Truth be told, I’m just trying to figure out something to write before this year and this decade come to a close. The last time I logged into this blog, it was still the height of summer, although fire season was at hand. It’s easy to lose track of time in this land of no seasons. In Southern California, not very many leaves turn color in the fall, and the first snow falls only on the mountain tops.

It’s been nine years since I started this blogging adventure, and for a short while, it seemed like I really didn’t have anything left to say. I’d sort of gone over the same territory over and over again, doing and undoing, trying to find answers to same damn questions.

Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Now I’m willing to admit I might be afflicted by a touch of madness, but just because you’re crazy doesn’t make it any less futile.

But sometimes you have to start again. Just because you start off the same way doesn’t mean you can’t change directions mid-course. We don’t live in a deterministic universe, and so far in my life, serendipity has been more important than fate. It’s all about adapting to change. (The only thing sure about luck is that it will change.)

Here’s to another roll of the dice, another shuffle of the deck.

I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions, but I do plan to face the new year, the new decade with cautious optimism, with wary hope.