Thinking back on 2009, it's hard to pick anything in particular that seemed like a stand-out event. The one thing I know that I should probably change in 2010 is my lack of news-following. Since I don't have cable or satellite or Uverse or whatever the hell other television channel package thing people buy these days, and I don't get the newspaper, and I don't normally like to read news websites (trying to cut down on computer time), I get no news intake. I get my news from people who say, "Did you hear about ________?"

Some notable things in the world of particleman for 2009:
- CK moved to Dallas
- I bought a house
- I turned 30
- I sold my sporty BMW and bought a sporty-ish Mazda hatchback
- I played a lot of shows with my Beatles band
- My Beatles band ended
- I met some awesome people
- I went skiing for the first time ever
- I went on some cool trips with CK
- I saw a lot of great concerts
- I parted ways with my Blackberry and returned to life with a non-email phone

I hope you all have a great 2010. Just for reference, and so you don't start putting too much importance into New Years and the new year, I like to give a little context about this thing called the "year." In America, and a lot of other parts of the world, the year is about to be 2010. Elsewhere, things are different. Time moves the same, but they count it differently. In Israel, it's already 5770. In much of Asia, the year for tracking traditional holidays is 4707. The Hindu Saka year in parts of India is 1931, though apparently the government and much of the population doesn't care. In Muslim nations in the Middle East, the current year is 1431.

So, if you're feeling anxious about this whole New Years thing, don't. A lot of people don't care that it's about to be 2010. They're still working through 1431, or they've already moved on to 4707.

Happy holidays, happy new year, happy December 24 on the Gregorian solar calendar.