Dear Newsvine,

Happy New Year! 2013 is upon us, or nearly, in cases such as mine, and as I watch Fergie give me appalling duckface after appalling duckface on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve, I thought I would type out this short letter to you all.

What a year it has been on this planet. We had triumph, tragedy, laughs, pain, and an election that lasted far too long for just about everyone. First and foremost, 2012 was a year of firsts. We had the first states to legalize both Marijuana and Gay Marriage through popular vote, we had the first Korean song to annoy every American to the bone (and top every global chart), the first man to break the sound barrier, and most notably, the first Kim and Kanye baby (announced... this morning).

2012 was also a year of tears. The Aurora shooting in Colorado and the Newtown shooting earlier this month rocked this country and revived the gun control debate on Capitol hill. The massacres in Syria, and Afghanistan, both of citizens and American soldiers, have made the news week in and week out. The September 11 tragedy in Libya was also a shock, and  we can't leave out the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy.

Speaking of loss, we have lost many familiar folks over the past 12 months. Dick Clark comes to the forefront of my mind as a future member of the media, as well as Neil Armstrong, Whitney Houston, Jerry Nelson (voice of Count von Count), and the Twinkie.

But enough about the bad- THE WORLD DID NOT END! That's right, we have also experienced a lot of good. We've had record lotteries, Obama was re-elected, Kim Jong Il [CENSORED BY THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA], The 2012 London Olympics had me glued to the TV (and ironically, not exercising) for 2 whole weeks, and the baby rumors swirled and swirled... until Kate Middleton finally got pregnant.

Oh, and a guy jumped from space and we put a SUV on Mars... but that wasn't on Earth, so nobody really cares.

And finally, to end our recap, we cannot forget what is happening right now. No, not Fergie's failure at being sexy, but the fiscal cliff, which is now the Fiscal Cliff jump as we are going off it. After months and months of negotiations, absolutely nothing was accomplished in time, as usual. Therefore we will go over the cliff, Congress will officially become one of the most unproductive ever, and, by the way, THEY'RE GETTING A PAY RAISE.

Yeah. You heard that right.

Anyway, happy 2013 everyone. We all have a lot to look forward to. It's a new beginning, a fresh page, and hopefully it'll go down as one of the best years Earth has experienced thus far.

See you then,

Leafydebater