I predict the next five minutes will be simply splendorous!

Church promoculture icon Rick Warren has given the next decade a catchy promoculture handle: The Decade of Destiny. Is this something like the guy in the parable who said, "I'm going to fill my barns with grain, then build new barns and fill them with grain too"? To whom some other dude who knew something the first man didn't know said, "Fool, don't you know you're kickin' the proverbial bucket tonight!" Anyway, I would like to say to Rick W, "Ummm, the next decade will probably be much like the last one, only a little worse/better, with some significant highs/lows. And some of us will probably kick the bucket!" But I guess that wouldn't be polite.

In a similar instance of New Year's hysteria-drumming (aka, excitement instigation), a friend of mine said on Facebook, "Let's all get excited about the coming year!" Actually, I think he used maybe three exclamation points at least. And ALL CAPS. I wanted to reply, "What for?" But, you know, like I said, it's kind of impolite to not get excited when somebody is shouting, "LET'S GET EXCITED!!!" So I let it pass. I'm not a pessimist mind you, not in the least. I'm just not an excite-amist, that's all. If you seem to want to make me one, well, I'm probably going to be suspicious about your motivation.

BTW, here's the best and most optimistic list of new year's resolutions ever! All quite doable.

Oh, and then there's this:

In the future, we’re all experts. We’re all slim and muscular and tidy, and have written the Great American Novel, too, if our New Year’s Resolutions are to be believed. New Year’s is a time to post the intellectual version of the FREE BEER TOMORROW sign.

Heh. That comes from a post called I Predict Next Year Will Be Worse Than Last Year. Where’s My Check? It's very funny.