Once More Into the Meme (now with bonus meme response!)

Got hit with a meme. This time the Mistress of Cakes (hows that for a title? Heh.) requested I take part in Fingers Crossed and Resolutions. It seems I'm supposed to list four things I would wish for (fingers crossed) and four resolutions, of the New Years variety. Then pass it on. So, here we go:

My fingers are crossed for,
1) everyone I know staying healthy.
2) getting my back fixed up
3) getting a new job. A good job.
4) getting a new apartment, one with a full size stove.

And resolutions:
1) I need to cook lighter. Even though I really don't want to.
2) I want to be less negative. Not everyone is out to get me... just almost everyone. And the zombies, of course.
3) I should practice my scales more. A lot more.
4) I should really watch my mouth more at work, preferably before a customer complains. Heh.

But who to pass it on to? Well, how about these three worthies:
Beckie @ Beckies Kitchen
Vicki @ A Work in Progress
aaaaand Melissa @ Of Soup and Love

And Vicki had wanted responses to a literary meme... er, some time ago. Sorry Vicki! I'm posting my response now, better late than never. She wasn't tagging people, so I won't either. I would be interested in anyones responses though, I love knowing what people are reading.

Here is the deal: Pick up the nearest book at hand, go to the 123rd page, find the 5th sentence, and then post the following three sentences.

Here is what I posted on her blog:

I'll play along, but the closest book doesn't have 123 pages (plus it's a cookbook, so probably doesn't count) so I'm grabbing the second closest book. The Demon Haunted World, by Carl Sagan.

"Such a cast of mind, such a climate of absolute confidence that knowledge should be rewarded with torture and death were unlikely to help those accused of witchcraft.

Burning witches is a feature that Western civilization the has, with occasional political exceptions, declined since the sixteenth century. In the last judicial execution of witches in England, a woman and her nine year old daughter were hanged."

Hm. Cheerful stuff.