2008 predictions revisited

I'm writing this on a friend's computer, and have no choice but to reluctantly use Internet Explorer instead of a decent browser (i.e., anything besides Explorer). Due to the fact that Explorer sucks monkey feet, I have to rewrite this entire entry because IE decided to wait until I'd spent well over an hour writing and then erase everything, just to be a bastard. I hate Microsoft.

Anyway, enough ranting. Back to business. As you know, I spend every New Years Eve not having fun at parties, but blogging about my predictions for the upcoming year. Before I make my '09 predictions, it would be suitable to take a look back at the predictions I made last year and see how I fared. So, in the immortal words of the Joker's plastic surgeon, "Let's see how we did".

My predictions for 2008 were:

* I will get a new job. This job will be full time, and will pay enough that I only have to work the one job, and not two jobs. I will have time for hobbies, I will have a social life, and I'll actually have some of my paycheck left in the bank by the next payday. I've heard of that concept before; I think it's called "saving".
What a depressing way to start. Obviously, when I wrote this last year, I had no way to know that the economy would take a swan dive into the crapper, and finding a job would be about as easy as solving a Rubik's Cube. Needless to say, this prediction did not come true.

* Brent, of course, will contract yet another STI.
This one is always a slam dunk. I might as well predict that the sun will rise tomorrow.

* Someone I know will get engaged. This seems like a pretty safe bet these days; it's like there's a contagion going around, and at least one or two friends get infected every year.
About a week after I wrote this, my friend Lori got engaged to a guy who looks like Barak Obama. Sweet! A little later in the year, my ex-girlfriend Elaine got engaged, too. And finally, my friend Jessica, who had previously agreed to be a party to my aspirations of polygamy, got engaged to some other chump. Psh!

* I read at least one book in its entirety. This is a much more realistic prediction than last year's.
I did this! I read a book about leading a small youth group. It was a small book, but a book nonetheless.

* Big energy breakthrough.
Nothing earth-shattering, but instead a steady stream of little breakthroughs with huge potential (eg., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

* I make a new friend or two, who turn out to be really good ones. Yeah, I predicted this last year and was wrong, but this year I'm getting a new job and a social life, remember?
Oh yeah, this was a good year for making friends... Bekah, Shayna, Emilie, Trina, and Miki entered the world of Caleb's amigos this year. Notice how they're all chicks? That's weird, huh?

* Caleb makes some music. And not the kind that comes from eating lots of beans and cabbage.
Well, I got a standing ovation at a karaoke bar for my rendition of Mack the Knife; does that count?

* Caleb eats lots of beans. Doubtful on the cabbage.
Plenty of beans, and at least three times as much cabbage as last year. Nice.

* Charles is a gentleman caller to a young lady. For at least 45 minutes.
No, but he did get caught up in an elaborate lie in which he had to tell someone's mother-in-law that he was taking a girl to a Christmas party.

* Someone fairly unlikely gets discovered and given no less than 15 minutes of fame. This is someone I know, not just some random fool like that bro who got tased.
My brother was presented to Arnold at a packed-out Chargers game after the fires this year. That sort of counts, doesn't it? Wait, that was in 2007? Well, crap.

* Absolute madness, mischief, and mayhem of the highest degree.
Nothing stands up to 2007, when Durfey ended up naked in a fountain...

So, how did I do? Final count shows 7 accurate predictions, and 3 less-than-so. Not half bad, especially considering how lackluster this year was. Now, on to the predictions for 2009...