New Year's Resolutions, finally

RESOLUTIONS:


Okay, so here’s the deal. I like to make resolutions, but, well, I’m weird. I don’t really look at them again until the year is over. Works this way—a good resolution related to self-improvement should be inherent in your daily living. I mean, it shouldn’t be such a radical change that you can’t function. It should be organic, a natural part of a human’s life.

I believe strongly in competitive theory. I told everyone when I was quitting smoking, so it was much more motivating knowing people were going to ask me about the process. If I didn’t do it, I’d have to answer to that. So I’ll go ahead and post my resolutions right here and right now. That way, I cannot escape them!

SPIRITUAL:

--I really want to get back to some kind of spirituality. It’s something that my weekly living is missing. Yeah, we all know the church is no friend of mine, that’s for sure, especially recently, but I cannot help thinking I’m missing something. I used to meditate daily. But with the daily early mornings and the need to get so far south, I reduced and then eliminated for ease of getting to work. Night time had never been a good time for me to meditate. Still, I need something.

OPTIONS: When the house in Colorado sells—I’ll probably think I need to be in the ‘thanking’ position. There’s a cute little congregational church right in the heart of downtown. I’d love to go once or twice and see what they have to offer.

Return to meditation in some format. It’s been too long.

PHYSICAL:

--walk the dog, at least once daily, at least 4 nights a week. It’s difficult to do twice a day when you have to be on the road by 6:30 am. HusOtter has promised he’d walk her those mornings. Still, I cannot help think that this is a wonderful thing in terms in meditation and physicality. Plus, I cannot with el puppo. And I get to listen to some of the greatest podcasts.

--investigate lawn bowling. One of the drawbacks of going to the gym is that I don’t really have a goal BEYOND just going to the gym. Grant you, the gym should be a reward upon itself, but I cannot help thinking there needs to be an event, some kind of test to see if it is actually working. I thought for a while that I was going to join some Celtic events, but since I couldn’t find any athletes in that area, how could I know or detail what I was doing? That may still be an option, I’ll keep looking around. However, our new landlord is on the committee for the International Lawn Bowling Association. They are looking for further players. I remember lawn bowling a bit too fondly. My aunts and uncles would play it, smacked out of their gourds when I was a kid, usually with a beer or wine glass in hand. There’s a HUGE set-up in walking distance of my new condo. And there are usually around 25 people competing. They are all retired. They take the lawn bowling very seriously.

But it’s a sport. And I’m here in Florida to grow as an individual. Might be time to learn. Besides, my hair is already gray.

---The gym. I want to go 100 times. I’ve given up on trying the whole weight loss thing. I’ve given up on measuring my biceps. I tend to go alone as it is, and so I have to reject the whole ‘comraderie’ bit. So, I’m keeping this goal simple. 100 times. I’ve done ten (actually, I’ve done more than ten times, but I’m rewarding myself only ten!). That means going to the gym. The rest? Well, we’ll see.

SOCIAL:

--This was a terrible year past for queer youth, frankly. And husOtter and myself have really, repeatedly returned to the fact that we have a stable home and decent income. We’re happy with our queerness and are Out and Proud. But we lack a uterus. And my job affords me an insight to something related to parenting…it basically sucks large codcock. I mean, really. But it also affords me an insight of successful ways of working around problems. I’ve also learned to ask for help whenever possible. I came across an article in the Orlando Sentienal the week that all those teens took their lives and it made an impression on me. They have so many gay and lesbian teens out there-thrown from their homes or runaway due to the fact they live in a red state—without a place to go. Foster systems try to place them, but since churches tend to be their conduit, those kids move into a place and find a bed and more hysteria. They live a life of being closeted.

Why can’t we help them? We have the means. Me? A parent? That might take a bit of getting used to. But it could be done, I believe. I hate to put a schedule on this, but I’d like to get the house sold first. My hopes are that it will happen in 2011. And when it does—this moves up on the list. I just hope we don’t get a lesbian teen who wants to play softball. I wouldn’t know what to do, other than to cheer her on.

The other option? Big Brothers and Big Sisters. I did it as a “little” for years. It’s time to return the favor!

INTELLECTUAL:

--I need to write more, that’s for sure.

--I have to blog once a month. I figure that is the minimal and will reduce my stress a bit. And I’m keeping an ongoing memo on my phone of writing ideas, so there’s really no excuse. Every movie can be reviewed. Every new eatery is open. And there’s always room for fiction.

--there’s a writing contest coming up for the local writing market in Mount Dora. I can’t help thinking I should enter it. However, the timing is short, very short.

--National Novel Writing Month is November. I need to look into trying that again. I’d like to get a break from the gym by then anyways.

---There’s a writing group at the public library when it’s open late by my new condo. There’s no excuse. I have several files of works I can bring in as a start.