57 days to go...

28 December 2006 (delayed posting). I’ve numbered my days. Today is 57. That’s also the year I was born.

Yesterday night I found out that I was selected TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year! I share the honor with my fellow inhabitants of the earth. At least with those who have opened up to share their voice with the world in the hope of making it a better place.

I read in TIME how the blogosphere and especially, initiatives like Flickr, MySpace, and YouTube have changed the paradigms of communication in the past year. How influential they have been!

Many of the Persons of the Year featured as examples in this month’s TIME are young. They hit, or stumbled, on new ways of doing things with a passion. Ideas born in garages and libraries went on to change the world of hundreds of millions others.

Power to us! We no longer have to limit the way we engage with the world to the conventional channels. The number of new opportunities keeps growing exponentially.

On a more personal note, I wondered today if I should make new-year resolutions for 2007. I decided yes, I should. But I won’t make a long list. I’ll reflect on what really ‘comes’ to me in these next days.

So far, two things already ‘came’. The first was to eat better food. I need more variety and creativity. I am already eating healthy food for years, but too much of the same stuff. It’s boring, and I don’t always notice that. I will go with visual clues to expand my choice of meals. Starting with a set of cooking books I got yesterday.

The second is to revamp my finances. More on that later, as I do my homework on it.

While I write, Sarah McLachlan is smiling at me from the TV, playing piano and singing Train Wreck on her Afterglow Live show. Between songs she tells the audience how difficult songwriting is for her, and that she gladly grabs whatever the universe throws at her. It resonates with me.

Another day passed without broadband internet access. Ships were rushed to the site off Taiwan where broken fiber-optical cables lie covered in mud on the seabed. I found that the essentials of life are here with me. But sharing my story online would be even nicer for this Person of the Year who is turning 50 soon.

Photograph: Celebration - clown in the morning sun.