It's a brand new year and newlyweds Tess and Lee Bell 'can't wait' for 2013 to get started. Picture: Luke Marsden Source: The Courier-Mail
THE end of the world is officially off and 2012 is behind us. Good riddance.
Welcome to January 1, 2013. Today is a clean slate - a day of promise, renewal, optimism and some reflection.
It heralds a new year which, given Queensland's innate energy, we always believe will be better than the last - a year (we hope) of political quiet, of sporting triumph, artistic endeavour, economic renewal and personal peace and spiritual quiet ... as well as a slightly irreverent sense of humour and resilience when things go bad.
We will this year decide which side of federal politics we dislike least and then vote against the other mob, hoping we don't stuff it up again with a hung parliament.
Gallery: New Year in Queensland
On the local front, we can hope the Newman Government sets the state on a path towards prosperity and that the Queensland Maroons can win an eighth straight State of Origin series.
Internationally, there's a royal baby to be excited about and the hope of better economic news.
Tess and Lee Bell (pictured) found a way to put a positive spin on 2012, marrying last month after nine years together.
Tess said: "We can't wait for 2013."
After the year we've just had, ain't that the case for all of us!
The year 2012 was certainly one to remember, but for many of the wrong reasons.
It was a year with more than its fair share of moments - moments being events you are unlikely to forget in a hurry but could never label "highlights".
It was a year we finished cleaning up after the floods; when tens of thousands of us lost our jobs, we were told - by our Premier, no less - that the state risked a Greek-style economic collapse, federal politics took on a muddy Groundhog Day hue, and the Broncos choked. Again. (Although we did win the State of Origin. Again!)
Locally we realised that while the joint definitely needed new management and some long overdue renos, Campbell Newman was - after all the excitement and hyperventilating - not quite the Messiah.
We're not saying it all went Monty Python shaped (some of the Katter Party shenanigans and Bruce Flegg aside), but - let's face it - for most of us 2012 left a bit to be desired.
We should, however, take a moment to be grateful that we have a 2013, given all the talk about the Mayan calendar and the supposed ancient prediction of the end of the world due 11 days ago, which timed very closely with North Korea's launch of its first (totally serenely peaceful and purely scientific) intercontinental ballistic missile.
The world also did not end on July 1, when the carbon tax was imposed. Phew.
Anyway, we are Queenslanders, it is day one of 2013, so let's put all that behind us and focus on some optimism.
There is much to look forward to - not the least of which is the prospect of a clear majority government in Canberra.
That should make it easier for the rent-seekers, lobby groups and assorted carpetbaggers to work out which party they need to donate to, fawn over and at least pretend to be polite to in public.
This is called improving business confidence, and it is good.
Come autumn we can all do a little happy dance around the maypole to celebrate the death of the budget surplus, which hopefully means not as many of us this year will lose our jobs, unless, if you believe the opinion polls, you are a member of the Gillard Government.
Locally we can look forward to the release of the final report of Peter Costello's audit of state finances, which, given the first instalment, looks like being the fiscal equivalent of the Necronomicon.
The double twist and spin with pike as Campbell Newman and Tim Nicholls deal with the asset sale and tax hike recommendations should be lovely to watch.
At least, all things being equal, we can be optimistic that the Newman empire has got all the bad news out of the way and public servants can breathe a bit easier.
That, of course, depends on which brand we have in Canberra doing the #destroythejoint routine, but at least it will be interesting.
All this of course is against a backdrop of global economic God Knows What, as President Obama does his fiscal cliff dance with the Tea Party and we cross our collective fingers that the Europeans cannot screw things up this year any more than they have to date. Perhaps. Bunga bunga economics and all that.
Here we can only pray the screen jockeys have got it right, with the market betting now on a 2.25 per cent official cash rate later in 2013.
This is good for everyone except those millions who are net savers and tend to view such events as a real downer.
Money markets will likely ignore it and keep pushing the Australian dollar so high that we no longer holiday in Bali, we buy the villa.
Shame about Holden, which releases what might possibly be the last totally Australian designed and built family car, the VF Commodore, in April, and Ford and other local manufacturers.
There's always the solace of bread and circuses, though. How could one not get a little warm inner tingle thinking about gloating in decidedly unsporting fashion to NSW mates when Queensland wins Origin for the eighth year in a row? At which point we can start another book on what new rule changes the southerners will try on next.
Desperate and inglorious b******s.
Don't forget the double bunger, the once-in-a-lifetime, Halley's Comet-event of two Ashes series in the space of six months.
After we get flogged by the old country mid-year, this is, old bean, a good thing in cricket, apparently, the Poms come Down Under to do it all again in the summer.
Sigh, perhaps the Wallabies will do better against the British and Irish Lions on their tour. Or not.
The culture. We will be positively brimming with arts, music and film this year.
Everyone from Pink to One Direction, Bruce Springsteen and Metallica will drop in to do the eardrum-busting thing, while Andre Rieu turns down the volume for the nannas.
There is new blood at most of the performing and visual arts bodies and our GoMA will continue to kick serious arts with world-class stuff that may or not involve melting clocks, or departmental budgets.
Technology will be more pervasive and confronting, with some predicting the death of voicemail, which is too slow and boring for the apped-up and amped-up ADHD generation, personal drones, and Amazon taking over as the world's largest retailer.
Whatever occurs, 2013 will be a big one, with much to look forward to.
Even if today that only means the smell of frangipanis, the taste of mangoes and the prospect of a cold beer to take the edge off things while the cats (remember that the Mayans worshipped Jaguar gods) continue to plot world domination.
Happy New Year.
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