<p>everyone's doing it. so why not me too, right? here are some of my predictions for the new calendar year.</p>

<ul>
  <li><strike>gas prices will stay insanely low [right around two dollars] until after february-ish</strike></li>
  <li>remember, when gas prices were three dollars? that will seem low compared to what's coming down the pike. i predict 3.50 - 4.00 per gallon prices</li>
  <li>massive amounts of mortgage defaulting and house repossession. [get a clue, your house is too big, you can't afford it, and the housing bubble is over] </li>
  <li><strike>the web will be flooded with tons of little startups focusing on the very small this time around, instead of the very large</strike></li>

  <li><strike>there will be even more acquisitions by the very large web companies [google, yahoo, microsoft, and ostensibly apple] of said small web startups</strike></li>
  <li><strike>despite all the acquisitions there will be a new ethic of staying small and independent which will lead to staying mobile, agile and quick to respond to market/user demands</strike></li>
  <li>the o.c. will end the season and call it quits for good. [seriously, do you remember <em>90210</em> after they all went to college in beverly hills or, god even worse, <em>saved by the bell : the college years</em>]</li>
  <li>anna will come back to the o.c. before its over</li>

  <li><strike>we'll find out what spider-woman's up to in the new avengers</strike></li>
  <li>kevin smith and joe quesada will start finishing projects before shipping them</li>
  <li>our house comic library will continue to grow into the most bomb diggity thing ever. [yes, i said 'bomb diggity'. yes, i'm ok with that.] the amazon order is about to come thru with half superhero tights and capes stuff the other half indie / real life stuff. stoked</li>
  <li>bush will be impeached. nothing will change.</li>
  <li>there will be a coup in saudi arabia. any number of royal princes [there are kajillions of them] will make claims to the thrown, largely it won't matter who ends up as the new saudi king. there will be lawlessness all across saudi arabia [at some point it won't be 'saudi' arabia, just arabia, because the house of saud won't matter]. global guerrillas that have been training for a few years nows in afghanistan, iraq, chechyna, france, etc will import the lessons they've learned. state control won't stand a snocone's chance in death valley summertime. </li>
  <li>water wars will become more prevalent. south americans will fight water multinational corporations that have privatized their water [including rain]. african factions will continue to skirmish over water sources; it will not be pretty. everyone is a target. most notably, at least on the world events stage, the countries that are downstream from Egypt on the euphrates will grow more and more restless; it'll start with heated words, then threats, then kablamo. that could be the spark that lights the friction. that could be the influx point of global scale conflict with traditional alliances thrown by the way side. energy demands will dictate international efforts from here on out.</li>

  <li><strike>i get a special lady friend in my life.</strike></li>
  <li>avail will release a new record.</li>
  <li>against me! will break up. [not that i WISH this would happen. i really really like them. i could just <em>see</em> it happening.]</li>
  <li>the palestinian intifada will make seriously in roads. the tide will turn.</li>
  <li>the mexican government will try to make a move on the zapatista. it will fail resulting in more attention to the zapatista struggle [and likewise other similar ones around the world] and harsher criticisms of the mexican government in the global community. poverty will still be the harvest in all the corners of that nation</li>

  <li><strike>i don't know where or why [specifically], but more and more countries will start to break apart into smaller regional states based more on ethnic or cultural similarities rather than arbitrary man made borders</strike></li>
  <li>all countries besides saudi arabia will peak in oil extraction/production</li>
  <li>more importantly, our demand for oil will outstrip capacity [our ability to extract/refine/produce it]</li>
  <li>zinedistro will blow up. passing 1000 pro members.</li>
</ul>

<p>and those are just off the top of my head</p>

<p>Currently playing in iTunes: <i>A Credit To His Gender</i> by Good Riddance</p>