Things I hope - but don't necessarily expect - to see in 2012:

• More common decency and less nasty name-spewing among the usual suspects haunting the comment threads on the nation's websites, including thepilot.com. (Remember, I said, "but don't necessarily expect.")

• More homes becoming the scenes of weekly family game nights. And I'm talking board and card games, not the video kind.

• The sudden, surprise emergence of a previously little-known frontrunner for the GOP nomination who sweeps the current crop of flavor-of-the-month lightweights aside and actually shows some remote promise of someday being mentionable in the same breath with Republicans like Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Reagan.

• The return of a treat that both of my grandmothers used to bake all the time but which I haven't seen or sunk a tooth into in many years: rhubarb pie.

• More people patronizing the (Pilot-owned) Country Bookshop in downtown Southern Pines, where the selection is great and the service, under manager Kimberly Daniels, one of my favorite people, is beyond compare.

• Fewer folks (or better yet, none at all) seeing fit to come into said store and look over the books and, after getting advice from the paid help on what's available and what's good, seeing fit to then turn around and make their purchases online. No fair.

• Speaking of which: success by me in achieving one of my New Year's resolutions, which is to read a book a month for all of 2012. And I'm not talking e-books, either. ... Well, maybe for one or two of them. I prefer the paper kind, but it's always good to have one of the digital jobs stored on the Kindle app in your iPhone for when you get stuck in a doctor's waiting room or whatever.

• More people going the vegetarian route. If you can't handle the radical vegan regimen (nuts, leaves, sticks, raw carrots and tofu), you might at least try the more moderate "ovo-lacto-pesco" variation that my wife, Brenda, has been gamely adhering to for some weeks now. That basically means you can have eggs, dairy products and fish - as long as no warm-blooded creatures, as in mammals and birds, are harmed in the preparation of your lunch. I lasted only about three days on even that more permissive fare before giving in to burger temptation. Hope you do better.

• I would say "more Irish whiskey," but that's what I said last year, and my friend Tally Bandy responded by bestowing on me a big, expensive bottle of the stuff. And I've been feeling guilty ever since for not properly thanking her. So thank you, Tally.

• Fewer preoccupied-looking people blabbing on their cellphones while piloting their 5,000-pound SUVs through traffic. According to research, such activity, as tempting as it admittedly is, is as dangerous as driving drunk, even with so-called hands-free equipment. What you're doing with your hands apparently doesn't matter nearly as much as where your consciousness is focused.

• Less so-called "reality" programming on TV, and more stuff that actually has scripts and actors and stuff like that. But please - could we steer clear of all the "Law & Order" spinoffs and copycats for a while? I mean, haven't we run through about all the possible crime scenarios in the world at this point?

• A return to the kind of responsible, scandal-free state government for which North Carolina used to be known but which it has now dragged through the mud too many times.

• Even more men opting to wear bow ties.

• More clothing makers going back to making men's pants with 37-inch waists. Though they still make odd sizes up to 35, after that it jumps to even numbers. I know that helps with inventory control, but I'm sorry: If you have a 37-inch waist, 36 is too small and 38 is too big.

• The United States continuing the process of dramatically pulling in its military horns after finally reaching an overdue national consensus that it can no longer afford to police the planet.

• More movies like the dazzling, splendidly acted and produced new "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows." I recommend it highly, as long as you go in knowing that this is not your grandfather's Sherlock Holmes.

• And most of all, a happy new year for you, Dear Reader.

Steve Bouser is editor of The Pilot. Contact him at (910) 693-2470 or by email at sbouser@thepilot.com.