I started the new year off with the news of the deaths of several wonderful people that I had the privilege of knowing and caring about for many years.  On a more mundane level, over a two day period, my kitchen sink backed up, indifferent to Drano, and my roof sprung a major leak in my kitchen during a heavy storm, just as friends were arriving for dinner.  There's nothing like death and finality to give context to your life and your petty woes.  Which brings me to the topic of the day, actually, the topic of my every day, which is - making each day count for something.(Not just anything)  Not so easy, this one more or less overarching goal of one's life, boiled down to chipping away at it, bit by bit, day by day.  Yes, I do try.  Some days I do better than others.  Some days I try harder than others.  Hell, just remembering to try can be elusive.  The daily challenges are daunting.  The detritus of a day can be wearing - kitchen sinks, roofs, running out of ink for the printer - you know the drill.  These are not activities that can readily lend themselves to being elevated to some higher plane of  philosophical meaning.  Yes, I know it's all wrapped up in priorities - focus on the things that matter and the rest will "magically" take care of itself.  To some small extent, this may be true.  But there is still the need to eat, (not just me, but my family) to have clean clothes and a clean environment, a non leaking roof, etc.    The simple stuff of life consumes a lot of time and energy.  Yes, it does.  Thankfully, I do have time left to dwell intermittently on the human condition.  For example, why a mirror doesn't always reflect back accurately the image in front of it.  Or, why so many people talk loudly on their cell phone about nothing in particular (at best) in the most crowded claustrophobic places.  I try not to lose sleep over issues like these, but sometimes, it's hard.  I can't figure people out these days.  Somehow, looking around, I feel clueless about what I see. Partly, I'm a bit scared by it.  Not recognizing anything inside the people I see wandering around my neighborhood mall.  They look weird.  Do I?  I don't think I do, but then, they probably don't think they do either.  When is the tatoo thing and the nose ring thing gonna get old, I wonder?  What's going to replace it?  I don't want to dwell on this subject too long. This is the part where I start realizing that I'm a grownup now and have the perspective of having "been there" myself, before.  Easy to make a judgment, from a distance. So, I'm stuck with my life, like all of you are stuck with yours.  I am going to try hard to keep my eyes open and my head up this year - a challenge for sure.  And I will celebrate this crazy, stupid, ridiculously unfair, short term situation called life, for another year, in the absence of any better alternative.  As the song goes, I will accentuate the positive...and try my best to do things positive because.......it's easier, and more fun, while it lasts. (Put that in your pipe and smoke it!)