It’s the end of another year. Today is the day before Christmas Eve.
This is my first post in months and there is so much to say and yet nothing is coming out. I try to write. And then I sit, staring at the blinking cursor as it mocks me.
I want to write about what happened in Connecticut, but others have already done that and better than I could have. I want to write about what’s been going on with me, but then it seems so trite in light of all the bad bad things going on in the world.
I am off from the Gas ‘n Sip for the week and hope that I will get my feathers smoothed in time for the new year. I have big plans for 2013. Good things are on the horizon. I’m THRILLED to see 2012 go away – mostly, it was horrible.
I am working on the look of things around here too. I hope to be back around and that at least someone is still interested.
Hello! I’m serving up pizza tonight. Eat up.
*****
Today marks the end of the first half of 2012.
I want you to take a moment and think back to December 31, 2011, when you were reflecting on the year past. Think of what you hoped 2012 would bring for you. Think of the goals you set and the vision board you created. Are you there? Can you see it clearly?
Great.
Now. Fast forward to today. Take a moment to look at that vision board. Look at your list of goals and intentions. Have you met any of the goals you set? All of them? Is the vision you set for the year still relevant to where you are now?
6 months doesn’t seem that long, but it’s enough time for your life to have had a few realignments.
Perhaps it might behoove you, us, to review what we wanted and what we have accomplished and to see if these things line up. Or is it time to modify things? Re-evaluate?
We all want to live our best lives. I’ve written here before that we should treat every day as the start of a new year. Sometimes we need to have milestones that remind us.
Is it time to update your goals?
24,377
Much better than last week, although not as many as I “should”. As long as I increase the number every week, I consider it a win.
Still, I’m making good progress. So I’m pretty pleased.
The winter weather in Maine has been very strange. It has been much warmer than normal for most of the season, but this past week, we got the first substantial snow and it’s crazy cold. I did walk outside yesterday, but the sidewalks were icy and not safe.
So this week, I have another busy week at work and that means a lot of time sitting at my desk. I’ll be making more effort to walk to the water fountain and to get tea. I’ve also ordered a Zumba for my Wii, so I will be getting good cardio when that is delivered – probably Tuesday. I hope it’s fun.
40,566 down, 1,959,434 to go.
Well. I did it. I turned my cable off. I turned in the box and the remote and said, “Turn it off.”
This may not be a big deal for many people. I know many people are cable-free and it’s not a big deal for them. But, for me, it is.
I grew up with television. It was my company and my entertainment and my source of information. It is as familiar to me as brushing my teeth. I use television to unwind after work. I turn on something mindless and just chill.
But lately? No. For the past 6 months or so, I’ve flicked around at night thinking, “Goat, eleventy-hundred channels and there’s f*ck all on!”
There were (are) a few shows that I really like that I will miss, I think. But, be it due to age or temperament, the show that I used to *love* just didn’t do it for me any more. Either the characters changed, I lost my taste for blood and gore, or the “plots” just became insipid. I could no longer get interested in CSI or NCIS or any of the other letter-shows. I didn’t want to see anything with vampires or cops or hospitals.
So, both for that reason, and to save money, my cable is gone. I disconnected the box on Sunday. I turned it in on Tuesday. It was strange to come home from work and not just flick on the mindlessness. A friend sent me a text on Tuesday asking me if I was watching a particular show. It was strange.
I have taken on Netflix though. So I will continue to rot my brain at times.
I hope I get used to it. I hope it motivates me to use the Wii again. I hope it motivates me to read more.
Baby steps, right?
Yes, just like everyone else, I’m doing a New Year’s post. I also have set 11,000 resolutions, just like everyone else.
I am happy that it is a new year. Although changing the year doesn’t make today any different from yesterday, does it? Really? There’s something about the new year, though, that makes everything seem shiny and new and optimistic.
It almost seems like we all get a clean slate. A do-over.
I’m not looking for a do-over. I’m looking for a do-better. I am using this shiny, clean slate to start writing a better ending.
I have already written about what some of my goals are for this year. This morning, I wrote in my journal about some other ones.
One that I will post updates for will be my step goal. 2,000,000 steps in the year. That is about 5,500 steps per day.
So, here’s to a happy, healthy, beautiful new year. I wish for you that all your dreams are realized.
0 down, 2 million to go.
Oh, hello! Come in. It’s the last day for donuts, so take two. The next snack will be *gulp* good for you.
So, just like every single other blogger, I am going to look back to see what I accomplished over the last year. But unlike ever other blogger, my introspection will be fascinating, I’m sure. You know, like watching grass grow.
2009. What can we say about this year. I’ll be ending this year the same way I ended last year – at a hockey game. It’s something I love to do. It will get me out of the city before all the real craziness starts. I’ll take it.
2009 was the year I came out of my shell a little bit more. I joined Twitter, which, in all honesty, is the ultimate time suck/chat room. It’s silly. It’s stupid. It’s fun. It’s make-believe. I noticed the other day that I have tweeted more than 6,100 times. And of that? 99% have been silly and fluffy. But I got some laughs from it, so I’ll keep doing it. I can Tweet something that is authentically me and if someone doesn’t like it, I can click “unfollow” and eliminate the judgement.
I also started this blog in 2009. I had thought about blogging for years. I even attempted to do one before. But I didn’t ever tell anyone about it, or do it with any idea about how it would go. (Clearly, I know what I’m doing now. I’m practically fluent in blog these days. *heh*) I started this one with a lot of trepidation, a lot of fear, quietly. I didn’t know if anyone would read it, or if anyone would like it, or comment, or re-visit. And while my count of people who have visited my site is low by some standards, and my comments section has the honor of a few regular visitors, I am flattered and a little bit giddy about every single view that is listed. *Someone* is reading. And for all the times I have looked at it, whether to reference a previous post, or just to “check the stats” (don’t judge me), I still have had what I consider a huge number of visitors and I want to thank each of you.
Work wise, I bid farewell to the age of the Leg Jiggler, and ushered in Smiley. The Gas ‘n Sip became the Gas ‘n Stuff. I don’t remember anything huge happening, although I’m sure that at some point through the year, something huge happened and I was traumatized at the time. I’ll take my memories, or lack thereof, as they stand now, thank you very much.
I also, most recently, spent some time wallowing in my grief that Madame X is sick. She seems to be doing a teensy bit better, but I have also (mostly) wrapped my head around the fact that she may be leaving my life sooner, rather than later. I can (almost) say that now without sobbing violently. Big steps for me.
Oh! I almost forgot that 2009 was the year in which I shredded the credit cards. I still have balances that I am really trying to pay off, but no new debt. YAY me! It’s really hard to live without a credit card, can I just tell you? I almost wish I had saved one, but I’ve met me. And it was all or nothing. And all was the only real option. Now I really think about what I buy, and whether I need it, or can afford it, or can still pay my mortgage if I buy it. It’s made me appreciate that which I do buy so much more.
So 2010 is about 14 hours away. I’ve already written about the regular intentions that I foresee. I have been tossing it around my brain, too, lately that I may actually attempt to read…. wait for it…. the Bible. Both the Old and New Testaments. I’ve read parts of it. But never all the way thru. I think before I can say it’s great or sucks or somewhere in between, I should read it. I foresee it being a full year’s project. I’m sure there will be a lot of it that I don’t understand or “get” but that’s okay. And who knows. After that, I could move on to the Torah and the Koran. Who knows. I might as well learn about the religions that are affecting the world most these days.
The other book that I want to get through this year coming is War and Peace. I want to see what all the fuss is about. And if it will really take me 42 years to get through it. I’m not skeered….
And, speaking of skeered, I would like to make 2010 the year I faced my fears. But more in the way of you know when you are asked to do something and you immediately say “Nope, can’t.” or start sweating or curling into a fetal position while whimpering? Those kinds of fears. Public speaking. Figuring out what happened in my early thirties that has virtually erased a number of the years from my memory. Something must have happened, however uneventful. What was it? Those types of fears. Not the “I’m afraid of bugs and heights” types of fears. I’ll save that for another time.
Will I achieve success with these intentions? I think I already have by putting them in writing. And however far I get in the reading of either the Bible or W&P, I will have made the start. Better than looking at them and thinking “Someday…”
So, 2009 was pretty uneventful in a lot of ways. And I’m starting 2010 with big goals. I hope that this time next year, I will be able to check off at least some of those as “Wins”.
And to you, my lovely, wonderful readers, I wish for you a 2010 of wonder and joy and health and laughter and love. I hope you all get what you ask for from the Universe and that it makes your life full and fabulous.
And however you are celebrating this evening, do it with loved ones, safely, and fully. I want to see all of you back here next year.
xoxo
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