I posted this to LJ, figured I'd repost it here:

The year has been good, mostly quiet and uneventful, but the uneventful is a welcome change after the years of giant, Pooh-caps meriting, Life Changing ups and downs. The house and the kids grow apace, the marriage mellows and deepens apace, and mostly everyone is healthy and happy.

The biggest event was most definitely Franny starting kindergarten. That was months of tsuris and angst but it ended happily enough in Fall with a new school, nice new classmates, a school worth investing in, parents I like to talk to, and a wonderful kindergarten teacher for Franny.

I also got a promotion at work and am now officially an Associate Professor, although my joy there is tempered by the lack of serious pay raise to go with it. There is a new office to go with the new title, and I'm developing a new course for the university.

The election of Obama was great news too, although that was also tempered, by the passage of Prop 8.

I don't do New Years Resolutions, but my goals for the year are getting back into my stretch class, making more time for friends and for my husband, and writing more.

*****

Okay, so I put an emphasis on the positive in this post, which is not to say that things are perfect, but at least now most of the bad in my life is being kept at bay. There is illness too close to home, and Lord knows I've had my fill of illness taking my loved ones, but for now things are good.

Hurrah!

and, best of all, a miniature golf cart made out of a beer can! This will look really sharp next to my tin rooster.

Yay!

dances dance of relief

(Although, I must tell you that the miniature golf cart is in fact a Tuk Tuk - here in Thailand, these things sputter around on the roads, dodging through the traffic, like taxis but crapper and more dingily picturesque. They're basically the bastard child of a motorbike and a golf cart and they look like this.)

More than one edition of The Amazing Race has featured the Tuk Tuks.

Anyone familiar with Jade from America's Next Top Model will remember her calling a Tuk Tuk a "toot toot...tut tut...hooptie."

Ah, bless them. I prefer to use the meter taxis, but the traffic can suck and beggars can't be choosers, so it is not unusual for me to be seen heading homewards in one of these things.

I can think of at least three Thai restaurants I've been to called Tuk-Tuk. In India they're also called auto-rickshaws. t /tuk-tuk trivia

And in Bangladesh they are called baby-taxis.

baby-taxis

I love this!

Anyone familiar with Jade from America's Next Top Model will remember her calling a Tuk Tuk a "toot toot...tut tut...hooptie."

ahahahahaha oh Jade. Possibly my all time favorite ANTM nutjob.

They have handlebars instead of a steering wheel! Crazy!