This had better work...

[mdlbear]

So now that 2016 is dead and buried -- not necessarily in that order -- let's see what we can make of 2017. Hopefully the goals will be more achievable, if not necessarily easier, because if they're not I'm going to have trouble surviving the next year.

1. Downsize. Get rid of as much stuff as we feasibly can, so that we can...
2. Sell the house. Preferably in such a way that we can move out somewhere around the middle of June.
3. Retire. If possible, after the house is sold. If at all possible, after my stock vests in mid-June, because we're going to need it.
4. Move. No idea where; we've had enough monkey wrenches lobbed into our plans that I could start a hardware store.
5. Settle in. We will have emergency exit plans, but hopefully won't have to use them.
6. Take care of myself. Self-care is one of my weak points. Diet, exercise, ... damned if I know -- I hate exercise.

Is that too much to aim for? I hope not. There are a few things I'd like to do, if I can:

• Get back into recording.
• Do a lot more writing. I wrote a book once; it's not impossible for me to do it again.
• Do a little woodworking.
• Do something that will bring in a little money. I'm not sure I'm up for contracting again, but writing could do it. So could an album or two. And maybe I could start a patreon.

Seventeen years ago I wrote a song, "Millenium's dawn.". It was nostalgic, and disillsioned, and had a place between the last two choruses where a verse ought to have been, but nothing seemed to fit. A year and a half ago, I wrote that verse.

Now we're out where the daylight can find us,
But our journey has hardly begun;
There are old bridges blazing behind us,
And we're drawing new maps as we run.

If we want the bright future we charted
We must chase down our dreams where they've gone,
And finish the work that we started
By the light of the Millenium's dawn.

  Yes, we'll make the rockets thunder
  To carry us up past the skies;
  We will build new cities of wonder
  To gleam in the bright sunrise;
  
  Here's hope to heal your sorrow
  Now that the old dreams are gone,
  And the past has turned into tomorrow
  After the  Millenium's dawn.