2009, here I come!

I've been in an increasing state of panic lately as I've been trying to make plans for next month. I go to write my appointments on the calendar and as I flip the page and remember that the calendar ends this week I feel the panic rise. Not only because there's a good chance I'll forget about my dentist appointment in January, but also because I find the selection of calendars available to be lacking and the decision of which one to buy every year is not one I handle well.

A lot of thought has to be put into something that's going to be up all year. Last year I failed miserably with my choice. I'd rather not get into it. I don't do too much better with day calendars either - you know, the ones where you rip a page off every day? I got a "worst case scenario" day calendar for my desk this year and I haven't ripped a page off since August 16th. I may never know how to outrun a lion or fall off a cliff without injuring myself.

Today I decided it was time to just do it, as much as I hate it. As I looked at the selection of calendars at the stores, I wondered once again: what do I want to look at every day for the whole year? Nuns having fun? Pastoral scenes? Wolves? Wall - E? I mean, I liked Wall -E well enough, but do I really want to see pictures of him on my wall for the entire year!?

Most of the calendars center around pets, which I'm not interested in. A few of the calendars made me furrow my brow as I tried to picture the people who buy them, like the calendars "Views from the Hubble telescope" and "the Witches Datebook" (which is described as "perfect for the witch on the go").

The "Too Blessed to Be Stressed" calendar caught my eye, especially because it's a 16 month calendar which would give me a grace period next year. But after looking at the pictures on back, I realized that I might be too white for that calendar. I just looked it up and found it on the website It's a Black Thang.com.

I went to a couple different places in my quest for a tolerable calendar choice, and when I finally reached my limit, I found the perfect calendar. Perfect because it happened to be the closest one to where I was standing. It's title is "Just us Chickens" and it has a picture of a chicken every month. I was telling my friend Janice about the calendar earlier and she asked what the chickens are doing in the pictures. "Nothing," I said. "Just you know... chillin on the farm." She sounded confused but glad that I had at least chosen a calendar. I feel good about this choice. This is going to be a good year.