MW: Resolutions
Posted by: chatblu on: December 30, 2010
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Here we go again. It’s time to make our New Year’s Resolutions. Yep, the same ones (for the most part) that we have made annually since the earth cooled. We pull them out, dust them off and run them again year after weary year. Sometimes we make it clean through Valentine’s Day without infractions, but not too often. Let’s take a look at them and see if they have any potential for 2011:
(1) Make better use of my time. This encompasses a lot of ground, and can mean many things to many people. This could cover spending more time with family and friends, which could be good, or it could mean that I shouldn’t pile up on the couch with a critter or two and read something – and that would not be good. This will take some thought.
(2) Become better organized. God, I hate this one. It means that I should do a better job with things like filing. Bleeach! I haven’t finished 2009′s filing, for that matter. Maybe I just shouldn’t bother with this one, although it’s clearly indicated. I’ll think this one over as well.
(3) To become more fit. Well, disability has done a number on this one, but I really should still try harder. I should – I really, really should.
(4) To finally lose those last few pounds. Well, maybe after the holiday, that last any number of pounds. As we have previously discussed, I really like vegetables, so I should get a flying start on this after the first of the year. Then I should really hurry because Valentine’s Day, Saint Patrick’s Day and Easter are forthcoming and those can be diet-ending events in and of themselves.
(5) To quit smoking/drinking/whatever the bad habit. Actually, I haven’t smoked in more than a decade, and I drink very rarely, so these are easy enough to keep. Thank God – it was looking rather dismal there for a while.
(6) To get out of debt. I wish! However, my diving property values vis a vis my soaring health care costs tell me that this will not occur. Oh, and by that I do not mean that I have any new health care costs – it’s just that they keep escalating. Oh, and my threatened public pension and Social Security incomes are verbally assaulted daily, so the whole get out of debt thing looks pretty feeble, I think.
(7) To learn something new. This one, I have actually kept, and TW has a great deal to do with it. MadamaB has enhanced my computer skills and the TW commenters have stretched my knowledge base to no end. Muchas gracias, y’all!
(8) To help others. When one thing leaves in life, another thing replaces it. While I cannot work any longer, I now have time that I could have only dreamed of in the past. I work with Toys for Tots, the Saint Vincent de Paul Society and several historic groups. I have worked with the ACLU in rights restorations, and I hope to do more in 2011. There are no end of problems in this world, and maybe we can help just a little bit. This one, I can actually sign onto. Not to mention, there are whole new vistas out there. Recovering Democrats are waking up and realizing that things are amiss. We can all be helpful here, as we will need these folks in the near and immediate futures.
(9) Enjoy life, and don’t sweat the small stuff. I can honestly say that I do, but not in any way that I ever envisioned. There have been some serendipitous finds in my life, and The Widdershins has been one of the best. I find, however that I must constantly re-define “the small stuff”. For example, last year I decided not to get upset over something as piddly as a football game. That lasted two games and was, shall we say, punted. I’m probably going to get upset, and football in the South just isn’t “small stuff”. Even Pop Warner ball has mammoth meaning down here. It just is. I guess that “small stuff” is all that other annoying trivia of life, so I shall strive to not be quite as bothered by junk mail, silly commercials and Fundie friends who swear that Glenn Beck will lead us to the promised land. You know what, that may not go any better than the whole football thingie did, now that I think of it.
(10) Identify areas to work on for the 2012 elections. It’s time to begin to look at suitable candidates, and check them out carefully. There’s not a lot of time, and there’s not a great deal of money and we should expend both carefully. There’s a lot to be done at the local level, with a weather eye kept on the national stage lest 2008 repeat itself.
What’s up for 2011 for The Widdershins? This is an open thread.
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54 Responses to "MW: Resolutions"
December 30, 2010 at 8:31 AM
1) Spend less time on the Internets. 
2) Take a few classes. Work slowly toward another graduate degree. With luck I may finish this around the year 2030. My friends have always told me I am a perennial student. So be it. I have decided there are worse things.
December 30, 2010 at 8:34 AM
I’m with Pat. I never keep them when I make them, and it only makes me feel worse when I break them…..although #’s 3, 5 and 6 are regular woes. Quitting smoking, getting more fit and getting out of debt. I know, I’ll do it next year!
December 30, 2010 at 9:34 AM
Yeah…resolutions…not so much. They harsh my mellow when I make them and depress me when I break them. I hate New Year!
December 30, 2010 at 9:35 AM
MW
If I were you, I’d only bet on 2j:
No. 7 seems a sure bet, at least partially.
No. 8 ditto since you’ve already started.
The others? Are you kidding?
December 30, 2010 at 9:44 AM
I will set aside money for Christmas in advance. That will probably work out about as well as losing weight or filing.
December 30, 2010 at 9:59 AM
I think that I can toss in at least half of #9 – clearly neither the football nor the Glenn Beck portions…….
December 30, 2010 at 10:26 AM
I have already thrown my resolutions @2 out the window. I am addicted to the Internets and, hey, I learn lots of stuff on it and get to chat with interesting people, right?
And instead of taking classes and going for another degree, I’ll just read some deep books and ponder them. Then maybe I’ll grade myself. Or maybe not.
December 30, 2010 at 10:41 AM
Beata, we love you too and would miss you cause there is no way that I will give up the internet. Ever. They can pry it out of my cold dead hands.
If you haven’t read The Lovely Bones, it’s well worth the time. It’s not educational per se, but it’s an engrossing read, at least it was for me.
December 30, 2010 at 10:50 AM
HT, I have thus far avoided reading “The Lovely Bones”. I don’t know if I can deal with the subject matter at this point in my life, but I might give it a try because of your recommendation.
December 30, 2010 at 10:55 AM
Much to do about nothing, but, it is predicted that we will have 5 nights of freezing. Odd for us. Maybe 5 nights of freezing overall for us throughout the winter. 5 in a row. Humm.
I predict lots of frozen low water usage cactus and broken water pipes. Our pipes do not get buried as deeply here. I predict clients will be calling all day asking how they should protect their expensive landscapes.
December 30, 2010 at 10:56 AM
@ 11 We just watched the movie again yesterday. I want to read the book too.
December 30, 2010 at 11:04 AM
La, the book is much better than the movie. I was a bit concerned about the movie, because I read the book first, and although the movie was good, the book is so very much better. Strange about your weather – I still have a flock of robins and a murder of crows hanging about and eating the seed that I put out for the hardy sparrows. Robins and Crows should have headed south at least a month ago. This is Canada, only winterized birds stay here (ptarmagin, sparrows etc) stay here, yet – Robins and crows. It’s a bit worrisome.
December 30, 2010 at 11:13 AM
@16 We will take rain in any form we can get it, but freezing rain. Ouch. Hope it stops enough so we can get out and cover a few plants. The freeze will make for a good citrus crop next year. They like it.
Yah, what up with your snow birds. They should be down here by now. I like them better than the human form of snowbirds who gripe about paying property taxes on their second homes.
December 30, 2010 at 11:22 AM
It is finally above freezing here and some of our snow is starting to melt. My new kitten is enjoying looking out the window at all the birds that come to my feeder. Right now, she is extremely excited ( tail going wild! ) about a squirrel that has come to raid the feeder. The squirrel is bigger than kitten is. Very cute.
Very weird about the robins, HT. None around here. We won’t see them until spring. Still lots of crows though.
December 30, 2010 at 11:23 AM
@16, La, I’m not now or ever have been a snowbird. I love my home in all it’s seasons. I don’t understand people who have grown up here heading south – we’ve had central heating for decades and all our houses have basements. However, having visited Florida a couple of times, I understand you sentiments. Actually those snowbirds avoiding your taxes are trying to avoid taxes up here too. Strange people, but I think it’s an international problem – strange people who only want what’s best for themselves and screw the rest of the population who pay through taxes what’s best for the very same strange people.
December 30, 2010 at 11:47 AM
La, yes, freezing rain and/or ice is the worst. Hope you can get the plants covered! Take care.
December 30, 2010 at 12:00 PM
In central Florida, they apply water to freeze the berries and protect them from lower temps. Go figure.
December 30, 2010 at 12:00 PM
I just read that a 3.8 earthquake hit central Indiana this morning. It was centered near the area where my grandfather had his farm. I didn’t feel a thing here.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BT2EY20101230
December 30, 2010 at 12:01 PM
Beata, Robins used to be the beginning of spring around here. Yesterday I counted 15 of them feeding on the berries of the next door neighbours tree. It’s winter, they should be in South America. Something is amiss. I haven’t seen a monarch butterfly for the past two years despite my butterfly bush – it’s worrisome.
The Lovely Bones novel was difficult for me to read, cause of Mom and Dad and their passing, however I read it and was glad I did. In a weird way, it helped me to cope. I had a problem with letting go – Mom and Dad passed in 1983, 13 days apart. It was horrific for me, and while I was incapacitated for a month, I never truly realized how debilitated I was – until I real the Lovely Bones. I suppose it means many things to many different people, but it actually set me free from my guilt. Silly that one fiction book can do that, however I will be forever indebted to Alice Sebold for writing it. I was raped, not murdered, but lost those people that I loved the most later. It’s a compelling story.
December 30, 2010 at 12:02 PM
@22: My kitten has been unusually crazed today. She probably felt the earthquake.
December 30, 2010 at 12:11 PM
@23: I can’t imagine losing both parents 13 days apart. That must have been so devastating, HT. My father passed away over a decade ago. He had a sudden, massive heart attack and then he was gone. It was a shock, but I had never been close to him, for reasons I will not go into here. With my mother, it has been a very slow good-bye and much more difficult because I love her so much. Letting go of her – how to do it??? Maybe the book would help.
December 30, 2010 at 12:48 PM
@16
Check out my “Murder of Crows” essay at my blog.
eddiewrites.wordpress.com
December 30, 2010 at 1:53 PM
@26: Good essay, Ed. When I was working as a reference librarian ( in the Dark Ages before search engines ), we used to keep a long list of animal / bird / insect / etc. group names at the reference desk to answer patron questions. Your essay brought back a lot of memories.
Here’s a good list:
http://www.pubquizhelp.com/animals/groups.html
December 30, 2010 at 2:09 PM
@25, Beata, I was never close to my father at all, however when he passed, it was 13 days after my nightmare – the loss of my mother. She had three heart attacks out of the blue – never had a heart problem in her life, but Dad was just that day diagnosed with lung cancer and she died that night. Dad’s cancer was operable – it wasn’t a huge event, but Mom had died and I don’t think he wanted to live without her, and at the time, I didn’t either. My Mom was the best person in the world, and even today I cry when I think about her and the fact that she never got to meet my children. Lovely Bones is a novel about loss and redemption. It helped me to stop feeling so angry at the world. I’m still working on the redemption bit, but my children help with that. Every time I look at them, there’s my Mom. Apologies for being maudlin.
December 30, 2010 at 2:09 PM
resolutions? Meh. No way.
I could say cut back and lose weight. NOT. At least not in Nola.
We get through the Christmas Holidays and then start Carnival with 12th night and all of the glorious King Cakes. Then Lent starts but that’s no biggie with all the seafood we have, plus still eating all the king cakes. Then in the middle of all that there’s St. Patricks Day which means more eating and drinking in the Irish Channel.
No…doing a food thing isn’t a worthwhile resolution.
December 30, 2010 at 2:11 PM
@27:
Thanks for your kind words and the list. Yours is more concise that mine is.
I hope you read my 2 others.
Ed
December 30, 2010 at 2:19 PM
@13:
I would recommend you read the book, too, Beata
@15:
I never realized there was a movie, la. I’ll have to get it from Netflix.
December 30, 2010 at 2:21 PM
@33:
Beata, thank you so much. Your words are good for my ego!! And you’re encouraging me to put more essays out there.
Ed
December 30, 2010 at 2:48 PM
@34 Yes, I say it is well worth the watch. We bought it and the behind the scenes is good too. It varies from the book just a bit, from my reading of the book on wikipedia, but the imagery of the other world, “the in between”, is great.
It was directed by the man that did Lord of the Rings. He really captured the ethereal world coupling it with the music of the Cocteau Twins (one of our favorite groups).
December 30, 2010 at 3:08 PM
Beata, the lead actress in the movie is from Ireland. She is excellent teenage actress. I am sure we will see more of her.
December 30, 2010 at 4:51 PM
eddie you have a way with words. I read you when you first appeared, and I just read your tribute to Roy and Anna. Brilliant and heartfelt. I’m bookmarking your site. And yes, it’s a murder of crows, strange as it seems, however crows are very intelligent, and they are very efficient killers, so I suppose Murder is a well deserved designation.
December 30, 2010 at 5:26 PM
@42:
HT, you make an excellent point about the “murder” designation.
I’m overwhelmed by your kind words and others on Widdershins.
I must thank my brother who had read my essays and urged me to join WordPress. My joining turned out to be serendipitous in the sense that WordPress led me to join Widdershins where I interact with a great group of intelligent people. This is so refreshing from other sites where most of the comments are drivel or derived from right wing talking points largely from Fox News.
Ed
December 30, 2010 at 5:32 PM
@42:
One more thing to HT. You mention bookmarking my site; of course I’m overjoyed that you are.
But now you’re putting pressure on me to keep putting stuff out there. And that’s a good thing, because sometimes I get lazy, so I’m sure I need that pressure to keep writing.
December 30, 2010 at 5:56 PM
Eddie at 44 – no pressure. I still go back to sites that have been dormant for months, because I enjoyed their perspective. and keep hoping they’ll come back. As a matter of fact, Gary posted after a long sabbatical just two days ago. So don’t worry eddie, some of us will come back regardless of the time lapse.
December 30, 2010 at 5:59 PM
@44: Ed, if you feel comfortable doing so, you might want to include a short bio in the “About” section of your blog. I think it would be interesting to readers.
December 30, 2010 at 6:09 PM
How did you find the Widdershins, by the way, Eddie. Did one of our pieces show up on the automatically generated related articles area?
December 30, 2010 at 7:16 PM
la-t-da,
Frankly, I’m not quite sure. I believe I was looking through WordPress, trying to learn to navigate, when I saw a political article by “madamab.” (I think)
I posted a comment, and we went back and forth for a while. That’s how I got hooked.
At first some people thought I was an apologist for Obama, but madamab convinced them otherwise.
By the way, I posted another story on my blog.
Thanks for your interest. You’re all a great bunch!
Eddie
P.S. I shortened my login from “eddiewrites” to plain “eddie”
December 30, 2010 at 10:49 PM
My resolution: No more funerals! As if we can avoid them, but this has been such a year of them — including today, a terrible sad loss of a young man, a smart and sensitive and oh-so-handsome young student. But he had served in Iraq, and it seems to have led to this loss, more “collateral damage.”
His unit of Marines as well as many vets turned out to guard the church and do honor to the family, and then a full 21-gun salute and more followed the service. I hope it was a comfort to the family and friends . . . but the tears just kept flowing for hours.
These. Wars. Must. End.
December 30, 2010 at 11:37 PM
Oh, dear. How sad that is – and you are right, CC. We must bring them home. So many of my generation was lost – one way or another – in Vietnam, and I hate to see this all start over.
December 31, 2010 at 12:21 AM
@48: I like the new story, Ed.
I’m trying to think of what writer you remind me of. Perhaps Studs Terkel.
December 31, 2010 at 12:29 PM
53 Beata,
Thank you so much. but I assure you I’m not in Studs Terkel’s league. He was a great writer for the common man.
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December 30, 2010 at 8:04 AM
Rather than disappoint myself again for another year, I am forsaking “New Year’s Resolutions” altogether.