it's the new year! almost

Every year people make resolutions.

We're going to lose weight.  We're going to eat better.  We're going to show up for work regularly.  We're going to put the crackpipe down for good.

We mean well, we really do, but most of us give up after about a week.

My girlfriend has taken it a step further in starting things she wants to do now, rather than wait for January 1st and I commend her for that.  Most people who make resolutions say they want to start after the new year, then either put off doing what they say they're going to do until they and everyone else has forgotten, or as previously stated, give up after a week.

Each year, I put up a list of resolutions that I say I'm going to do but the truth is, by the time I'm done posting it, I've forgotten what they are and pay no attention to them.  In fact, my memory is so amazing that I failed to realize that I didn't do a resolution list last year.  In attempting to look back and see what I resolved to do this past year, I came to the realization that the post does not exist.

Whoops.

Before I get into the actual resolutions for this upcoming year, I thought I'd take a look back at where I was last year at this point and how this year unfolded for me.  No, this isn't going to be some comprehensive "year in review" type thing.  No, see, that requires research and I learned a long time ago that I absolutely hate doing research.  Plus, my year isn't exactly the stuff that would make a scholar excited, much less myself.

**Column Intermission 1**

I once attempted to do a year in review on my old web site many years ago.  It was going to be broken up into quarters, or eighths.  Wait, maybe it was the entire year in one lump column.  Okay, truth is, I don't really remember how I was doing it and I could just go back to the site and look it up since it's been restored at a new address, but that too requires too much work and I'll just save everyone the trouble and say it was started, but never finished.

The moral of the story is doing those things takes time and effort, neither of which I find worth doing when it involves me.  You simply can't just decide to do that unless you're willing to put aside a ton of time.  It also becomes much more difficult when you aren't posting regularly, which has been admitted issue for me as well.  As does being vague in what you do post because you aren't trying to put everyone's business out there.

**Intermission Over**

So we'll stick with the basics, K?

Last year at this time I was preparing to go to my first real big New Year's party.  Yes, it took 30 years for me to be involved in something like that and if I had known how things would transpire, I would've stayed home anyway.  At the time I was dating a girl named Lauren who seemed to be a good find.  She "seemed" to want to spend a lot of time with me and "seemed" to like me for me.

After the party, I'd find out otherwise.

It turned out she didn't want me around all the time even though she was the one asking me to come over constantly.  In the end, it was another situation where she seemed to be looking for a way out, found her way out, and took full advantage of it.

Also at this time, my mom, sister, and nieces and nephew were living in my apartment with me and would continue to for a little while longer before finally heading back to the house.

This year, well, it was quite a ride.  I ended up getting sick a total of 5 times over the course of last winter into the spring.  I reconnected with someone I knew years ago, dated her briefly, then broke things off after I realized it felt more like a friendship than a relationship.  Shortly after that, I started dating Rachel and that sequence of events has turned out to be the best decision ever.  In Rachel I feel I've found the girl I'm going to spend the rest of my life with along with her daughter Payton.  This being the right decision was reaffirmed when my ex put up a blog essentially blasting me for my actions despite her telling me otherwise.  It took Rachel confronting her about it and me putting up an equally unpleasant blog for this ex to show that she really wasn't who she wanted everyone to believe she was.

Karma eventually got her as she lost her job only months after posting constantly on Facebook how she should be doing work instead of watching Netflix and posting online all night.

The rest of the year has been amazing.  I've developed an amazing relationship with Rachel and Payton and feel the best is still to come.  Within the next couple of months we'll be living together and once my lease is up, we'll begin the next chapter in our first place together.

Oh, and my older sister went batshit crazy, got kicked out of my mom's house, deleted all of us off of Facebook, and has essentially disappeared.  And now my mom has money all of a sudden.  Imagine that.

Now then, onto the resolutions.

In coming up with this year's list, I've done virtually no planning, no thinking, and am basically coming up with things off the top of my head.

Which means this is either going to be the most incredibly entertaining list of resolutions ever, or the most boring.

* Get back on track with the workouts and running - Rachel and I were really good about running until it got cold and she had to stop due to breathing issues, but the working out needs to pick back up.

* Stop drinking a ton of pop - This one has already started.  I'm no longer drinking dark pop and am reducing the amount overall in favor of Gatorade and other types of juice.

* Stop being so stubborn - What? I'm not stubborn!

* Eat better - Potato chips are a perfectly acceptable healthy diet, right?  Oh, don't forget the cookies and cake!

* Write more often - Yeah, I say this every year.  Sometimes I do pretty well for a while, then it drops off again.

* Play video games more without neglecting Rachel and Payton - What kind of resolution is this?  It's the kind you make when you have a $400 gaming machine collecting dust because you rarely use it except for Netflix.

* Comment on everyone's statuses every day on Facebook - Yeah, this will last about 45 minutes before I realize that 1) it's stupid and 2) it's a HUGE waste of time.  Did I mention stupid?

* Get ahead financially - This should become very possible once Rachel and I are living together.

* Get a trashy-looking tattoo on the side of my neck - Because nothing says classy like having your baby daddy's name on the side of your neck.  Okay, so that was totally inspired by some woman who walked by with one on the side of hers.  I could write a whole blog about how I don't understand that one bit.

* Eat more chicken - The cows from Chick-Fil-A told me to.

* Stop getting sick so much in the winter - Seriously, if this year is like last winter, I'm going to forever shun the flu shot.

* Continue to upgrade my wardrobe - This has already started thanks to the needed push from Rachel with me getting new jeans, new work pants and shirts, and some new t-shirts as well.

* Become a better boyfriend - Not that I think I'm bad, but I always think there's room for improvement.  Besides, the happiness of Rachel and Payton are the most important thing to me.

* Be a better friend - I've been lacking in this department lately.  It doesn't take much effort to pick up the phone and talk to my friends.

* Not do something stupid - I'm bound to fail with this one, I'm certain.

* Be more confident in myself - Well, at least try to.  This is one area I've always struggled with and have tried to get better with.

That's the extent of what I have right now.  If I think of more, I'll add to it, but as of now, those are the things that I resolve (or pretend to resolve) to do this upcoming year.  Not that it matters much.

The world is supposedly ending December 21, 2012.

That would be kind of a bummer.

I guess it would make resolutions for 2013 that much easier though.

Happy New Year everyone.