With everything that is going on and has already happened in the two weeks into this new year I had to ask this question.
Already this year we have had an upswing in earthquakes, massive flooding and mudslides, snow and ice storms, volcanoes, etc... no where in the world is being spared it seems... maybe I am just paranoid, but I fear we are in for a rocky year! Your thoughts?

A rocky year doesn't mean a rockier one to follow. The world changed last year. It, of course, has always done so. Don't let the sensationalists and fear-mongerers out there get you down with their "predictions".

People have felt the end is near from the very beginning of history. Chances are, in other words, that 2009 will not be "the year".

The world will end one day. Disasters will happen. This is out of our control, but how we spend our time until those darker days is not. Live every day as if it's the last. Do that and "the end" will be a joyful fulfillment rather than an imposing doom.

Thank you for the inspirational words! I know that bad things happen, and to be honest I never really thought about it until my children went their own ways. Now as a mother, I worry. We live on the New Madrid fault line and it terrifies me that we may not be togetherif something happens...I hope that makes sense.
I don't know, its kind of an internal feeling that I myself have, that we are in for bad times.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they ain't out to get you! Seriously, there is no way to know, but based on passed years, what happens in January is no guarntee of the rest of the year.

Since starting this thread, many terrible things have occured around the world! Huge killer fires in Australia, worst ice storm in Ky history, I am on my fifteenth day without power and today we had 63 mph winds so many that had power restored have lost it again...aleady killer tornadoes, earthquakes across the globe, many large ones, volcanos waking all over the place...hmmm its only February!

A ton of people on here were saying the same thing about 2008.

I haven't been reading the site long, but I'd imagine people have been saying it every year.

I'm not sure if this is fact but I've heard that the dates were calculated wrong and the Mayan's "2012" is actual 2009.

this has been a terrible year so far, i hope it doesn't get too much worse.

I agree that it has been tough. But I have a complaint. The horrible ice storm that hit Kentucky? Well it also knocked the hell out of northern Arkansas, and southern Missouri. My town looks like a war zone. It will take months to get all the trees cleaned up. There are people in my area who will not have power until March, and that is if nothing else happens.
Sorry for the rant, but it seems as though the nation decided we don't exist.
It looks like you may have been right in your OP. Looks like Mother Nature is going to be a real biatch this year, although the reason for the fires in Australia were caused by arson.