial intelligence is only going to be tweaks. I don't think I can do more than 1.5 million words.

2008 was the first year in a long, long, long time where I felt as though I'd finally gotten something right. I can only hope 2009 will be as good.

But on the larger stage: 2009 is the year we'll starting putting it all back together. It's patently untrue that we have nowhere to go but up -- but there's plenty of up to go. It's going to be a good year.

Have a happy new year, y un prospero nuevo año, all of you.

Talk about a high. I'm tearing up just remembering it.

"and then the Front Tina, an oil tanker which has mysteriously been in port for two weeks, blew

right there.

Or, really, anything that can honestly be described with the prefix "mega", although most of those would not be as cool as a megahorn.

Congratulations, Caroline and Keith!

Marilee @ 39: whenever you first break your fast in a day, it's breakfast time.

I've been to some of Schikele's non-PDQ stuff (the Alligator Quartet performs things he writes, some of which with the intent of them doing it), and it's really good.

I've been to some of Schikele's non-PDQ stuff (the Alligator Quartet performs things he writes, some of which with the intent of them doing it), and it's really good.

Did they do any of the Silent Running soundtrack? Because I liked it so well that when I found a copy in Europe I hauled the LP in my luggage for four weeks until we returned to the USA...

I've got the DVD, thanks. I was just wondering if they'd done the soundtrack in live performance, because it's a really good soundtrack.

So am I the only one who thinks the Front Tina should have been transporting cheese?

This would also fit in with the megahorn...

It reminds me that Making Light is real, and full of good people, and the whole thing isn't just something made of Wishful Thinking by a brain desperate to forget most of what happened this past year...

To Soren, Xopher, Josh, and everyone else out there, may my boss have the year you just had, and may you have the wonderful year you deserve!