New Year's Resolutions

Now that January is almost half over, it might be a good idea to put up some New Year's Resolutions. I think my first should be to stop procrastinating, but maybe I'll leave that for next year.

Anyway, I probably shouldn't make new ones until I review last year's. So here goes:

For the first and second, wherein I wanted to be nicer to liberals and democRats by not comparing them to Nazis and Hitler, I think I performed fairly well. As I said last year, they are more akin to Stalin and Mao than to Hitler anyway.

For the third, my weight loss had averaged 16 pounds a year for the two years prior, and I wanted to keep that up. Didn't happen though: I lost 35 instead of 16 for a total of 67. I've been as high as 80, but with the winter hibernation weight gain I have annually, I gained some back. However, my gain was only half what it normally is, so there's that.

Four and five dealt with my walking. I walked 750 miles in 2012, and took several long hikes. I wanted to hit 800 or 850 miles and more long hikes. I can't remember how many long hikes I actually took, but I took a few, so neither win nor loss. However, as far as mileage goes, I hit 1000 miles on December 31. I was happy-ish.

Number six was to buy an assault rifle, which I did NOT do, though, as it conflicted with number seven, living within my means more. I DID buy a 20-gauge shotgun though. And as far as number seven went, I took a part time job to supplement my full time job. I paid off $1000 of debt and made it through a fairly pricey Christmas debt free. In fact, when I paid of the credit card I was using, I had EXACTLY enough left over for the tithing I owe. Funny how that works.

Number 8 was to throw the Alinsky-ite methods the left uses back at them, with ridicule and such. I started off strong, but lost steam toward the end of the year.

So, on to the new ones.

1). I want to continue to lose weight. I would like to lose thirty pounds from where I am now by mid-summer, so I can take my kids to one of the big amusement parks like Cedar Point or Kings Island and actually fit into the cool rides, like I did at Kennywood last year. If I can be do that, then be at that weight by the end of the year, I will be satisfied with the year.

2).I want to keep up my walking. I'm not sure whether to try for 1000 miles again, or go for 500 and get a bike and ride that for some mileage. I suspect that which it is depends on whether I can find a decent bike at a decent price.

3). Having found the church I'd been looking for, and having joined, I now want to do the best I can to be active and live the Word. I's not always easy, and my wife hates that I'm not Catholic anymore, but I always hated BEING Catholic, so she'll either deal with it or go. While I've heard the church leaders say the priority should be family, work, church, then self, I think it goes without saying that church should be in the mix. And I think I have to stay with the church I believe to be true, rather than pretend to believe what I know to be false.

4). I want to continue to work toward fiscal sanity. There will be opportunities to pick up hours throughout the year at my second job, and I want to take as many of them as possible. In the event that I get booted from my home, I want to be able to have some breathing room so that I can get settled elsewhere. Worse comes to worst, I want to be able to relocate as easily as possible if I get a job in another area, which would be awesome.

5). I want to try to feel better. Last year was the worst of my life, and it ended terribly. The last three months were nearly unbearable. And this year hasn't started well, either. I'm starting to think this is how it's going to be, so I might as well get used to it and make the best I can of it. My home life has gotten so uncomfortable as to make work the more attractive option, which is saying something. The plus side of that is I can use the money. The minus side is that there are only so many hours available to pick, and I have to sleep sometime.

6). There is NO resolution six.

7). I want to try to keep writing. I am having trouble doing funny or ranting or anything other than feeling sorry for myself, but having an outlet helps a little. I know there are very few people out there looking at what I write, and even fewer that have anything to say about it, but what can you do...

8). I'm going to try to remember that I'm an introvert. It seems that every time I try to be outgoing and make a friend, it ends badly and I end up ruining things and hurting everyone involved. The last time has thoroughly devastated me. I don't think I can take that again, and the only way I can think of to avoid it is to not make any new, deep friendships. If I don't care, then I can't be hurt. I am a rock.

Anyway, those are my goals for the new year. I hope whatever yours are, you find success and happiness in achieving them.