All too soon, 2013 will be over and a brand-new year with a clean slate will be upon us. It’s time to think about our resolutions for the coming year. I can’t say that I have any … not that I’m perfect, but I’ve not dwelled upon any big changes to my routine for 2014. This morning I took the car for a little spin after hearing the forecast for snow and bitter cold predicted for every day this week. The buggy and I queued up at the car wash which only had four customers and that surprised me given the amount of salt still covering the roads. You can call me crazy, but isn’t it just the most soothing feeling being inside the car while the water pelts down on the roof and those sponge fingers whip around to wipe off the gunk and grime, thus restoring your car to pristine condition in a matter of minutes? It feels like being in a big cocoon to me.

I like the year-end retrospectives that many of the news media offer. Comcast has already started recapping 2013 with their best hard news stories, human interest features and most-titillating celebrity gossip. Then, there are plenty of the most-trending videos for 2013 plus the usual round of breathtaking photos. For decades I never failed to purchase “People” magazine’s double issue at the tail end of the year, until a few years ago when I realized that most of the people I knew were in the “Farewell” section. I surely did not recognize any of the up-and-coming singers, TV or movie celebrities. Even the movies and books were a mystery as well and I then attributed my deficiency in pop culture knowledge to old fuddy-duddy syndrome.

A friend sent me this YouTube video recently. It offers more than the usual look back at the current year but shows us the history of the world. Wow! You really have to watch it a couple of times because in the span of two minutes, you could not hope to absorb the history lesson encompassed within the 500 images that will flash before your eyes. It is really breathtaking and I hope you enjoy it: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=MrqqD_Tsy4Q. My all-time favorite retrospective is Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” video which piece is twice the length, yet moves slow enough to easily view the events of the past few decades. If you never saw it when it circulated via e-mail a few years ago, it is worth a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTQ6bSefxL4.