At the close of this year, I admit, I’m not exactly sure of what I want to take with me and what it is I’d like to leave behind.

I sat down to write last night and I was torn between 12 worlds that looked perhaps like the months of this last clusterfucker of a year.

So, at first, this blog began as a sassy and prosaic take on being single and starting fresh in the New Year. Jesse threw in his two cents (as he’s known to do) and urged me to, instead, detail for you a list of the best single ladies’ new year’s resolutions. I polled my friends, called my mom and sought the advice of my shrink. We decided. Let’s just do what everybody at this point is probably trying to do: Get real. Get focused. And get positive.

A few weeks ago, Time Magazine ran a cover story by Andy Serwer: “The Decade from Hell. And why the next one will be better.” Serwer, the Managing Editor of Fortune Magazine, recalls the foibles, failures and the all-out fucked-up realities that came screeching through the kitchen windows of the first decade of the 21st century. Whether it was a natural disaster, a fundamentalist attack or a bloated stock market finally having its carbs ripped from its rancid hands, time seemed almost always to pass in moments of shock and awe rather than sweet and awesome. Serwer calls it “The Decade of Broken Dreams,” and you know what? I can’t think of anyone I know who can’t tell me a little bit about what he means.

Serwer posits that last year was a motherfucker and, in truth, we were all a little bit to blame. He is hopeful, however. He believes that if we can stay focused on our strengths and accentuate our positives, avoiding “the easy outs of deferral and neglect,” we can get our asses back up to the east side where we belong. I say Amen to that, and I’m with him. The train’s rolling on and hell to the yes because this gal’s ready to ride. If you’re with me, say you’re with me. And if you’re not? Well, just get the hell out of my way. It’s all sunshine, sparkles, rainbows and unicorns for me. If there’s one thing that I had last year, it was a lot of love and support. So? If the sky falls tomorrow, I’m sticking with that.

And now, I’ve created a list for all of us, regardless of whether our facebook status reads “single,” “in a relationship with…,” “engaged to…,” or “married to…” I gathered some of this info from my saucy single sisters, but mostly, I asked everyone I know–including myself; my grandma; Warren, who rang me up at Wawa; LaMonte, the Super in my building; my ex-boyfriend; the mailman; my coworkers; my boss, and the godforsaken universe (with whom I am making a point to commune with on a daily basis, thank you very much). Check it before you wreck it. Cuz Lord knows we’ve all done a little bit of that, by now:

Let yourself.

1. Cultivate patience, kindness and tolerance toward others.
2. Lighten up and be less uptight.
3. Save money and more consciously spend.
4. Make health a priority above EVERYTHING else.
5. Express love, gratitude and appreciation for the loving souls in our lives.
6. Surround ourselves with positive people we respect.
7. Eat more cake (especially chocolate).
8. See my granddaughter get married. (I told her to just stick with the cake plan, but she had to throw her wish into the well. God love her.)
9. Attend and participate in more local art, music and cultural events.
10. Spend more time with my mama.
11. Put all my old shit up for sale on ebay.
12. Practice peace.
13. Move differently.
14. Spend more time outdoors and begin exercising again.
15. Drink less wine. (Ahem.)
16. Worry and fret less.
17. Finish painting my house.
18. Get accepted to law school.
19. Find a job.
20. Pay off my credit cards.
21. Be selective and remember the power of choice.

I want to finish by thanking Hannah and Jesse and all the beautiful babies of altdaily.com for coming into my life this last, heinous year. I did receive so many blessings amongst the many breakdowns, and I’m truly grateful for the community and the culture that has come out of this brilliant site. Hampton Roads is lucky to have two genies like Hannah and Jesse, and we’d be fools not to continue to support, adore and campaign for these cats in each new year that comes.

Thank you to all you readers who read me and support me and give a shit what I think. Thank you for letting me cuss and rail on about all the random shit that just kind of makes me happy. Have a happy, safe and sweet NYE and know that, no matter what. We always have each other. We always have love.

Peace!