There’s always a certain sense of energy as a new year dawns. It’s out with the old and in with the new; we resolve to stop doing this or start doing that; we look back on the year that was and look forward at the year that will be.
I have high hopes for 2008, and I’m not scared to make a few predictions about the year ahead, since there are only 361 days left. Please do not place wagers based on these assumptions. But if you do, remember who gave you the tip.
n First of all, I predict this weekend will be really rainy. I can’t say exactly how I came to that conclusion, because these are trade secrets. But I am fairly confident that this will come to pass.
n I will injure myself before the summer. I know this because I turn 39 next month and for some reason I keep signing up to play adult basketball and softball. Try as I might to take it easy, there will be a tumble or a slip or a flagrant foul that will lead to a turned ankle or twisted knee or bruised ear (hey, you never know).
n The Niners, Raiders and Giants will continue to be horrible and the A’s will join them while Bay Area fans are asked once again to be “be patient as we retool for the future.” We’ve heard the same thing for most of the 21st century, so ’08 will be yet another downer for pro sports. At least we Hollister folks have good San Benito High School basketball, softball and baseball teams for which to root.
n Hollister’s new one-cent sales tax will bring in some much-needed revenue and our police and fire departments will add some staff. Unfortunately, most people will still do the bulk of their retail shopping out of town and give their tax dollars to Gilroy, Salinas, or San Jose – helping their police and fire departments.
n I will still not watch every show that I have recorded on TiVo, even the pay-per-view movies that I recorded in 2006. That demon machine keeps letting me record hours and hours worth of shows that I don’t have time to watch – unless my injury prediction comes to pass.
n My sons will say “Nooooo!” every time I say it’s time for a haircut, complaining that it’s too soon. Their regrets will disappear when Dave the barber offers them a piece of candy as we’re leaving the shop.
n I will look at the menu for no apparent reason at every local restaurant that I frequent, knowing that I am going to order exactly the same thing that I always get.
n Sometime in April, my cat will be curled up asleep on the couch, then suddenly bolt up as if shot from a cannon and speed across the house as if chased by a ghost. She will repeat this every month.
n And finally, during a 95-degree day in mid-July, my wife will say that we just have to get a pool. The next day, when the fog has rolled in and it is 68 degrees at 3:30 p.m., I will say it’s a good thing that we have friends with pools.
Happy new year.
Adam Breen teaches yearbook and newspaper at San Benito High School. He is former editor of The Free Lance.
