2011 hasn’t really kicked off to a good start.

There were the Queensland floods earlier in the year, soon followed by Cyclone Yasi, which hit Queensland hard. Then came the New Zealand earthquake in Christchurch, where they are still recovering bodies; the final death toll is expected to reach 182 people. Then there was the huge earthquake in Japan, followed by a tsunami, killing tens of thousands of people.

So what exactly is happening with the world right now? One theory floating around is, as The Doors would say, "This is the end, my friends." Yes, apparently the end may be near. An extreme concept, I know, but one that has a few people talking, and a few more getting seriously concerned.

One factor causing alarm is that the date December 21, 2012, is said to be the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mayan Long Count calendar. So from what I can work out, we have a 12-month calendar. The Mayans had a 5,125 year “long count” calendar. Our calendar ends on December 31. The Mayans' long count calendar ends on December 21, 2012. When our calendar ends, we put up a new one. When the Mayan one ends, apparently the world explodes. So what if their calendar ends? Maybe they just couldn’t be bothered writing anymore. This theory does not worry me.

This is my favourite theory: the thing that could possibly be affecting our existence is Planet X, also known as Nibiru. Some cultures believe that the end will come via a massive solar flare. This flare will come about because of the infiltration of the orbits of the planets in our solar system by an outside orbiting planet called Nibiru, sometimes referred to by modern scientists as Planet X. People believe that Nibiru only orbits through our system once every three thousand six hundred years... you still with me? 

On top of this, these cultures believed that there was a race of people who lived on the planet Nibiru: the Anunnaki. According to myth, this superior race of beings came to Earth and genetically engineered human beings. They did this because they needed to get gold ore from our planet in order to help save their own environment. The humans that they created helped them by mining the gold from Africa. If the myth is right, then the end of the world 2012 that is depicted in the Mayan calendar will also coincide with the return of the Anunnaki. So, basically this mean that aliens will arrive on our planet next year and take it over. Ah yes, good old Nibiru.

These are only two theories floating around explaining why the end of the world is near. There are seriously hundreds more. If you type into Google “2012 end of the world” you’ll find many websites explaining why it’s the end and what you can do to save yourself.

My friend Emma called me from Perth the other week very concerned by the possibility that the world may be ending next year. She was so worried, in fact, that she had come up with two theories of survival if the world was to end.

Firstly, she was going to book a family holiday to the Himalayas for around the 18th December so that she would be on the highest peak of the world when the shit hits the fan and will possibly have a better chance of survival with her family. She would also have a fantastic view of Armageddon. Have you seen the film, “2012”? She would then document the whole experience in the Himalayas and if she did survive she will turn it into a documentary and try and sell it off to a network.

Secondly, she will befriend Richard Branson via Twitter because she believes that he will have a space shuttle ready to go for the 20th December 2012. Over the coming year, via Twitter, they will become the best of friends, and he will invite her and her family aboard the space shuttle where they will be out of harm’s way when the world finally crashes and burns.

But in the meantime, she isn’t giving up smoking until next year, in case the world does end, and she doesn’t want to suffer the withdrawls if there is no point. So that is her plan and I like it.

This got me thinking about what my plan would be. If the end was just around the corner, what would I do? Quit work, jump on a plane with just the clothes on my back and head off to the most exotic location that I can think of, get morbidly obese, take out a massive loan from the bank that I’ll never have to pay back, try to quickly bang out a novel, help mum de-clutter her house, get a tattoo? These were just a few ideas floating around the 7pm Project office.

So, if you thought the world was going to end in 2000, you were wrong, and you’ll probably be wrong this time. But, just in case, try to live every day like it’s your last, and possibly book a ticket along with Emma to the Himalayas.

But seriously... what would you do if the world was going to end in 2012?