Here we are at the very beginning of a new year. Day 1 of 2010. A new start. A blank slate. A fresh look ahead. A time for reflection and a time for anticipation. The future is before us.

Movies about the future that I watched as a kid showed us flying around in spaceships and wearing jumpsuits and working in clean, sterilized, brightly lit, white colored rooms filled with amazing computerized gadgets. I look around today and I don’t see all that yet. We have made remarkable progress in some areas like technology and medicine. We still have a long way to go in other areas like hunger, violence, and the consumption of natural resources.

Many people make resolutions for the new year. Something they want to accomplish or a habit they want to break. Maybe a destination they want to travel to.
It’s easy to think about the empty year stretched out before us and imagine all kinds of possibilities.
The problem is that possibilities often don’t translate into realities. The majority of people hit a roadblock or two and give up on some or all of their resoutions before the year barely gets started.

For me, I plan to make 2010 a year of progress and completion. You see, many have bestowed upon me the lofty title of

King of Procrastination

It fits me. I wake up each morning and boldly proclaim “I will stop procrastinating….tomorrow!”. I am not proud of it. This year I want to take off that crown of laziness, hang up the cloak of indifference, and put away the scepter of non-commitment. Instead I want to strap on the armor of determination, pick up the sword of motivation and launch into battle. I want to attack my mental to-do list with new energy and emerge from the foray victorious. I want to look back at the end of this year and be proud of my accomplishments.

I know it won’t be easy. Many of the items on my mental list have been there a long time. It’s time to blow off the dust and see what it will take to get them done.

One of the items on the list is to complete Game 3: Chasing Shadows. I’ve been “working” on it for a year and a half now. Many of you have been waiting very patiently. I appreciate that. There have been a few setbacks but that is no excuse. It will be ready this year. From what I can see so far, it will be the hardest one yet.

So whether you tiptoe cautiously into 2010 or hit the ground running I hope that later on as we look back on our lives, this one stands out as the year with the fondest memories. The year we’re most proud of.

We can do it. I know it.