A new year and a new era dawning. Emergence from the old ways of thinking and a world of possibilities. There's a lot of stress around these days. Roommate buddy Dan is starting up the atkins diet. Frank and Joe are in the trenches and taking heavy fire on behalf of my man Dean. There's a lot of work yet to be done saving the world, and frankly on some days I'm not up to it.

I swung in in close to old flames back in New York, but it's left me with a new kind of calm. You can't go backwards. It's futile to try. Time's arrow is a one way thing.

Today I rode a little bike, and I lifted some weights last night, and I had my sister and her friends in town for a couple days. All conspiring to elevate my mood. It's the year of the Monkey; it's a time for vindication, for foundation, for progress. It feels like this year is maybe where the rubber meets the road. The most important thing is to stop struggling, let's let out the clutch, put it on rails, cut in the nitrus. It's time to bust, move like a goddamn mythical creature of some sort.

I feel hungry again. Hungry and sharp. I like it. Numbness is receeding. I feel as if a tumble is coming on, a roll if you will. This is the beginning of something.